Smart conditional sampler for airborne particles

空气质量差是公众健康和环境方面的一个主要问题。TZOA是一家专门开发空气质量监测传感器的美国公司。在该领域中开发的大多数传感器测量悬浮颗粒物的浓度和尺寸分布，但不能提供颗粒物的组成信息。颗粒物组成对于评估颗粒物的影响及其来源--即寻找减少影响的方法--很重要。颗粒物组成在许多室内空气质量研究中得到了表征，但没有确定主要来源所需的时空分辨率。表征颗粒组成的方法要么非常昂贵，要么非常缓慢。运行仪器、采样器和分析所需的专业知识是获得所需测量的一个非常大的障碍。TZOA的目标是设计一种廉价、小型和智能的条件粒子采样器，可以大量部署。条件采样器收集风向、占用或系统运行的特征周期的有限数量的样本。它以低成本提供所需的信息。该项目的目的是开发方法的收集，成分分析和源分配的气溶胶收集的采样器。

Poor air quality is a major concern with respect to the public health and environment. TZOA is a Canadiancompany that develops sensors for air quality monitoring. Most of the sensors developed in this field measurethe concentration and size distribution of suspended particulate matters, but provide no information on thecomposition of the particles. Particle composition is important in assessing the impacts of the particles andtheir source - that is finding ways of reducing the impacts.Particle composition has been characterized in a number of indoor air quality studies, but not with the spatialand temporal resolution needed to determine the major sources. Methods to characterize particle compositionare either extremely costly or very slow. The expertize needed to run the instrumentation, samplers and analysisis a very large barrier to obtaining the needed measurements.TZOA is aiming to design an inexpensive, small, and smart conditional particle sampler that can be deployedin a large quantity. A conditional sampler collects a limited number of samples for characteristic periods ofwind direction, occupation or system operation. This provides the information needed at low cost. Theproposed project aims to develop methods for the collection, composition analysis, and source apportionmentof aerosols collected by this sampler.