SBIR Phase I: A MEMS-based device for counting airborne nano particles

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目将支持开发一种新的空气悬浮颗粒计数器，以便快速观察环境中纳米颗粒的大小和浓度。该设备将高度敏感，使用简单，价格低廉，并易于部署，以实现远程自主操作。该仪器的关键部件是一种新型的微电子机械系统(MEMS)传感器，它将消除昂贵、笨重、基于凝聚生长的技术的需要，这些技术需要消耗的工作液和复杂的光学探测器。这项新技术将在很大程度上消除现有技术的成本、尺寸、重量和操作员专业知识的限制。该项目的第一阶段将包括各种关键系统的机械设计和计算流体力学模型的开发，以及气溶胶测定仪和MEMS传感器原型的建造和实验室测试。新技术的应用包括气溶胶健康影响研究，环境超细颗粒分布的常规连续监测，发电厂和其他废气羽流中气溶胶快速演变的研究，为气候变化模型创建数据集，制药公司的药物开发，以及硅片加工、绿色建筑和家庭应用的室内空气质量监测。该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力包括满足增加气溶胶数据的空间和时间覆盖面的需要，同时通过其降低的成本和易用性创造一种可供更广泛的用户群体使用的测量技术。最初的客户包括大学以及联邦和州政府的空气质量研究人员。随着这项技术通过同行评议的出版物得到验证，客户群将扩大到空气质量监测网络管理员和晶片加工公司。随着该设备在常规监测应用中得到验证，其应用将扩展到绿色建筑和家用室内空气监测应用。该设备的广泛应用将成为学生和研究人员的教育工具，使他们更广泛地了解在环境、实验室和工业环境中影响颗粒大小和浓度的过程。增进对大气气溶胶过程的了解将为全球气候变化和气溶胶健康影响领域的研究人员提供重要信息。工业应用包括远程操作，用于监测洁净室污染物和评估雾化药物的剂量传递。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will support the development of a new airborne particle counter to allow rapid observations of ambient nanoparticle size and concentration. The device will be highly sensitive, simple to use, inexpensive, and easily deployed for remote, autonomous operation. The key component of the instrument is a new Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (MEMS) sensor that will eliminate the need for expensive, bulky, condensational-growth-based techniques that require consumable working fluids and complex optical detectors. The new technology will largely eliminate the cost, size, weight, and operator-expertise constraints of currently available technologies. Phase I of this project will include development of mechanical designs and computational fluid dynamics models of the various key systems and construction and laboratory testing of prototypes of the aerosol sizer and MEMS sensor. Applications of the new technology include aerosol health effects studies, routine continuous monitoring of ambient ultrafine particle size distributions, studies of rapid aerosol evolution in power-plant and other exhaust plumes, creation of data sets for climate change models, drug development by pharmaceutical firms, and indoor air quality monitoring for silicon wafer processing, green building, and household applications. Broader impact/commercial potential of this project includes satisfying the need for increased spatial and temporal coverage of aerosol data while creating a measurement technique accessible to a more general group of users through its reduced cost and ease of use. Initial customers include air quality researchers at universities and within federal and state governments. As the technique is validated through peer-reviewed publications, the customer base will expand to air quality monitoring network administrators and wafer processing firms. As the device operation is proven in routine monitoring applications, its application will be extended to green-building and household indoor air-monitoring applications. Broader application of the device will serve as an educational tool for students and investigators leading to more widespread understanding of the processes that influence particle size and concentration in ambient, laboratory and industrial settings. Increased understanding of atmospheric aerosol processes will serve as important information for investigators in the areas of global climate change and aerosol health impacts. Industrial applications include remote operation for monitoring of clean room contaminants and evaluation of the dose-delivery of aerosolized pharmaceutical drugs.