Naneum Size Resolved Aerosol Sampler For Exposure Studies

该项目旨在开发一种紧凑的分辨率静电采样器，以允许快速收集和分析空气中的颗粒物。特别是该取样器将允许准在线化学分析，在单一尺寸的分离基底上进行。该设备将是便携式的，易于使用，所需的设置最少。它将在环境监测、职业卫生、毒理学研究、过程控制、大气和气溶胶研究等领域发挥主要作用。该领域的大多数现有技术只允许收集大尺寸范围内的总悬浮颗粒物。样品的粒度分离在许多应用中是至关重要的。例如，有毒颗粒对人体健康的影响取决于颗粒的大小，因为有些大小比其他大小更危险。因此，当一个人对一个样品进行化学分析时，他需要先验地知道空气中的颗粒大小。这通常是困难的，昂贵的和费时的确定后采样。目前市场上有一些尺寸分辨率的采样器，但是所提出的设备采用了一种新颖的方法，比现有技术带来了许多显着的优势。目前的尺寸分辨率设备通常依赖于惯性冲击阶段，这是无效的采样纳米粒子，需要高流速既有效的收集和实现合理的采样时间。高流量需要大型泵，因此需要大型仪器。此外，所有的颗粒尺寸都是在单独的基质上收集的，这需要大量的时间来分析。相比之下，该装置将利用静电技术在低流速下更有效地沉积纳米颗粒。颗粒将沿着单个基板按大小排序，使设备体积小，便于携带，并允许对收集的样品进行快速分析。

This project aims to develop a compact size resolved electrostatic sampler to allow rapidcollection and analysis of airborne particulate matter. In particular this sampler will allowquasi online chemical analysis to be carried out on a single size segregated substrate. Thedevice will be portable and easy to use with minimal setup required. It will be of primarybenefit and interest in the fields of environmental monitoring, occupational hygiene,toxicological studies, process control, atmospheric and aerosol research. Most existingtechnologies in this area allow only for the collection of the total suspended particulate matteracross a broad size range. Size segregation of samples is of critical importance in manyapplications. For example the impact of toxic particles on human health is determined by thesize of particles as some sizes are more dangerous than others. Therefore when one is carryingout chemical analysis of a sample one needs to know a priori what the particle size was in theair. This is in general difficult, expensive and time consuming to determine post-sampling.There are a few size resolved samplers on the market currently however the proposed devicetakes a novel approach bringing a number of significant advantages over existingtechnologies. Current size resolved devices usually rely on inertial impaction stages which areineffective for sampling nanoparticles and require high flow rates both for efficient collectionand to achieve reasonable sampling times. High flow rates require a large pump and thereforea large instrument. In addition all the particle sizes are collected on separate substrates whichrequire significant time to analyse. The proposed device will by contrast utilise electrostatictechniques for more efficient deposition of nanoparticles at low flow rates. Particles will beordered by size along a single substrate allowing the device to be small and portable as well asallowing rapid analysis of collected samples.