METHODS FOR DEVELOPING AND TESTING AEROSOL SAMPLERS

目前由NIOSH资助的一个研究项目旨在为更好地了解支配气溶胶采样器性能的物理因素提供基础。这是由目前开发新的气溶胶采样器职业暴露标准的兴趣推动的。这是由于目前对制定更好地反映人类暴露的新的气雾剂职业暴露标准的兴趣。那个项目的所有实验研究都已完成。在对结果进行分析和提出报告后，该项目将于1998年3月最后完成(从1997年8月延长)。该项目在确定新的实验方法方面确实非常成功，为开发气溶胶采样器性能的数学可及模型提供了极好和丰富的基础数据。这样的模型在描述采样器的性能方面看起来非常有希望，比如那些用于实际工业卫生的采样器。这个新项目的目的是建立在已获得的新知识的基础上。具体地说，它将用于制定标度律，使采样器在与全尺寸职业环境相关的条件下(尺寸标度、使用方式、粒度范围、风速、采样流量等)。可以在小型风洞中开发、测试和验证，就像目前研究中使用的那样。这种方法已经显示出它在快速获取大量性能数据方面的潜力。使用新方法进行的试验开发工作中产生的新采样器将在实际工作场所与已知的“参考”采样器进行测试。预计这项研究将为气溶胶采样器性能的常规测试(包括针对特定的颗粒大小选择标准进行验证)制定新的协议，而不需要像目前那样使用非常大的风洞和大量的劳动力。因此，新的测试程序将是快速和具有成本效益的。目前，国际社会(包括NIOSH和欧共体)对实现新的取样器测试和开发方法的这种改进有相当大的兴趣。

A current NIOSH-funded research project aims to provide a basis for improved understanding of the physical factors that govern the performance of aerosol samplers. It is driven by the current interest in developing new occupational exposure standards of aerosol samplers. It is driven by the current interest in developing new occupational exposure standards for aerosols which better reflect human exposure. All the experimental research for that project has been completed. Final completion of the project, following analysis of the results and reporting, will be in March 1998 (extended from August 1997). That project has been very successful indeed in identifying new experimental methods, providing excellent and copious basic data on which to base the development of mathematically-accessible models for aerosol sampler performance. Such models look very promising for describing the performances of samplers like those used in practical industrial hygiene. This new project aims to build on the new knowledge that has been gained. Specifically, it will be used in the development of scaling laws by which samplers in conditions relevant to the full-scale occupational setting (dimensional scale, mode of use, particle size range, wind-speed, sampling flowrate, etc.) can be developed, tested and validated in a small wind tunnel like that used in the current research. Such an approach has already shown its potential for the rapid acquisition of copious performance data. New samplers arising from pilot development work using the new methodology will be tested against known 'reference' samplers in actual workplaces. It is expected that this research will lead to new protocols for the routine testing of aerosol sampler performance (including validation with respect to specific particle size-selective criteria) which will not require-as is currently the case-the use of very large wind tunnels and extensive labor resources. As a result, the new testing procedures will be quick and cost-effective. There is currently considerable interest in the international community (including both NIOSH and the EC) in achieving such improvements in new sampler testing and development methodologies.