AAAR 31st Annual Conference
October 8-12, 2012
Hyatt Regency Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Abstract View
Assessment of the Pre-Toddler Inhalable Particulate Environmental Robot’s Ability to Mimic Dust Resuspension by Children
Gediminas Mainelis, ZUOCHENG WANG, Kathleen Black, Marta Hernandez, Stuart Shalat, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Abstract Number: 561 Working Group: Health Related Aerosols
Abstract Young children spend most of their time indoors, often playing on the floor. Activities on the floor have been shown to resuspend particulate matter (PM). Children’s activities and the proximity of their breathing zones to the floor can elevate children’s exposure to PM and may cause respiratory problems.
Personal sampling is impractical for very young children. As an alternative, a robotic sampling surrogate PIPER (Pre-Toddler Inhalable Particulate Environmental Robot) has been developed to measure children’s exposure to PM. PIPER motion profiles have been developed to replicate the floor activities of young children. Here, two OPCs (TSI 8220) were used to evaluate the particle resuspension ability of PIPER under 6 different activity profiles in 65 homes. The effect of floor type on particle resuspension was also investigated. One OPC was set up as a stationary sampler. The mobile OPC was mounted on PIPER. Real time particle concentration was measured during two time periods, during the first PIPER was motionless while during the second, PIPER was moving around, mimicking the floor motion of young children.
The data from mobile OPC show that due to PIPER’s motion the airborne concentration of particles >10 micro-meters can increase by up to 500% on carpeted floor and 250% on bare surface floor. The resuspension caused by PIPER’s motion was also detected by the stationary OPC in the same room, but to a lesser extent. For particles > 10 micro-meters, the particle concentration increase detected by stationary OPC was up to 100% on a carpeted floor and 55% on a bare floor. Different motion profiles did not have a significant effect on particle resuspension. Results suggest that since personal monitors provide better exposure estimate compared to stationary ones PIPER may better approximate young children’s exposure.