AAAR 34th Annual Conference
October 12 - October 16, 2015
Hyatt Regency
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Abstract View
Characterization and Application of a Mini Aerodyne Aerosol Mass Spectrometer
PETER DECARLO, Guan Yu Lin, Anita Johnson, J. Doug Goetz, Urs Rohner, Michael Cubison, Joel Kimmel, Marc Gonin, John Jayne, Douglas Worsnop, Drexel University
Abstract Number: 593 Working Group: Instrumentation and Methods
Abstract The Aerodyne mini-Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (mAMS) is a recently developed aerosol mass spectrometer utilizing a more compact form factor, reduced weight, and lower power demand. The instrument is integrated into a vibration isolating rack and is more portable than previous full-size versions of the instrument. The mAMS has similar sampling modes as previous AMS instruments including bulk aerosol composition and size resolved composition measurements. As a new development the mAMS includes an improved data acquisition card and the possibility for efficient particle-time-of-fligth mode (ePTOF). The mAMS has been tested in laboratory, ambient measurement, and source measurements studies. Results from these studies show detection limits bulk composition measurements for the mAMS similar to TOF-ASCM instrument. ePTOF provides a high-signal to noise method for determination of particle sizing and bulk composition measurements. For high concentration source measurements ePTOF is a preferred method for sampling, providing high time resolution and continuous sampling. Ambient and laboratory measurements provide unit mass resolution data sets which can be used for source apportionment methods such as positive matrix factorization (PMF). PMF results from ambient data taken in Philadelphia in April 2013 and February 2014 find standard PMF factors related to cooking, traffic, wood burning, and oxidized organic aerosol. These and other instrument operating parameters will be presented.