AAAR 35th Annual Conference October 17 - October 21, 2016 Oregon Convention Center Portland, Oregon, USA
Abstract View
Assessing the Accuracy and Reliability of Low-cost Particle Counters for Determining PM2.5 Loadings
DAVID HAGAN, Jesse Kroll, MIT
Abstract Number: 70 Working Group: Instrumentation and Methods
Abstract The past several years have seen the emergence of a number of low-cost commercial devices for measuring particulate matter (PM) for the monitoring of both indoor and outdoor air quality. Although these devices are beginning to see widespread use, very little is known about the accuracy and reliability of their data. In particular, most such monitors measure particle number concentration only, and thus the extent to which they can be used to estimate particle mass concentration, the quantity on which most health-based assessments and PM regulations are based, is unclear. Low-cost PM counters are typically based on light scattering, presenting major challenges for estimating mass loadings of accumulation mode aerosols (0.1 – 2.5 microns). Here we describe a computational framework for the exploration of the ability of low-cost PM-counters to accurately and precisely infer PM2.5 mass (as well as the particle size distribution) based on key instrument parameters (bin width, size-dependent counting efficiency, etc.). The expected performance of various commercially-available counters is assessed using this approach, and results are compared to laboratory experiments using research-grade monitors across a range of aerosol types and distributions.