AAAR 32nd Annual Conference
September 30 - October 4, 2013
Oregon Convention Center
Portland, Oregon, USA
Abstract View
Simple Low–Cost Aerosol Field Sampler for Deployment by Volunteers
ANDREY KHLYSTOV, A. Clint Clayton, David S. Ensor, Research Triangle Institute
Abstract Number: 220 Working Group: Portable and Inexpensive Sensor Technology for Air Quality Monitoring
Abstract Due to the complexity of the chemical and physical properties of atmospheric aerosol, its ambient concentrations and the effects remain extremely difficult to predict. In our analysis of the situation, the use of a very few sophisticated, yet very expensive instruments may provide high fidelity information at a few locations for a short period of time, but at a high cost of hardware and highly trained scientific personal in the field. Instead, our objective is to develop a very simple, inexpensive (price target below $100) sampling device based on advanced technology that could be simply deployed by personnel without scientific training and then retrieved for return to a central laboratory where the captured aerosol particles would be analyzed for mass, ion, carbon, metals, and biological materials. In addition to off-line analysis, the simple sampling device might have very simple real-time monitoring capability using light emitting diodes to obtain time series data. The sampler is enabled by consumer electronics and by nanofiber filters which have sufficiently low pressure drop with acceptable collection efficiency to allow the use of a computer cooling fan to provide an air flow of 3 lpm for 24 hours. In this presentation we will discuss the results of a pilot study aimed to characterize a prototype of the sampler.