AAAR 32nd Annual Conference
September 30 - October 4, 2013
Oregon Convention Center
Portland, Oregon, USA
Abstract View
Development of a Non-Specific Monodisperse Aerosol Generation System
JONATHAN ESHBAUGH, Shanna Ratnesar-Shumate, Paul Dabisch, Francisco Romay, The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Abstract Number: 646 Working Group: Instrumentation and Methods
Abstract Size specific monodisperse aerosols have been used to investigate respiratory and non-respiratory deposition and thus absorption of inhaled biological aerosols. Generally, the aerosol of interest is produced with a monodisperse aerosol generator, which uses either a spinning disk or an oscillating orifice to atomize a liquid. Biological aerosols, or aerosols which contain spores, viruses, or proteins are typically aerosolized from a liquid suspension within the confines of a biological safety cabinet. Monodisperse generators that utilize an orifice typically aren’t compatible with liquid suspensions while other monodisperse generators aren’t compatible with the vibration and reduced access of a biological safety cabinet. Additionally, the interaction of viability, infectivity, or activity of the biological particle, atomization stress, and particle size is difficult to study since the atomization required to generate the monodisperse aerosol is fixed. Thus an inertial sorting monodisperse generation method compatible with varying biological suspensions, the confines of a biological safety cabinet, and any atomization technique that can generate particles within the size range of interest was designed. The current design couples an ultrasonic atomizer to a series of clean air core virtual impactors designed by MSP. Airflow for the entire system is controlled and monitored with valves, laminar flow elements, and differential pressure gauges. The system was designed to generate a monodisperse or near-monodisperse aerosol at four discrete particle sizes (2, 4, 7 and 12 micro-meter) from a biological suspension. The system design as well as initial experimental results will be presented.