Abstract View
Characterization and Application of a Novel Wide-Range SMPS
Sebastian Schmitt, AXEL ZERRATH, Torsten Tritscher, Jacob Scheckman, Amine Koched, Juergen Spielvogel, Thomas Krinke, Oliver F. Bischof, TSI Incorporated
Abstract Number: 479
Working Group: Instrumentation and Methods
Abstract
Characterization and continuous monitoring of ambient ultrafine particles (UFP) has been a topic in aerosol research for the last three decades. Various particle counters and sizers have been used to study number concentrations and size distributions, along with particulate matter and gas measurements. With much experience gained during this time, Europe is even making the next step and harmonizes these measurements with two European standards: The CEN/TS 16976:2016 guideline on “Ambient air – Determination of the particle number concentration of atmospheric aerosol”, and the CEN/TS 17434:2020 on “Ambient air - Determination of the particle size spectra of atmospheric aerosol using a Mobility Particle Size Spectrometer (MPSS)”.
This study will introduce a newly developed wide-range Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer (model 3938W50, TSI Inc., USA). This system includes the well-known Classifier platform (model 3082, TSI Inc.) as well as the CEN 16976-compliant Condensation Particle Counter (CPC model 3750-CEN, TSI Inc.). A new Differential Mobility Analyzer (DMA, model 3083, TSI Inc.) is introduced to cover the entire required size range from 10 to 800 nm in one scan. It is a commercial version of the Vienna DMA (Winklmayr et al. 1991) with a custom-design licensed from TROPOS Leipzig. Existing SMPS systems can be upgraded with it, together with a dedicated relative humidity and temperature sensor (model RHT3000, TSI Inc.) as well as a new version of the Aerosol Instrument Manager software.
We will present first results from calibration measurements and an instrument comparison with atmospheric aerosol following the recommendations given in the CEN technical specifications. We show a thorough evaluation of the first units of this novel wide-range SMPS using both laboratory-generated as well as ambient aerosol sampled from an urban location. Total integrated number concentration data are compared to a stand-alone CPC used as concentration reference.
First results display an excellent agreement in total number concentrations from two SMPS systems equipped with DMA models 3083 and 3081, and the reference CPC. Finally, measurements of an atmospheric aerosol using a novel, fully integrated measurement setup including an ambient sampling system for UFP will be presented.