Aerodynamic Aerosol Classifier

A new aerosol particle classifier, the Aerodynamic Aerosol Classifier (AAC), is presented with some of its applications. The instrument uses a centrifugal force and sheath flow between two concentric rotating cylinders to produce a monodisperse aerosol classified by aerodynamic diameter. Since this instrument does not require charged particles, it produces a true monodisperse aerosol without artefacts caused by multiply-charged particles like other classifiers. This work reports the theoretical and experimental results of the new instrument with some of its applications. Two diffusion models and two non-diffusion models have been used to predict the performance of the AAC. The transfer functions were obtained as a function of the particle relaxation time and the particle aerodynamic diameter. The transfer function has been studied for different flow rates. PSL (polystyrene latex) particles and DOS (DioctylSebacate) along with a differential mobility analyzer (DMA) were used to verify the instrument and to obtain the experimental transfer function. A DMA and the AAC were used in tandem to measure the effective density, dynamic shape factor, and the mass of soot particles emitted from an inverted burner and DOS droplets.