Development and evaluation of a novel personal sampler for PM using rotating porous media.

A rotating filtration device (RFD) that is filled with porous media is developed for sampling particulate matter with a diameter of 1 μm or less (PM). An experiment is conducted on a test system using corn oil as a test aerosol. The RFD was evaluated using an aerodynamic particle sizer. The results yielded cutoff sizes of 1.68 μm and 1.04 μm at rotational speeds of 0 rpm and 9000 rpm, respectively, with foam with 80 pores per inch (ppi), a thickness of 80 mm, and a face velocity of 13.5 cm/s. When the foam was replaced with 94 ppi nickel mesh, the cutoff size decreased from 1.45 μm to 0.98 μm as the thickness increased from 17 to 68 mm. As the face velocity of the RFD increased from 13.5 to 108.3 cm/s, the cutoff size declined from 1.04 μm to 0.77 μm. Most of the changes in the cutoff sizes of the RFD were statistically significant (p < 0.05). The maximum pressure drops through the foam and the nickel mesh were 33.5 and 36.6 mm HO, respectively. The experiment revealed that increasing the rotational speed and face velocity of the RFD, and the thickness and nominal size of the porous media reduced the penetration of oil aerosols.