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Design and performance of a novel miniaturized electrostatic sampler for efficient airborne particulate matter sampling

  • Research Article
  • Indoor/Outdoor Airflow and Air Quality
  • Published:
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Abstract

Considering that people spend more than 80% of their time indoors, ambient particulate matter (PM) in the built environment could pose severe environmental health risks to public health. PM sampling, a technique for the enrichment of PM in the air, is essential for ambient PM composition analysis to understand its environmental and health effect. The filtering method that is widely used features a complex post-processing and carries the risk of pore clogging. It is a great challenge to sample airborne PM efficiently for subsequent analysis. Here, we proposed a novel miniaturized electrostatic sampler based on corona discharge and a modified vertically focused electric field for efficient PM sampling. Four intercoupling physical fields in the developed sampler were analyzed, including corona discharge, airflow, particle charging and particle deposition. The collection efficiencies for particles with various sizes (0.01–10 μm) were conducted by simulation and the lowest efficiency occurs at about 0.3–0.5 μm. With an increase in discharging voltage from −6 kV to −9 kV, the lowest efficiency rises from 88.2% to 96.6%. An electrostatic sampler entity was manufactured to test the collection efficiency of PM and the results are in good agreement with the simulation. The induced ring plate can significantly improve the total collection efficiency from 35% to 90% under −6 kV discharging voltage in the experiment. The novel electrostatic sampler exhibits potential and enlightenment for efficient and convenient PM sampling.

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Abbreviations

C i :

number concentration of particles at the inlet (pcs/cm3)

C o :

number concentration of particles at the outlet (pcs/cm3)

D :

diffusion coefficient (m/s)

d p :

particle diameter (m)

E :

electric field intensity (V/m)

E 0 :

threshold field strength of discharge (V/cm)

F :

volume force (N/m3)

F d :

drag force (N)

F e :

electric force (N)

I :

identity matrix

J :

current density (A/m2)

K :

ion mobility (m2/(V·s))

K B :

Boltzmann constant (J/K)

m p :

particle mass (kg)

p :

pressure (Pa)

P :

real pressure (Pa)

P 0 :

standard pressure (Pa)

r :

radius of curvature of the discharging pin (cm)

T :

real temperature (K)

T 0 :

standard temperature (K)

T i :

ion temperature (K)

t :

time (s)

u :

flow velocity (m/s)

V :

electric potential (V)

v :

particle velocity (m/s)

Z :

accumulated charge number

δ :

relative density of air

ε 0 :

vacuum permittivity (F/m)

ε p :

particle permittivity (F/m)

η :

collection efficiency

μ :

dynamic viscosity (N·s/m2)

μ t :

turbulent viscosity (N·s/m2)

ρ :

air density (kg/m3)

ρ e :

spatial charge intensity (C/m3)

σ :

electrical conductance (A/(V·m))

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52078269, No. 52178068).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China

    Jinhan Mo

  2. Beijing Key Laboratory of Indoor Air Quality Evaluation and Control, Department of Building Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Xihui Liu, Yan Wang, Yilun Gao & Jinhan Mo

  3. School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China

    Cong Liu

  4. Key Laboratory of Coastal Urban Resilient Infrastructures (Shenzhen University), Ministry of Education, Shenzhen, 518060, China

    Jinhan Mo

  5. Key Laboratory of Eco Planning & Green Building (Tsinghua University), Ministry of Education, Beijing, 100084, China

    Jinhan Mo

Authors
  1. Xihui Liu
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  2. Yan Wang
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  3. Yilun Gao
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  4. Cong Liu
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  5. Jinhan Mo
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Xihui Liu, Yan Wang and Yilun Gao. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Xihui Liu. The critical revision of the manuscript was directed by Jinhan Mo and Cong Liu. All authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Cong Liu or Jinhan Mo.

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Liu, X., Wang, Y., Gao, Y. et al. Design and performance of a novel miniaturized electrostatic sampler for efficient airborne particulate matter sampling. Build. Simul. 16, 1439–1450 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-023-1059-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-023-1059-4

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