Lightweight differential mobility analyzers: Toward new and inexpensive manufacturing methods

Barmpounis, K.; Maisser, Anne; Schmidt‐Ott, A.; Biskos, George

doi:10.1080/02786826.2015.1130216

Cited by 17 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…What is more, manned aircraft cannot cover the lowermost part of the atmosphere due to safety restrictions, posing another major limitation. Recent efforts in aerosol instrumentation have provided lightweight and miniaturized instruments that can measure the size and concentration of aerosol particles on board UAVs (Altstädter et al, 2015;Bezantakos et al, 2015Bezantakos et al, , 2017Barmpounis et al, 2016;Brady et al, 2016;Renard et al, 2016;Surawski et al, 2017) in a much simpler and cost-effective manner. As a result, vertical profiling of key aerosol parameters can now be performed over long periods of time on a routine basis, and at much lower altitudes compared to measurements with manned research aircraft.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vertical profiles of aerosol mass concentration derived by unmanned airborne in situ and remote sensing instruments during dust events

et al. 2018

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Abstract. In situ measurements using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and remote sensing observations can independently provide dense vertically resolved measurements of atmospheric aerosols, information which is strongly required in climate models. In both cases, inverting the recorded signals to useful information requires assumptions and constraints, and this can make the comparison of the results difficult. Here we compare, for the first time, vertical profiles of the aerosol mass concentration derived from light detection and ranging (lidar) observations and in situ measurements using an optical particle counter on board a UAV during moderate and weak Saharan dust episodes. Agreement between the two measurement methods was within experimental uncertainty for the coarse mode (i.e. particles having radii > 0.5 µm), where the properties of dust particles can be assumed with good accuracy. This result proves that the two techniques can be used interchangeably for determining the vertical profiles of aerosol concentrations, bringing them a step closer towards their systematic exploitation in climate models.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vertical profiles of aerosol mass concentration derived by unmanned airborne in situ and remote sensing instruments during dust events

et al. 2018

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“…Parameterizations of CCN activity that accurately prescribe CCN measurements are needed for climate models, cloud-resolving models, and air quality predictions (Morales Betancourt and Nenes, 2014;Betancourt et al, 2013;Chang et al, 2017;Crosbie et al, 2015;Karydis et al, 2012;Kawecki and Steiner, 2018). One parameterization was designed to represent the cloud droplet activation potential ambient aerosol masses of unknown composition with a single variable, kappa (κ), based on the dry aerosol's hygroscopicity or ability to uptake water and form a solution droplet (Petters and Kreidenweis, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Instrument artifacts lead to uncertainties in parameterizations of cloud condensation nucleation

Mirrielees

Brooks

2018

Atmos. Meas. Tech.

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The concentrations of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) modulate cloud properties, rainfall location and intensity, and climate forcings. This work assesses uncertainties in CCN measurements and the apparent hygroscopicity parameter (κ app ), which is widely used to represent CCN populations in climate models. CCN measurements require accurate operation of three instruments: the CCN instrument, the differential mobility analyzer (DMA), and the condensation particle counter (CPC). Assessment of DMA operation showed that varying the ratio of aerosol to sheath flow from 0.05 to 0.30 resulted in discrepancies between the κ app values calculated from CCN measurements and the literature value. Discrepancies were found to increase from < 1 % to 13 % for both sodium chloride and ammonium sulfate. The ratio of excess to sheath flow was also varied, which shifted the downstream aerosol distribution towards smaller particle diameters (for excess flow < sheath flow) or larger particle diameters (for excess flow > sheath flow) than predicted. For the CPC instrument, undercounting occurred at high concentrations, resulting in calculated κ app lower than the literature values. Lastly, undercounting by CCN instruments at high concentration was also assessed, taking the effect of supersaturation on counting efficiency into account. Under recommended operating conditions, the combined DMA, CPC, and CCN uncertainties in κ app are 1.2 % or less for 25 to 200 nm diameter aerosols.

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“…In contrast to the cylindrical design, radial DMAs that have been proposed in the 90s (Zhang et al 1995;Mesbah et al 1997) have higher penetration efficiency and resolution for particles ranging from 5 to 20 nm in size, and are typically more compact and portable. In an attempt to make DMAs even more portable and easier to build, Barmpounis et al (2016) proposed new manufacturing methods (using mold casting or 3D printing) for building their main body out of polyurethane or other polymers, resulting also in a significant reduction in their manufacturing cost and weight without sacrificing the classification capabilities when compared to their metallic counterparts. Such DMAs can open the way for widespread use in monitoring using ground stations and airborne platforms such as balloons and drones, thereby providing adequate amount of spatially distributed measurements for better understanding the environment impacts of airborne particles.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modification of the TSI 3081 differential mobility analyzer to include three monodisperse outlets: Comparison between experimental and theoretical performance

Bezantakos

Giamarelou

Huang

et al. 2016

Aerosol Science and Technology

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Differential mobility analyzers (DMAs) are widely used to determine the size of aerosol particles, and to probe their size-dependent physicochemical properties when two are employed in tandem. A limitation of tandem DMA (TDMA) systems is their long measuring cycle when the properties of more than one monodisperse population of particles need to be probed. In this work, we propose a simple modification of the classical cylindrical DMA by including three monodisperse-particle outlets in its central electrode (namely, the 3MO-DMA), with the objective of using it as the first DMA in TDMA systems for reducing their measuring cycle. The performance of the 3MO-DMA at different flow conditions was evaluated using laboratory-generated aerosol particles, and compared with theoretical predictions. The theory predicted accurately (i.e., within 3%) the geometric mean diameters of the three distinct populations, as well as the resolutions of the first and the third outlet, under all experimental conditions. For the second outlet, the resolution was 10% to 74% lower than that predicted theoretically depending on the sheath-to-aerosol flow ratio. Nevertheless, the geometric standard deviation of the monodisperse aerosol from all the outlets was less than 1.09, which is sufficient for using the 3MO-DMA designed and tested in this work as a first DMA to produce a monodisperse aerosol flow containing three distinct particle populations in TDMA systems.

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Lightweight differential mobility analyzers: Toward new and inexpensive manufacturing methods

Cited by 17 publications

References 11 publications

Vertical profiles of aerosol mass concentration derived by unmanned airborne in situ and remote sensing instruments during dust events

Vertical profiles of aerosol mass concentration derived by unmanned airborne in situ and remote sensing instruments during dust events

Instrument artifacts lead to uncertainties in parameterizations of cloud condensation nucleation

Modification of the TSI 3081 differential mobility analyzer to include three monodisperse outlets: Comparison between experimental and theoretical performance

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