Inherently Charged Particle (ICP) Sensor Design

doi:10.1109/JSEN.2022.3232509

Inherently Charged Particle (ICP) Sensor Design

2023-02-15

1

OA

AI

DOI：10.1109/JSEN.2022.3232509

Original

Original request for help

Save

Abstract

En 中文

Ambient particles from natural and anthropogenic sources are a major cause of premature deaths glob-ally. While there are many instruments suitable for scientific measurements of aerosols, better methods for long-term monitoring purposes are still needed, especially low-maintenance, affordable solutions for ultrafine particles. In this article, we present a new sensor design and prototype, the inherently charged particle (ICP) sensor, which uses the preexisting electrical charge of particles to measure particle concentration, instead of employing a charging mechanism, as is typical for instruments based on electrical detection. When the ICP-sensor is employed in conjunction with another instrument, information on the particle charge state can also be derived. We present the results of a laboratory characterization as well as two measurements in suggested applications: 1) engine exhaust measurements and 2) ambient measurements in a traffic environment, where we compare the sensor response to three particle concentration metrics: 1) number; 2) surface area; and 3) mass. The sensor proved suitable for both applications, the signal correlated best with number concentration in the engine emission measurements and with particle surface area in the ambient measurements. The measured charge concentrations were well-correlated (R-2 > 0.8) with theoretical values calculated from the number size distribution assuming an equilibrium charge distribution.

Keywords:

Sensors

Particle measurements

Atmospheric measurements

Pollution measurement

Ions

Sensor phenomena and characterization

Aerosols

Air pollution

air quality monitoring

ultrafine particles

Inherently Charged Particle (ICP) Sensor Design

Abstract

Journal

Organization