Journal article
Evaluation of the Alphasense optical particle counter (OPC-N2) and the Grimm portable aerosol spectrometer (PAS-1.108)
Aerosol science and technology, Vol.50(12), pp.1352-1365
12/01/2016
DOI: 10.1080/02786826.2016.1232859
PMID: 28871213
Abstract
We compared the performance of a low-cost (∼$500), compact optical particle counter (OPC, OPC-N2, Alphasense) to another OPC (PAS-1.108, Grimm Technologies) and reference instruments. We measured the detection efficiency of the OPCs by size from 0.5 to 5 µm for monodispersed, polystyrene latex (PSL) spheres. We then compared number and mass concentrations measured with the OPCs to those measured with reference instruments for three aerosols: salt, welding fume, and Arizona road dust. The OPC-N2 detection efficiency was similar to the PAS-1.108 for particles larger than 0.8 µm (minimum of 79% at 1 µm and maximum of 101% at 3 µm). For 0.5-µm particles, the detection efficiency of the OPC-N2 was underestimated at 78%, whereas PAS-1.108 overestimated concentrations by 183%. The mass concentrations from the OPCs were linear (r ≥ 0.97) with those from the reference instruments for all aerosols, although the slope and intercept were different. The mass concentrations were overestimated for dust (OPC-N2, slope = 1.6; PAS-1.108, slope = 2.7) and underestimated for welding fume (OPC-N2, slope = 0.05; PAS-1.108, slope = 0.4). The coefficient of variation (CV, precision) for OPC-N2 for all experiments was between 4.2% and 16%. These findings suggest that, given site-specific calibrations, the OPC-N2 can provide number and mass concentrations similar to the PAS-1.108 for particles larger than 1 µm.
Copyright © 2016 American Association for Aerosol Research
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Evaluation of the Alphasense optical particle counter (OPC-N2) and the Grimm portable aerosol spectrometer (PAS-1.108)
- Creators
- Sinan Sousan - Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, University of IowaKirsten Koehler - Environmental Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public HealthLaura Hallett - Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, University of IowaThomas M Peters - Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, University of Iowa
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Aerosol science and technology, Vol.50(12), pp.1352-1365
- Publisher
- Taylor & Francis
- DOI
- 10.1080/02786826.2016.1232859
- PMID
- 28871213
- ISSN
- 0278-6826
- eISSN
- 1521-7388
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 12/01/2016
- Academic Unit
- Roy J. Carver Department of Biomedical Engineering; Occupational and Environmental Health
- Record Identifier
- 9983997336202771
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