Patent Grant
10760997
This application is a U.S. National Phase Application under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of International Patent Application No. PCT/FI2016/050772, filed Nov. 2, 2016, which claims the priority of Finnish Application No. 20155783, filed Nov. 2, 2015, which is incorporated by reference as if expressly set forth in its entirety herein.
The present invention relates to a process for measuring characteristics of a particle flow according to the preamble of claim 1. The present invention further relates to an apparatus, i.e. a sensor, for measuring characteristics of a particle flow according to the preamble of claim 9 and specifically to an apparatus allowing the removal of ultrafine particles from the particle stream.
There is a constant increase in the demand for real-time particle control. Especially the real-time exhaust control of combustion engines, such as vehicles, requires reliable and non-expensive particle monitoring. Requirement for particle control exists also e.g. in indoor air quality and outdoor monitoring or with air traffic safety. The particle amount is in most cases expressed as particle mass concentration, in mg/m3 or equivalent.
Various particle measurement devices are based on electrically charging particles and measuring the electrical current carried by such charged particles. One such prior art method and apparatus for measuring fine particles is described in document WO2009109688 A1, Pegasor Oy, Nov. 11, 2009. In this prior art method clean, essentially particle free, gas is supplied into the apparatus and directed as a main flow via an inlet chamber to an ejector provided inside the apparatus. The clean gas is further ionized before and during supplying it into the inlet chamber. The ionized clean gas may be preferably fed to the ejector at a sonic or close to sonic speed. The ionizing of the clean gas may be carried out for example using a corona charger. The inlet chamber is further provided with a sample inlet arranged in fluid communication with a channel or a space comprising aerosol having fine particles. The clean gas flow and the ejector together cause suction to the sample inlet such that a sample aerosol flow is formed from the duct or the space to the inlet chamber. The sample aerosol flow is thus provided as a side flow to the ejector. The ionized clean gas charges the particles. The charged particles may be further conducted back to the duct or space containing the aerosol. The fine particles of the aerosol sample are thus monitored by monitoring the electrical charge carried by the electrically charged particles. Free ions may further be removed using an ion trap.
A major problem in any particle measurement device which is based on electrically charging particles and measuring the electrical current carried by such charged particles is the conversion of the measured electrical current to actual characteristics of the particle flow, such as particle count, surface area or mass concentration. The conversion factor may be simply determined by calibrating a particle measurement device against a reference method. For example mass concentration is typically calibrated against gravimetric method, which accurately determines mass concentration. However, such calibration may change due to changes in the shape of particle size distribution curve, mean particle diameter, width of a lognormal particle size distribution curve, particle shape (usually expresses with fractal parameters) or particle density.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,812,306 B2, TSI, Incorporated, Oct. 12, 2010, describes an instrument for non-invasively measuring nanoparticle exposure includes a corona discharge element generating ions to effect unipolar diffusion charging of an aerosol, followed by an ion trap for removing excess ions and a portion of the charged particles with electrical mobilities above a threshold. Downstream, an electrically conductive HEPA filter or other collecting element accumulates the charged particles and provides the resultant current to an electrometer amplifier. The instrument is tunable to alter the electrometer amplifier output toward closer correspondence with a selected function describing particle behavior, e.g. nanoparticle deposition in a selected region of the respiratory system. Tuning entails adjusting voltages applied to one or more of the ion trap, the corona discharge element and the collecting element. Alternatively, tuning involves adjusting the aerosol flow rate, either directly or in comparison to the flow rate of a gas conducting the ions toward merger with the aerosol. The publication is focused on the measurement of particle concentrations in terms of surface area, as such accumulated or aggregate surface area are expected to provide more useful assessments of health risks due to nanoparticle exposure. The publication actually teaches that mass concentration measurements are not useful in indicating health effects and thus would not motivate person seeking for a solution on converting measured electrical current into mass concentration to examine the technique described in the publication.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,122,711 B2, Robert Bosch GmbH, Feb. 28, 2012, concerns a procedure to ascertain a concentration of sooty particles in an exhaust gas system of an internal combustion engine or a depletion of an emission control system of the internal combustion engine due to the loading of sooty particles, whereby the sooty particle concentration in the exhaust gas system is determined by means of a collecting particle sensor, which emits a sensor signal and whereby the depletion of the emission control system due to the loading of sooty particles is determined from the sooty particle concentration. The sensor signal is corrected by means of predetermined corrections with regard to a sensor temperature and/or an exhaust gas temperature and/or a flow velocity of the exhaust gas and/or a voltage applied at the particle sensor. Transverse sensibilities of the particle sensor can thereby be taken into account during the evaluation; and the determination of the accumulated loading of sooty particles and the determination of the sooty particle concentration in the exhaust gas system are improved. In the process, the sensor temperature enters into the correction to the extent that a temperature dependence of the electrical resistance of the loading of sooty particles is determined in a preparation phase and can be taken into account during the evaluation of the sensor signal. Although the procedure improves the mass concentration measurement, it involves extra components and is thus clumsy and costly.
Publication WO 2013/132154 A1 presents a prior art solution, where a stable elevated cut-off size of measured particles is utilized to improve the accuracy of the results when indicated as mass concentration. This kind of solution can give good results, if the size distribution of measured aerosol particles is situated in limited and known size range. For optimal results, the setting of the cut-off size should be pre-set to the optimal value for each measurement based on the assumed size range. Another limitation with this kind of solution is that it cannot improve the number-concentration value of measured result.
Thus the particle sensors of the prior art possess the technical problem of the electrical current signal vs. characteristics of particles in the particle flow being sensitive to external conditions. There is need for a sensor which can measure or monitor particle characteristics even when the particle mean diameter is changing. Especially advantageous would be the improvement in the accuracy of both number and mass concentrations without presumptions of the particle size range.
The object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus so as to overcome or at least alleviate the prior art disadvantages. The objects of the present invention are achieved with a process according to the characterizing portion of claim 1. The objects of the present invention are also achieved with an apparatus according to the characterizing portion of claim 9.
The preferred embodiments of the invention are disclosed in the dependent claims.
The inventor has surprisingly found a process which will solve the prior art problems described above. The invented process is based on decreasing the current signal generated by charged particles by trapping a fraction of the charged particles. The trapping is performed with at least two different cut-off diameters of the trap. One of the cut-off diameters is a reference cut-off diameter and the other is a measuring cut-off diameter. The measuring cut-off diameter is adjusted dynamically, meaning changing the cut-off diameter at least between successive measurement cycles or even continuously during a measurement cycle, based on the current signals generated by the charged particles. Such a process leads to significant improvement in reducing the measurement error generated by changing count median diameter (CMD) of particles under measurement. A change in CMD causes a change in the current signal caused by the measuring cut-off diameter thus causing a change in the measuring cut-off diameter.
The electrical current carried by charged particles depends on the particle size distribution of the measured particles. Lognormal particle size distribution has been found to apply to most single-source aerosols such as e.g. combustion engine or stack emission aerosols. The lognormal distribution is used extensively for aerosol size distributions because it fits the observed size distributions reasonably well, which is obvious as such for a person skilled in the art. The lognormal distribution can be characterized with the median particle diameter, which is different for number concentration and mass concentration, the median particle diameter for number concentration being smaller than the median particle diameter for mass concentration. Particle mass depends also on particle density and particle shape, which is frequently characterized by fractal dimensions. The fractal dimensions are well known for a person skilled in the art and are described e.g. in William C. Hinds, Aerosol Technology—Properties, Behavior, and Measurement of Airborne Particles, 2nd edition, Jonhn Wiley & Sons, 1999, pages 408-412 and in Maricq and Wu, The effective density and fractal dimensions of soot particles from premixed flames and motor vehicle exhaust, Aerosol Science 35 (2004), pp. 1251-1274. With single-source aerosols the changes in the conditions affecting particle formation mainly change the median diameter, other parameters affecting particle charging remaining essentially persistent.
The invented process for measurement of particle characteristics comprises guiding sample flow Q comprising particles through a passage, electrically charging particles and measuring the electrical current carried by said charged particles. The invented process further comprises trapping essentially all free ions and a particles P with diameter smaller than cut-off diameter DC-O with trapping means, such as a particle trap, by adjusting trap cut-off diameter to measuring cut-off diameter Dtrap resulting a measured electrical current Itrap which is measured, and adjusting the cut-off diameter to reference level Dref trapping essentially all free ions only resulting a reference electrical current Iref which is measured. The cut-off diameter Dtrap is adjusted based on the measured electrical current Itrap and the reference electrical current Iref so that the cut-off diameter Dtrap can be set near the count median diameter and finally converting the measured electrical current signal Itrap to a specific particle characteristics value, such as particle count, surface area, mass concentration, particle size distribution or some other metric of interest. The described embodiments focus on determining mass concentration of a particle flow but the same apparatus and process can be used to determine other particle characteristics as well.
Particle measurement, which includes particle charging and measurement of the electrical charge carried by charged particles requires that the free ions, i.e. ions which are not attached to particles, are removed. The design of an ion trap used to remove the free ions can be carried out either by calculations or by experiments. Ion trapping is based on the electrical mobility of charged particles, Zp=n e Cc/3 π η Dp, where Zp=Electrical mobility, n=Number of charges on the particle, e=Elementary charge, Cc=Cunningham slip correction, η=Dynamic viscosity of air and Dp=Radius of particle. As essentially all free ions need to be removed, the ion trap is typically designed to trap also ultrafine charged particles, which—due to their low concentration and mass—do not essentially affect the number or mass concentration measurement. A typical design of an electrical ion trap would have a particle cut-off diameter of 4 nm, i.e. it removes all charged particles having a diameter of 4 nm or less.
The conversion factor which is used to convert the measured electrical current, usually expressed in fA to mass concentration value, usually expressed in mg/m3, depends on the mechanism of particle formation. Within similar single-source particles, the conversion factor depends mainly on the median particle diameter. Thus the conversion factor should be changed as the median particle diameter changes to acquire a reliable current-to-mass concentration conversion. However, as the changes in the median particle diameter are not known, such conversion factor adjustment cannot be made. For a well-known particle source, such as for particle formation within combustion engines, the changes in the median diameter as a function of a second-grade parameter, such as e.g. combustion engine torque could be determined. Information in the change of the second-grade parameter (such as engine torque) could then be used to adjust the conversion factor. Such operations are, however, clumsy and expensive.
Surprisingly the inventor has found that the sensitivity of the correlation factor to the changes of the median diameter can be significantly reduced by dynamically adjusting the trap voltage with changing count median diameter. The adjusting can be realized by constantly or intermittently comparing the measured electric current Iref when essentially all free ions are 15 only trapped (i.e. particle cut-off diameter around 4 nm) and the electric current Itrap when free ions and charged particles having diameter below the particle cut-off diameter of the particle trap are trapped. A higher cut-off diameter Dtrap which also traps particles produces a smaller measured electrical current Itrap for a sample flow Q than the electrical current Iref measured for the same 20 sample flow but using a lower cut-off diameter Dref which removes essentially all free ions only. The Itrap/Iref ratio can be calculated after each measurement and maintained essentially constant by adjusting cut-off diameter Dtrap as the count median diameter varies in the sample flow Q. Therefore, the measuring and comparing of the reference electric current Iref and the measuring electric 25 current Itrap is repeated one or more times for setting the cut-off diameter Dtrap near the count median diameter (CMD).
According to the above mentioned the process for measurement of particle characteristics may comprise:
a) guiding a sample flow Q comprising particles P, P*, with a count median diameter of CMD and a certain particle size distribution, through a passage (2);
b) electrically charging particles P, P*;
c) measuring the electrical current carried by said charged particles;
d) trapping essentially all free ions and charged particles having particle diameter smaller than trap cut-off diameter Dc-o, the cut-off diameter Dc-o being the particle diameter above which penetration through the trapping means essentially deviates from zero;
e) adjusting the trapping means to adjust the trap cut-off diameter Dc-o based on measured electrical current carried by said charged particles;
f) adjusting the cut-off diameter of the trapping means to a reference cut-off diameter Dref and to a measuring cut-off diameter Dtrap resulting a reference electrical current Iref and a measured electrical current Itrap carried by said charged particles;
g) comparing the reference electric current Iref and the measuring electric current Itrap;
h) dynamically adjusting the measuring cut-off diameter Dtrap based on the comparing of the reference electrical current Iref and the measuring electrical current Itrap.
The particle trap can be implemented by using known particle trap designs. An example of a suitable particle trap is a voltage trap having a trap voltage applied and thus creating an electric field between plates or other conductive electrodes of the voltage trap. Some of the particles of the particle flow Q are trapped from the flow as the particle flow passes through the electric field. The cut-off diameter of the voltage trap can be adjusted by adjusting the electric field created by the voltage trap. The electric field in turn can be adjusted by changing the voltage applied on the plates of the voltage trap. In this case Dref is achieved by adjusting the trap voltage to reference voltage Vref and Dtrap is achieved by adjusting the trap voltage to measuring voltage Vtrap. Another way is to change the dimensions of the voltage trap, for example by moving the plates closer to each other or further away from each other.
Another example of a suitable particle trap is of a diffusion type which typically comprises diffusion trap, such as a coarse filter, followed by a dense particle filter. Some of the particles of the particle flow Q are trapped from the flow as the particle flow passes through the diffusion trap. The cut-off diameter of the diffusion trap can be adjusted by adjusting the period of time that the particles of the flow travel through the diffusion trap. A shorter time period results lower cut-off diameter than a longer time period. The cut-off diameter can thus be adjusted by altering speed of the particle flow through the diffusion trap, for example by adjusting the speed of particle flow or by introducing an adjustable purge flow, i.e. a sheath flow, of particle-free gas, such as clean air, prior to the diffusion trap in the direction of the particle flow. Thus Dref can be achieved by adjusting the speed of the particle flow directly or by introducing and adjusting the purge flow to the particle flow so that the particle flow travels at reference flow Qref and Dtrap is achieved by adjusting the flow speed to measuring flow Qtrap.
In an embodiment comprising a voltage trap the process for measurement of particle characteristics comprises guiding sample flow Q comprising particles through a passage, electrically charging particles and measuring the electrical current carried by said charged particles. The invented process further comprises trapping essentially all free ions and a particles P with diameter smaller than cut-off diameter by an electrical field with trapping means by adjusting trap voltage to Vtrap resulting an electrical current Itrap which is measured, and adjusting the trap voltage to Vref trapping essentially all free ions only resulting an electrical current Iref which is measured. The trapping voltage Vtrap is adjusted based on the measured electrical currents Itrap and Iref so that the cut-off diameter Dtrap can be set near the count median diameter and finally converting the electrical current signal Itrap to a specific particle characteristics value, such as particle count, surface area, mass concentration, particle size distribution or some other metric of interest. The described embodiments focus on determining mass concentration of a particle flow but other particle characteristics can be determined as well using the same device and method.
In an embodiment comprising a diffusion trap, the process for measurement of particle characteristics comprises guiding sample flow Q comprising particles through a passage, electrically charging particles and measuring the electrical current carried by said charged particles. The invented process further comprises trapping essentially all free ions and a particles P with diameter smaller than cut-off diameter by a diffusion trap with trapping means by adjusting the flow prior to the diffusion trap to Qtrap resulting an electrical current Itrap which is measured at particle filter following the diffusion trap, and adjusting the flow to Qref trapping essentially all free ions only resulting an electrical current Iref which is measured at particle filter or by combining currents of diffusion trap and particle filter. The flow Qtrap is adjusted based on the measured electrical currents Itrap and Iref so that the cut-off diameter Dtrap can be set near the count median diameter and finally converting the electrical current signal Itrap to a specific particle characteristics value, such as particle count, surface area, mass concentration, particle size distribution or some other metric of interest. The described embodiments focus on determining mass concentration of a particle flow but other particle characteristics can be determined as well using the same device and method.
In an embodiment the two electrical currents resulting from the two trap voltages can be measured from two voltage traps where a first trap has trap voltage Vref and a second trap has trap voltage Vtrap which is adjusted based on the current ratio. The first and second voltage traps voltage traps can be arranged in cascade or in parallel and having the electrical current measurement arranged after each voltage trap. This arrangement allows continuous monitoring of the current ratio and thus a continuous adjusting is possible.
In an embodiment also a single voltage trap and measurement arrangement can be used if the trap voltage is altered between Vref and Vtrap in cycles. One or more measurement voltages Vtrap can be used. There is a finite setting time for the current measurement after the trap voltage is adjusted and therefore the adjustment is intermittent when only one voltage trap is used and the trap voltage is alternating. The trap voltage may be switched between Vref and one or more Vtrap voltages every few seconds, for example every three seconds or within a range from 10 milliseconds to 100 seconds. The CMD of a particle flow typically changes slower than that.
The trap voltage Vtrap is advantageously adjusted in such a way that the measured ratio of electrical currents Itrap/Iref is preferably between 0.3 and 0.7 smaller and even more preferably between 0.4 and 0.6 and most preferably about 0.5. When the ratio is about 0.5 the cut-off diameter of the voltage trap is typically about the same as the count median diameter of the particle flow Q.
Shape or width of the particle size distribution is the second most important factor after the count median diameter when calculating the particle mass concentration value. In an embodiment the particle size distribution is approximated by calculation derivative of the measured ratio of electrical currents Itrap/Iref with respect to trap voltage near the ratio 0.5. The trap voltage Vtrap can be deviated from the value that results the ratio 0.5 or the values that were measured before the ratio reached 0.5 can be used. For example a measuring cycle with the ratio changing from 0.3 to 0.7 in a number of steps can be carried out and the width of the particle size distribution can be approximated from the results.
In an embodiment the trap voltage Vtrap can be dynamically adjusted so that it sets and maintains the trap cut-off diameter Dc-o on a desired position on a curve representing the particle size distribution or the electrical current response of the particle size distribution curve. Advantageously the trap cut-off diameter Dc-o is adjusted to inflexion point at the curve representing Itrap as a function of Vtrap. The inflexion point can be found for example by analyzing distortion of a constantly modulated signal. The even harmonics of the distortion go to zero at the inflexion point and this can be detected for example by monitoring second order harmonics of Iref and correlating it with Itrap. This enables use of smaller deviation than the method where ratio of currents is driven to about 0.5 so a higher frequency can be used. Another advantage is that the deviation between trap voltages and resulting electrical currents can be used in approximating the width of the particle size distribution.
It is to be noted that as the electrical current is mainly carried by small particles whose count is larger than the count of large particles where most of the particle mass is, the influence of reducing the current signal does not as much affect the amount of particle mass flowing through the measurement passage. Thus the trap voltage can be preferably adjusted to a value where the trap cut-off diameter Dc-o is essentially equal to the count median diameter (CMD) of particles in sample flow Q. Essentially in this case means e.g. that the ratio of electrical currents Itrap/Iref is preferably between 0.3 and 0.7. An advantage of the process and arrangement is that the count median diameter can be ignored when setting up the apparatus. The process will guide the apparatus to an optimal operating point soon after starting by comparing the ratio of electrical currents resulting from the initial trap voltage values and adjusting Vtrap accordingly.
In the following the invention will be described in greater detail, in connection with preferred embodiments, with reference to the attached drawings, in which
In the apparatus 1 the trapping means 13 for trapping essentially all free ions 11 and charged particles 12 having particle diameter smaller than trap cut-off diameter Dc-o, the cut-off diameter Dc-o being the particle diameter above which penetration through the trapping means 13 essentially deviates from zero, are connected to the control means 15 for adjusting the trapping means 13 to adjust the trap cut-off diameter Dc-o. It is essential to the present invention that the trapping means 13 are adjusted to cut-off diameter Dtrap, which is significantly higher than the diameter of the essentially free ions, i.e. trapping means 13 remove a significant amount of charged particles from particle flow Q and that the trapping means 13 are adjusted to cut-off diameter Dref, which is about the same as the diameter of the essentially free ions. By analyzing the electric currents carried by the charged particles that penetrate the trap and/or are captured by the trap the higher cut-off diameter Dtrap can be adjusted to a value which facilitates measuring of particle characteristics of interest. For example, when measuring mass concentration of particles, the cut-off diameter Dtrap can be adjusted to essentially match the count median diameter of the particles in the particle flow Q. Preferably apparatus 1 comprises means 18 for converting the electrical current signal to particle mass concentration value.
In an embodiment wherein the apparatus comprises a voltage trap it has been found advantageous to be able to adjust the trap voltage during normal operation of apparatus 1. Thus in one embodiment of the present invention apparatus 1 comprises means 19 for controlling the control means 15 for adjusting the trapping means 13 on the basis of the output of the means 16,17 for measuring the electrical current carried by said charged particles 12, 12*. In such embodiment of the present invention the trap voltage is adjusted during the measurement. First the control means 15 for adjusting the trapping means 13 set the trap voltage to a value which ensures the removal of essentially all free ions 11, e.g. the trap voltage is set to reference voltage value Vref which corresponds to particle cut-off diameter Dref of around 4 nm or less. The current Iref carried by charged particles 12, 12* is measured using current measurement means 16, 17. Then the means 19 for controlling the control means 15 for adjusting trapping means 13 increase trap voltage to a higher level Vtrap and the current Itrap measured by means for current measurement 16, 17 is smaller than Iref because the higher trap voltage Vtrap traps not only free ions but also particles from the sample flow Q and thus lowers the measured current. This trap voltage Vtrap is the measuring voltage which is used in actual mass concentration measurements. Vtrap can be controlled so that the particle cut-off diameter Dtrap is about the same as count median diameter. With such trap voltage the sensitivity of the current/mass conversion to changes of median particle diameter is significantly reduced. One or more Vtrap values can be used. For example alternating Vtrap to lower and higher than said voltage resulting Dtrap near the CMD produces also information about the distribution of particle diameter in the particle flow Q. For example the particle diameter distribution is broad if said lower and higher Vtrap voltages result only a minor change in electrical current Itrap compared to a situation where the same change in voltage Vtrap results a major change in Itrap.
Similarly, in an embodiment wherein the apparatus comprises a diffusion trap it has been found advantageous to be able to adjust the flow during normal operation of apparatus 1. Thus in one embodiment of the present invention apparatus 1 comprises means 19 for controlling the means 15 for adjusting the trapping means 13 on the basis of the output of the means 16,17 for measuring the electrical current carried by said charged particles 12, 12*. In such embodiment of the present invention the flow is adjusted during the measurement. First the control means 15 for adjusting the trapping means 13 set the flow to a value which ensures the removal of essentially all free ions 11, e.g. the flow is set to reference flow value Qref which corresponds to particle cut-off diameter Dref of around 4 nm or less. The current Iref carried by charged particles 12, 12* is measured using current measurement means 16, 17. Then the means 19 for controlling the control means 15 for adjusting trapping means 13 increase flow to a higher level Qtrap and the current Itrap measured by means for current measurement 16, 17 is smaller than Iref because the higher flow Qtrap traps not only free ions but also particles from the sample flow Q and thus lowers the measured current. This flow Qtrap is the measuring flow which is used in actual mass concentration measurements. Qtrap can be controlled so that the particle cut-off diameter Dtrap is about the same as count median diameter. With such flow the sensitivity of the current/mass conversion to changes of median particle diameter is significantly reduced. One or more Qtrap values can be used. For example alternating Qtrap to lower and higher than said flow resulting Dtrap near the CMD produces also information about the distribution of particle diameter in the particle flow Q. For example the particle diameter distribution is broad if said lower and higher Qtrap values result only a minor change in electrical current Itrap compared to a situation where the same change in flow Qtrap results a major change in Itrap. An ion trap for capturing free ions and smallest particles can be used between the means 7, 8 for electrically charging particles P, P* and the diffusion trap. Said ion trap can be a voltage trap.
Similarly, the principles of other embodiments comprising a voltage trap can be implemented with a diffusion trap by replacing voltages Vref, Vtrap of a voltage trap by flows Qref, Qtrap introduced into the passage 2 prior to the diffusion trap. The voltage adjustment and the flow adjustment both have a similar effect of changing the cut-off diameter of the particle trap. Therefore in the following embodiments concerning use of a voltage trap, the voltage trap and voltages can be substituted with a diffusion trap and flows with minor or no changes in operation principle of the apparatus. Thus to avoid unnecessary repetition and for the sake of consistency, the embodiments have been described concerning the voltage trap.
In an embodiment Vtrap is controlled by targeting ratio S to a desired reference value Sref, wherein S=Itrap/Iref and Sref is between 0.3 to 0.7 and preferably 0.5 which results the particle cut-off diameter Dtrap to be about the same as median particle diameter. The measuring voltage Vtrap is adjusted until Sref is reached. The initial value of Vtrap can be a fixed value, a guess or same as Vref. The next value can be calculated for example from equation
Vtrap+1=Vtrap−k*(S−Sref)*dt/tau,
where Vtrap+1 is the next value, Vtrap is the current trap voltage, k is a steepness coefficient, S is the current ratio, dt is a sampling period and tau is a time constant. When Vtrap reaches a value where S=Sref the count median diameter can be approximated with CMD=f(Vtrap)=a*Vtrap+b, where a and b and calibration factors.
In an embodiment reference electrical current Iref results from reference voltage Vref of a first voltage trap. Measuring electrical current Itrap results from measuring voltage Vtrap of a second voltage trap. The measuring voltage Vtrap is adjusted based on ratio S of said electrical currents which are measured with measuring means after each voltage trap. The first and second voltage traps voltage traps can be arranged in cascade so that the particle flow Q travels first through the voltage trap having reference voltage and the through the voltage trap having measuring voltage. The first and second voltage traps voltage traps can also be arranged in parallel so that the particle flow Q is divided into the two voltage traps. The cascade and parallel arrangements allow for continuous monitoring of the current ratio and thus a continuous adjusting is possible. In an embodiment also a single voltage trap and measurement arrangement can be used if the trap voltage is altered between Vref and Vtrap in cycles. Therefore the adjustment is carried out in iterating manner and/or the adjusting is repeated one or more times.
Shape or width of the particle size distribution is the second most important factor after the count median diameter when calculating the particle mass concentration value. In an embodiment the particle size distribution is approximated by calculating derivative dS/dVtrap in the vicinity of S=0.5. The trap voltage Vtrap can be adjusted e.g. in order to reach values 0.3; 0.4; 0.5; 0.6 and 0.7 for S. Also the measurements which were made before the ratio S reached 0.5 can be used. The width of the particle size distribution can be approximated from the results and calibration factors a and b can be determined for CMD=a*Vtrap+b.
In an embodiment the trap voltage Vtrap can be dynamically adjusted so that it sets and maintains the trap cut-off diameter Dtrap on a desired position on a curve representing the particle size distribution or the electrical current response of the particle size distribution curve. Advantageously the trap cut-off diameter Dtrap is adjusted to inflexion point at the curve representing Itrap as a function of Vtrap, where the trap cut-off diameter Dtrap essentially matches the count median diameter. The inflexion point can be found for example by analyzing distortion of a continuously modulated signal.
An aspect of the invention is a process for particle mass concentration measurement. The method comprises guiding sample flow Q comprising particles P, P*, with a count median diameter of CMD and a certain particle size distribution, through a passage 2 and electrically charging particles P, P*. The process also comprises measuring the electrical current carried by said charged particles 12, 12*, trapping essentially all free ions 11 and charged particles 12 having particle diameter smaller than trap cut-off diameter Dc-o, the cut-off diameter Dc-o being the particle diameter above which penetration through the trapping means 13 essentially deviates from zero and adjusting the trapping means 13 to adjust the trap cut-off diameter Dc-o based on measured electrical current carried by said charged particles 12, 12*. The process further comprises adjusting a trap voltage of the trapping means 13 to a reference cut-off diameter Dref and to a measuring cut-off diameter Dtrap resulting a reference electrical current Iref and a measuring electrical current Itrap carried by said charged particles 12, 12*, and dynamically adjusting the measuring cut-off diameter based on the measurements of the reference electrical current Iref and the measuring electrical current Itrap.
In an embodiment the process further comprises adjusting of the cut-off diameter and alternating the cut-off diameter between a reference cut-off diameter Dref and at least one measuring cut-off diameter Dtrap resulting a reference electrical current Iref and at least one measuring electrical current Itrap carried by said charged particles 12, 12*.
In an embodiment the process further comprises adjusting a trap voltage of the trapping means 13 to a reference voltage Vref and to a measuring voltage Vtrap resulting a reference electrical current Iref and a measuring electrical current Itrap carried by said charged particles 12, 12*, and dynamically adjusting the measuring voltage based on the measurements of the reference electrical current and the measuring electrical current, wherein the trapping means comprises a voltage trap.
In an embodiment the process further comprises adjusting a flow of the trapping means 13 to a reference flow Qref and to a measuring flow Qtrap resulting a reference electrical current Iref and a measuring electrical current Itrap carried by said charged particles 12, 12*, and dynamically adjusting the measuring flow based on the measurements of the reference electrical current and the measuring electrical current, wherein the trapping means comprises a diffusion trap.
In an embodiment the process further comprises adjusting cut-off diameter to occasionally deviate the measuring cut-off diameter from the level which results said desired ratio, and estimating the particle size distribution based on derivative of said ratio with respect to the measuring cut-off diameter.
In an embodiment the process further comprises dynamically adjusting the measuring cut-off diameter for setting and maintaining the trap cut-off diameter Dtrap on a desired position on a curve representing the particle size distribution.
In an embodiment the adjusting of the flow of the trapping means 13 comprises adjusting a purge flow of particle free gas prior to the diffusion trap for adjusting the flow. The purge flow is introduced to the particle flow Q for increasing the speed of the particles in the flow which then changes the cut-off diameter of the diffusion trap.
It is apparent to a person skilled in the art that as technology advances, the basic idea of the invention can be implemented in various ways. The invention and its embodiments are therefore not restricted to the above examples, but they may vary within the scope of the claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20155783 | Nov 2015 | FI | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/FI2016/050772 | 11/2/2016 | WO | 00 |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2017/077190 | 5/11/2017 | WO | A |
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| Number | Date | Country |
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| 202014007548 | Dec 2014 | DE |
| 2853882 | Apr 2015 | EP |
| WO 2004027394 | Apr 2004 | WO |
| WO 2004113904 | Dec 2004 | WO |
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20180238777 A1 | Aug 2018 | US |
