Aerosol diffusion battery: The retrieval of particle size distribution with the help of analytical formulas

A new algorithm is proposed for the determination of aerosol particle size distribution from a set of screen diffusion battery penetrations. The idea is to determine the size spectra of the fractions of particles separated by the sections of diffusion battery, so the total size distribution is the sum of the spectra of fractions. The spectrum of each fraction is approximated by the lognormal function, which is defined by two parameters: the standard geometric deviation (SGD) and geometric mean diameter. The SGD value is chosen to be 1.35 for each fraction. The geometric mean diameters of fractions are calculated from the diffusion battery penetrations. For this purpose, analytical formulas are derived to link the mean single-fiber collection efficiency for each fraction with the experimentally measured penetrations. Then the mean diameters of fractions are calculated from the collection efficiencies using the fan model filtration theory. To achieve a better size resolution, numerical approach is proposed to calculate the particle size spectrum using the analytical solution as an initial approximation. The validity of the analytical and numerical solutions is investigated by comparing them with the spectra determined by means of transmission electron microscopy and gravity settling. For this purpose, the aerosol is generated using the evaporation-nucleation technique, Collison-type nebulizer, and hot-wire bulb generator. It is found that the analytical solution demonstrates a good sizing accuracy but relatively poor size resolution, while the numerical approach results in both good sizing accuracy and good size resolution for the two-mode aerosol. Copyright © 2018 American Association for Aerosol Research