A sheathed virtual impactor – microseparator for improved separation of sub- and supercritical sized particles
In the separation process of airborne microbial particles, a typical virtual impactor with sheath flow is effective to lower the critical diameter and minimize wall loss. However, a considerable fraction of undesired subcritical particles smaller than the critical diameter are gathered in the minor...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2022
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/163909 |
| _version_ | 1811691803709014016 |
|---|---|
| author | Wang, Pan Yuan, Shouqi Oppong, Paul Kwabena Yang, Ning |
| author2 | School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering |
| author_facet | School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Wang, Pan Yuan, Shouqi Oppong, Paul Kwabena Yang, Ning |
| author_sort | Wang, Pan |
| collection | NTU |
| description | In the separation process of airborne microbial particles, a typical virtual impactor with sheath flow is effective to lower the critical diameter and minimize wall loss. However, a considerable fraction of undesired subcritical particles smaller than the critical diameter are gathered in the minor flow. To address this issue, this article presents a novel microseparator to reduce subcritical particle content while preserving the typical virtual impactor's advantages. The microseparator made of a microfluidic chip adopts a core-aerosol-sheath configuration in which the core and sheath flows raised from clean airflow confine the distribution of microparticles in the aerosol flow towards the core region of the microchannel but away from the center axis. Such configuration effectively decreases the subcritical particle content in the minor flow. The improvement of the proposed microseparator is quantified by comparing the performance with the typical virtual impactor numerically and experimentally at the same critical diameter. At the critical diameters of 0.35 μm, 0.42 μm, 0.52 μm, and 0.6 μm, we find that, firstly, the ratios of subcritical particle content to total particle content (Csp) of our device are 5.24%, 4.74%, 12.34%, and 7.76% smaller than those of typical virtual impactor, respectively. Secondly, the corresponding reduction ratios of subcritical particle (Rsp) of our device are 25.87%, 21.20%, 40.31%, and 33.92%. Lastly, the maximum wall loss of the proposed microseparator in the collection probe is slightly smaller than the typical one, while the operation range of minor flow is enlarged with the premise of maintaining low subcritical particle collection efficiency. |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T06:25:42Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | ntu-10356/163909 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T06:25:42Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1639092022-12-21T08:28:00Z A sheathed virtual impactor – microseparator for improved separation of sub- and supercritical sized particles Wang, Pan Yuan, Shouqi Oppong, Paul Kwabena Yang, Ning School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Engineering::Mechanical engineering Virtual Impactor Subcritical Particle Content In the separation process of airborne microbial particles, a typical virtual impactor with sheath flow is effective to lower the critical diameter and minimize wall loss. However, a considerable fraction of undesired subcritical particles smaller than the critical diameter are gathered in the minor flow. To address this issue, this article presents a novel microseparator to reduce subcritical particle content while preserving the typical virtual impactor's advantages. The microseparator made of a microfluidic chip adopts a core-aerosol-sheath configuration in which the core and sheath flows raised from clean airflow confine the distribution of microparticles in the aerosol flow towards the core region of the microchannel but away from the center axis. Such configuration effectively decreases the subcritical particle content in the minor flow. The improvement of the proposed microseparator is quantified by comparing the performance with the typical virtual impactor numerically and experimentally at the same critical diameter. At the critical diameters of 0.35 μm, 0.42 μm, 0.52 μm, and 0.6 μm, we find that, firstly, the ratios of subcritical particle content to total particle content (Csp) of our device are 5.24%, 4.74%, 12.34%, and 7.76% smaller than those of typical virtual impactor, respectively. Secondly, the corresponding reduction ratios of subcritical particle (Rsp) of our device are 25.87%, 21.20%, 40.31%, and 33.92%. Lastly, the maximum wall loss of the proposed microseparator in the collection probe is slightly smaller than the typical one, while the operation range of minor flow is enlarged with the premise of maintaining low subcritical particle collection efficiency. This research was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China [grant numbers 2020YFC1512403], the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant numbers 32171895], Jiangsu Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Fund [grant numbers CX (18)3043], Key research and development project of modern agriculture in Zhenjiang City [grant numbers NY2019013]. 2022-12-21T08:28:00Z 2022-12-21T08:28:00Z 2022 Journal Article Wang, P., Yuan, S., Oppong, P. K. & Yang, N. (2022). A sheathed virtual impactor – microseparator for improved separation of sub- and supercritical sized particles. Journal of Aerosol Science, 164, 105999-. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaerosci.2022.105999 0021-8502 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/163909 10.1016/j.jaerosci.2022.105999 2-s2.0-85129286398 164 105999 en Journal of Aerosol Science © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. |
| spellingShingle | Engineering::Mechanical engineering Virtual Impactor Subcritical Particle Content Wang, Pan Yuan, Shouqi Oppong, Paul Kwabena Yang, Ning A sheathed virtual impactor – microseparator for improved separation of sub- and supercritical sized particles |
| title | A sheathed virtual impactor – microseparator for improved separation of sub- and supercritical sized particles |
| title_full | A sheathed virtual impactor – microseparator for improved separation of sub- and supercritical sized particles |
| title_fullStr | A sheathed virtual impactor – microseparator for improved separation of sub- and supercritical sized particles |
| title_full_unstemmed | A sheathed virtual impactor – microseparator for improved separation of sub- and supercritical sized particles |
| title_short | A sheathed virtual impactor – microseparator for improved separation of sub- and supercritical sized particles |
| title_sort | sheathed virtual impactor microseparator for improved separation of sub and supercritical sized particles |
| topic | Engineering::Mechanical engineering Virtual Impactor Subcritical Particle Content |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/163909 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT wangpan asheathedvirtualimpactormicroseparatorforimprovedseparationofsubandsupercriticalsizedparticles AT yuanshouqi asheathedvirtualimpactormicroseparatorforimprovedseparationofsubandsupercriticalsizedparticles AT oppongpaulkwabena asheathedvirtualimpactormicroseparatorforimprovedseparationofsubandsupercriticalsizedparticles AT yangning asheathedvirtualimpactormicroseparatorforimprovedseparationofsubandsupercriticalsizedparticles AT wangpan sheathedvirtualimpactormicroseparatorforimprovedseparationofsubandsupercriticalsizedparticles AT yuanshouqi sheathedvirtualimpactormicroseparatorforimprovedseparationofsubandsupercriticalsizedparticles AT oppongpaulkwabena sheathedvirtualimpactormicroseparatorforimprovedseparationofsubandsupercriticalsizedparticles AT yangning sheathedvirtualimpactormicroseparatorforimprovedseparationofsubandsupercriticalsizedparticles |