Development of a continuous aerosol mass concentration measurement device.

A dynamic aerosol mass concentration measurement device has been developed for personal sampling. Its principle consists in sampling the aerosol on a filter and monitoring the change of pressure drop over time (Delta P). Ensuring that the linearity of the Delta P = f(mass of particles per unit area of filter) relationship has been well established, the change of concentration can be deduced. The response of the system was validated in the laboratory with a 3.5 microm alumina aerosol (mass median diameter) generated inside a 1-m(3) ventilated enclosure. As the theory predicted that the mass sensitivity of the system would vary inversely with the square of the particle diameter, only sufficiently fine aerosols were able to be measured. The system was tested in the field in a mechanical workshop in the vicinity of an arc-welding station. The aerosol produced by welding is indeed particularly well-adapted due to the sub-micronic size of the particles. The device developed, despite this limitation, has numerous advantages over other techniques: robustness, compactness, reliability of calibration, and ease of use.