Modification of the TSI 3081 differential mobility analyzer to include three monodisperse outlets: Comparison between experimental and theoretical performance

Differential mobility analyzers (DMAs) are widely used to determine the size of aerosol particles, and to probe their size-dependent physicochemical properties when two are employed in tandem. A limitation of tandem DMA (TDMA) systems is their long measuring cycle when the properties of more than one monodisperse population of particles need to be probed. In this work, we propose a simple modification of the classical cylindrical DMA by including three monodisperse-particle outlets in its central electrode (namely, the 3MO-DMA), with the objective of using it as the first DMA in TDMA systems for reducing their measuring cycle. The performance of the 3MO-DMA at different flow conditions was evaluated using laboratory-generated aerosol particles, and compared with theoretical predictions. The theory predicted accurately (i.e., within 3%) the geometric mean diameters of the three distinct populations, as well as the resolutions of the first and the third outlet, under all experimental conditions. For the second outlet, the resolution was 10% to 74% lower than that predicted theoretically depending on the sheath-to-aerosol flow ratio. Nevertheless, the geometric standard deviation of the monodisperse aerosol from all the outlets was less than 1.09, which is sufficient for using the 3MO-DMA designed and tested in this work as a first DMA to produce a monodisperse aerosol flow containing three distinct particle populations in TDMA systems.