Particle Measuring

System
BATCH - 4
Need for designing a particle
measuring system/sensor.

Entire world is now at a risk on counts of health and normal survivability due to hazards arising
out of biological, chemical and radiation particles. These particles are also transmitted very
easily and can affect people all around the globe. Therefore, measurement of certain selective
particles are needed to deal with them. The quality/concentration of particles/pollutants is
needed to be determined from a specific collected ‘sample’.
Stages of Particle Measuring
System
Monitoring the particle mainly involves the following three steps –
1. Collection of sample representative enough of the environmental pollution content.
2. Pre-treatment of the sample using extraction, separation and so on, and
3. Analysis for identification and quantification on analytic pollutant in sample and expressing it
in proper level of concentration.

All of the above stages vary depending on the type of sample, time and situation.
Different types of particles that
need to be measured -
1. Radiation Particles
They are subdivided on the basis of ionization principle, namely – ionizing and nonionizing.
Ionizing radiation includes alpha-particles, beta-particles, X-rays, neutrons, gamma-rays which are
capable of biological mutation. Nonionizing radiation include IR, UV, radio wave and microwave,
and extremely low frequency (ELF) (within 300 Hz) radiation. Exposure of these radiations over
long periods is also hazardous while IR radiation is known to cause injury to ophthalmic organs
such as cornea, retina (wavelength<320nm), and to a certain extent skin (760nm < wavelength <
1400nm). UV radiation is known to damage skin (cancerous), sunburn (erythema) and ocular
organs. Radio and microwave exposure may lead to cardiovascular nervous and haematopoietic
functions. ELF causes disharmony in reproductive system including cancer.
2. Biological Particles

Biological hazards cause physiological and psychological diseases which are well know by now.
Therefore there is an urgent need to sense, identify, measure and deal with the harmful
biological particles. Examples of biological particles are viruses, bacteria, pathogens and so on.

3. Chemical Particles
Chemical particles affect water, air, and soil leading to long term biological afflictions. Chemical
particles includes carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide etc whose excess
concentration causes various problems, therefore they need to be controlled at any cost.
Different techniques involved to
measure particle size and
concentration -
For ionizing radiation, different sensors are used depending on the characteristics of ionization.
For low penetration, alpha-particles (He++) ionization and proportional counters are
recommended, scintillation detectors using ZnS as scintillators are also used. Semiconductor
detectors have also begun to be used lately.
For Beta-particles(e+,e-) which are slightly more penetrating than Alpha-particles, Geiger
counters such as proportional counters. Scintillation counters with solid and liquid scintillators
are used besides semiconductor detectors.
Diffusion battery for particle
classification
Diffusion battery
The diffusion battery is used to classify particles into certain size ranges so that some type of
particle counter(such as the condensation nucleus type) can then be employed to measure
particle concentration(particles per cubic centimetre) for that size range. Particles from 0.005 to
0.02 micrometre are strongly affected by diffusion ( the random collisions with gas molecules)
wherein the particle travels an irregular path, with its position at any time depending on its most
recent collisions.
Condensation Nucleus Particle
Counter
Condensation nucleus-particle
counter
It measures the particles in the size range of 0.02 to 1.0 micrometre in concentrations from 10^-
12 to 10^7 particles/cm3. Rather than trying to measure the light scattered from the tiny
particles themselves, these instruments grow large droplets of m-butyl alcohol by condensation
from a vapor, using each particle as the nucleus for a droplet. The air sample to be measured is
drawn into the saturator tube by a vacuum pump, causing the air to be saturated with butanol
vapor. In the cooler condenser tube, vapor condenses on each particle, growing a butanol
droplet large enough to produce a distinct voltage pulse from the photodiode optical detector.
Detecting Radiation particles
Gamma rays and X-rays are even more penetrating radiations. These are sensed by NaI
scintillators. On the higher wavelength sides, sometimes Geiger-Muller and proportional
counters are used. Thermoluminiscent and semiconductor detectors are also being used in
increased numbers. Li-loaded thermolumiscent detectors and p-n junction diodes are used for
neutron radiation detectors. Gas-filled detectors using BF3 are also used for detecting X and
Gamma rays.
For sensing non-ionizing radiations thermopiles, bolometers, and diodes are used. Thermopiles
are used for microwave, the bolometers are used for radio-frequency, and the diodes are used
for ELF, whereas for detecting IR radiation bolometers, photoconductors, Schottky barrier diodes
and pyroelectric detectors are extensively used. For visible and UV radiations, photovoltaic cells,
photodiodes, thermocouples/thermopiles and Schottky diodes are used.
Detecting Biological particles

While biological polluting agents are very difficult to be sensed and quantify because of the
omnipresence of microorganisms in the environment, special culture and microscopic studies
have now become common. Counting colonies after culture in a prescribed medium is a
traditional practice though time consuming. In recent times, immunoassays can be performed
by microsensor implementation.
Detecting Chemical Particles
Air pollutants form a major group of identifiable and quantifiable parameters. These include
carbon Dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide etc. Besides suspended particles of duct
origin or air effluents such as carbon particles also harm ecology.
Sensing techniques vary with pollutants, their amount and state of occurrence. In many cases,
reaction with reagents suggests analysis processes which are purely chemical techniques. Some
of these techniques have been adopted in instrumental form. For example, many electroactive
pollutants such as Nitroxide, Hydrogen Sulphide etc. and so on are detected by amperometric or
potentiometric methods when appropriate sensing cells are developed with electrode catalysts
and membrane permeability. This technique can measure the presence of reactants upto
concentration of a hundred ppb.
Detecting Chemical Particles
Flame ionization and photoionization are commonly used for detection of
organic samples. Burning the sample in flame or photoionization with UV rays
produces ions which are stripped in the form of current. In gas, chromatographic
system flame ionization is quite extensively used for better selectivity.
Aerosol photometry is another sensing mechanism used for particulate
pollutants. Forward scattering that causes attenuation of incident radiation is
used for the purpose.
Spectrophotometry
Spectrophotometry
Spectrophotometry is extensively used in measurement and detection of pollutants in air and
water. Absorption spectrometry is used more of use than emission type. Absorption is
proportional to gas concentration and the wavelength ranges of the spectral medium change
with materials. Thus for nitrogen dioxide, visible range is quite common..
Piezobalance for particle mass
concentration sensing
Piezobalance for particle mass
concentration sensing
Measurements of such total mass concentrations are conveniently made with
another type of particle instrument, called the piezobalance. Here the aerosol
stream first impinges on an impactor which collects particles larger than 10um
while smaller particles pass on to an electrostatic precipitator. In the
precipitator, particles are first electrically charged and then attracted to the
surface of a vibrating piezoelectric crystal, where they accumulate, gradually
increasing the mass and lowering the frequency of crystal oscillation.
Batch - 4
RA1711004010355 Pratik
RA1711004010375 Himanshu
RA1711004010327 Aman
RA1711004010297 Amogh