Development of electric virtual impactor with variable sampling particle size range

Abstract An electric virtual impactor with a capability of sampling fine and ultrafine particles was developed and its performance was evaluated both numerically and experimentally. The electric virtual impactor was provided with metallic electrodes, to which electric voltage in the range of 75–9000 V was applied for creating an electric field within the virtual impactor. Particle electric mobility was utilized to sample ultrafine particles at the major outflow section, while particle inertia was employed to collect fine particles at the minor outflow section. Silver nanoparticles with known charge level and Arizona test dust were used to experimentally validate the performance of the electric virtual impactor. Numerical and experimental outcomes agreed well with each other. The upper cutoff size of the electric virtual impactor was fixed at about 2.6 μm, while the lower cutoff size varied from 7 nm to 110 nm depending on the applied electric voltage. As a result, the proposed electric virtual impactor was able to sample both fine and ultrafine particles of a desired particle size range.