Improvement of a High-volume Aerosol Particle Sampler for Collecting Submicron Particles through the Combined Use of a Cyclone with a Smoothened Inner Wall and a Circular Cone Attachment

A cyclone is an effective tool to facilitate the collection of aerosol particles without using filters, and in cell exposure studies is able to collect a sufficient amount of aerosol particles to evaluate their adverse health effect. In this study, we examined two different methods to improve the aerosol particle collection efficiency of a cyclone. The individual and combined effects of reducing the surface roughness of the inner wall of the cyclone and of using a circular cone attachment were tested. The collection efficiency of particles of diameter $0.2{\mu}m$ was improved by approximately 10% when using a cyclone with a smoothened inner wall (average roughness $Ra=0.08{\mu}m$) compared with the original cyclone ($Ra=5.1{\mu}m$). A circular cone attachment placed between the bottom section of the cyclone and the top section of a collection bottle, resulted in improved collection of smaller particles without the attachment. The 50% cutoff diameter of the modified cyclone (combined use of smoothened inner wall and attachment) was $0.23{\mu}m$ compared to $0.28{\mu}m$ in the original model. The combined use of these two techniques resulted in improved collection efficiency of aerosol particles.