A collection plate for a cascade impactor is provided that includes: a container; an absorbent layer including a bottom surface and a top surface, the absorbent layer residing within the container, the absorbent layer further including a liquid medium within the absorbent layer; and an impaction membrane placed on the top surface of the absorbent layer, such that the impaction membrane is in fluidic communication with the absorbent layer. The absorbent layer is configured to hydrate the impaction membrane for at least four hours in a temperature of about 78° F. at 37% RH. The collection plate may be utilized as a component in a cascade impactor and/or in a method of collecting a biological sample with a cascade impactor.

The invention relates to a sampling machine with multi-channel flow distributing structure, belongs to the particulate matters collecting technology field. The invention provides a simple structure and uses the aerodynamic principle to cut particulate matters by impact to avoid dust accumulation. The invention comprises, a cutting flow-distributing machine connected with inlet of the sampling machine, multi-channel collecting pipelines are connected to the bottom of the cutting flow-distributing machine, collecting pipelines are provided with a cutting machine, a membrane component, a flow controller and a sampling pump, the cutting flow-distributing machine comprises a casing, an impact pipe, an impact plate and a distributing pipe, the impact plate, the impact pipe and the distributing pipes are mounted inside, on the top and at the bottom of the casing respectively, the impact pipe and the distributing pipes are extend to the inside of the casing.

According to an example aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus, comprising: a channel for receiving gas; thermophoretic unit configured to create a temperature gradient in the channel, and a particle detector for detecting particles in the gas on the basis of particle landing positions in the channel.

A sensor for the continuous in-situ analysis of an aerosol flow for measuring the mass of the micron/submicron particles suspended in the air flow, including an aeraulic sorter allowing the particles to be sorted according to their size with an impactor body with a cascade of one or more stages; at least one MEMS microbalance per stage, with an oscillating silicon membrane located on the impaction zone of the particles; processor connected to each MEMS microbalance to determine the mass of all the particles on the impaction zone; a system for cleaning the MEMS microbalances allowing the evacuation of the particles from the MEMS microbalances; means for driving the aerosol flow.

An apparatus and method for testing dissolution properties of a drug, especially anti-inflammatory drugs administered by aerosol into the respiratory system. The apparatus shortens the time it takes for a drug to dissolve and thus provides for rapid testing of new drugs for quality control as well as for regulatory purposes. It is suitable for evaluating bioequivalence or to study the pharmacokinetics of drugs administered into the respiratory system. This method shortens dissolution times for testing a drug to about 10 and 20 minutes and thus provides for rapid testing.

An impactor, system and method for performing real-time measurements of particles in aerosol gases. The impactor comprises a plurality of cascading stages having impaction plates, mass-measurement mechanisms retained on the impaction plates, and a nozzle plate. A signal line associated with each of the plurality of cascading stages is configured to relay signals from the mass-measurement mechanism of the associated stage to a computer-based system configured to receive the transmitted signals from the signal lines, and to correlate changes in the resonant frequencies to particle concentrations in real time.

A sensor for the continuous in-situ analysis of an aerosol flow for measuring the mass of the micron/submicron particles suspended in the air flow, including an aeraulic sorter allowing the particles to be sorted according to their size with an impactor body with a cascade of one or more stages; at least one MEMS microbalance per stage, with an oscillating silicon membrane located on the impaction zone of the particles; processor connected to each MEMS microbalance to determine the mass of all the particles on the impaction zone; a system for cleaning the MEMS microbalances allowing the evacuation of the particles from the MEMS microbalances; means for driving the aerosol flow.

A portable sampler, the sampler including a sampler assembly having a housing that includes a receiver defined therein for interchangeably receiving a number of removable inlet assemblies, the removable inlet assemblies including a respirable inlet assembly and a thoracic inlet assembly. The respirable inlet assembly includes a hybrid cyclone assembly, the hybrid cyclone assembly including an impaction stage and a cyclone in series. The thoracic inlet assembly includes an inlet slot configured to function as a size-selective inlet. Another thoracic inlet assembly includes a housing having a number of openings configured to receive a sample airflow; an inlet insert through which an inlet aperture is defined; a prequalification chamber defined between a lower surface of the housing and an upper surface of the inlet insert; and a protrusion extending downward from the lower surface of the housing into the inlet aperture of the inlet insert to from an inlet slot.

The invention generally provides systems and methods for particle detection for minimizing microbial growth and cross-contamination in manufacturing environments requiring low levels of microbes, such as cleanroom environments for electronics manufacturing and aseptic environments for manufacturing pharmaceutical and biological products, such as sterile medicinal products. In some embodiments, systems of the invention incorporate a housing having an outer surface being a first antimicrobial surface and a touchscreen being a second antimicrobial surface. In some embodiments, substantially all of the outer surfaces of the system are antimicrobial surfaces. In some embodiments, the first antimicrobial surface may comprise an Active Screen Plasma alloyed layer. In some embodiments, the housing may comprise a molded polymer substrate and a metal coating layer bonded to the molded polymer substrate such that at least some exterior surfaces of the housing are metal coated surfaces.

Airborne pollutants from natural and man-made sources are an increasing where their aerodynamic properties determine how far into the human respiratory system they penetrate. International and national guidelines or regulatory limits specify limits for particulate matter (PM) at different particulate dimensions leading to a requirement for low cost compact PM detectors/sensors. A flow of known and desired size particles are separated and guided by a virtual impactor towards a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) sensor, e.g. MEMS resonator, yielding the required PM detectors/sensors. Further, in conjunction with the virtual impactor and MEMS sensor additional elements are provided to exploit thermophoresis or di-electrophoresis such that the particles within the sensing area of the MEMS sensor can be removed. Accordingly, the MEMS sensor based particle detector/sensor can be periodically reset allowing for extended operational life of the MEMS sensor based particle detector/sensor and/or enhanced performance over extended periods.