An apparatus having: a vessel for containing a suspension of a liquid and solid particles; a tube having a narrowed portion to draw the suspension from the vessel into the tube when a gas flows through the tube; an aerosol generator coupled to the tube for forming an aerosol from the suspension; a dehydrator coupled to the aerosol generator for removing the liquid from the aerosol forming a dried aerosol; a multiple-pass spectroscopic absorption cell coupled to the dehydrator to pass the dried aerosol into the absorption cell; and a Fourier transform spectrometer coupled to the absorption cell to measure an absorption spectrum of the dried aerosol.

An inline filter housing with a biodegradable, hydrophilic material that operates in conjunction with a field sampling apparatus to both concentrate field sampled environmental DNA particles from water samples and to automatically preserve the captured DNA via desiccation, thus avoiding filter membrane transfer steps, chemicals or cold storage preservation requirements. The hydrophilic filter housing is capable of rapidly preserving the field sampled environmental DNA captured on the filter membrane at ambient field temperatures.

A device for multi-parameter integrated monitoring of a deep submarine turbidity current primarily includes cement pile pore-pressure monitoring, optical turbidity monitoring, floating ball flow velocity monitoring, and turbidity current sediment sampling, can observe the turbidity, excess pore pressure, flow velocity, and other parameters of the turbidity current, can fulfill simultaneous and real-time transmission for in-situ monitoring, and can complete multiple tasks at the same observing position, so that the situation where the sampling position and the observing position are different due to the movement of an apparatus along with a ship during ordinary work is avoided.

The invention relates to a sample collection system for collecting sub-samples from a material stream, the system including a valve arrangement and a static cone splitter, and wherein the valve arrangement is arranged to enable operation of the static cone splitter to collect a non-biased sample of the material stream fed to the static cone splitter under first and second operational conditions, the first operational condition requiring the material stream to be at substantially atmospheric pressure and flowing at a minimum functional flow rate, and the second operational condition requiring the material stream to be pressurised above atmospheric pressure and at a flow rate higher than the minimum functional flow rate. The invention also relates to a static cone splitter for use with the system, together with a cone member for use with the static cone splitter.

The particle trapping device according to the present invention comprises: a lead-in channel; a flattened channel disposed on the downstream side of the lead-in channel; a rectangular channel disposed on the downstream side of the flattened channel; and a particle pit trap disposed at least on a first inner wall face of the rectangular channel, wherein the lead-in channel has a channel cross-section larger than a channel cross-section of the flattened channel; the flattened channel has a flat channel cross-section whose the width is longer than its height; the rectangular channel has a rectangular channel cross-section, and is provided with the first inner wall face, a second inner wall face opposed to the first inner wall face, a third inner wall face, and a fourth inner wall face opposed to the third inner wall face; and the lead-in channel, the flattened channel, the rectangular channel, and the particle pit trap are characterized by being configured in such a way that a portion of liquid containing target particles and flowing through the lead-in channel flows into the flattened channel; the target particles contained in the liquid that had flowed through the flattened channel flow into the rectangular channel; and the target particle that had flowed through the rectangular channel enters into the particle pit trap and is trapped therein.

A system and method of acquiring and delivering samples, such as in association with an interplanetary vehicle is provided. The system includes a gas delivery assembly having a storage tank with a compressed gas. A sampler device is provided having a hollow interior, the hollow interior having a curved and angled surface, an open end and an exit end. A plurality of nozzles are fluidly coupled between the hollow interior and the storage tank, at least one of the plurality of nozzles arranged to direct the compressed gas towards the exit end. A sample capture assembly is further provided having a container fluidly coupled to the exit end.

A sampling container apparatus for a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) is disclosed. An example sampling container includes a tank configured to hold a sample collected from an underwater environment. The tank includes at least one opening that contains a plunger therein. The plunger includes a contraction or retraction mechanism that pulls the plunger into the tank causing the plunger to actuate from an open position to a closed position. The plunger is retained in the open position by a retainer plate. To enable the plunger to actuate to the closed position, the tank is rotated relative to the retainer plate, causing the plunger to traverse a travel channel in the retainer plate. The travel channel includes a plunger window, which when reached by the plunger, enables the plunger to be pulled through the retainer plate, thereby sealing the opening of the tank and preserving the collected sample.

A vibrating platform for the deploying of passive sampling devices in sediments and other media to be sampled. The vibrating platform can greatly enhance the rate of mass transfer of analytes, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and polychlorinated biphenyls, into passive sampler material by disrupting the formation of a depletion layer in proximity of the passive sampler material.

A device for multi-parameter integrated monitoring of a deep submarine turbidity current primarily includes cement pile pore-pressure monitoring, optical turbidity monitoring, floating ball flow velocity monitoring, and turbidity current sediment sampling, can observe the turbidity, excess pore pressure, flow velocity, and other parameters of the turbidity current, can fulfill simultaneous and real-time transmission for in-situ monitoring, and can complete multiple tasks at the same observing position, so that the situation where the sampling position and the observing position are different due to the movement of an apparatus along with a ship during ordinary work is avoided.

A sample collection system for an extraterrestrial vehicle and method of operating is provided. The system includes an inlet conduit configured to receive a gas stream. A chamber having an inlet is fluidly coupled to the inlet conduit, the inlet and chamber configured to induce cyclonic flow. A container is removably disposed within the chamber, the container having a first opening fluidly coupled to the inlet and an outlet. An exhaust conduit is fluidly coupled to the outlet. A filter is disposed between the exhaust conduit and the chamber.