System and method of conducting particle monitoring using low cost particle sensors

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016153884-A1
Application number	US-201414586122-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 30, 2014
Priority date	Dec 2, 2014
Publication date	Jun 2, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

There is disclosed a field calibratable particle sensor solution in a low-cost, very compact form factor. This makes a low-cost sensor more accurate for low-concentration pollution measurements and decreases the cost of pollution measurement systems having a wide geographic coverage. In a related embodiment, the invention illustrates a method and system to remotely and automatically calibrate one or more of the low cost sensors disclosed herein as well as other commercially available sensors (such as optical particle counters, photometers etc.) against a reference instrument (such as a beta attenuation monitor) which may or may not be physically located in the same place as the individual sensors. The method may require minimum (or no) user interaction and the calibration period is adjustable periodically.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A sensor assembly for sensing low concentrations of particulate matter comprising:
a housing having a front and rear portions wherein the rear portion includes an air channel configured to direct a sampled particle aerosol from the rear portion through to the front portion; a particle sensor device having a front and rear surface and a flow channel therethrough that spans from the rear surface to the front surface, the rear surface of the particle sensor device disposed over the housing air channel such that at least a portion of the sampled particle aerosol flows into the flow channel of the particle sensor device; a microblower member interposed between the air channel of the housing and the rear surface of the particle sensor device, the microblower adapted to periodically push air through the flow channel of the particle sensor device so as to zero the particle sensor before a subsequent reading; and a filter element is disposed adjacent the microblower and the air channel of the housing, the filter element configured to filter the particulates from the air flow.

2 . The sensor assembly of claim 1 further including a retainer clip adapted to engage a portion of the housing and retain the filter element and the microblower member in the housing.

3 . The sensor assembly of claim 1 wherein the microblower member is a micropump.

4 . The sensor assembly of claim 1 forming part of an air quality monitoring system having at least one sensor assembly that may be field calibrated, at least one sensor assembly communicatively coupled to a mobile device, the mobile device in communication with a server adapted to receive a calibration factor, wherein the calibration factor is generated from data received from a reference instrument and from a transfer standard module, one of which is remotely located from the at least one sensor to be calibrated.

5 . A particle sensor assembly calibration system comprising:
at least one remotely located particle sensor assembly configured to be calibrated in association with at least one reference instrument, wherein the at least one reference instrument is configured to generate a calibration factor; and a mobile device configured to communicate with the at least one reference instrument and with the at least one remotely located particle sensor assembly.

6 . The calibration system of claim 5 , further including a transfer standard module communicatively coupled to the mobile device, wherein the transfer standard module is selected from the group consisting of a particle sensor similar to which is under calibration and a sensor that provides good correlation to the particle sensors under calibration.

7 . The calibration system of claim 6 , further including a calibration factor module and a server module, the calibration factor module communicatively coupled to the reference instrument and the transfer standard module and adapted to generate a calibration factor from data received from therefrom, the calibration factor module adapted to transmit the calibration factor to the server module which is configured to transmit the calibration factor to the mobile device for transmission to the at least one sensor to be calibrated.

8 . The calibration system of claim 7 , further including a control device adapted to receive the calibration factor from the server module and transmit same to a broadcaster module, the broadcaster module configured to transmit the calibration factor to a plurality of particle sensor assemblies.

9 . The calibration system of claim 6 , further including a control device adapted to receive the calibration factor from the reference instrument and from the transfer standard module and transmit same to a broadcaster module, the broadcaster module configured to transmit the calibration factor to a plurality of particle sensor assemblies.

10 . The calibration system of claim 5 , further including a control device adapted to receive the calibration factor from the reference instrument and from the transfer standard module and transmit the calibration factor to a broadcaster module, the broadcaster module configured to transmit the calibration factor to a plurality of particle sensor assemblies.

11 . The calibration system of claim 5 , further including a control device adapted to receive the calibration factor from the reference instrument and transmit the calibration factor to a plurality of particle sensor assemblies.

12 . The sensor assembly of claim 5 forming part of an air quality monitoring system having at least one sensor assembly that may be field calibrated, at least one sensor assembly communicatively coupled to a control device adapted to receive the calibration factor from the at least one reference instrument and transmit same to a broadcaster module, the broadcaster module configured to transmit the calibration factor to a plurality of particle sensor assemblies.

13 . A particle sensor assembly calibration system comprising:
at least one remotely located particle sensor assembly configured to be calibrated in association with at least one reference instrument, wherein the at least one reference instrument is configured to generate a calibration factor; and a control device configured to communicate with the at least one reference instrument and with the at least one remotely located particle sensor assembly.

14 . The calibration system of claim 13 , further including a transfer standard module communicatively coupled to the control device, wherein the transfer standard module is selected from the group consisting of a particle sensor similar to which is under calibration and a sensor that provides good correlation to the particle sensors under calibration.

15 . The calibration system of claim 14 , further including a calibration factor module and a server module, the calibration factor module communicatively coupled to the reference instrument and the transfer standard module and adapted to generate a calibration factor from data received from therefrom, the calibration factor module adapted to transmit the calibration factor to the server module which is configured to transmit the calibration factor to the control device for transmission to the at least one sensor to be calibrated.

16 . The calibration system of claim 13 , further including a mobile device, the mobile device in communication with a server adapted to receive a calibration factor, wherein the calibration factor is generated from data received from a reference instrument and from a transfer standard module, one of which is remotely located from the at least one sensor to be calibrated.

17 . The calibration system of claim 13 , further including a mobile device adapted to receive the calibration factor from the reference instrument and from the transfer standard module and transmit the calibration factor to a broadcaster module, the broadcaster module configured to transmit the calibration factor to a plurality of particle sensor assemblies.

18 . The calibration system of claim 13 , further including a mobile device adapted to receive the calibration factor from the reference instrument and transmit the calibration factor to at least one particle sensor assembly.

19 . The calibration system of claim 18 , wherein the reference instrument is selected from the group consisting of a beta attenuation monitor and a low cost particle sensor assembly.

20 . The calibration system of claim 13 , wherein the reference instrument is selected from the gro

Assignees

• Tsi Inc

Inventors

• Han Hee-Siew
• Farnsworth James E
• Caldow Robert

Classifications

• G01N2001/2223

  aerosol sampling devices · CPC title

• G01N15/0618 Primary

  of the filter type (G01N15/0643 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G01N1/2205 Primary

  with filters · CPC title

• G01N15/06 Primary

  Investigating concentration of particle suspensions (by weighing G01N5/00; investigating sedimentation of particle suspensions G01N15/04; investigating individual particles G01N15/10) · CPC title

• G01N1/2273

  Atmospheric sampling · CPC title