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Articles

Performance evaluation of the cost-effective and lightweight Alphasense optical particle counter for use onboard unmanned aerial vehicles

, &
Pages 385-392 | Received 08 Sep 2017, Accepted 26 Nov 2017, Published online: 27 Dec 2017

Figures & data

Figure 1. Schematic diagram of the experimental setup.

Figure 1. Schematic diagram of the experimental setup.

Figure 2. Comparison of particle number concentrations measured by the two Alphasense OPCs, denoted as Alpha1 and Alpha2, and the Grimm 1.109 OPC that was used as a reference. The measurements were carried out with PS spheres having sizes of 0.8 (a), 1.0 (b), 2.5 (c), 5.1 (d), 7.2 (e) and 10.2 (f) μm.

Figure 2. Comparison of particle number concentrations measured by the two Alphasense OPCs, denoted as Alpha1 and Alpha2, and the Grimm 1.109 OPC that was used as a reference. The measurements were carried out with PS spheres having sizes of 0.8 (a), 1.0 (b), 2.5 (c), 5.1 (d), 7.2 (e) and 10.2 (f) μm.

Figure 3. Geometric mean diameter (GMD) of PS spheres determined from the size distributions measured by the Alphasense and the Grimm OPCs (a), together with the relative differences from the nominal PS particle size (b), for each test.

Figure 3. Geometric mean diameter (GMD) of PS spheres determined from the size distributions measured by the Alphasense and the Grimm OPCs (a), together with the relative differences from the nominal PS particle size (b), for each test.

Figure 4. Number concentrations (a) and GMDs (b) determined by all the OPCs when sampling 0.8-μm PS spheres at 1 atm and temperature that decreased from 23 to –5°C. Note that the concentration of particles in the chamber was decreasing during the course of the experiment that lasted ca. 5 h.

Figure 4. Number concentrations (a) and GMDs (b) determined by all the OPCs when sampling 0.8-μm PS spheres at 1 atm and temperature that decreased from 23 to –5°C. Note that the concentration of particles in the chamber was decreasing during the course of the experiment that lasted ca. 5 h.

Table 1. Median values of the GMD determined from the particle size distributions measured by each instrument at different pressures and at room temperature, as well as at 0.70 atm and at 5ºC using PS spheres with a nominal size of 0.8 μm. Note that the RH inside the chamber was <35% during the tests carried out at room temperature and under all pressures, while it did not exceed 75% during the 0.70 atm/5ºC test.

Supplemental material

UAST_1412394_Supplemental_File.zip

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