Observation and evaluation of nozzle clogging in a micro-orifice impactor used for atmospheric aerosol sampling

A micro-orifice impactor uses micro-orifice nozzles to extend the cut sizes of the lower stages to as small as 0.18 μm in diameter without resorting to low pressures or creating excessive pressure drops across the impactor stages. In this work, the phenomenon of nozzle clogging caused by particle deposition was investigated experimentally for a commercial micro-orifice uniform deposit impactor (MOUDI, MSP model 100). Using an optical microscope, we observed that the micro-orifice nozzles of the lower three stages were partially clogged due to particle deposition during the atmospheric aerosol sampling. To examine the effect of nozzle clogging on the performance of the impactor, the pressure drop and the particle collection efficiency were evaluated for the lower three stages. The pressure drops across the clogged nozzles were higher than the nominal values given by the manufacturer. The particle collection efficiency of each stage was evaluated by using an electrical method for fine particles with diameters in the range of 0.1-0.6 μm. Monodisperse liquid dioctyl sebacate (DOS) particles were used as test aerosols. A Faraday cage was employed to measure the low-level current of the charged particles upstream and downstream of each stage. The collection efficiency curves shifted to correspondence to smaller orifice sizes, and the 50% cutoff sizes were much smaller than those given by the manufacturer for the three stages with nozzles less than 400 μm in diameter.