Preprints
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-45
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-45
04 May 2023
 | 04 May 2023
Status: this preprint is currently under review for the journal AMT.

Mapping the performance of a versatile water-based condensation particle counter (vWCPC) with COMSOL simulation and experimental study

Weixing Hao, Fan Mei, Susanne Hering, Steven Spielman, Beat Schmid, Jason Tomlinson, and Yang Wang

Abstract. Accurate airborne aerosol instrumentation is required to determine the spatial distribution of ambient aerosol particles, particularly when dealing with the complex vertical profiles and horizontal variations of atmospheric aerosols. A versatile water-based condensation particle counter (vWCPC) has been developed to provide aerosol concentration measurements under various environments with the advantage of reducing the health and safety concerns associated with using butanol or other chemicals as the working fluid. However, the airborne deployment of vWCPCs is relatively limited due to the lack of characterization of vWCPC performance at reduced pressures. Given the complex combinations of operating parameters in vWCPCs, modeling studies have advantages in mapping vWCPC performance.

In this work, we thoroughly investigated the performance of a laminar flow vWCPC using COMSOL Multiphysics® simulation coupled with MATLAB. We compared it against a modified commercial vWCPC (vWCPC Model 3789, TSI, Shoreview, MN, USA). Our simulation determined the performance of particle activation and droplet growth in the vWCPC growth tube, including the supersaturation, Dp,kel,0 (smallest size of particle that can be activated), Dp,kel,50 (particle size activated with 50 % efficiency) profile, and final growth particle size Dd under wide operating temperatures, inlet pressures P  (0.3–1 atm), and growth tube geometry (diameter D and initiator length Lini). The effect of inlet pressure and conditioner temperature on vWCPC 3789 performance was also examined and compared with laboratory experiments. The COMSOL simulation result showed that increasing the temperature difference (∆ T) between conditioner temperature Tcon and initiator Tini will reduce Dp,kel,0 and the cut-off size Dp,kel,50 of the vWCPC. In addition, lowering the temperature midpoint (Tmid = (Tcon + Tini) / 2) increases the supersaturation and slightly decreases the Dp,kel. The droplet size at the end of the growth tube is not significantly dependent on raising or lowering the temperature midpoint but significantly decreases at reduced inlet pressure, which indirectly alters the vWCPC empirical cut-off size. Our study shows that the current simulated growth tube geometry (D = 6.3 mm and Lini = 30 mm) is an optimized choice for current vWCPC flow and temperature settings. The current simulation can more realistically represent the Dp,kel for 7 nm vWCPC and also achieved a good agreement with the 2 nm setting. Using the new simulation approach, we provide an optimized operation setting for the 7 nm setting. This study will guide further vWCPC performance optimization for applications requiring precise particle detection and atmospheric aerosol monitoring.

Weixing Hao et al.

Status: open (until 14 Jun 2023)

Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor | : Report abuse
  • RC1: 'Mapping t 1 he performance of a versatile water-based 2 condensation particle counter (vWCPC) with COMSOL 3 simulation and experimental study', Michel Attoui, 28 May 2023 reply

Weixing Hao et al.

Weixing Hao et al.

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Short summary
Accurate aerosol instrumentation to determine the spatial distribution of ambient aerosol particles is critical to air quality, climate change, and human health. This work investigated the performance of versatile water-based condensation particle counter (vWCPC) using numerical simulations and experimental methods. It determined how operating temperature, inlet pressure, and growth tube geometry affect the performance of particle activation and droplet growth in vWCPC.