Dekati Ltd.

Technical Note

DLPI+/ELPI®+ IMPACTOR CALIBRATION

Dekati Ltd. Tel: +358 3357 8100
Tykkitie 1 [email protected]
FI-36240 Kangasala www.dekati.fi
Finland

Author: HEI, Dekati Ltd.

Date: 30.06.2015
Modified: 01.12.2015

ELPI®+ Description
ELPI®+ (Electrical Low Pressure Impactor, Keskinen et. al. 1992) is and instrument for
measuring airborne particle size distribution and concentration in real-time. The
operation of the ELPI®+ is based on particle charging in a unipolar corona charger, size
classification in a cascade low-pressure impactor and electrical detection with sensitive
electrometers. The particles are first charged into a known charge level in the corona
charger. After charging, the particles enter a cascade low pressure impactor with 14
electrically insulated collection stages. The particles are collected in the different
impactor stages according to their aerodynamic particle size, and the electric charge
carried by particles into each impactor stage is measured in real-time by sensitive
electrometers. This measured current signal is then converted to particle number
concentration and size distribution.

The impactor user in the ELPI®+ can also be used as a standalone unit for measuring
gravimetric particle size distribution. This impactor, the Dekati® Low Pressure Impactor+
DLPI+, has 14 impactor stages in the size range of 16 nm – 10 µm. This paper
describes the calibration of the DLPI+/ELPI®+ impactor.

Calibration of the ELPI®+ Impactor

Calibrated collection efficiency curves for the ELPI®+ impactor are presented in Figure
1. The calibration procedures and results are described in more detail in Järvinen et. al.
The impactor stages in the ELPI®+ impactor are evenly spaced resulting in steep
collection efficiency curves and therefore accurate determination of particle size
distribution.

© Dekati Ltd. 2015

 Figure 1. ELPI®+ impactor stage collection efficiency curves.

The shape of the calibration curves can be assumed to remain the same for each
individual impactor unit as the impactor design is the same for each unit. All ELPI®+
impactors are manufactured according to strict quality requirements including allowed
tolerances for nozzle sizes and nozzle placement in the jet plates, nozzle inner surface
roughness and determination of each individual nozzle under a microscope. The
impactor stages are manufactured from stainless steel (AISI316) to avoid alterations in
stage dimensions due to sample composition or usage. However, as the manufacturing
process may result in small variations between individual impactor units, an additional
pressure calibration is performed. This additional calibration is made for each
manufactured unit and the resulting pressure calibration data is always provided with
the impactor in the calibration data sheet.

Pressure Calibration
Each individual ELPI®+ impactor undergoes a thorough pressure calibration where the
exact sample flow rate, flow velocities in different impactor stages and D50 values for
each impactor stage are determined. In ELPI+®, the impactor flow rate is controlled by
adjusting 40 mbar at the outlet of the impactor. In these conditions, the lowest impactor
stages act as a critical orifices and the flow rate stays constant as long as the impactor
does not leak and it is kept clean so the impactor jets are not clogged. Therefore no
additional flow control device is required with the ELPI®+ impactor. The exact impactor
flow rate is measured with a laminar flow element. The flow of the instrument does not
change as long as the instrument is kept clean and all parts are properly in their places.

© Dekati Ltd. 2015 2/4

In the pressure calibration, the pressure difference between each stage is measured
while the outlet of the impactor is adjusted to 40 mbar and inlet to 1013.3 mbar. Limits
for each stage pressure values have been set and stages failing these limits are not
accepted. The measurement setup is presented in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Impactor pressure calibration setup

The measurement of the pressure drop in each stage allows determination of the exact
flow velocity in that stage. This is then used to calculate the exact D50 cut point values
for each stage with:
Where:
U= Velocity of gas (result from pressure calibration)
9D j ( Stk50 ) D50 =
ρp =
D50 cutpoint of the impactor stage
D50 Cc  Particle density
pU Dj = Size of the body (nozzle)
= Gas viscosity
Cc = Slip correction factor

The Stokes numbers in the above formula are a result of impactor collection efficiency
calibration where exact D50 values for one specific impactor are determined. The
Stokes numbers for ELPI®+ impactor have been determined as described in Järvinen
et. al. An example of an impactor data sheet is presented in Figure 3.

The cut points of the impactor do not change unless the geometric design of the
instrument changes. The calibration values will therefore remain constant as long as the
instrument is kept clean and assembled correctly.

© Dekati Ltd. 2015 3/4

 ELPI+™ DATA SHEET
DEKATI Impactor # 10151

Cut points, downstream pressures and residence times: Diffusion loss parameters
Stage D50% (µm) Pressure Residence a b c
(kPa) Times
1 0.0060 4.00 0.0010 9.80E-08 -2.7300 0.05085
2 0.0158 4.32 0.0024 9.80E-08 -2.7300 0.05085
3 0.0306 9.83 0.0056 9.80E-08 -2.7300 0.05085
4 0.0548 22.41 0.0127 3.63E-08 -3.0600 0.03083
5 0.0952 39.17 0.0222 1.58E-06 -2.2600 0.02342
6 0.155 68.66 0.0391 4.83E-06 -2.0600 0.02183
7 0.256 88.94 0.0505 1.02E-05 -1.9000 0.02097
8 0.381 97.07 0.0552 6.22E-05 -1.4900 0.01158
9 0.602 99.61 0.0585 4.03E-05 -1.5600 0.00804
10 0.947 100.49 0.0622 7.31E-05 -1.4000 0.00671
11 1.63 101.01 0.0571 1.01E-04 -1.3100 0.00475
12 2.47 101.19 0.0578 8.22E-05 -1.3500 0.00288
13 3.65 101.25 0.0736 1.09E-04 -1.3100 0.00129
14 5.36 101.30 0.1029 9.07E-05 -1.3600 0.00186
15 9.87 101.32 0.00
b
inlet 101.33 Loss = a*Di +c

Inlet Pressure: 1013.3 mbar Charger Efficiency PneQ

Outlet pressure: 40 mbar Limit1 Limit2
Flow rate: 9.97 lpm 1.035 4.2820
Mult1 Mult2 Mult3
Calibration information 1.83 1.8114 3.3868
Date: 30.10.2015 Exp1 Exp2 Exp3
Temperature: 20.3 °C 1.225 1.515 1.085

Figure 3.
______________________________
Timo Alanen
Example of ELPI®+ Impactor data
sheet. The data sheet also includes
Calibration based on: Järvinen, A., Aitomaa, M., Rostedt, A., Keskinen, J. & Yli-Ojanperä, J.
2014. Calibration of the new electrical low pressure impactor (ELPI+). Journal of Aerosol ELPI®+ charger calibration data.
Science, Volume 69, pp. 150-159.

References
Keskinen, J., Pietarinen, K. and Lehtimäki, M. (1992) Electrical Low Pressure Impactor,
J. Aerosol Sci. 23, 353-360.

Järvinen, A., Aitomaa, M., Rostedt, A., Keskinen, J. & Yli-Ojanperä, J. 2014. Calibration
of the new electrical low pressure impactor (ELPI+). 2014 J. Aerosol Sci. 69, pp. 150-
159.

For more information, please contact Dekati Ltd.

© Dekati Ltd. 2015 4/4