Abstract Advances in aerosol science have often been driven by innovations in aerosol instrumentation. Our ability to make real-time, multi-dimensional measurements of particle properties can be attributed to the development of a few important techniques throughout the history of aerosol science. One measurement technology that can be considered the father of aerosol instruments is the portable Aitken counter (PAC). The development of the PAC resulted in the first extensive field measurements of concentrations of particles smaller than those detectable using light microscopes. Prior publications have looked at the historical development of techniques related to measurement of one aerosol property. Here, we extend those previous historical studies by revisiting the design of the PAC and establishing its performance relative to existing instruments. This study provides a reference to educators who start their instrumentation course with a historical note about Aitken Particle Counters or researchers interested in quantifying changes in air quality over the time periods consistent with climate change studies. Copyright © 2020 American Association for Aerosol Research

中文翻译：

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Aitken Counter：重新审视其设计和性能特征

摘要 气溶胶科学的进步通常是由气溶胶仪器的创新推动的。我们对粒子特性进行实时、多维测量的能力可归因于气溶胶科学史上一些重要技术的发展。一种可以被视为气溶胶仪器之父的测量技术是便携式艾特肯计数器 (PAC)。PAC 的发展导致首次对比使用光学显微镜可检测到的颗粒更小的颗粒浓度进行了广泛的现场测量。先前的出版物着眼于与测量一种气溶胶特性相关的技术的历史发展。在这里，我们通过重新审视 PAC 的设计并建立其相对于现有仪器的性能来扩展以前的历史研究。这项研究为开始仪器课程的教育工作者提供了一个参考，他们以关于 Aitken 粒子计数器的历史记录或对量化与气候变化研究一致的时间段内空气质量变化感兴趣的研究人员。版权所有 © 2020 美国气溶胶研究协会