Abstract The importance of bioaerosols to human and ecosystem health is evident as we tackle the on-going coronavirus pandemic. Understanding the airborne migration of pathogens and the consequent transmission of diseases such as COVID-19 requires an ability to monitor bioaerosols at high spatio-temporal resolution. For such monitoring, there is an immediate need for bioaerosol samplers that are easy to deploy and optimized for downstream analysis. In this study, we introduce a small, inexpensive, low-power, and a low-pressure drop device, called TracB, that integrates low-cost aerosol sensing with bioaerosol sampling using electrostatic precipitation technique. The device was designed for an efficient collection of particles in the size range of 0.01–10 µm, making it suitable for a wide range of downstream microbial analysis. A low-cost particle charger has been integrated with the device to improve the collection efficiency of the sampled particles. The performance of the device was tested with Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurtsaki (Btk) as the biological test organism for different operating conditions. The ability of the device to efficiently collect bio-particles when the charger was oriented parallel to the particle flow was confirmed with computational fluid dynamics simulations. Over 50% of biological and nonbiological test particles were collected in the device when operated with an ionizer and a precipitation electric field of 8 kV/cm. Our results demonstrate the potential of the device to be used as an autonomous unit suitable for long-term air sampling at diverse indoor and outdoor locations. Copyright © 2020 American Association for Aerosol Research

中文翻译：

---

基于静电沉淀的新型便携式低成本生物气溶胶监测采样器的设计与评价

摘要 在我们应对持续的冠状病毒大流行时，生物气溶胶对人类和生态系统健康的重要性显而易见。了解病原体的空气迁移以及随之而来的 COVID-19 等疾病的传播需要能够以高时空分辨率监测生物气溶胶。对于此类监测，迫切需要易于部署并针对下游分析进行优化的生物气溶胶采样器。在这项研究中，我们介绍了一种小型、廉价、低功耗和低压降的设备，称为 TracB，它将低成本气溶胶传感与使用静电沉淀技术的生物气溶胶采样相结合。该设备设计用于有效收集尺寸范围为 0.01–10 µm 的颗粒，使其适用于各种下游微生物分析。该设备集成了一个低成本的粒子充电器，以提高采样粒子的收集效率。该装置的性能用苏云金芽孢杆菌变种进行了测试。kurtsaki (Btk) 作为不同操作条件下的生物测试有机体。当充电器平行于粒子流定向时，该设备有效收集生物粒子的能力通过计算流体动力学模拟得到证实。当使用离子发生器和 8 kV/cm 的沉淀电场操作时，超过 50% 的生物和非生物测试粒子被收集在设备中。我们的结果证明了该设备作为自主单元的潜力，适用于在不同的室内和室外位置进行长期空气采样。版权所有 © 2020 美国气溶胶研究协会