Patent ID: 7232477
Filing Date: 2007-06-19
Classification: B01D,Y10S

Abstract:
1. An inlet for an environmental air monitor comprising: a pre-separator stage for interfacing with ambient environment air and removing debris and insects commonly associated with high wind outdoors; a deflector plate in communication with incoming air from said pre-separator stage, for directing said air radially and downward uniformly into a plurality of accelerator jets located in a manifold of a virtual impactor, said manifold being cylindrical and having a top, a base, and a wall, with said plurality of accelerator jets being located in said top of said manifold and receiving said directed air and accelerating said air, thereby creating jets of said directed air penetrating into said manifold, where a major flow is deflected to said walls of said manifold and extracted through ports in said walls, and; a plurality of receiver nozzles located in said base of said manifold coaxial with said accelerator jets, and a plurality of matching flow restrictor elements in the plurality of receiver nozzles for balancing and equalizing the total minor flow among all the plurality of receiver nozzles, through which a lower, fractional flow extracts large particle constituents of said air for collection on a sample filter after passing through said plurality of receiver nozzles and said plurality of matching flow restrictor elements.