TSI Incorporated SIDEPAK AM510, User Manual

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Appendix B
Custom Calibrations
In most situations, the SidePak Personal Aerosol Monitor Model
AM510 provides very good information on how the concentration of
an aerosol changes for over time. Factory calibration to the respirable
fraction of standard ISO 12103-1, A1 Test Dust (formerly Arizona
Test Dust) allows comparisons between measurements where the
source or type of dust is predominately the same. Because optical
mass measurements are dependent upon particle size and material
properties, there may be times when a custom calibration will improve
your accuracy for a specific aerosol.
The SidePak AM510 monitor has several features to aid in obtaining
good accuracy for a specific aerosol.

The SidePak
monitor’s custom calibration factor can be
changed through the instrument keypad. All future readings
from the SidePak monitor will correspond to a specific
aerosol until the calibration factor is changed back to the
factory setting.

Custom calibration factors can be stored in a table and
downloaded to the SidePak monitor using the T
RAK
P
RO
TM
Data Analysis Ssoftware. All future measurements will
correspond to a specific aerosol until the calibration factor is
changed back to the factory setting.

A single set of logged data can be converted to data
calibrated to a specific aerosol with the use of the T
RAK
P
RO
TM
software. This conversion can be done by knowing either the
true mass concentration for the logged data or the calibration
factor for the aerosol. Future measurements will continue to
be read and logged with the original calibration factor
(normally 1.0) and will not be converted automatically.
All of these options require that you determine a true mass
concentration (e.g., gravimetric analysis) for the aerosol you want to
measure. The true mass concentration is used to calculate the
custom calibration factor for that aerosol. Once you have a custom
calibration factor, you can reuse it each time you make
measurements in the same or similar aerosol environment.