TSI Instruments 9302, Owner'S Manual

Page: 8 / 13

2 Model 9302 Single-Jet Atomizer
The Atomizer may be used to generate aerosols from different materials.
Four common applications are described in the following sections.
Generating Water Droplets
The easiest way to use the Atomizer for laser velocimeter alignment is to
fill the liquid reservoir with tap water.
Note : It is normal for some water to drip from the outlet tube; simply
collect it.
The diameter of the water droplet at the outlet depends on the pressure
setting
—droplet diameter decreases with increased pressure. A setting of
25 pounds per square inch (172 kPa) will yield a number mean diameter of
approximately 1.5 micrometers.
Generating Salt or Sugar Particles
The Atomizer generates solid particles from water-soluble materials such
as salt or sugar. Fill
the Atomizer’s reservoir with an aqueous solution of
the desired material. The atomizer will then generate droplets of that
solution. Smaller diameter particles of the solute will result if sufficient time
is allowed to evaporate the water from the droplets. The resultant particle
size depends on the concentration of the solute in the solution.
Dispersing Polystyrene Latex Particles
A common method of generating monodisperse aerosols is to atomize a
hydrosol that contains monodisperse particles.
*
For this application, add a
drop of monodisperse particles to one liter of distilled water in the reservoir.
Such a large dilution is necessary to ensure that each droplet contains only
one polystyrene latex particle. The Atomizer output must be mixed with a
large volume of dry air. When all the water from these droplets is
evaporated, polystyrene latex particles of the original diameter are
obtained.
Generating Oil Droplets
The Atomizer can also generate particles from silicon oil, dioctyl phthalate
and various vegetable oils such as corn and peanut oil.
C a u t i o n
The mist of any oil, even that of edible oil, is unhealthy; exhaust it into free
air outside the laboratory. The atomizer is not recommended for atomizing
suspensions of solid particles such as aluminum oxide, titanium oxide,
and silica; they will damage the jet-nozzle assembly.
*
A wide size range of monodisperse particles is available from Dow Chemical,
1-800-258-2436.