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Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 279 (2012) 219222

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Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B


journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/nimb

Air-ion counter and mobility spectrometer


Predrag Kolarz a,, Budimir Miljkovic b, Zoran Curguz c
a

Institute of Physics, University of Belgrade, Pregrevica 118, 11080 Belgrade, Serbia


Merni Instrumenti D.O.O., Ljube Stojanovica 38, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
c
Faculty of Transport and Trafc Engineering, University of East Sarajevo, Vojvode Miica 52, 74000 Doboj, Bosnia and Herzegovina
b

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 21 July 2011
Received in revised form 29 September 2011
Available online 25 November 2011
Keywords:
Ionization
Air-ion
Gerdien
Atmosphere
Mobility
Zeroing

a b s t r a c t
Mono-electrode self zeroing air-ion counter and mobility (size) scanning spectrometer (CDI-011) based
on the Gerdien aspirated condenser principle has been developed. Instrument is intended for short- and
long-term indoor and outdoor air-ion concentration measurements and scanning of air-ions by mobility.
Measuring small currents (typically 1014 A) generated by the air-ions in outdoor conditions is demanding and causes many problems related to change of temperature, relative humidity, wind and electromagnetic noise. Also, measuring of both ion polarities with mono electrode detector require alternate
changes of the polarizing voltage sign which produces capacitive current spikes. Various techniques,
including zeroing method, have been applied to successfully overcome most of these measuring
interferences.
2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Air-ions are all charged airborne particles with electrical mobility. In general, air-ions are mostly single charged, and they can be
characterized by two mutually inverse properties, by size or by
mobility. Air-ion size distribution in the atmosphere is dened
by Hrrak et al. [3] on: small (cluster) ions diameter less than
2.5 nm, intermediate ions charged aerosol particles of 2.5
8 nm, and large ions charged aerosol particles with diameter of
820 nm.
Small ions in the atmosphere are frequently generated by natural sources such as cosmic rays, radioactive decay of noble gas
radon in the air and radioactive minerals from the ground (diameter <1 nm). Ionization process creates primary ions which evolve
through the process of hydration and ion cluster formation into
charged clusters, known as small air-ions. Lifetime of small ions
does not last more than 100 s and is inversely proportional to concentration of aerosols in the air. The background concentration of
small air-ions in the clean environment is about a few hundred
per cubic centimeter with an average near-ground ionization rate
of 10 ion pairs cm3 s1.
The most widely used method for measuring air-ion concentrations (air conductivity) is the ventilated Gerdien cylindrical capacitor [2]. Inside the capacitor, air between the electrodes is drawn
by a fan. Air-ions of desired polarity and mobility are forced by
electric eld to give their charge (air-ions are mostly single Corresponding author. Tel.: +381 641266592.
E-mail address: kolarz@ipb.ac.rs (P. Kolarz).
0168-583X/$ - see front matter 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.nimb.2011.10.061

charged q = 1.62  1019 C) to the collecting electrode generating


current (I) [1]:

I nqQ ;

1
3

where Q is air-ow through the electrodes (0.005 m /s). Current is


measured by an electrometer using Eq. (1), represented as concentration of air-ions in units of cm3. Polarizing voltage (U) and airow are determining critical mobility (lC) of the measured ions:

lC

V S R22  R21 ln R2 =R1


;
2LU

where R1, R2 are polarizing and collecting electrode radius, L is electrode length and VS is air-ow speed.
A few models of Gerdien type ion counters were made in the
Institute of Physics, Belgrade, whose development followed our
measuring requirements. Latest mono-electrode air-ion spectrometer CDI-011 is developed in order to get more information in terms of
air-ion size distributions, for example on waterfalls where most
abundant negative ion size is shifted to 2 nm [5]. Also, aim was to extend measuring range to higher relative humidity (RH) occurring in
caves and during night measurements when increase of RH is
expected.
2. Design of the air-ion spectrometer CDI-011
CDI-011 consists of two separate parts, connected via cable: the
sensor electrode and the supply/control part (Fig. 1). In order to
reduce noise, the amplier is located on the shielding tube of the

P. Kolarz et al. / Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 279 (2012) 219222

220

ADC digital signal


Sensor part
Shielding tube (stainless steel)
Air flow

-/+

Air flow

+/-

-/+

+/-

+V
Signal ground

Amplifier,
A/D converter,
heater
Polarizing electrode
Measuring electrode

Mass

Supply/control part

RPM feedback

RH, T &P sensors


real time clock
-150<V<150
=0.5 V

LCD,
keyboard

Microcontroller
unit

Galvanic isolation

Polarisation
unit

Fan control

Opto
isolation

Supply
unit

USB

PC

Accu.

Fig. 1. Cylindrical air-ion spectrometer (CDI-011) scheme.

sensor near the measuring electrode, while the A/D converter is on


the same module. This way, digital signal is led to supply/control
part. CMOS dual operation amplier LPC662 is used as an inverting
current amplier (Fig. 2). A large cross-section (R1 = 0.03 m,
R2 = 0.005 m) and the length of the electrodes (L = 0.4 m) provide
sufcient signal to use a relatively small measuring resistor
(RM = 1 GO) considering the size of the current signal. Second half
of the chip is used for level shifting, which provides unipolar input
voltage for the ADS1224 A/D converter. This converter works on
the RD principle, set for rejecting power line frequencies while
VCC

470

still having sufcient bandwidth for measurement of the input


signal. The clock for the A/D converter is optimized for 50 Hz rejection, together with over sampling count. Digitalization of the CDI
output signal enables programmed auto-zeroing and automatic
long-term measurements. Amplier surrounding is thermo-stated
using Peltier element to minimize resistor temperature drift
and surface leakage currents due to their changes and high levels.
Supply/control module receives digital signal, which is processed and controlled by an Atmel RISC microcontroller. Measuring
results are shown on an LCD display in the units of ions/cm3 and

4K70

Vref

8
22 F

VCC

4K70

U2A

TL431P

1
LPC662
+
4K70

-VCC
1G

2n2
OUT
4K70

OUT

470p

VCC

U2B
470
2n2

100 nF

INPUT

7
LPC662

470
-VCC

Fig. 2. Inverting current amplier LPC662.

GROUND

P. Kolarz et al. / Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 279 (2012) 219222

stored in the internal memory or directly on a PC, in the Excel format. Visual PC software is used for data monitoring by graphs and
tables, and also for additional settings of the instrument. A gel
accumulator (12 V, 7 AH) provides 24 h measuring autonomy.
The measuring system of the instrument, including polarization
circuit, is galvanically separated from the supply and USB connection. This eliminates changes of the potential of the Gerdien capacitor induced by the grounding, enabling a PC connection and
charging during measurements.
Current leakage on the electrodes and the amplifying unit,
caused by high RH, is prevented by collecting electrode rubin ball
xing system and by heating not only the electronics but also ball
xing sags. In addition, in case of long term measurements (diurnal), the instrument can be paused after every set of scanning, so
that less moisture accumulates on the electrodes. Inuence of wind
on the air-ow through the inter-electrode system is partially
compensated by keeping the RPM of the fan constant.
Sensitivity of the DCI-011 current measurement is limited by
AD converter resolution and amounts 1.6 fA. Using Eq. (1), this
value equals to 2 ions/cm3. Although, measuring sensitivity is
limited by noise. Noise is induced by various sources (uncertainties
of air-ow, calibration, temperature drift, gain error, etc.) and
experimentally is obtained to be 5 ions/cm3.

221

is also applied before and after starting the fan in order to establish
steady state of the air-ow.
3.2. Changing the polarity
Mono electrode air-ion counters could be used as bipolar counters only if alternate polarizing voltage is applied. Polarity change
is the source of large capacitive interference. Capacitance of the
Gerdian condenser is about 20 pF and capacitance of condenser
which is used in the low pass lter is CF = 470 pF. Low pass lters
time constant dominates in the response to the discharging process. Time constant is:

T C F RM 470 pF  1 GX 0:47 s:

Voltage on CF after the polarization change is equal to the supply voltage (VCC = 5 V). At this point, amplier exits saturation state
and starts process of exponential decay, with the time constant T.
AD converters resolution is 24 bits, which equals VLSB = Vref/
223 = 0.3 lV (Vref = 2.5 V). Time required for ampliers output voltage to fall below the AD converters resolution, i.e. period during
which measuring result should be ignored (TZ) is:

T Z T lnV CC =V LSB 7:8 s:

3. Zeroing
3.3. Zeroing
During air-ion measurements zero signal drift and noise are
caused by external sources like temperature change and internal
noise sources such as voltage peaks generated from polarity
changes and fan stopping/starting.
3.1. Stopping/starting the fan
During the zero conductivity regime, when power supply of the
fan is off, the shaft of the fan stops turning after 67 s (Fig. 3). That
is signicant because the noise generated by the motor at nominal
speed is canceled by digital ltering, when the motor slows down,
the spectrum of the noise changes, so the data collected during
starting and stopping of the fan must be ignored. Acquisition pause

All mentioned noise sources are compensated by utilizing zeroing process that can be automatic or manual. Zeroing is procedure
where an averaged offset signal measured during zero conductivity
regimes (fan is off) is subtracted from further measurements until
next zeroing [4]. During fan off regime, collecting electrode collects only the ions that are led by Brownian motion and have enough
kinetic energy to overcome deection force of the same sign polarized electrode on the entrance of the detector. Zone from which ions
can enter interelectrode space is in a short time depleted of ions. This
input signal should be about few ions per cubic centimeter and is
considered as measuring uncertainty. Averaged offset values gathered during zero conductivity regimes are now stored in the

Fig. 3. Noise generated by stopping the fan.

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P. Kolarz et al. / Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 279 (2012) 219222

Fig. 4. Negative air-ion spectra generated by local waterfall and measured with CDI-011. Shaded areas indicate 20 s zeroing period. Integral size classes of 1.3, 1.6, 1.9, 2.1
and 2.4 nm are depicted. Scatter dots represent ion concentration changes in time while line + symbol represent change of ion concentration with size (upper x axis).

non-volatile memory and subtracted from the signal obtained during measurement.
In the case of single polarity measurement zeroing process
comprise, turning off measuring acquisition just before turning
the fan off (acquisition pause P7.8 s), than averaging zero conductivity regime (P5 s), turning on fan (acquisition pause P5 s),
beginning of new measuring and acquisition with subtracted averaged zero conductivity value.
In alternate voltage regime, automatic zeroing is applied after
every polarization voltage change. In that case voltage peaks generated during polarity switching are also excluded from acquisition
and averaging, i.e. they are overlapped by fan turning off pause
(P7.8 s).

In Fig. 4 typical waterfall generated air-ion mobility spectra is


presented. Scanning of each air-ion size was set at 180 s, data sampling was set at 3 s, while zeroing between every polarity change
lasted 20 s. Polarizing voltages, i.e. integral size classes are chosen
to be at 1.3, 1.6, 1.9, 2.1 and 2.4 nm.
5. Conclusion
Mono-electrode air-ion counter and mobility spectrometer is
presented. In comparing to other mono-electrode ion counters
available on the market (e.g. AlphaLab, USA) it is capable to automatically operate in non-ideal measuring conditions with high
condence and accuracy. Instrument offers the additional advantages to work as mobility (size) scanning air-ion spectrometer.

4. Air-ion mobility (size) spectrometry


Acknowledgment
Air-ion class selection of the Gerdien counters is dened by the
polarizing voltage and air-ow Eq. (2). Polarizing voltage (air-ow
is constant) determines critical mobility which is the smallest airion mobility to be measured (largest in size). In mobility scanning
mode of CDI-011, 5 different polarizing voltages and sampling
length can be chosen directly on supply/control module or via
PC. Resolution of polarization voltage change is in steps of 0.5 V
from zero up to 200 V. Scanning of each size class last at least
5 s and is followed by the zeroing process. Air-ion mobility to
size is converted using size-mobility function given by Tammet
[6]. CDI-011 is an integral scanning instrument, so class differentiation is done manually by subtracting. After turning on the acquisition, scanned data are automatically written in internal memory
along with the data of time, pressure, RH and temperature. Measured data can also be monitored online graphically via PC.

This work is supported by the Ministry of Education and Science


of Republic of Serbia under Projects No. 171020 and 45003.
References
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]

J.A. Chalmers, Atmospheric Electricity, second ed., Pergamon Press, 1967.


H. Gerdien, Phys. Zeitung 6 (1905) 800801.
U. Hrrak, J. Salm, H. Tammet, J. Geophys. Res. 105 (D7) (2000) 92919302.
P. Kolarz, B.P. Marinkovic, D.M. Filipovic, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 76 (2005) 046107
046109.
[5] L. Laakso, A. Hirsikko, T. Gronholm, M. Kulmala, A. Luts, T.-E. Parts, Atmos.
Chem. Phys. 7 (2007) 22712275.
[6] H. Tammet, J. Aerosol Sci. 26 (1995) 459475.

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