Development, Characterization, and Application of a Versatile Single Particle Detection Apparatus for Time-Integrated and Time-Resolved Fluorescence Measurements—Part I: Theoretical Considerations

Recent progress in aerosol science has resulted in more challenging demands in the design of new particle beam introduction systems. In this paper, the concept of a variable orifice aerodynamic lens system is presented and supported by the numerical simulation results. This novel particle beam inlet can serve as either a narrow band pass filter (a particle segregator) that only confines particles with a specific size or a broad band pass filter (a particle concentrator) that allows particles with a wide size range to be concentrated on the beam axis. Following a brief description of the inlet system, computational details are described. Simulation of this inlet has been carried out by the commercial computational fluid dynamics protocol FLUENT. Focusing performance and characteristic of single-thin plate orifices have been first revealed and discussed, and then the dynamics and advantages of using multiple lenses with variable orifices are addressed. It is clearly shown that the focusing size range can be primarily adjusted by varying the working pressure, the orifice geometry, and/or the arrangement of orifices. As a result, a selection of the desired particle focusing size range can be achieved without the need of changing the inlet, thus increasing the versatility of the device for a broad range of applications.