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A Microorifice Uniform Deposit

Impactor (MOUDI): Description,
Calibration, and Use
a

Virgil A. Marple , Kenneth L. Rubow & Steven M. Behm

a
a

Particle Technology Laboratory, Department of

Mechanical Engineering , University of Minnesota ,
Minneapolis, MN, 55455
Published online: 08 Jun 2007.

To cite this article: Virgil A. Marple , Kenneth L. Rubow & Steven M. Behm (1991) A
Microorifice Uniform Deposit Impactor (MOUDI): Description, Calibration, and Use, Aerosol
Science and Technology, 14:4, 434-446, DOI: 10.1080/02786829108959504
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02786829108959504

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A Microorifice Uniform Deposit Impactor

(MOUDI): Description,
Calibration, and Use
Virgil A. Marple, * Kenneth L. Rubow, and Steven M. Behm

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Particle Technology Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of

Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455

An eight-stage cascade impactor, with cut-sizes ranging

from 0.056 to 18 pm at a flow rate of 30 L/min, has
been developed, calibrated, and tested in field programs. This impactor, called a microorifice uniform
deposit impactor, has several features not normally
found in cascade impactors. Ultrafine particles as small
as 0.056 pm are collected while keeping the pressure
drop moderate by utilizing multiple nozzles (up to
2000) as small as 52 pm in diameter. At each stage the

collected particles are deposited uniformly over the

entire impaction plate by rotating the impaction plate
relative to the nozzles and by the correct radial placement of the nozzles. The particle cutoff characteristics
(collection efficiency curves) of each stage and interstage losses were determined by means of monodisperse aerosols. The cutoff characteristics were found to
he sharp and similar for all stages.

INTRODUCTION

series, with each subsequent stage collecting

particles smaller than the one before it. This
is known as a cascade impactor. Finally,
impactors can classify particles over a wide
range of particle sizes: as low as 0.005 pm
(Fernandez de la Mora et al., 1990) and as
large as approximately 50 pm (Vanderpool
et al., 1987).
This paper describes a general purpose
cascade impactor that has been developed in
our laboratory and used in a variety of studies including visibility studies (McMurry et
al., 1986; McMurry and Zhang, 1989), underground mine studies (Marple et al., 1986;
Rubow and Marple, 1988; Rubow et al.,
1988), and general atmospheric pollution
studies (Macias et al., 1981; Dzubay et al.,
1984). The impactor, called a microorifice
uniform deposit impactor (MOUDI model
100, MSP Corp., Minneapolis, Minn.), is
the integration of two earlier impactor developments: the microorifice impactor (MOI)
(Kuhlmey et al., 1981) and the uniform
deposit impactor (UDI) (Marple et al.,
1981).

Inertial impactors are widely used for the

size-selective collection of aerosol particles.
One reason for their wide usage is that the
principle of operation is simple: a jet of
particle-laden air is directed at a flat impaction plate. Large particles are collected
on the plate while smaller particles follow
the airflow out of the impaction region and
are not collected. The division between the
size of particles collected and those that are
not is quite sharp. Secondly, the particles in
an impactor are classified by their aerodynamic diameter (an important size parameter
in many fields of study, including those
related to respirable particle health effects).
Thirdly, it is easy to collect particles in
discrete size ranges by passing the aerosol
through a number of stages (one stage consisting of a nozzle and impaction plate) in

This is Publication No. 758 from the Particle Technology Laboratory.

*To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Aerosol Science and Technology 14:434-446 (1991)

@ 1991 Elsevier Science Publishing Co., Inc.

435

Microorifice Uniform Deposit Impactor

FEATURES OF MOUDI

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The MOUDI has several features normally

not found in other cascade impactors. These
include collection of particles as small as
0.056 pm in aerodynamic diameter with a
moderate pressure drop, uniform particle
collection on the impaction plates, interchangeable impaction plates to allow for the
plates to be easily and quickly changed in
the field, and covers for these substrates to
provide a means for safe storage and/or
transport of the collected particles to the
laboratory for analysis.

Collection of Small Particles

The primary parameter which governs the
collection of particles in an inertial impactor
is the Stokes number, St, defined as

where
p, =particle density
C = slip correction
V , =average air velocity at the nozzle
exit = q / a ( ~ / 2 ) ~
D, = particle diameter
p = air viscosity
W = nozzle diameter
q =volumetric flow rate through the
nozzle
The Stokes number is a dimensionless parameter that can be used to predict whether
a particle will impact on an impaction plate
of a stage or will follow the air streamlines
out of the impaction region and remain airborne.
It is common practice to use d??? as a
dimensionless particle size and to define
as the value of v%
corresponding
to D,,,, which is the value of D, collected
with 50% efficiency. Thus

Inspection of the terms in Eq. 2 reveals the

operational or design alternatives that can be
employed to obtain small values of DP5,.
p,, and p are conFor example,
stants and cannot be varied to decrease D,,,.
Vo cannot be increased beyond sonic speed
in a converging nozzle, and to avoid particle
bounce problems the jet should not even
approach sonic conditions. The only remaining parameters in Eq. 2 are the slip correction, C, and the nozzle diameter, W, both
of which can be adjusted to collect small
particles.
Small particles can be collected if the
particle slip correction is increased by operating the impactor at low pressures as reviewed by Hering and Marple (1986). A
pressure as low as 3 kPa (0.03 Atm) was
reported for the collection of 0.05-pm diameter particles.
The other method for collecting small
particles, and the method used in the
MOUDI, is to employ very small nozzles as
described by Kuhlmey et al. (1981). The
small dimensions of the nozzles allow for
small particles to be collected at relatively
low jet velocities, and consequently low
pressure drops. By the use of multiple microorifice nozzles in the MOUDI (2000 nozzles of 52 pm in diameter in the final stage),
the cut-size of the final stage can be as low
as 0.056 pm with a total flow rate through
the impactor of 30 L/min.

a,

Uniform Deposit
The uniform deposit feature of the MOUDI
was originally incorporated to facilitate the
elemental composition determination of the
deposits by X-ray fluorescence analysis
(Dzubay and Rickel, 1978). The uniform
deposit was achieved by using multiple nozzles at each stage and rotating the impaction
plate beneath the nozzles (Marple et al.,
1981). By placing the nozzles at specific
distances from the center of rotation, a uniform deposit was obtained upon the rotating
impaction plate.

Marple et al.

.! - - - - - -- - - ---Ir

- - -1 L -----

-I.
?,T-

LT---

\It
/

IMPACTION PLATE

SUBSTRATE CLAMPING
RING

&POLE MAGNETS
NOZZLE PLATE
DOUBLE O-RING SEAL
.TEFLON

GASKET

STAGE BODY

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-li---Yx-.
\

i /

1
i

Ii

t l
LJ

II

LJ

FIGURE 1. Schematic diagram of a typical MOUDI stage showing

its relation to stage above and stage below.

The MOUDI is shown schematically in

Figure 1. Each stage contains the impaction
plate for the nozzles above and the nozzles
for the impaction plate below. By rotating
this stage relative to the stage above and the
stage below, the impaction plate is rotated
relative to the upper nozzle plate and the
nozzle plate is rotated relative to the lower
impaction plate. Rotation of alternate stages
of the impactor, while the other stages are
held stationary, results in every nozzle plate
having rotation relative to its corresponding
impaction plate. The usage of the word
"stage" here is somewhat different than in
the general description of the cascade impactor, where stage referred to a nozzle and
its respective impaction plate.

Interchangeable Impaction Plates

Incorporated into the MOUDI are features
that aid in the handling of the particle collection substrates. For example, thin foils or
filters are normally used as impaction substrates, since they have low tare weights and

are easily analyzed by a variety of techniques. However, these foils and filters are
very difficult to handle in the field because
they are thin and lightweight. Therefore, the
MOUDI has removable impaction plates
onto which the foil or filter substrates can be
attached before a run, placed in the MOUDI
for the run, and then removed after a run
and taken back to the laboratory for disassembly and removal of the substrates.
Transport covers with O-ring seals have been
designed for the impaction plates to keep the
substrates and deposits free of contamination
during transportation. Several sets of impaction plates can be used with one MOUDI
with pauses in MOUDI operation only long
enough to remove and replace the impaction
plates.
DESCRIPTION OF THE MOUDI

The MOUDI consists of two basic assemblies. One is the cascade impactor and the
other is the rotator. Figure 2 shows the
cascade impactor in the rotator. Gears on

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Microorifice Uniform Deposit Impactor

icroorifice uniform deposit impactor (MOUDQ.

GUKE 3. Partially disassembled MOUDI.

alternate stages of the cascade impactor mesh

with gears on a rotating shaft of the rotator.
The hooks on the remaining stages mesh
with the bearings on the shaft, restraining
these stages from rotating.
Although the primary purpose of the rotator is to provide rotation of the alternate
stages of the impactor, the rotator also contains a control valve for controlling the flow
OUDI and two pressure
gauges. The upper pressure gauge monitors
the pressure drop
ss the first five stages
to indicate the air
rate through the imr. The lower pressure gauge monitors
ressure drop across the lower stages.
ause the lower stages use small nozzles,
cle deposition on the nozzle walls can
ce the nozzle diameter, causing the
to increase. This indicates that
the final stages of the impactor should be
cleaned before further tests are conducted.
Figure 3 shows a partially disassembled
OUDI. Seven stages and
own in the background. T
and after-filter (in the
ground. Next to
components of a r
assembly. This consists of

Marple et al.

TABLE 1. MOUDI Design and Operation Parameters

Stage

Nominal
cut-pointa (pm)

As calibrated
cut-pointa (pm)

Nozzle
diameter (cm)

Number of
nozzles

S/w

PIP:

Nozzle
Reynolds number

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Inlet
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
'Based on flow rate of 30 L/min at standard atmospheric temperature and pressure.
b~ = jet-to-plate distance; W = nozzle diameter.
'P =>bsolGe pressure at stage exit with all upstream stages present; Po = pressure at MOUDI inlet

base, substrate clamping ring, and substrate.

The impaction plate assembly is held on the
body by the use of two four-pole magnets:
one attached to the body and the other to the
back of the impaction plate. Next to the
two-piece base is a replaceable after-filter
holder, consisting of a filter support and a
filter clamp ring.
Although the MOUDI is considered an
eight-stage cascade impactor, there can aiso
be an impaction plate placed on top of the
first stage. This impaction plate along with
the inlet tube constitute a ninth stage. By
removing particles at the inlet, an upper size
limit for particles collected on the first stage
is obtained.
Table 1 shows the critical design and
operating parameters for the inlet and ten
available stages of the impactor. Any eight
of these ten stages can be used in an eightstage MOUDI. The number of nozzles range
from 1 for the inlet to 2000 for the lower
stages with the nozzle diameters ranging
from 1.71 cm to 52 pm. Nozzles whose
diameters are 90 pm and larger are drilled
while the two smallest sizes are chemically
etched.
In the design of impactors, it is desirable
to have S/ W values of at least 112 and,
Reynolds numbers of airflow in the nozzles
from 500 to 3000 (Marple, 1970; Marple
and Liu, 1974). The values of S / W and

Reynolds numbers of the nozzles in the

MOUDI are close to these values. The large
S/ W values at the lower stages are a consequence of the small nozzle diameters and the
practical requirement of allowing sufficient
separation distance for the air to flow out of
the impaction region.
Ratios of the absolute pressure at the exit
of each stage relative to the inlet pressure
are also tabulated in Table 1. These values
range from essentially 1.00 for the inlet and
the first four stages to 0.53 at the exit of
stage 10.
IMPACTION SUBSTRATES

A variety of impaction substrates can be

used with the MOUDI since the impaction
plates are removable and the substrates
clamp onto the plates with clamp rings. The
only constraints are to maintain the correct
jet-to-plate distance and to have an impaction surface large enough to collect the
entire deposit, (which requires a 2.8-cm diameter surface for the inlet and stage 1 and
2.7 cm for all other stages).
The type of substrate required in the
MOUDI is primarily dictated by the type of
aerosol to be collected and the method by
which the deposits are to be analyzed. For
example, if the impactor will be collecting
particles that are liquid or sticky, then parti-

439

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Microorifice Uniform Deposit Impactor

cle bounce will not be a problem and nearly

any substrate can be used on the impaction
plate. If the particles are solid and may
bounce, then a grease or oil layer may have
to be applied to the substrate as detailed in
the following section.
The requirement for the substrate material will also be dictated by the technique
used to analyze the deposit. If X-ray fluorescence analysis is to be performed on the
deposits, then a chemically clean, low atomic
weight material like Teflon (Teflo filters,
Gelman Science Inc., Ann Arbor, Mich.)
should be used. If the deposits, are to be
weighed to determine the mass distribution,
then any substrate with a stable tare weight
and low mass can be used. Materials such as
aluminum foil and plastic film made of
Teflon, Mylar, or polycarbonate work well.
Some materials can pick up moisture; thus,
the tare weight will be a function of the
humidity to which the substrates have been
exposed and this material would not be suitable for a mass distribution measurement.
Two sues of impaction plates, designed
to accept 37- and 47-mm substrates, can be
used in the MOUDI. The 47-mm substrates
are used at the inlet and the 10-pm cut-sue
stage, since the nozzles are relatively large
and the deposits may cover greater areas
than the area inside the clamp ring for the
37-mm substrate. The 37-mm substrates can
be used for the lower stages. The advantage
of the 37-mm substrates is the low tare
weight, since the deposit covers nearly the
entire area of the substrate inside the clamp
ring. However, if a grease coating must be
applied to the substrate, there is a chance
that the grease may migrate to the 37-mm
substrate clamp ring, invalidating the tare
weight of the substrate. Therefore, if grease
must be used, it is advisable to use 47-mm
substrates.

Grease Coating of Substrates

Particle bounce, which occurs when particles strike and rebound from an impaction
substrate without adhering to it, is a concern

when sampling solid particles with an impactor. It is common practice to reduce particle bounce by coating the substrates with
an oil or light grease to form a sticky surface. If grease is used on MOUDI impaction
plates, it is possible to collect up to 3 mg of
solid particles on each stage without overloading the substrates.
The easiest method for applying oil to the
substrates is to spray the oil from an aerosol
can or small airbrush using a mask to protect the edges of the substrate. The mask is a
thin plastic sheet (overhead transparency
film) with either a 2.86- or 3.71-cm diameter hole for the 37- and 47-mm substrate,
respectively. The mask is placed over the
substrate such that the hole is concentric
with the center of the substrate. The oil,
such as No. 11025 silicon spray (ClingSurface Co., Inc., Angola, NY) is then
sprayed onto the substrate. After the oil has
been applied, it is necessary to bake the
substrates in an oven at 65C for 90 min.
The amount 'of silicone oil to be applied to
the substrates is dependent on the expected
amount of material to be collected. Coating
amounts of 0.25, 0.5, and 1.0 mg/cm2 (after
oven drying) have been used with dust mass
loadings of typically 0.2, 0.5, and 3.0 mg,
respectively.
AFTER-FILTER

The MOUDI uses a 37-mm diameter afterfilter. The choice of the filter material is
primarily dictated by the type of analysis
performed. For mass distribution deterrninations we use Gelman Teflo type R2PJ037
membrane filters or glass fiber filters.
It is also important that the filter material
have low pressure drop to minimize pump
size since the pressure drop through the
impactor and, therefore, the pump sue, will
be dictated by the after-filter and the smallest cut-size of the impactor. For example,
air at a flow rate of 30 L/min can be drawn
through the MOUDI with a 114-hp carbon
vane pump (model 0523-101G-G18DX, Gast

Marple et al.

DILUTION

AIR

ABSOLUTE

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AEROSOL
GENERATOR

ELECTROSTATIC
CLASSIFIER

FILTER

NEUTRALIZER

MPACTOR

BALL\
VALVES

ELECTRICAL
AEROSOL
DETECTOR

FIGURE 4. Schematic design of calibration test setup for particles

in 0.03-0.7-pm size range.

Manufacturing Corp., Benton Harbor,

Mich.), if 0.056 pm is the final cut-size and
if the after-filter is a Gelman Teflo filter
with 2-pm pore size.
MOUDI CALIBRATION

Three calibration techniques were employed

owing to the wide range of MOUDI cutsizes. These techniques included the use of a
differential mobility analyzer to cover the
range from 0.03 to 0.7 pm, redispersed
polystyrene latex (PSL) in the size range
from 0.7 to 1.3 pm, and a vibrating orifice
monodisperse aerosol generator (VOMAG)
to cover the size range from 1.3 to 20 pm.

Calibration in 0.03-0.7-pm Size Range

The schematic diagram of the test system
used for the 0.03-0.7-pm aerosol size range
is shown in Figure 4. The system consists of
an aerosol generator, an electrostatic classifier, a Kr-85 radioactive charge neutralizer,
the MOUDI stage being calibrated, and an
electrical aerosol detector (EAD, model

3070, TSI, Inc., St. Paul, Minn.). The

aerosol concentration upstream and downstream of an impactor stage was determined
with the EAD.
The aerosols were produced using a twostep generation process. The first step involved the atomization of a solution containing dioctyl sebacate (DOS) with a
Collision-type atomizer described by Liu and
Lee (1975). This system produced an aerosol
with a geometric standard deviation of approximately 2 that was reduced to a range of
1.2- 1.7 by using an evaporation-condensation process (Liu and Lee, 1975). The
second step of the generation process involved passing the aerosol through an electrostatic classifier to obtain a test aerosol
with a narrow size distribution (Liu and Pui,
1974) with a geometric standard deviation of
< 1.05. The size of particles was varied by
changing the airflow rates and voltage of the
electrostatic classifier. The uncertainty in
the resulting particles size was < f5 %.
The percent aerosol penetration through
each impactor stage was measured by first
passing the aerosol through the impactor and

Microorifice Uniform Deposit Impactor

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measuring the aerosol concentration with the

EAD. The aerosol concentration upstream
of the impactor stage was then measured by
diverting all of this flow into the EAD. The
needle valve was used to simulate the pressure drop across the impactor stage. The
upstream aerosol concentration was corrected to account for particle loss in the
valve, which in most cases, was < 2%
(Rubow, 1981).

Calibration in 0.7-1.3-pm Size Range

Monodisperse PSL particles were used as
the test aerosol in the 0.7-1.3-pm particle
size range. A two-step aerosol generation
process was used: atomization followed by
electrostatic classification. The PSL particles
of a specific size, suspended in a dilute
aqueous solution, were atomized with a Collison atomizer. The atomized solution was
then passed through a silica gel dryer, leaving dry PSL particles. Next, an electrostatic
classifier (Liu and Pui, 1974) was used to
extract the primary PSL particles from the
feed aerosol which also contained residue
particles and multiplets consisting of two or
more PSL particles. This classified aerosol
was then diluted and drawn into the impactor stage being calibrated. The particle
concentrations upstream and downstream of
the stage were measured with a model 3755
laser particle counter (TSI, Inc.).
Calibration in the 1.3-20-pm Size Range
A vibrating orifice monodisperse aerosol
generator (VOMAG, model 3050, TSI, Inc.)
was used to generate the largest liquid and
solid aerosols, i.e., liquid oleic acid particles containing a uranine dye tracer and
solid ammonium fluorescein. The quantity
of these particles deposited upon various
surfaces within the impactor were determined by fluorometric analysis. For each
calibration point, particles of a desired size
were generated with the VOMAG and drawn
through the impactor. After running 5-30

441

minutes, the impaction plate and a filter

placed just downstream of the impactor stage
was removed from the impactor and each
washed in 20 mL of a 0.001 N aqueous
solution of sodium hydroxide for the case of
liquid particles or 0.1 N ammonium hydroxide solution for the case of solid particles.
The quantities of dye in the wash solution
was then measured by a fluorometer
(Aminico model 54-7439A American Instrument Co., Silver Springs, MD). The particle
collection efficiency of the impactor stage
was equal to the quantity of material collected on the impaction plate divided by the
sum of the quantities collected on the impaction plate and after-filter.
One drawback with using VOMAG-generated calibration aerosols is that a small
fraction of multiplet particles can be formed.
Singlet and multiplet concentrations were
measured during the calibration with a TSI
aerodynamic particle sizer model 33 (APS).
All stage collection efficiency data were then
adjusted to account for the measured multiplet concentration using the method described in Marple et al. (1987).

Particle Cutoff Characteristics

The resulting collection efficiency curves for
each stage of the MOUDI are shown in
Figure 5. The impaction substrates were
uncoated aluminum foil with a smooth particle collection surface. A silicone oil coating
was applied for tests conducted with PSL
particles. The curves are labeled at the nominal cut-sizes listed in Table 1. The actual
50% cut-points in Figure 5 correspond to
the "as calibrated" values listed in Table 1.
In general, the "as calibrated" values are
within 3% of the nominal values, which is
within the experimental accuracy of the calibration. One exception is the 5.6-pm cut
stage where agreement is within 11%. Although all curves in Figure 5 show sharp
cuts, close inspection of the curves show the
sharpest cuts to be for stages 2-6. If the
sharpness of cut is characterized by the geo-

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Marple et al.

Aerodynamic

Particle Diameter, pm

FIGURE 5. Particle collection efficiency curves of the MOUDI.

metric standard deviation (ag), defined as

the square root of the ratio of the particle
diameter at the 84th percentile to the diameter at the 16th percentile, the sharpness of
cut for stages 2-6 is a, = 1.08.

Interstage Losses
Interstage losses within the MOUDI, as
shown in Figure 6, were determined using
monodisperse liquid and solid aerosols and
techniques similar to those used in the stage
collection efficiency calibration. A silicone
oil was applied to the impaction substrate
when solid particles were used. Loss determinations were measured by passing particles through the MOUDI and determining
where the particles were collected above the
stage at which the particles were expected to
be removed by normal impaction. Because
of the rather complicated flow between the
stages, particle losses are difficult to predict.
They are primarily caused by inertial deposition as the flow turns, exiting one stage and

passing to the next stage. In general, it was

found that particles of all sizes larger than
the cut-size of a certain stage but smaller
than a cut-size of the previous stage had
approximately constant interstage losses between these two stages. Therefore, the losses
tended to be step functions with the boundaries of the steps corresponding to the cut
sizes of the stages.
The interstage losses shown in Figure 6
are for both liquid and solid particles. As
expected, the losses for the solid particles
were less than for the liquid particles due to
bounce of the solid particles. Also, the losses
were the greatest for the larger particles
(35% for liquid and 20 % for solid particles
of about 15 pm in diameter), where inertial
effects were the most severe. However, the
losses rapidly decreased as the particles size
decreased with losses of < 2 % between
stages 3 and 8. The losses increased again as
the aerosol reached stages 9 and 10 owing to
the increased diffusional effects of these
small particles.

443

Microorifice Uniform Deposit Impactor

Liquid Particles
I F - ' - - -

Solid Particles

Staae Number

-o
Q,

c.
L

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40

10

+I

Stage
cut-points

Inlet

Aerodynamic Particle Diameter, pm

FIGURE 6. Particle loss in the MOUDI.

TYPICAL SIZE DISTRIBUTION DATA

FROM TWO STUDIES

The MOUDI has been used to sample a

variety of aerosols: ranging from the low
concentration aerosols in the pristine southwestern United States (mass concentrations
typically 3 j ~ g / mfor
~ particles < 2.5 pm)
to the higher concentrations in underground
coal mines (mass concentrations typically
1-2 mg/m3). Typical size distributions of
these aerosols are shown in Figure 7 and 8.
The elemental size distributions in Figure
7 are for atmospheric aerosols collected at
the Grand Canyon in a visibility study (McMurry et al., 1986). The data for S, Si, Al,
and Ca are averages from 24-hour runs,
analyzed to determine the mass size distribution and the elemental composition by X-ray
fluorescence analysis.
The size distribution shown in Figure 8 is
from a coal mine using diesel-powered
equipment where the concentration was
much higher and the run times shorter (90

minutes). These data indicate a bimodal distribution with the lower and upper modes
consisting of diesel exhaust particles and
coal and rock dust, respectively.
SUMMARY

A cascade impactor has been developed that

has several unique features. Very small nozzles (microorifices) have been used to obtain
cut-sizes as small as 0.056 pm with a moderate pressure drop. A rather high flow rate
(30 L/min) has been achieved by using a
large number of nozzles (up to 2000) per
stage. Even though there is a large number
of nozzles, the impaction surface area is
only 2.7 cm in diameter. In a conventional
impactor, the particles deposit in mounds
below each nozzle. By rotating the impaction plates relative to the nozzles, the
deposits from each nozzle are annular rings.
By placing the nozzles at prescribed distances from the center of rotation, the rings

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Marple et al.

FIGURE 7. Average MOUDI size distributions from southwestern

United States for the four most abundant elements as measured by
x-ray fluorescence analysis.

445

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Microorifice Uniform Deposit Impactor

Aerodynamic Diameter (Dp), pm

FIGURE 8. Mass size distribution as measured by the MOUDI in a
coal mine with diesel-powered equipment.

will overlap, forming a uniform deposit on

the impaction plate. The combination of
these two features constitutes the development of the microorifice uniform deposit
impactor (MOUDI) .
An additional feature is removable impaction plates that can be quickly interchanged between runs. Substrates can be
installed on the impaction plates in the laboratory and the plates transported to the field
for a test, removed from the impactor after a
test and transported back to the laboratory
for substrate removal and analysis. Covers
are provided to protect the substrates during
transport to prevent deposit contamination.
Field use of the impactor has been successful in a variety of studies. These have

ranged from sampling aerosols in the pristine atmospheres of the southwestern United
States to the industrial atmosphere in coal
mines.
This work was supported by the Department of Energy,
Contract No. DE-FG22-83PC61255, Electric Power Research Institute, Contract No. 10415, and the U.S. Department of Interior's Mineral Institutes program administrator by the Bureau of Mines through the Generic Mineral
Technology Center for Respirable Dust under allotment
grant no. G1135142.

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Received August 15, 1990; accepted November 28, 1990