Artificial saliva aerosol source and detection system for spreading analysis in indoor environments

Abstract

In the context of the Corona pandemic the investigation of aerosol spreading is utmost important as the virus is transported by the aerosol particles exhaled by an infected person. Thus, a new aerosol generation and detection system is set up and validated. The system consists of an aerosol source generating a particle size distribution mimicking typical human exhalation with particles sizes between 0.3-2.5 µm and an array of Sensirion SPS30 particulate matter sensors. An accuracy assessment of the SPS30 sensors is conducted using a TSI OPS3330, a high-precision optical particle sizer. Low deviations of ±5 % of the particle concentration measured with the SPS30 with respect to the OPS are reported for concentrations below 2’500/cm³ and +10% for particle densities up to 25’000/cm³. As an application example the system is employed in a short distance single-aisle research aircraft Dornier 728 (Do728) located at DLR Göttingen, to investigate the large-scale aerosol-spreading. With this measurement system a determined spreading distance from an index passenger extending one seat row to the front and two seat rows to the back is determined.