Huntsville, AL, September 30, 2008
CFD Research Corporation (CFDRC) announced today the receipt of Patent No. US 7,428,848 for an invention titled “Electrostatic Sampler and Method”. In contrast with conventional inertial technologies, CFDRC-developed sampler exploits electrostatic forces to collect airborne particulates and microorganisms. Our concept harnesses innovative electrode design and controlled manipulation of aerosol particle surface charge, to obtain very high collection efficiencies over the size range of interest (0.5-10 mm, typical for biological aerosols).
The sampler is suitable for adoption in several applications, e.g. biological and chemical defense, environmental testing, air quality monitoring, and air purification. In particular, this sampler enables the collection of aerosolized biological agents such as bacteria, mold, fungal spores, viruses and charged chemicals/particles. This is important for hospitals, office buildings, and sports arenas, as well as military environments such as the battlefield, observation posts, and military housing.
The new sampler was designed through extensive use of computer simulations. The optimized sampler design was fabricated and demonstrated for high efficiency sampling in CFDRC’s Bioengineering Laboratory. In laboratory testing with organic and inorganic aerosols, the sampler was demonstrated to operate with >90% efficiency, including high collection efficiencies for difficult to capture sub-micron particles.
The sampler was invented by a CFDRC Biomedical Technology Branch team led by Drs. Kapil Pant and Shankar Sundaram. The technology was developed under SBIR (Small Business Innovative Research) projects funded by the Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
