Falling film aerosol generator

Fig. 1.5.1 Schematic diagram of the falling film aerosol generator. (A) Constant-temperature oil bath (B) and (C) reservoirs containing the reactant liquid (D) and (J) glass joints controlling the flow of the moving film (E) and (F) tubes to the variable-speed pump (G) exit tube (I) boiler lube (K) carrier gas (laden with nuclei) entrance. (From Ref. 31.)...

Both LaMer s and the falling film aerosol generators yield only small quantities of products. Much larger amounts of aerosols can be produced by dispersing liquids with the help of various mechanical devices, e.g. rotating disks or ultrasonic nozzles [6]. These techniques, however, usually yield aerosols with broad distribution of droplet sizes and thus lead to polydisperse systems. The dispersion aerosol generators can, consequently, be used... 

The size of the particles is determined by the particular material selected and the vapor concentration used. In practice, limited variation in particle size can be achieved for a particular aerosol material because conditions for stable aerosol formation require a particular set of thermal and vapor concentration conditions. The monodispersity of the aerosol can be improved by revaporization and recondensation. In systems in which the condensation occurs in a container with a high ratio of volume to surface areas, relatively monodisperse particles can be obtained (frg 1.1). Otherwise, the particle size varies with the proximity to the wall. In cylindrical or tubular systems, such as in the condensation aerosol generator developed by Liu et al. [10] or the falling-film generator, the particle size that is produced varies radially (see Ref. [3]). A more monodisperse aerosol can be produced by extracting the central portion of the flow, which is less subject to wall effects. Liu et al. [10] found that the monodispersity improved from a ug value of 1.35 to 1.15 by using only the central 5% of the aerosol flow. A commercial version of a modified Sinclair-LaMer generator is available with particle size control suited for inhalation studies [11]. 

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