Evaluation of the SKC Personal Respirable Dust Sampling Cyclone

Abstract

Three generations of the SKC cyclone have been evaluated. The cyclone was intended to emulate the British Safety in Mines Personal Equipment for Dust Sampling (SIMPEDS). The size-selection efficiency of the first cyclone generation was evaluated by measuring its penetration curve with a TSI APS 3300, and was found to have a pronounced tail for large particle sizes. For smaller particle sizes the size-selection efficiency was very similar to that of the SIMPEDS. The cyclone's size-selection caused it to considerably oversample large particles, relative to both the SIMPEDS and the British Medical Research Council definition of respirable dust, but for smaller particles it compared favorably with the SIMPEDS. The second cyclone generation sampled somewhat more than the first. The third generation samples more closely to the SIMPEDS cyclone. The coefficient of variation for the third cyclone generation was estimated to be 0.038 for a foundry aerosol. Possible merits of the first two SKC cyclone generations are discussed in light of the new respirable sampling convention about to be adopted by the Comité Européen de Normalisation, the International Standards Organisation, and the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists. Lidén, G.: Evaluation of the SKC Personal Respirable Dust Sampling Cyclone. App. Occup. Environ. Hyg. 8(3):178-190; 1993