Top of page

Student/Staff Portal
Global Site Navigation

International Sampler Comparison Group

Local Section Navigation
You are here: Main Content
  • The Canadian WAM

    (R) Ann Duong (Researcher) and (L) Leila Doudey (Research Assistant) with the Canadian WAM

Related Contents

Validating the use of a Multi-Fraction sampler (Canada)

The University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) Canada has started the project "Validating the use of a Multi-Fraction sampler for recovering inhalable and respirable dust mass, and metals in Workplace Air".  Funding has been provided by WorkSafe BC.

The project will evaluate the efficacy of the Zefon Disposable Respirable Sampler (DRS) in collecting both inhalable and respirable fractions of dust (for gravimetric analysis) and metals (for spectrometric analysis).

The study will compare the performance of the DRS to conventional samplers, including the IOM + SKC foam insert, Casella HD cyclone, and DIS samplers.

This evaluation will be conducted using the Workplace Atmospheric Multi-Sampler (WAM) originally designed by Steven Verpaele and Jonathan Jouret, as well as a smaller WAM constructed at UNBC by Madeline Clarke based on the original design.

The project objectives are:

  1. How does the performance of the DRS sampler, incorporating a disposable plastic body, PVC capsule, detachable 25 mm PVC filter, and size-selective foam insert, compare to traditional sampling methods (IOM with SKC foam, Casella HD cyclone, DIS sampler) in accurately capturing both inhalable and respirable fractions of dust for gravimetric and metals analysis?
  2. Does the particle size influence the efficacy of the DRS sampler in field/workplace environments?
  3. Does using the TSI 3300 OPS (real-time sampling device) to generate a profile of particle number and mass distributions during sampling help us determine whether temporal bursts of particulate activity of a particular size fraction affect sampler performance?
  4. Does the sampling efficacy of the DRS apply to all measurement types (different metals, dust size fractions) and concentration profiles (low and high loadings)?
  5. How does the UNBC constructed WAM (which is much smaller) compare to the original WAM designed by Steven Verpaele and Jonathan Jouret? Does it perform similarly?
Skip to top of page