Calibration of Condensation Particle Counters for Legislated Vehicle Number Measurements

Light duty vehicle emissions legislation requires calibration (by manufacturers) and validations (by test laboratories) of Condensation Particle Counters (CPCs) that will be used for measurements of vehicle particle number emissions. A workshop was organized at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) to study the effect of test aerosol materials (of their chemical composition) on CPC calibration and validation. The results showed that the counting efficiencies of Combustion Aerosol STandard (CAST) particles at 23 nm were similar to those of heavy duty diesel engine particles, while those of Emery oil were similar or slightly higher. The counting efficiencies of C40 (tetracontane) particles were much higher, and those of NaCl particles were lower. The C40 and NaCl results were not reproducible as tests at the JRC performed after the workshop found much lower counting efficiencies for C40 particles and variable results for NaCl, depending on their thermal treatment. Measurement issues including calibration against an electrometer or a reference CPC, multiply charged particle effect on counting efficiencies, stability, repeatability, reproducibility of the tests, and comparability of electrometers of different manufacturers were also investigated. .

GIECHASKIEL Barouch;  WANG Xiaoliang;  HORN Hans-Georg;  SPIELVOGEL Juergen;  GERHART Christian;  SOUTHGATE Jason;  JING Lianpeng;  KASPER Markus;  DROSSINOS Ioannis;  KRASENBRINK Alois; 

2009-10-27

TAYLOR & FRANCIS INC

JRC52055

0278-6826,   

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC52055,