Smoke Particulate Monitors: 2006 Update
Introduction
The Missoula Technology and Development Center Air Quality Program has been evaluating real-time smoke particulate monitors since 1999. Air quality specialists and fire managers use these commercial monitors to estimate smoke particulate concentrations from prescribed and wildland fires. The center's evaluations include determining the accuracy of the real-time monitors by comparing their results to a gravimetric standard and evaluating the instrument's overall usability and functionality. Usually, evaluations are conducted when new, promising commercial monitors are introduced or when Forest Service personnel are considering using monitors that have not been evaluated.
Since the last evaluation in 2003, several developments in smoke monitoring have prompted a new evaluation. Met One Instruments Inc. has a new external ac electrical pump for their E-BAM particulate monitor. This ac pump can be used as a replacement for the short-lived internal dc electrical pump. Additionally, new firmware updates have been developed for the E-BAM to alleviate some technical issues. Also, some Forest Service personnel were using a monitor manufactured by TSI Inc. called the DUSTTRAK. The DUSTTRAK had not been evaluated by MTDC.
Figure 1—Four reports (9925–2806–MTDC, 0025–2860–MTDC,
0125–2832–MTDC, and 0325–2834–MTDC) detail the evaluations of
several real-time smoke particulate
monitors in laboratory
and
field environments.
MTDC completed four evaluations of commercial real-time smoke particulate monitors from 1999 to 2003 (figure 1). Most of the evaluation tests were conducted in controlled laboratory conditions at the Rocky Mountain Research Station's (RMRS) Fire Sciences Laboratory in Missoula, MT. Other evaluations were conducted by monitoring prescribed and wildfire smoke. The previous reports include:
- Laboratory Evaluation of Two
Optical Instruments for Real-Time
Particulate Monitoring of Smoke (/t-d/pubs/htmlpubs/htm99252806/)
- Evaluation of Optical Instruments
for Real-Time Continuous
Monitoring of Smoke Particulates (/t-d/pubs/htmlpubs/htm00252860/)
- Real-Time Smoke Particulate
Sampling—Fire Storm 2000 (/t-d/pubs/htmlpubs/htm01252832/)
- Laboratory Evaluation of Real-Time Smoke Particulate Monitors (/t-d/pubs/htmlpubs/htm03252834/)
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