HIGH-FLOW RATE, LOW-NOISE, GAS SAMPLING APPARATUS AND METHODS

摘要

High-flow rate, low-noise, gas sampling apparatus (10) for collecting particulate such as biological, chemical, and radioactive material from a gas on a collector (40) includes a housing (12) having an inlet (14) and an outlet (16) and a fan (30) disposed within the housing for drawing the gas into the inlet, past the collector for sampling, and exhausting the gas through the outlet. The fan is operable to produce a flow of gas through the housing of greater than about 50 liters per minute with a noise level emitted from the apparatus being less than about 60 decibels. The apparatus may also include a sensor (78) for the detection of radioactive material collected on the collector, a processor (62) for monitoring the sampling, and the apparatus may be linked to a communications network (84) such as the Internet.