THERMOELECTRIC PARTICLE PRECIPITATOR AND METHOD USING SAME FOR COLLECTING PARTICLES FROM FLUID STREAMS

摘要

A thermoelectric particle precipitator (20) for removing and collecting particles from a fluid stream. The thermoelectric particle precipitator (20) utilizes one or more thermoelectric modules (22, 24) to create a temperature gradient which causes suspended particles in a fluid stream to undergo thermophoretic movement and precipitate on a surface on the cooled side of the temperature gradient. The collection surface may be a cooled surface (52) of the thermoelectric module (22, 24) or a cooled surface (252) of a thermal mass (270). The collected particles may be analyzed to determine their composition.