Personal cyclone samplers have been widely used to measure the respirable mass of particles in occupational and ambient environments. In respirable dust sampling, it is essential that the cyclone cut-off characteristics be known and constant, and that each cyclone be operated at a flow rate, which produces the desired cut-off. The personal sampling methods used today comprise air flows up to 10 l/min. This work aims to develop a 20 l/min sampling cyclone that meets the sampling efficiency curve, determined by respirable convention EN481.

Based on the previous numerical study, the cyclone of the GK design showed the lowest deviation compared to the respirable convention and therefore was used for further investigation. The GK cyclone with an internal diameter of 6.27 cm was manufactured in two versions, one from steel and another from plastic by 3D-printing.

The following experimental setup was developed. Solid glass spheres Ballotini 3000 with a 2.5 g/cm³ density were dispersed into an open aerosol box by the generator RBG 1000. The generated aerosol was drawn through the cyclone sampler, then through the filter located downstream to deposit non-collected in a cyclone sampler aerosol particles, and finally through the flow meter TSI4040 and flow control valve by the usage of a vacuum pump. Particle concentration of different sizes upstream and downstream of the cyclone was measured by the aerodynamic particle sizer APS 3321. The penetration curves were calculated based on the particle concentration upstream and downstream of the cyclone sampler.

Two cyclones were tested at a flow rate of 20 l/min and the measurements were performed at two different sampling flow rates, 1 l/min and 5 l/min to reveal its effect on the results of measurement.