Vai al contenuto

The Piedmont Region established in early 2020 a task force of Piedmont universities to support the territory in producing protective devices and tools to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Since March 2020, the Aerosol Technology Laboratory has supported many companies in creating and importing air filter materials and respiratory protective devices. In addition, the Laboratory helped the control authorities verify the quality of products on the market. To do this, the Piedmont Region funded the Laboratory using the Infra-P project “AerosolTech.” Thanks to these investments, the Laboratory can offer its services to an increasing number of customers.

Main services

Performance assessment of materials and components for removal of airborne particulate matter for several applications:

  • airflow resistance as a function of airflow rate
  • removal efficiency as a function of particle size
  • simulation of aging using several types of synthetic aerosols

We measure filter material penetration and respiratory resistance on respiratory protective devices according to European, U.S., and Chinese standardized test methods. Moreover, the laboratory can measure the performance of any face mask using the universal test method developed in-house and published as UNI PdR/90 Reference Practice.

Additional activities, for which the laboratory has become an international benchmark:

  • tests on materials and filter elements for general ventilation according to ISO 16890 series
  • tests of materials and filter elements used in turbo-gas power generation units
  • development of new test methodologies and contribution to international standards
  • measurement of solid/liquid contact angle
  • measurement of surface tension of liquids
  • fluorescence measurement of particulates
  • multi-component measurement of gases by FTIR absorption

Testing equipment

  • Agilent Cary Eclipse fluorescence spectrometer
  • Anton Paar pycnometer Ultrapyc 5000
  • Bench for mechanical strength test according to UNI EN 143
  • BINDER dynamic climate chamber for thermal conditioning model MKF240 for thermal conditioning
  • Biolin Theta Lite contact angle meter
  • Biolin Sigma 701 force tensiometer
  • Branca Idelair climatic unit standard 300 thermo-hygrometric chamber
  • ETG 9500 FTIR multi-gas analyzer
  • Kern thermobalance model DBS 60-3
  • Test bench for measuring carbon dioxide content of inhaled air
  • Test bench for simulated wearing treatment according to UNI EN 149
  • Test rig for measuring the performance of any type of face mask according to UNI/PdR 90 Reference Practice
  • TEXTEST model FX 3300 air permeability tester
  • Topas atomizer aerosol generator ATM 230
  • Topas DDS 560 dynamic dilution system
  • Topas electrostatic aerosol neutralizer EAN 581
  • Topas filter efficiency measuring system with LAP 323 aerosol spectrometer.
  • TSI automated filter tester 8130 A
  • TSI condensation monodisperse aerosol generator model 3475
  • TSI general scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS) model 3938
  • TSI laser aerosol spectrometer model 3340 A
  • TSI PortaCount respirator fit tester model 8048

How to access the infrastructure

Support through in-house technical staff
Users request the service preferably through a web platform, and in-house staff performs measurements. The customers receive a test report containing the measured data.

Measurements made by external users assisted by in-house technical staff
The customers reserve in advance the test equipment they need. The external personnel shall be trained and qualified. The in-house technical team will help the external users. This approach applies to a limited time duration. According to the demand, we offer training and short courses for the use of the instrumentation.