The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 10, 2020
Filed:
Jul. 20, 2015
The United States of America, As Represented BY the Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD (US);
Regents of the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (US);
Pramod S. Kulkarni, Mason, OH (US);
Jikku Moolamkunnam Thomas, Minneapolis, MN (US);
Christopher J. Hogan, Jr., Minneapolis, MN (US);
The United States of America, as Represented by the Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD (US);
Regents of the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (US);
Abstract
Disclosed herein are aerosol particle growth systems including polymer electrolyte membranes and related methods of increasing the size of aerosol particles. In some embodiments, an outer housing contains a reservoir of a working fluid, and a PEM conduit extends through the outer housing, the reservoir, and the working fluid so that the working fluid is in contact with an outer surface of the PEM conduit. The conduit can be generally helical or coiled, for example. In some embodiments, the working fluid is molecularly transported across the PEM and disperses into an aerosol flowing through the PEM conduit. As the aerosol flows through the PEM conduit, the aerosol particles act as nucleation sites for the gaseous working fluid, which condenses on the particles, causing the particles to grow in size and making them easier to detect, collect, measure, count, study, or otherwise investigate.