The instrument can be used for air quality measurement indoors, vehicle exhaust,[2] research in bioaerosols, atmospheric studies, and toxicology testing.
The sampling inlet of the SMPS is thus protected from large dust and insects, the air that enters it contains only the fine particles to be quantified.
The sampled air will be exposed to high concentrations of positive and negative ions, after a certain number of collisions the charge distribution will be stable and known.
At a given voltage, only particles of a certain diameter will follow this channel until they exit; the smaller and larger will crash into the electrodes.
The butanol vapor condenses on the particles, increasing their size and thus facilitating their optical detection.
The results obtained by this type of device therefore include the distribution of particle sizes in the air continuously.