The present invention is an electrostatic collector for low cost, high
throughput, high efficiency sampling and concentration of bioaerosols.
The device is small enough to be portable and can be contained within or
placed on the wall of a typical office or hospital building. The
collector comprises one or more collector modules, each having an
ionizing electrode, a conical outer electrode, a wet collection
electrode, and a liquid collection system. Airflow through a collector
module may be partially blocked to enhance the collection of smaller
particles and the collection electrode may comprise multiple,
programmable electrodes to focus particle deposition onto a smaller area.
Particles are collected into a small volume of liquid to facilitate
subsequent analysis by an attached analyzer or at a remote site.