A BREATH SAMPLING DEVICE FOR MEASURING HUMAN EXPOSURE TO VOLATILE ORGANIC-COMPOUNDS IN MICROGRAVITY

A compact device for the collection of alveolar air (breath) from huma ns aboard spacecraft was developed. the system uses silicone one-way v alves that operate independent of gravity, and provide minimal backpre ssure. Small charcoal filters clean ambient air used for inhalation. T he device provided good recoveries of organic compounds at the 20 ng/L level, with generally low carryover of these compounds to a blank sam ple following a sample at exposure to 100 ng/L. When water accumulated in the system, this carryover increased for highly water soluble comp ounds. The new device wets used in parallel with a larger, previously developed alveolar air sampler that requires gravity for proper operat ion; comparable results were obtained with the two units. The device m easures 47 x 34 x 11.4 cm and weighs approximately 3.2 kg. Sufficient space is available within the ease to accommodate a number of sample c ollection options.