Measurement of the electrostatic charge in airborne particles: I - Development of the equipment and preliminary results

The design and construction of a equipment capable of measuring the electro static charges in aerosols, named the electrostatic charge classifier, were carried out. They were based on the concept of particle electromobility an d the charge classifier was intended to classify the nature and the distrib ution of electrostatic charges as a function of particle size. The resultin g piece of equipment is easy to dismount, which facilitates its cleaning an d transport, and easy to operate. Early results indicate that the values of electrostatic charge measured on test particles are inside the range repor ted in the literature, indicating the adequacy of the technique utilized.