How to Select a Particle Counter?

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How to Select a Particle Counter

We generally recommend one main thing to keep in mind when making your choice. It is the peculiarities (in other words - specifications) of a tool that you want to use in a cleanroom & also how much it costs.

Firstly, you must think about the area in which you are going to use the instrument and about the user himself. Before dwelling upon the needed peculiarities of a particle counter, you have to think about the following questions:

  • In what kind (ISO class) of area will you use your tool?
  • Which type of data will you gather (will it be simple pass\fail or with logging in to the database)?
  • Will you change locations with your particle counter for various cleanrooms’ certification?

Now you can dwell upon the Specifications:

Sensitivity.  Determines the size of the tiniest particles to be detected.

Zero Count Level.  Here we talk about how many particles are shown incorrectly using filtered air at the perfect flow rate for a certain timespan. The number of particles per 5 minutes would be the info we are to obtain here.

Counting Efficiency.  In most situations, we need to learn the effectiveness (further on - efficiency) of the process of calculating particle concentration with the instrument you hold. |You have to learn the true particle concentration first, using a responsive counter with a counting efficiency of 100% at the smallest particle size of the tested tool. A recommended counting efficiency of the right particle counter to produce is 50%.

Channels.  The number of channels means the number of different cells where the particles go. The division is based on the size of the particles collected. Thus, if you have a particle counter containing 4 channels, that means that the particles collected by your counter will be stored in 4 various channels\cells.

Flow Rate.  To measure this specification, we count the number of cubic feet of air passing through the particle counter per minute. Generally, when you pick this kind of product, you encounter this principle - the greater the flow rate, the bigger the pump, which sucks the air in. It also usually means that the particle counter itself is also bigger in size.

The main specification people mostly regard while picking this kind of tool is the size of a counter (the smaller - the better). To make the best choice while selecting a particle counter, you should mind and regard other specifications.

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