Development of Thermal Desorption (TD) Tube Sequential Sampler

Commercial off the shelf (COTS) sequential samplers that pull contaminated air through thermal desorption (TD) sample tubes have many limitations that reduce their usefulness when they are used to measure volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in air. In this SBIR Project TDA Research is developing an intelligent thermal desorption tube sequential sampler that can be used for VOC sampling in the workspace, environment, and aircraft cockpits. It will collect VOC samples that are time splices of an entire sampling event, and the sample initiation, flow rate and duration are fully user programmable. In Phase I, we developed an intelligent TD sequential sampler measuring 8.75” x 6.75” x 4” about ˝ the size of a typical shoe box. We demonstrated the concept by collecting data rich samples of the VOCs in the air that are time splices of an entire sampling event. In Phase II we will further refine the design, fabricate, demonstrate and test a fully functional prototype of the TDA’s intelligent TD tube VOC sequential sampler. We will use the TD tube sampler to identify and quantify contaminants in pilot and aircrew breathing air systems. We will supply DoD with three fully functional prototypes for evaluation.