LLNL has a successful history of developing instruments for detecting and characterizing airborne pathogens. Often, aerosol characterizing instruments require highly focused particle beams with little or no transmission losses. In addition, they need to interface to the sampling environment with a very high sampling rate so that more aerosol particles can be collected and sensitivity can be improved. The pressure-flow reducing nozzle was originally part of LLNL’s R&D100 award winning Biological Aerosol Mass Spectrometry (BAMS) system. The patented design can be used with other aerosol analysis instruments to perform high-flow, atmosphere-pressure sampling.

U.S. Patent No. 7,361,891, “Pressure Flow Reducer for Aerosol Focusing Devices” (LLNL internal case # IL11478)

In 2005, LLNL researchers won a R&D 100 award for developing advanced technologies to rapidly detect the airborne release of biological threat agents. The Biological Aerosol Mass Spectrometry (BAMS) system is an instrument about the size of three podiums that can analyze individual aerosol particles in real time and at high rates to almost instantly identify the presence and concentration of harmful biological particles in air samples. BAMS was designed for operation in office buildings or at ports of entry such as airports or train stations to monitor for potential epidemic diseases. Biomedical applications could include rapid detection of respiratory diseases such as tuberculosis and coronaviruses.