Tobacco Smoke Exposure Working Group

Article on Tobacco Smoke Included in JESEE Exposure Science Digests

Robert Canales — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 15:36:31 -0700

In celebration of its 20th anniversary, the International Society of Exposure Science has been including Exposure Science Digests - brief articles that "showcase successes" in the field. The July/August 2010 edition includes digests on:

'Ensuring the safety of chemicals'
http://www.nature.com/jes/journal/v20/n5/full/jes201028a.html

and 'The smoking gun: working to eliminate tobacco smoke exposure'.
http://www.nature.com/jes/journal/v20/n5/full/jes201034a.html

Tobacco Smoke Exposure Working Group

Saving Data with the Sidepak Built-In Logger

Neil Klepeis — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 00:21:02 -0700

In this video, I demonstrate how to set the TSI Sidepak AM510 aerosol monitor to automatically save data in its internal memory.

Turn on the Sidepak by pressing the pink "Page" button on the far left of the front control panel
Wait for the Sidepak to enter in Survey Model
Press the "Page" button again to enter the MAIN MENU
Press the down arrow key until you see Setup and the press the Enter key
Page down until you see the Logging Interval submenue
Press Enter and set the new logging interval using the arrow keys
- Tobacco Smoke Exposure Working Group
read more

Performing Zero Calibration on the Sidepak

Neil Klepeis — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 00:12:13 -0700

In this video, I demonstrate how to zero calibrate the TSI Sidepak (AM510) aerosol monitor:

Make sure the Sidepak is turned on by pressing the leftmost pink button "Page"
Once the Sidepak is in Survey Mode, press the "Page" button again to reach the MAIN MENU
Use the arrow keys until the "Zero Cal" text appears and then press the "Enter" key, which is the angled arrow on the right side of the control panel
Attach the zero calibration filter to the inlet of the Sidepak
Press the Enter button again
Wait 1 minute until the zeroing procedure is finished
- Tobacco Smoke Exposure Working Group
read more

Installing and Cleaning Sidepak Impactors

Neil Klepeis — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 00:04:34 -0700

In this video, I describe the TSI Sidepak AM510 impactors and demonstrate how to clean and install them.

The impactors at the inlet of the Sidepak remove particles above a specified particle size cut-off, e.g., 2.5 micrometers or 10 micrometers.
The most appropriate impactor for use with monitorihng tobacco smoke is the 2.5 micrometer impactor
Using the 2.5 micrometer impactor, the Sidepak can be used to monitor PM-2.5, i.e., fine particulate matter, which is regulated by the EPA and other governmental agencies
The impactor head needs to be cleaned regularly
- Tobacco Smoke Exposure Working Group
read more

Introducing the SidePak Controls and Menus

Neil Klepeis — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 16:35:57 -0700

In this video I give a little introduction to turning on and off the SidePak AM510 aerosol monitor and navigating the menu system.

Turn on the SidePak by pressing the leftmost pink "Page" button
The SidePak takes a few moments to warm up
When warmed up the SidePak LCD will display "Survey Mode" along the top and the current mass particle (aerosol) concentration along the bottom
The units of the shown concentration are milligrams per cubic meter
The units can be converted to micrograms per cubic meter by multiple by 1000
- Tobacco Smoke Exposure Working Group
read more

Walk-Through of the SidePak Carrying Case Contents

Neil Klepeis — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 01:15:48 -0700

In this video I give a short walk-through of everything you might find in the TSI SidePak Aerosol Monitor (Model AM510) carrying case:

The SidePak aerosol monitor
Tubing
Cyclone for measuring respirable particles
Power cables for running on household current or charging the Sidepak battery
USB cable for downloading data onto your computer
Zero calibration filter
Screwdriver
Size-selective impactor kit (optional)
Rotameter air flow meter with flow dampener (optional)

[video]

Tobacco Smoke Exposure Working Group

Setting a New Password

Neil Klepeis — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:29:22 -0800

If you have not been able to access the Exposure Science website because you have forgotten your password. There is an easy way to set a new one!

Simply go to the following URL and enter your email address:

http://exposurescience.org/user/password

After clicking on "Email new password", an email will be sent to you that tells you how to gain access to your account and make a new password.

If you are still having problems, please send me an email.

You can use the contact form: http://exposurescience.org/contact

Human Exposure Software Group

Introducing the SidePak LaBraT Software

Neil Klepeis — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 00:06:43 -0800

I have written a program for Linux called "SidePak LaBraT" that is able to simultaneously plot and save real-time SidePak aerosol data from multiple SidePak units. It seems currently impossible to connect multiple SidePaks to a single Windows computer, so this software is Linux-only. I've spoken to the folks at TSI and FTDI (makers of the USB/Serial chip) and there seems no way for the Windows drivers to handle multiple SidePaks. But Linux has no problem :-).

Wood Smoke Group

Latest Version of 'SidePak Buddy' Software

Neil Klepeis — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 21:08:31 -0800

"SidePak Buddy" is software for the Linux and Windows platforms that plots and saves real-time aerosol levels measured by a TSI SidePak Aerosol Monitor. This software is meant to be a user-friendly way for both technical and non-technical people to see the immediate impact of a source of particulate matter on air quality.

I have recently used this software to demonstrate the levels of real-time particles that occur in an automobile with an active smoker present (see http://latimes.com/smoking).

This updated version of "SidePak Buddy" (Version 1.2) has the following features:

Human Exposure Software Group

Online Ventilation Calculators

Neil Klepeis — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 13:50:15 -0800

I've come across two webpages that contain online calculators, one for estimating the natural or mixed-mode ventilation rate of an arbitrary building:

http://phpaida.veetech.org.uk/phpaida.php

And one for estimating the ventilation rate of a building from steady-state CO2 measurements and occupancy level:

http://phpco2.veetech.org.uk/phpco2.php

Stanford Exposure Analysis Group

"SidePak Buddy" Windows App Ready for Testing

Neil Klepeis — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 18:18:58 -0800

I've continued work on an MS Windows application to facilitate retrieving and viewing real-time aerosol concentrations from a TSI SidePak monitor. Attached is a ZIP file containing the Windows EXE file, which has been tested on Windows XP, as well as the complete Perl/Tk source code (in a compressed ZIP file). This is a pre-release version and is intended to be tested in a limited group before being released publicly. Please use it, mangle it, and tell me all about it.... Note: I've dubbed this version the "SidePak Buddy" since "tkSidePakGetWin32" was a little cryptic :-).

Tobacco Smoke Exposure Working Group

Simple MS Windows App to Plot Real-Time SidePak Data

Neil Klepeis — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 22:57:14 -0800

I finished a simple computer program tested on Windows XP that you can easily use to view and save real-time aerosol concentrations from a USB-connected TSI SidePak aerosol monitor. Simply unzip the attached file and copy the Windows EXE file ("tkSidePakGet.exe") to your desktop or anywhere else on your hard drive.

Double-clicking on the blue SidePak icon will launch a terminal window and a plotting window in which SidePak concentration values will immediately start appearing on a stripchart, 1 every second. The values are also automatically saved in a text file named sidepackoutput.csv (by default). The File menu contains items for starting and stopping the stripchart and for saving the current plot as a PostScript file.

Tobacco Smoke Exposure Working Group

Candle Aerosol Emissions -- A night without electricity

Neil Klepeis — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 21:06:24 -0800

We lost our electricity last night (Nov 10) and proceeded to light many candles throughout the house. 6 in the kitchen, 4 in the living room, and 3-4 in the bedroom area. These were both the large scented candle variety and the tall candlestick variety. This photo shows the time series of aerosol as measured by the Sidepak using a 0.32 calibration factor. As with the hookah (see earlier post) the measured mass emissions seem very high and need to be confirmed by lab calibration experiments.

Tobacco Smoke Exposure Working Group

Pilot Hookah Aerosol Monitoring Visit

Neil Klepeis — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 20:26:25 -0800

As a test of the Sidepak in field locations and also to gather some pilot data for hookah emissions, Wayne Ott, Neil Klepeis, and friends visited a hookah lounge on November 8, 2007. This is a plot of the particle concentrations as measured by the SidePak monitor with the calibration factor set at 0.32. Up to 4 or 5 hookahs were active at a time. Note: A hookah is a mid-Eastern water pipe that heats a 25% tobacco/fruit mixture. Attached is the log sheet from the visit.

Stanford Exposure Analysis Group

Computer Script for Real-Time Communication with the SidePak Monitor

Neil Klepeis — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 15:39:16 -0800

I have just finished working up a small Perl computer script that can communicate with a SidePak aerosol monitor over a Windows COM port, gathering data in 1-sec intervals. It gathers data every second and writes the returned values to a text file along with a time and date stamp. See the attached files for the script ('SidePakGetWin32.pl') and an example of the output written to a file ('temp.txt').

Just in case you are one of the uninitiated in the wonders of the SidePak :), you can get more info at TSI.

Human Exposure Software Group