Exploitable results Conduction and participation in laboratory calibration campaigns and atmospheric research campaigns In order to characterize the thermodynamic and opto-electronical operation of the condensation particle detection System with multiple inlets for implementation on stratospheric aircraft or balloons (COPAS) units laboratory measurements need to be performed. Such measurements determined the particle detection efficiency curves of the instrument as function of flight altitude and operating conditions. Otherwise the real atmospheric particle content can not reliably be deduced from the data measured by the instrument. By means of innovative methodology sulfuric acid droplets and salt particles were generated in the laboratory of known size (in the nanometer range) and known concentration. These particles resemble the atmospheric nanometer particles and were used to calibrate the COPAS units. During the Extended Test Campaign from Forli, Italy in 1998, and the APE-TBESEO campaign in February, March 1999, the COPAS units were flown on Geophysika covering altitudes from the ground up to 20 km in tropical and mid latitudes. Important instrumental data and atmospheric science related data were collected in these campaigns. Design and test of the control and data evaluation software, conduction of the inlet flow modelling calculations. The set up of the computer and the data acquisition system for condensation particle detection System with multiple inlets for implementation on stratospheric aircraft or ballons (COPAS) was designed and programmed and the system was installed on the instrument. The computer and the acquisition system actually consists of two independent versions (one for the standalone COPAS unit and one for the unit which was integrated inside the CVI package) to collect data from both the CVI-COPAS and rniniCOPAS experiments on the Russian aircraft Geophysica. They also assure the collection of data from the avionics system (UCSE) containing environmental and flight data necessary for the interpretation of the scientific data. The retrieving of the data and the upload of-any software are now possible in remote mode from an host external computer by mean a special software using only a serial port. A flexible software tool in C language was developed to set the various parameters for the analog acquisition and for the control loop of the air flow to be analyzed. A software code to collect and to filter UCSE data was also written. Scientific data as well as instrumental housekeepings and data from UCSE are acquired and stored on large solid state disk. A very important element of the whole payload is the control software. This software contains three main components, data collection system control, and system management. The setting of valves and flows are controlled based on ambient conditions. This is to avoid contamination during ascent and descent, but also to avoid making calibrations during interesting events. The management routine checks the health of the different components and if necessary can shut down the system in part or completely. Some information is also relayed to the cockpit in order for the pilot to take appropriate actions. The CVI-probe is actually made up of two identical inlets. One inlet supplies air to the hygrometer and HNO3 spectrometer, whereas the other inlet supplies air to the condensation particle counter of the COPAS system. The distance from the fuselage to the tip is approximately 35 cm and the overall length from the tip to the back of the probe is more than half a meter. Extensive flow modelling efforts were made in order to characterize the flow mechanical conditions of operation on the aircraft and to obtain data necessary for the flow control settings during flight operation. Similar flow modelling calculations were performed for the passive air sampling, inlet of the standalone COPAS unit utilizing, state of the art three dimensional finite volume computational flow dynamics software tools. Design, production, test and certification of Condensation Particle detection System with multiple inlets for implementation on stratospheric aircraft or ballons (COPAS) A new instrument, COPAS, has been designed, constructed, certified, laboratory characterized, implemented on a high altitude researchlaireraft (Geophysika) and, flown up to 20 km altitude during test flights and research flights. This instrument detects the smallest atmospheric aerosol Particles with sizes above 10 nanometers in 4 separate channels. Each channel treats the sampled air containing, the particles differently before the actual measurement in order to enable differentiated statements concerning the atmospheric particle population. The COPAS instruments have been constructed in two disjunct units, one for standalone operation on the aircraft-,.one as integrated part of the CVI package. After the design and construction of the hardware very extensive and laborious schock and vibration tests as well as electromagnetic compatibility tests were performed. These resulted in the aircraft readiness certification according to DO 160C aircraft industry standards and were a necessary condition for implementing the instrument units on Geophysika. Additionally extensive laboratory experiments with sophisticated particle generation and detection instrumentation were performed in order to characterize the operation and the quality of the data obtained by the COPAS units. The instruments were implemented on Geophysika and successfully test-flown during the Extended Test Campaign (APE-ETC) in Forll, Italy, 1998. The COPAS units then participated in the APE-TliESEO campaign conducted with Geophysika on the Seychelles for cloud physics and atmospheric chemistry measurements in the tropical upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. Searching for OpenAIRE data... There was an error trying to search data from OpenAIRE No results available
