UCRL-JC-127230 PRBPRINT

In-Place HEPA Filter Penetration Test

W. Bergman K. Wilson J. Elliott B. Bettencourt J.W. Slawski

Thispaperwasprepared submittalo the for t

DISCLAIMER This document was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor the University of California nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or the University of California. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or the University of California, and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes.

24th DOE/NRC NUCLEAR AIR CLEANING AND TREATMENT

IN-PLACE HEPAFILTERPENETRATION TESl% by W. Bergman, K. Wilson, J. Elliott, B. Bettencourt and J. W. Slawskil Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Livermore, CA94550 Abstract. We have demonstrated the feasibility of conducting penetration tests on high efficiency particulate air (HEPA)filters as installed in nuclear ventilation systems. The in-place penetration test, which is designed to yield equivalent penetration measurements as the standard DOP efficiency test, is based on measuring the aerosol penetration of the filter installation as a function of particle size using a portable laser particle counter.(l) This in-place penetration test is compared to the current in-place leak test using light scattering photometers for single HEPAfilter installations and for HEPAfilter plenums using the shroud method. Test results show the in-place penetration test is more sensitive than the in-place leak test, has a similar operating procedure, but takes longer to conduct. Additional tests are required to confirm that the in-place penetration test yields identical results as the standard dioctyl phthalate (DOP) penetration test for HEPAfilters with controlled leaks in the filter and gasket and duct by-pass leaks. Further development of the procedure is also required to reduce the test time before the in-place penetration test is practicaL I. Introdu ction Before a HEPAfiltration system can be used in a DOE nuclear facility, the ventilation system and the HEPAfalters must pass acceptance tests described in ASMEN510 or AG1, and the HEPAfilter must pass the MIL-STD-282 penetration test. (3) The acceptance tests consist of leak tests of ducts and housings, airflow capacity and distribution tests, and air-aerosol mixing uniformity tests. The airflow distribution test is designed to insure that HEPAfilters see a uniform air while the air-aerosol mixing test is performed to insure that the flow, concentration of aerosols challenging the filter is uniform. This will insure that representative samples can be obtained before and after the filter for computing the filter penetration. 1 U.S. Departmentof Energy,Defense Programs(DP-4S),Germantown,MD20874 *This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under contract no. W-7405-ENG 41 The work was supportedby DOEsDefenseProgramOffice of Technical and Environmental Support,
DP-45.

24th DOE/NRC NUCLEAR AIR CLEANING AND TREATMENT CONFERENCE

The HEPAfilter penetration test is given in MIL-STD-282.(1) This test requires HEPA filters to have less than 0.03% penetration for 0.3 pm DOP aerosols as measured by a light scattering photometer. The 0.3 ~m aerosols were originally selected because they were believed to be the most penetrating aerosols and would yield the most conservative penetration values for the HEPAfilters. These aerosols were generated in a very large machine by a controlled condensation of DOP vapor and were thought to be monodisperse. After the HEPAfilter is installed in a certified ductwork, and once a year thereafter, the filter installation must be tested for leaks. (2-4) This in-place leak test is performed to insure that the HEPAfilter is properly installed and has not been damaged, that there are no leaks in the mounting frame or between the mounting frame and the housing, and that the system contains no bypassing that would reduce the system penetration. The in-place leak test is not a filter penetration test and can not be used in determining the penetration of HEPA filters. The difference between the two tests is the particle size and the type of aerosol generator used to challenge the lllte~ the DOP penetration test uses near monodisperse 0.3 ~m particles generated by a very large vapor condensation generator, while the in-place test uses heterodisperse 0.7 pm particles generated by ERDA 76-21 recommends an small portable air or thermal generators. acceptance criterion of 0.03% maximum penetration for the in-place DOP test.(4) The HEPAfilter leak test was implemented in 1960 in the U.S. to verify that the installed filtration systems did not have leaks.(s) This test represented a secondbest choice at that time since it was not possible to conduct in-place penetration The problem was that the particle tests using the available test equipment. measuring instruments at that time could not distinguish between particle sizes, and monodisperse 0.3 Lm aerosol generators were not portable. The available light , scattering photometers were portable but could not distinguish between different particle sizes. To measure HEPAfalter penetration at 0.3 ~m diameter, it was necessary to have a monodisperse 0.3 Urn diameter generator, which were not The only portable aerosol generators at that time produced portable. heterodisperse aerosols. Now, a variety of instruments and aerosol generators are commercially Portable available that can be used for measuring in-place filter penetration. particle spectrometers are available that can measure specific particle sizes in Portable aerosol generators are also available that can heterodisperse aerosols. generate monodisperse aerosols. Thus it is now possible to measure in-place HEPA filter penetration at 0.3 Vm using portable equipment consisting of either a particle size spectrometer and a heterodisperse aerosol generator or an integrated nuclei counter) and a particle analyzer (e.g. photometer, condensation We will only address the in-place penetration monodisperse aerosol generator. method using laser spectrometers and heterodisperse aerosols in this paper.

24th DOE/NRC NUCLEAR AIR CLEANING AND TREATMENT CONFERENCE

JI. Difference Between Penetr-

In-Place Leak. and In-Place Penetration Tes@

The difference betweenthe results of the penetration and the in-place leak tests can be illustrated with a typical HEPAfilter penetration curve shown as a function of particle size in Figure 1. The penetration is a maximum at O.15Lm, decreases rapidly with increasing particle size and is negligible at 0.7 km for HEPAfilters with no leaks. Although the penetration measurement at 0.3 ~m is significantly less than the maximum, it still provides a sensitive measurement of the filter penetration. In contrast to the in-tact HEPAfilter installation in Figure 1, particle penetration through leaks is independent of particle size. Thus any penetration that is measured at 0.7 Vm diameter during the in-place leak test can ix attributed to leaks.

0.1

Diameter, urn
as a function of Figure 1. Plot of HEPA filter penetration measurements particle size for dioctyl sebacate (DOS) aerosols with two different laser spectrometers. Nuclear grade, 1,000 cfm HEPA filter.

24th DOE/NRC NUCLEAR AIR CLEANING AND TREATMENT CONFERENCE

Two different laser particle counters (Particle Measurement Systems, Bolder, CO) were used to generate the curve in Figure 1: the LAS-HS laser counter, which measures particles from 0.067 to 0.95 Mmdiameter and the LASAIRlaser counter, which measures particles from 0.14 to 2.4 pm diameter. The diameter measurements are based on the logarithm midpoint of each of the counter channels. A 100:1 diluter (TSI, Minneapolis, MN) was used to dilute the upstream measurements to avoid coincidence counting. The dioctyl sebacate aerosols were generated with a Laskin nozzle aerosol generator (Virtis, Gardiner, NY). Details of the test procedure are described in previous reports. The agreement between the two instruments is good. It is possible to conduct filter penetration tests as described in ASME N-510 and ASMEAG-1 using a laser particle counter during in-place filter tests. (23) If the laser counter is used for measuring the total number of particles without regard to particle size, then the filter test becomes another leak test. However, if the laser counter is used to discriminate between different particle sizes, such as 0.3 Km, then the laser test becomes an in-place penetration test. Using the laser particle counter also allows the maximum filter penetration, as shown in Figure 1, to be determined with the in-place penetration test. A description of the filter efficiency test using the laser particle counter is given by Bergman and Biermann and by Scripsick et al.(G8) The in-place penetration test using the laser particle counter is a measurement of the penetration of the total filtration system. This test incorporates the aerosol penetration from both the HEPAfilter and leaks in the filter housing or gaskets. In separate filter penetration and leak tests, the total penetration of the filtration system is determined from the sum of the filter penetration and the leak penetration. In separate penetration and leak tests, once the filter is installed, it is only possible to determine system leaks with the light scattering photometer and assume the filter penetration remains the same. The in-place leak test using the light scattering photometer can only detect a major deterioration in filter penetration. The increased sensitivity of the laser particle counter allows filter penetration measurements of two stages of HEPA filters for both the leak test and the This capability, which is not possible for the standard penetration test. photometer based leak test, is advantageous because of the reduced testing time and the difficulty in measuring the penetration of individual stages in systems having minimal space between stages. Schuster and Osetck were the first to use a laser particle counter to measure the filter penetration of one-stage and two-stage, size 1 HEPAfilters.(g) They found typical DOP penetrations of 0.003A for single stage and 0.000005% for two stage HEPA filters. However measurements of penetration versus particle size were only reported for the single stage HEPA filters.(g)

24th DOE/NRC NUCLEAR AIR CLEANING AND TREATMENT CONFERENCE

Ortiz determined the filter leaks in a number of 20,000 cfm two-stage HEPA filter systems. He did not discriminate between particle size, but rather used the total particle count before and after the filters to determine the system leaks. The test was therefore a leak test and not a penetration test. The leak measurements for ten systems varied from 0.0067% to 0.00000009%. The maximum allowable leakage for two stage HEPAfilters is 0.000009%. This study was significant not only because the test system was demonstrated under field conditions, but also because it showed the laser particle counter detected filter system failures that were not seen with the standard single stage method described in ASMEN510.(2) Ortiz et al also conducted a round robin test of two-stage HEPAfiltration system in which they measured filter penetration as a function of particle size using a laser spectrometer.(n) In this configuration, the filter test was an in-place penetration test. To avoid coincidence counting, the upstream concentration was diluted. The test apparatus and procedure were incorporated into an ASTM test method for evaluating HEPAfilters. The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) uses a laser spectrometer and heterodisperse aerosols as developed by Ortiz and incorporated in the ASTM standard for conducting in-place HEPAfilter leak tests in all of their facilities.(1-13J Since the particle measurements are made by adding all of the sizes into a single count, the LANLin-place filter measurements can not be used for determining filter penetration, but rather for leaks. Adding together the particle counts in the different particle size bins destroys the ability to measure filter penetration with heterodisperse aerosols. However, by keeping the particle counts in the different size bins separate, the LANLtest procedure for leaks can be converted to a test of filter penetration test. 111. Correlation of In-Place Penetration Test With Standard Penetration Test In order to claim that an in-place filter penetration test is equivalent to the standard HEPA filter penetration test at 0.3 ~m, it is necessary to establish a correlation between the in-place penetration test with the standard penetration test specified in MIL-STD-282.(1) Such a correlation would include penetration measurements on HEPAfilters with varying defects in the filter and the gasket as well as by-pass leaks in the ventilation ducting. These correlation tests have not yet been completed. However Scripsick et al conducted tests on 849 new HEPA filters using laser measurements at 0.31 Lm and the standard Q-107 measurements at O 3 ~m.(8) The correlation between the laser measurements at 0.31 ~m and the Q-107 measurements at 0.3 pm is good, as shown in Figure 2.(6) Note that the correlation becomes worse at smaller penetration values. This is not surprising considering the photometer in the Q-107 measurements is increasingly noisy below We plan to conduct similar correlations using filters with 0.01% penetration. controlled leaks in the media and gaskets and using controlled by-pass leaks in the ducting.

24th DOE/NRC NUCLEAR AIR CLEANING AND TREATMENT CONFERENCE

0.1

. . . .. .. . . .

0.01

m,

-c

~~l!
[
o
3
,0

r
. o
0

. .. .. ..... v;

5A 6

v 0

0001 0.001

,..

0.01

Q107 Penetration at 0.30 pm, %

2. ~o~elation

of HEpA filter pene~ation

be~een

laser s~e~~ometer

and

Q107 ~hotometer.(s) For measurements of the maximum filter penetration, it is not necessary to conduct correlation tests with the Q107 tester because it only measures the penetration at 0.3 km. The Q107 can not be used to determine the maximum filter penetration at 0.15 }m, as seen in Figure 1. In fact, there are no standard reference tests for the maximum filter penetration. The laser spectrometer can be used in a primary test standard for the maximum filter penetration if the particle size range is sufficient to clearly show a maximum as seen in Figure 1.
IV. Correlation

of In-Place Penetration

Test With Standard

Leak Test

We have conducted a series of filter penetration tests on a HEPA filter with an increasing number of pin holes to establish a correlation between the in-place penetration test and the standard leak test. A nuclear grade, 1,000 cfm HEPA filter was used in these correlation tests. Two different laser spectrometers were used to

24th DOE/NRC NUCLEAR AIR CLEANING AND TREATMENT CONFERENCE

determine the in-place filter penetration as a function of size: the LAS-HS laser counter, which measures particles from 0.067 to 0.95 ~m diameter and the LASAIR laser counter, which measures particles from 0.14 to 2.4 pm diameter. A 100:1 diluter (TSI, Minneapolis, MN) was used to dilute the upstream measurements to avoid coincidence counting. The dioctyl sebacate aerosols used in the in-place penetration tests were generated with a Laskin nozzle aerosol generator (Virtis, Gardiner, NY). Filter penetration was determined from the ratio of the downstream concentration divided by the upstream concentration after correcting for the upstream dilution and subtracting background aerosols. Figure 1 shows the penetration of the new HEPAfilter as a function of particle size. The standard leak test was conducted using a TDA-2GN light scattering photometer (ATI, Owings Mills, MD) to obtain aerosol measurements before and after the HEPAfilter. A TDA-5B aerosol generator (ATI, Owings Mills, MD) was used to generate the alpha-olefin (Emery 3004) aerosols for the in-place leak tests. Filter leak measurements were made by electronically setting the photometer upstream concentration to 10WOand reading the downstream concentration directly. The in-place leak test yielded a leak of 0.01% for the test shown in Figure 1. Following the initial test on the new HEPAfilter, we made a single pinhole in the filter medium using a 0.025 inch diameter needle and repeated the in-place penetration and in-place leak tests. Additional pin holes were then made in the falter, and the filter was retested each time for penetration and leakage. The test results for the in-place penetration measurements are shown in Figure 3 for the filter having O, 1, 2, and 6 pin holes and in Figure 4 for the filter having 9, 13, 19, 27, and 40 pin holes. The photometer measurements for each of the filter tests are shown in Table 1 along with the designated number of pinholes. Table 1 also shows the filter pressure drop and the penetration measured at 0.15, 0.3, and 0.7 pm diameter. Note that the pressure drop is not affected by the pin holes, whereas the laser penetration and photometer leaks show large increases with increasing number of pin holes. The agreement between the HS-LASand the LASAIRlaser counters is very good over the overlapping size range as seen in Figures 3 and 4. The HS-LASand LASAIR data are indicated by the open and closed data points, respectively. Both laser counters also yield the same value at the maximum filter penetration. However, the maximum penetration for the LASAIRoccurs in the first size channel (0.1-0.2 ~m), which will not allow verification of m~imum penetration when the LASAIR instrument is used alone. This is not a serious problem since the maximum penetration occurs at 0.15 Vm diameter for filters with and without pin holes. The preferred laser counter should have several measurements between 0.1 and 0.2 Lm to verify that the maximum filter penetration is bracketed.

24th DOE/NRC NUCLEAR AIR CLEANING AND TREATMENT CONFERENCE

1.00

8.00

6.00
,C; ;:! ,.. ......... .

., .*.

4.00

1 o

2.00

10
:? :..{

.....

0.00
o

!: W?-4?$c
0.1 1

...7.

10

Diameter, pm

Figure 3.

of D(JS aerosols as a function of aerosol diameter for the same HEPAfilter having O, 1, 2, and 6 pin holes produced with a 0.025 inch needle. HS-LAS,open points, LASAIR,closed points.
pene~ation

24th DOE/NRC NUCLEAR

CLEANING AND TREATMENT

Table 1. Penetration and leak measurements on a HEPAfilter with varying pin holes . Pin Holes o 1 2 6 ,9 13 19 27 40 AP, inches 1.06 1.06 1.06 1.06 1.07 1.07 1.06 1.06 1.06 LaserPenetrationat Diameter 0.15 @ 0.3 @ 0.7 m 1.5 x 10-4 1.0 x 10-5 1.0 X 10-6 3.2 X 10-4 2.2 x 10-4 1.8 x 10-4 5.8 X 10-4 4.5 x 10-4 3.5 x 10-4 1.00 x 10-3 8.8 x 10-4 6.5 X 10-4 1.03 x 10-3 8.8 x 10-4 . 7.5 x 10-4 1.85 X 10-3 1.65 X 10-3 1.40 x 10-3 2.9 X 10-3 2.6 X10-3 2.3 X 10-3 3.8 X 10-3 3.6 X10-3 3.0 x 10-3 4.9 x 10-3 4.6 X10-3 4.1 x 10-3 Photometer Leak 1 x 10-4 2X1 O-4 2X1 O-4 8 X 10-4 9X1O-4 1.1 x 10-3 1.2 x 10-3 1.3 x 10-3 1.7 x 10-3

We have plotted the threee different penetration measurements versus the photometer measurements from Table 1 in Figure 5 to examine the correlation between the various measurements.

0.1
I=----:.*

0.01

0.001
.

0.0001 0.01

I
0.1

......+. ....
...!. :: ~;

.......

In-Place Leak Test (Photometer), %

24th DOE/NRC NUCLEAR AIR CLEANING AND TREATMENT CONFERENCE

In general, there is poor correlation between the photometer leak and the laser penetration measurements, even for the 0,7~m data, which is supposed to represent the average size of the test aerosol in the photometer test. One of the reasons for the poor correlation is the lack of sensitivity of the photometer for penetration measurements less than 0.01%. However, the major reason for the poor correlation between the photometer leak and the laser penetration measurements is due to the fundamental difference between differential and integrated size measurements with heterodisperse aerosols. Bergman and Biermann have shown that large variations in the photometer measurements are possible compared to laser or condensation nuclei counters depending on the degree of aerosol heterodispersion and the extent of filter leaks. (7314) igure 5 also F shows that the photometer measurements, although still not satisfacto~, correlate better with the maximum penetration measurements at 0.15 pm than with the measurements at 0.3 or 0.7 pm. The lack of correlation between the in-place penetration test and the in-place leak test illustrates that the present leak test provides only an approximate measure of the sytem penetration. V. Field EvaluaH of In-Place Penetration and In-Place Leak Tests on We have conducted in-place penetration and leak tests on two typical HEPA filter installations at LLNI+ single HEPAfilter system and a two-stage HEPAfilter a plenum, to evaluate the practicality of the in-place penetration test. The single HEPAfilter system located on the roof of a UN, building is shown in Figure 6 with the HS-LASlaser counter on the HEPAfilter, the LASAIRlaser counter on the blower, and the TSI aerosol diluter on the floor. The Laskin nozzle aerosol generator, not shown, was placed inside a ventilation hood in one of the building laboratories. After several in-place penetration tests were completed, the standard in-place leak test was performed using a TDA-2GN aerosol photometer (ATI, Owens Mills, MD) and a TDA-4A aerosol generator (ATI, Owens Mills, MD) with Emery 3004. The inplace leak testindicated the HEPAfilter system had 0.006% leakage. Several in-place penetration tests were conducted on the single HEPA filter system to determine the effect of challenge concentration and the repeatability of the test results. The challenge concentration is an important factor in the in-place penetration test because it affects the accuracy of the data and the duration of the test. Higher aerosol concentrations result in shorter and more precise tests but also result in instrument error due to coincidence counting. Counting errors due to coincidence occur at higher concentrations when two or more particles are counted Since filter penetration measurements involve two as a single particle. measurements at significantly different concentrations, one upstream and one downstream of the filter, separate optimization are required for each In theory, the challenge concentration is adjusted so the measurement. downstream concentration after the filter is just below coincidence counting. The upstream concentration then has to be diluted to avoid coincidence counting. However, since the commercially available diluters have a fixed dilution ratio; e.g. 100:1 for one stage dilution, 10,000:1 for two stages of dilution; the challenge

10

24th DOE/NRC

NUCLEAR AIR CLEANING AND TREATMENT CONFERENCE

concentration must be adjusted to avoid coincidence (challenge) and downstream measurements.

in both the upstream

..

Figure 6. Photograph of the in-place penetration test apparatus on a single HEPA filter system using laser counters. The HS-LASlaser counter is on the HEPAfilter, the LASAIRlasercounter on the blower, and the TSI aerosol diluter on the floor. The available dilution ratios did not allow for optimization of the concentration measurements as shown with the following illustration. Figure 7 shows the filter penetration curve derived from measurements using a 100:1 dilution of the upstream (challenge) aerosols for a single HEPAfilter system which is similar to the system shown in Figure 6. The filter penetration curve is 11

24th DOE/NRC NUCLEAR AIR CLEANING AND TREATMENT CONFERENCE

extremely noisy, even with a 1 minute upstream and a 15 minute downstream sample, because the low downstream aerosol concentration is at the background level. This resulted from reducing the challenge concentration to avoid coincidence counting. Increasing the sampling time did not help in this case because the measurement of background aerosols also increased. Using a 10,00Ckl diluter on the upstream sample significantly improved the precision of the data and also reduced the sampling time as seen in Figure 8. The upstream and downstream sample times for that test were 2 and 6 minutes, respectively. An optimized diluter between 1,0001 and 2,000:1 would reduce the sample time to about 1 minute for each measurement. The optimized diluter and associated calibration procedure must be developed before the in-place penetration method is adopted for routine measurements.

AP=1.1OH2O

Diameter, j-m

Figure 7. Filter penetration as a function of aerosol diameter for a single HEPAfilter system using the in-place penetration measurement with a 1001 diluter. Open data was generated with HS-LAS,closed data with LASAIR. In-place leak test with a photometer was 6 x 10-5.

12

24th DOE/NRC NUCLEAR AIR CLEANING AND TREATMENT

AP=1.1OH2O 6.00

..v ... . .. ..... . 106y- .... .... . .. . ...-v... .. . ..r...n . . ..F.L.o.w=.l.!.oo.cF.M..... . ............ .. ..... ....

Diameter, pm
Figure 8. Filter penetration as a function of aerosol diameter for a single HEPAfilter system using the in-place penetration measurement with a 1,000:1 diluter. Open data was generated with HS-LAS, closed data with LASAIR.In-place leak test with a photometer was 6 x 10-5. A detailed comparison of the time requirements for the in-place leak and the in-place penetration test is given in Table 2. The increased time to carry the penetration equipment was due to the additional laser counter, the diluter and pumps and miscellaneous items. After the in-place penetration equipment and procedure is finalized, the time for carrying the equipment will be the same for both in-place tests. The much longer test time for the penetration test can be reduced to be comparable to the leak test once the optimum diluter is developed. Table 2. Comparison of time requirements for in-place penetration measurements on a single HEPAfilter installation. Task equipment to roof carry Set up equipment Set up generator Test filter Total Leak Test 2 min. 2 min. 8 min. 2 min. 1.4 min. 13 leak and in-place

Penetration Test 10 min. 3 min. 8 min. 12 min. 33 min.

24th DOE/NRC NUCLEAR AIR CLEANING AND TREATMENT

CONFERENCE

We repeated the in-place penetration test two additional times to assess the repeatability of the test. Figure 9 shows the three in-place penetration tests on the single HEPAfilter installation are very repeatable.

Figure 9. Measurements of the filter penetration obtained with the in-place penetration test apparatus shown in Figure 6 repeated three times. The second field evaluation of the in-place penetration measurement was in a two-stage I-EPA filter plenum using the shroud sampling method. The shroud sampling method allows individual HEPAfalters to be leak tested independent of the other HEPAfilters in a filter bank. This is done by placing shrouds on the upstream and the downstream side of individual I-HA filters to effectively isolate the HEPAfilter from all others in the filter bank. Each shroud is a sheet metal duct that is held against the HEPAfilter or frame on one end and has a reduced 1 x 1 section on the other end. The upstream shroud is used for injecting aerosols, and the downstream shroud is used for sampling the downstream aerosols. Figure 10 shows the front (A) and rear (B) sides of the upstream shroud, that is used to expose a HEPAfilter to a uniform aerosol concentration. Figure 10 B shows the rear side of the upstream shroud with the 9 point aerosol injection manifold. The aerosols are then mixed by a baffle plate seen in Figure 10 A and B and further dispersed by a screen seen in Figure 10 B. The upstream shroud also has a sample
14

24th DOE/NRC NUCLEAR AIR CLEANING AND TREATMENT CONFERENCE

port for sampling the challenge concentration. The downstream shroud, shown in Figure 11, has a 9 point sampling manifold and no internal mixing devices. The filter leak or penetration is obtained by simultaneously placing the upstream and downstream shrouds against the HEPAfilter or frame as shown in Figures 12 and 13 respectively.

(A)

*,

(B)

10. Upstream shroud for exposing individual HEPAfilters in a filter plenum to challenge aerosols. (A) shows the front side, (B) shows the rear side. 15

24th DOE/NRC NUCLEAR AIR CLEANING AND TREATMENT CONFERENCE

!+..

Figure 11. Downstream shroud for sampling filter penetration or leak. sampling manifold is seen from the inlet side facing the HEPA filter.

Nine point

16

24th DOE/NRC NUCLEAR AIR CLEANING AND TREATMENT CONFERENCE

Figure 12. Downstream shroud for sampling aerosol penetration from individual filter. In-place penetration equipment used in this test.

Figure 13. Upstream shroud for generating challenge aerosols. Laskin nozzle aerosol generator used in this test.

The result of the in-place penetration measurement on one filter in the plenum is shown in Figure 14. We were unable to generate the required high concentration of challenge aerosols to use the 10,000:1 diluter because the compressor shown in Figure 13 could not supply sufficient pressure to the Laskin nozzle aerosol As a result, we used the 100:1 diluter with a lower aerosol generator. concentration. This resulted in lower precision and a longer sampling time than would be required with a higher aerosol concentration and a 10,000:1 diluter. The upstream and downstream sample times were 2 and 8 minutes, respectively. The equipment used for the in-place penetration measurement using the shroud method was the same as previously described for the single filter test.

17

24th DOE/NRC NUCLEAR AIR CLEANING AND TREATMENT CONFERENCE

Since the shroud method only measures the penetration or leaks through the filter, and not around gasket leaks, a separate leak test is performed on each filter. This is done by directing a concentrated aerosol challenge around the perimeter of the upstream side of the filter using a long tube. Another person samples the perimeter of the downstream side of the filter using a long probe that is moved in synchronization with the upstream challenge tube. If the downstream leak is greater than 0.03% of the upstream concentration, then the filter is replaced. This traverse leak test is far more conservative than the leak or penetration measurement through the filter because no signtilcant air volume passes through the leak compared to that flowing through the filter. Since the air flow through a gasket leak parth is not known, the traverse leak test is not quantitative, but rather a qualitative test. When using the laser counter in this leak test, the counter output is set to the concentration mode and not the count mode. The conventional in-place leak test indicated the filter in Figure 14 had a leak of 2 x 10-4. We used a TDA-2ENphotometer and a TDA-5B aerosol generator, both from ATI, for the in-place leak test. The test aerosol for the in-place leak test was Emery 3004.

PLENUM

AP=O.70H2O

Figure 14. In-place penetration measurement of a HEPAfilter in a plenum using the shroud sampling method. Open data obtained with HS-IAS, closed data with LASm. 18

24th DOE/NRC NUCLEAR AIR CLEANING AND TREATMENT CONFERENCE

We performed a detailed analysis of the time requirement for the in-place leak and the penetration test using the shroud method and tabulted the results in Table 3. The time requirements for all of the tasks except for the downstream measurements are comparable for the two in-place tests. As noted before, the long downstream sampling times was primarily due to the inability to generate a sufficient concentration. We anticipate that the in-place penetration measurement would not require much more time than the in-place leak test once the experimental test system is optimized.
.

Table 3. Comparison of time requirements for in-place leak and in-place penetration measurements on a HEPAfilter bank using the shroud method. ] Task Equipment set up Equipment warm up Upstream mess./filter Upstreti bank (16 filters) .Downstream mess./filter n....-.-- L.-.l. f3L 01 - ~ v Aers) I-JUWIH.I CdUl UtiIA1 m-. A----1~dr UUWI1 Total ] Leak Test 10 min. 10 min. (5 min.) I WI min. ------iO.3 min.) 5 min. ?n : no I o u 11111, ,in. I 135 mi ] Penetration Test [ 15 min. 10 min. (4 min.)
I 64 min. . ------

(1O min.) --l 160 min. 30 min. I 279 min.

VI. Conclusions We have demonstrated the feasibility of conducting in-place penetration tests on high efficiency particulate air (HEPA)filters as installed in nuclear ventilation systems. The in-place penetration test, which is designed to yield equivalent penetration measurements as the standard DOP penetration tesL is based on measuring the aerosol penetration of the filter installation as a function of particle size using a portable laser particle counter.(l) Additional tests are required to confirm that the in-place penetration test yields identical results as the standard DOP penetration test for HEPAfilters with controlled leaks in the filter and gasket and duct by-pass leaks. Further development of the procedure is also required to reduce the test time before the in-place penetration test is practical.
*

VU, Acknowled~men~ We gratefully acknowledge the assistance Mr. Wayne Krause and Mr. Donald Beason in the shroud tests.

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24th DOE/NRC NUCLEAR AIR CLEANING AND TREATMENT CONFERENCE VII . References

1. MIL-STD-282 Filter Units, Protective Clothing, Gas-Mask Components and Related Products: Performance-Test Methods, Method 105.9, Military Standard MIL-STD-282, Commanding Ofllcer, Frankford Arsenal, Navy Department, AITN: SMUFA-N1 100, Philadelphia, PA, 19137, (1974) 2. American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Testing of Nuclear Air Treatment Systems, ASME Standard N51O-1989, The American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 345 47th Street, NewYork, N.Y. 10017, (1989) American Society of Mechanical Engineers , Code on Nuclear Air and Gas Treatment, ASME AG1-1994, The American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 345 47th Street, NewYork, N.Y. 10017, (1989)
3.
4.

Burchsted, CA, Kahn, JE, and Fuller, AB, Nuclear Air Cleaning Handbook, ERDA 76-21, National Technical Information Service, 5285 Fort Royal Rd, Springfield, VA 22161, (1976).

5. Parrish, EC and Schneider, RW, Review of inspection and testing of installed high-efficiency particulate air filters at ORNL, in Treatment of Airborne Radioactive Wastes, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, pp 243-264, (1968) W. Bergman, A. Biermann, W. Kuhl, B. Lure, A. Bogdanoff, H. Hebard, M. Hall, D. Banks, M. Mazumder, and J. Johnson, Electric Air Filtration: Theory, Laboratory Studies, Hardware Development, and Field Evaluations, LLNLReport, UCID-19952. January 9, (1984)
6.

W. Bergman and A. Biermann, Effect of DOP Hetero-dispersion on HEPAFilter 7. Penetration Measurements, in Proceedings of 18th DOE Nuclear Airborne Waste Nianagement and Air Cleaning Conference, Baltimore, MD, Aug. 12-16, 1984, pp. 327-437, NTIS,Springfield, VA, CONF-840806, (1985) 8. Scripsick, R.c., Smitherman, R.L., and McNabb, S.A. operational evaluation of the High Flow Alternative Filter Test System Proceedings of 19th DOE/NRC Nuclear Air Cleaning Conference, CONF-860820, National Technical Information Service, Springfield, VA 22161, pp 863-889, (1987). 9. Schusster, B and Osetek, D, The use of a single particle intra-cavity laser particle spectrometer for measurements of HEPAfilters and filter systems 14th ERDAAir Cleaning Conference, P.528, CONF-760822, NTIS, Springfield, VA, (1977).
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24th DOE/NRC NUCLEAR AIR CLEANING AND TREATMENT CONFERENCE

10. Ortiz, J, In-place testing of multiple stage filter systems without disruption of plant operations in the plutonium facility at Los Alamos, 18th DOE Nuclear Airborne Waste Management and Air Cleaning Conference, CONF-840806, NTIS,Springfield, VA, p. 209, (1985). 11. Ortiz, J, Biermann, A, and Nicholson, R, Preliminary test results of a round robin test program to evaluate a nulti-stage HEPA filter system using single particle size counts in Advances in Filtration and Separation Technology, 4, 213, American Filtration Society, Gulf Publishing Co., Houston, Texas (1991 ). 12. ASTM Standard Test Method for Air cleaning performance of a highefficiency particulate air filter system, F-147 1-93, ASTM, 1916 Race St. Philadelphia, PA, 19103, (1993). 13. Martinez, V. Procedure for in-place filter testing Los Alamos National Laboratory, Operating Manual, (1995). 14. Biermann, AH and Bergman, W, Filter penetration measurements using a condensation nuclei counter and an aerosol photometer J. Aerosol Sci., Vol. 19, No. 4, pp 471-483, (1988).

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Technical Information Department Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory University of California Livermore, California 94551