Personal Pump Reliability Tester

Abstract A test instrument has been built that measures, displays, and records the flow rate of up to 15 personal sampling pumps. The “Pump Tester” is typically run for eight hours with five or six pumps of one type and displays a graph of flow rate over time for each pump. The flow record for each pump contains up to 240 data points and, although not continuous, provides a useful record of pump performance over long test periods. The numerical flow data can be printed and saved to disk. At the end of the test, the flow-rate graph for each pump is printed. The flow-rate graph can be added to the maintenance and calibration record for the pump to document its performance. Occasionally, erratic pump performance is documented that would not have been detected by flow-rate checks at the beginning and end of an eight-hour period. The Pump Tester can also be used for more formal studies to demonstrate the relative performance of different kinds of pumps under different conditions.