Assuring Reliability of Real-Time Particle Measurement in Flowing Media Using Light Scattering Method

The paper presents the optimization of configuration and calibration of special system for measuring the size and quantity of particles in flowing medium. The system is designed for real-time measurement of particles in the range up to 10 μm, moving with velocity up to 15 m/s and under pressure up to 20 bar and while stationary methods of particle size measurement are quite well mastered, their measurement in real time, at higher flow rates and higher pressures, is still a challenge for metrology. The applied method is based on measuring light scattered by single particle using photomultipliers (single photon counters). We focused on studying the output from photomultiplier and finding relationships between pulse shape and particle size and also the time intervals between pulses.