Apparatus and method for particle analysis

摘要

Apparatus and method of analyzing particles contained in a fluent medium. An optical system receives light from a laser, and focuses the light at a focal spot in the fluent medium. Optical pulses resulting from the backscattering of light by particles in the focal spot are detected and used to produce an electrical transit time signal comprising a series of electrical pulses. The length of each electrical pulse corresponds to the time required for a particle to pass through the focal spot. The apparatus also includes a laser Doppler system that receives light from the focal spot region, and produces an electrical velocity signal corresponding to the velocity of particles within such region. A processor receives the transit time and velocity signals, and combines the signals to produce data representing the sizes of particles passing through the focal spot.