Particle sensor and particle sensing method having a series of sensor elements
AssigneeKoninklijke Philips N.V.
InventorsMichiel Johannes Jongerius, Koray Karakaya
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Presented is a particle sensing system is for providing particle distribution information in a fluid flow in which thermophoretic particle movement is induced (10) towards a sensor (12) for sensing collected particles. In accordance with the present invention, the thermophoretic particle movement is in opposite direction to the direction of gravity, and the sensor (12) is located above the sensing volume. The sensor (12) comprises a series (70) of sensor elements arranged along the length direction of the elongate channel, each sensor element positioned for sensing a particular particle size. Additionally, a method providing particle distribution information in a fluid flow is presented.
Claims13
A particle sensing system for providing particle size distribution information, the particle sensing system comprising:
- a sensing volume through which a fluid is to be passed having entrained particles;
- an arrangement for inducing a thermophoretic particle movement in the sensing volume;
- a sensor for sensing collected particles,
- wherein the arrangement is for inducing the thermophoretic particle movement upwardly, opposite to the direction of gravity, and the sensor is located at an upper end of the sensing volume, and
- wherein the sensing volume forms an elongate channel and wherein the fluid flows along the channel,
- wherein
- the sensor comprises a series of sensor elements arranged along the length direction of the elongate channel, each sensor element positioned for sensing a particular particle size.
A particle sensing method for providing particle size distribution information, the method comprising:
- passing a fluid having entrained particles through a sensing volume;
- inducing thermophoretic particle movement in the sensing volume;
- sensing collected particles, and
- wherein the thermophoretic particle movement is induced upwardly, opposite to the direction of gravity, and the sensing is in respect of particles located at an upper end of the sensing volume
- wherein:
- sensing collected particles is performed by independently sensing the collected particles at a plurality of positions along a length direction of the sensing volume.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.