Particle concentration analyzing system and method

A particle concentration analyzing system adapted to count a particle concentration in a sample fluid, comprising:

• a working fluid tank adapted to contain a working fluid;
• a condensation particle counter comprising a fluid saturation chamber configured to saturate an ambient air with a working fluid, a condenser configured to condense the working fluid saturated ambient air from said fluid saturation chamber onto a sample fluid from a sample fluid input, and an optical particle counter configured to count sample particles present in the sample fluid;
• a working fluid pump adapted to transfer the working fluid from said working fluid tank to said fluid saturation chamber;
• a fluid level sensor disposed inside said fluid saturation chamber;
• a downstream pump downstream of said condensation particle counter and different from said working fluid pump;
• an upstream pump upstream of said condensation particle counter and different from said working fluid pump and said downstream pump;
• a differential pressure sensor disposed along a flow path of said analyzing system and in electronic communication with said downstream pump and said upstream pump, said differential pressure sensor configured to determine a pressure differential in said analyzing system;
• and
• an electronic control unit responsive to said downstream pump, said upstream pump, and said differential pressure sensor to determine a pressure differential between said downstream pump and said upstream pump;
• said electronic control unit configured to selectively disable said upstream pump and to instruct said differential pressure sensor to measure a downstream pump pressure while said upstream pump is disabled and said downstream pump is operating and to selectively disable said downstream pump and to instruct said differential pressure sensor to measure an upstream pump pressure while said downstream pump is disabled and said upstream pump is operating, said controller is adapted to calculate a pressure differential between the downstream pump pressure and the upstream pump pressure based on the pressures measured at the differential pressure sensor;
• and
• said electronic control unit responsive to said fluid level sensor to control said working fluid pump to automatically fill said fluid saturation chamber with working fluid in response to information from said fluid level sensor regarding working fluid level in said fluid saturation chamber.

A method for analyzing particle concentrations in a fluid sample with a particle concentration analyzing system having a working fluid tank, a sample fluid input to receive the sample fluid to be analyzed, a condensation particle counter with a fluid saturator block, a condenser, and an optical particle counter, a working fluid pump, a fluid level sensor disposed inside the fluid saturator block, and an electronic control unit, said method comprising:

• pumping a working fluid from the working fluid tank to the fluid saturator block with the working fluid pump, wherein said pumping the working fluid comprises:
• the electronic control unit controlling the working fluid pump to automatically fill the fluid saturator block with working fluid in response to information from the fluid level sensor regarding the working fluid level in the fluid saturator block, wherein the electronic control unit is responsive to the fluid level sensor to control the working fluid pump;
• directing a flow of ambient air into the fluid saturator block;
• saturating the ambient air with the working fluid with the fluid saturator block that is configured to saturate the ambient air with the working fluid to produce a saturated fluid flow;
• transporting a mixture of the saturated fluid from the fluid saturator block and the sample fluid from the sample fluid input into the condenser;
• condensing the saturated fluid onto sample particles in the sample fluid with the condenser to grow the sample particles, wherein the condenser is configured to condense the saturated fluid from the fluid saturator block onto the sample fluid;
• transporting the grown sample particles through the particle counter;
• counting the grown sample particles with the particle counter, which is configured to count sample particles present in the sample fluid;
• receiving information from the particle counter at the electronic control unit, which is in electronic communication with the particle counter;
• and
• determining a concentration of the sample particles of the sample fluid with the electronic control unit;
• wherein the particle concentration analyzing system further comprises a mixing chamber downstream of the saturator block and upstream of the condenser, wherein said transporting a mixture of the saturated fluid from the fluid saturator block and the sample fluid from the sample fluid input into the condenser comprises transporting the saturated fluid from the fluid saturator block to the mixing chamber and transporting the sample fluid from the sample fluid input to the mixing chamber, and mixing the saturated fluid with the sample fluid in the mixing chamber to create the mixture of the sample fluid and the saturated fluid.

A particle concentration analyzing system adapted to count a particle concentration in a sample fluid, comprising:

• a working fluid tank adapted to contain a working fluid;
• a sample fluid input configured to receive the sample fluid to be analyzed;
• a condensation particle counter comprising a fluid saturation chamber configured to saturate an ambient air with the working fluid, a condenser configured to condense the working fluid saturated ambient air from said fluid saturation chamber onto the sample fluid, and an optical particle counter configured to count sample particles present in the sample fluid;
• a working fluid pump adapted to transfer the working fluid from said working fluid tank to said fluid saturation chamber;
• a fluid level sensor disposed inside said fluid saturation chamber;
• and
• an electronic control unit responsive to said optical particle counter to count sample particles present in the sample fluid, and said electronic control unit responsive to said fluid level sensor to control said working fluid pump to automatically fill said fluid saturation chamber with working fluid in response to information from said fluid level sensor regarding working fluid level in said fluid saturation chamber;
• further comprising a gas sensor disposed downstream of said working fluid tank and configured to measure purity of the working fluid transferred from said working fluid tank to said fluid saturation chamber.