Back to results
US 7,119,900 B2Granted
Pollen sensor and method
AssigneeShinyei Kaisha
InventorsSatoshi Okumura, Toyohiro Usui, Toshiaki Iwai
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A pollen sensor and method for detecting pollen which discriminates pollen particles floating in air from other particles on a real time basis. The pollen sensor includes an illumination position for generating a light beam, a first receiver for measuring the intensity (I) or (Ip) of a light beam scattered by floating particles in a detection zone, a second receiver for measuring the intensity (Is) of a polarized light beam in a direction perpendicular to light illuminated by the light beam and means for measuring the degree of polarization of the particles for distinguishing pollen particles from other particles.
Claims7
A pollen sensor comprising:
- an illumination portion for generating a light beam having an incident optical axis for illuminating particles floating in air in a detection zone of the pollen sensor, with the light beam polarized in a given direction perpendicular to the incident optical axis;
- a first receiver aligned at a first angle with respect to said incident optical axis for selectively measuring the intensity (Ip) of light beams from the detection zone polarized parallel to the light beam polarized in said given direction from said illumination portion with the light beam selected from a group of light beams scattered by said floating particles;
- a second receiver aligned at a second anale spaced radially apart from the alignment axis of said first receiver to form a complementary angle of substantially equal dimension with respect to said incident optical axis for measuring the intensity (Is) of light beams from the detection zone polarized perpendicular to the light beam polarized in said given direction from the illumination portion with the light beam selected from the group of light beams scattered by the floating particles;
- and
- means for discriminating pollen particles from other floating particles including means for computing the degree of polarization of such particles as an arithmetic value from the intensity (Ip) of the polarized light beam detected by the first receiver and the intensity (Is) of the polarized light beam detected by the second receiver.
2 more elements
A pollen sensor comprising:
- an illumination portion for generating a light beam having an incident optical axis for illuminating particles floating in air in a detection zone of the pollen sensor with the light beam polarized in a given direction perpendicular to the incident optical axis;
- a first receiver aligned at a first angle with respect to said incident optical axis for measuring the intensity (I) of a light beam scattered by said floating particles;
- and
- a second receiver aligned at a second angle spaced radially apart from the alignment axis of said first receiver to form a complementary angle of substantially equal dimension with respect to said incident optical axis for selectively measuring the intensity (Is) of a light beam polarized in a direction perpendicular to light illuminated by the illumination portion with the light beam selected from a group of light beams scattered by the floating particles;
- and
- means for discriminating pollen particles from other floating particles in accordance with the degree of polarization of such particles based upon the intensity (I) of the scattered light beam detected by the first receiver and the intensity (Is) of the polarized light beam detected by the second receiver.
3 more elements
A method for detecting the presence of pollen particles floating in air in a detection zone and for discriminating between pollen particles and other particles on a real time basis comprising the steps of:
- generating a light beam having an incident optical axis for illuminating particles floating in air in a detection zone with the light beam being polarized in a given direction perpendicular to the incident optical axis;
- using a first receiver aligned at a first anale with respect to said incident optical axis for selectively measuring the intensity (I) or (Ip) of a light beam from the detection zone polarized parallel to the light beam polarized in said given direction from said illumination portion with the light beam selected from a group of light beams scattered by said floating particles in said detection zone;
- using a second receiver aligned at a second agale spaced radially apart from the alignment axis of said first receiver to form a complementary angle of substantially equal dimension with respect to said incident optical axis for selectively measuring the intensity (Is) of a light beam from the detection zone polarized perpendicular to the light beam polarized in said given direction from said illumination portion with the light beam selected from the group of light beams scattered by the floating particles in said detection zone;
- and
- measuring the degree of polarization of such particles as an arithmetic value from the intensity (Ip) of the polarized light beam detected by the first receiver and the intensity (Is) of the polarized light beam detected by the second receiver for distinguishing between pollen particles and other particles.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.