Apparatus for the quality control of nozzles

An apparatus for characterizing a spray pattern, the apparatus comprising

• a laser illuminator generating first and second collimated sheets, each sheet including a plurality of parallel rays of light directed in a first direction, the first collimated sheet spaced apart from a spray source generating a flow field by a first distance designated as X, and the second collimated sheet spaced apart from the source of spray by a second distance designated as Y, with Y being greater than X,
• a laser receiver including stops for restricting scattered portions of the parallel rays of light and first and second linear array cameras for receiving the parallel rays of light from the first and second collimated sheets, respectively,
• an imaging controller for synchronizing the laser illuminator with the linear array cameras to synchronize the laser illuminator with the linear array cameras to control for extraneous radiation received by the first and second linear array cameras, and
• a computer electrically coupled to the imaging controller to receive data representative of the signals received by the first and second linear array cameras, the computer including a processor and a memory device, the memory device including instructions that, when processed by the processor, cause the processor to process the data representative of the signals received by the linear array cameras to determine at least one characteristic of a flow field passing through the first and second collimated sheets by comparing the extinction image formed in the first collimated sheet with the extinction image formed in the second collimated sheet.