SMALL TO MEDIUM SAMPLES FREE FLOWING POWDERS AND LIGHT GRANULAR MATERIALS
Occhio particle size and shape analyzers, are the collaboration of many years of focused research in the fields of optics, lighting, and digital imaging.
Common methods of particle size distribution analysis include laser diffraction, and sieve analysis, both of which are based on the assumption that a sample is comprised of spherical particles.
While these methods of gathering size distribution information generally provide usable results, they lack in accuracy, and application when compared with digital imaging technology, especially when particles are not round.
MOST DIGITAL IMAGING INSTRUMENTS USE STANDARD
WHITE LIGHT TO PROVIDE PARTICLE DEFINITION.
THROUGH YEARS OF RESEARCH IN LIGHTING AND OPTICS, OCCHIO
DISCOVERED THAT A MONOCHROMATIC BLUE LIGHT SOURCE PROVIDED
SUPERIOR PARTICLE DEFINITION, PAVING THE WAY FOR ANALYSIS
OF PARTICLES BELOW 1 MICRON. IN FACT, OCCHIO INSTRUMENTS
ARE ABLETO DETECT PARTICLES AS SMALL AS 200 NANOMETERS.
THE LIGHT SOURCE IS COLLIMATED, ACTING LIKE A CALIPER,
MEASURING EVERY FACET OF THE PARTICLE AS IT TRAVELS
THROUGH THE AIR. SPECIAL ALGORITHMS TRACK EACH PARTICLE,
PROVIDING COMPREHENSIVE SIZE, SHAPE, AND COLOR DATA.
3 DIMENSIONAL IMAGING IS ALSO MADE POSSIBLE.
OCCHIO ZEPHYR
SAMPLE TYPE: LESS DENSE FREE FLOWING
POWDERS AND GRANULAR MATERIALS THAT DISPERSE BETTER IN FLIGHT
DETECTION LIMIT FOR ANALYSIS
DRY 20 micron to 3 mm
BY USING A PARAMETER CALLED MAXIMUM INSCRIBED DISC, NEAR PERFECT SIEVE CORRELATION IS NOW POSSIBLE, SINCE THIS EFFECTIVELY MEASURES THE WIDEST PART OF A PARTICLE, WHICH CONSEQUENTLY DETERMINES THE SIEVE APERTURE SIZE THE PARTICLE WOULD OR WOULD NOT FALL THROUGH. BECAUSE WE CANNOT TELL WHETHER A PARTICLE FALLS THROUGH A SIEVE APERTURE SQUARELY OR ON ITS' DIAGONAL, THERE WILL BE SOME VARIANCE.
FOR BETTER CORRELATION TO A PARTICLES ACTUAL MASS, A PARAMETER CALLED EQUIVALENT DISC DIAMETER IS EMPLOYED. THIS BASICALLY EQUATES TO COUNTING PIXELS, AND CORRELATES MORE CLOSELY TO LASER DIFFRACTION RESULTS.
INSCRIBED CIRCLES ARE USEFUL IN DETERMINING OTHER IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTICS, SUCH AS ABRASIVE PROPERTIES OF PARTICLES
THIS ACTUAL IMAGE OF AN ESPRESSO COFFEE GRIND, HELPS SHOW HOW SIEVING MAY PROVIDE FALSE INFORMATION IN REGARDS TO SIZE.
WHAT SIZE SQUARE APERTURE WOULD LIKELY CAPTURE THE PARTICLE.? EVEN MORE SO, WOULD IT FALL THROUGH ON THE PERPENDICULAR OR THE HORIZONTAL?
OCCHIO DIGITAL IMAGE ANALYZERS HAVE THE ABILITY TO DETECT AND QUANTIFY BOTH PARTICLE SIZE AND PARTICLE SHAPE, PAVING THE WAY FOR THE ADVANCED ANALYSIS OF PARTICLES IN BOTH LIQUID AND SOLID FORMS.
CORRELATIONS TO OTHER PARTICLE SIZE ANALYSIS METHODS, LIKE SIEVE ANALYSIS AND LASER DIFFRACTION, ARE SEAMLESSLY EMPLOYED. EVEN SHAPE PARAMETERS LIKE LENGTH, FLATNESS, AND ANGULARITY IN AGGREGATES, OR THE LENGTH OF STRINGY PARTICLES LIKE SHREDDED CHEESE, OR TOBACCO, ARE POSSIBLE.
ONCE A BASIC CORRELATION HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED, THE RESULTS ARE FINE TUNED WITH THE OCCHIO CORRELATION PROGRAM, ALLOWING FOR TURNKEY SOLUTIONS TO PARTICLE CHARACTERIZATION.
