Bioaerosol particle detector
First Claim
1. A particle detector, comprising:
- a. a housing defining a chamber;
b. an air stream injection assembly, producing an airstream in said chamber having a transverse extent;
c. a light source, producing a light beam that intersects with and crosses said air stream at an angle, and wherein said light beam is sized and shaped so that a transverse extent of said light beam has a uniform intensity over said air stream extent;
d. a photon detection assembly, including an optical train of lenses, configured and positioned to accept an amount of light from said light beam, emitted by particles in said air stream, and to focus said emitted light onto a detection surface of a photon detector;
e. a particle detection assembly, detecting particles in said air stream in response to input from said photon detection assembly; and
f. a particle size estimation assembly, responsive to said photon detection assembly, which estimates size for each particle detected, based on number of photons detected by said photon detection assembly from said particle, as it crosses said light beam.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A particle detector that includes a housing defining a chamber, and an air stream injector, producing an airstream with entrained particles, in the chamber. A light source produces a light beam that intersects with and is wider than the air stream. A light detection assembly detects light generated by scattering of the light beam, by particles in the air stream. A digitizer produces a sequence of scattering digital values, each representing light detected per a first unit of time duration. Additionally, a summing assembly produces a sequence of summed scattering digital values, each equaling a sum of a sequential set of n of the digital values, and wherein successive summed digital values are offset by a the first unit of time duration and overlap by n−1 of the first units of time duration with a nearest neighbor. Finally, a detection assembly processes the summed scattering digital values to detect particles.
11 Citations
15 Claims
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1. A particle detector, comprising:
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a. a housing defining a chamber; b. an air stream injection assembly, producing an airstream in said chamber having a transverse extent; c. a light source, producing a light beam that intersects with and crosses said air stream at an angle, and wherein said light beam is sized and shaped so that a transverse extent of said light beam has a uniform intensity over said air stream extent; d. a photon detection assembly, including an optical train of lenses, configured and positioned to accept an amount of light from said light beam, emitted by particles in said air stream, and to focus said emitted light onto a detection surface of a photon detector; e. a particle detection assembly, detecting particles in said air stream in response to input from said photon detection assembly; and f. a particle size estimation assembly, responsive to said photon detection assembly, which estimates size for each particle detected, based on number of photons detected by said photon detection assembly from said particle, as it crosses said light beam. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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Specification