Spray characterization with a nonintrusive optical single particle counter

The understanding of droplet sizing technology in combustion environments using light scattering is studied. The emphasis is on establishing what information of the scattered light is better suited to provide the size and velocity of droplets, which can then yield local mass flux measurements. The studies conducted indicate that the absolute intensity of the scattered light combined with the standard LDV will produce excellent results. This technique was combined with auto calibrating algorithms to compensate for the loss of energy experienced when the laser beams or the scattered light travel through windows and other particles along the path. This is the basis of the IMAX techniques. An alternative and unique approach, referred to as P/MAX, is also under investigation. The P/MAX technique uses beams with polarizations normal to each other. This allows the use of low power single color lasers. In order to perform mass flux measurements in addition to the size and velocity distributions, the active probe volume must be known. This probe volume is a function of particle size and several optical parameters.