Electrogasdynamic dust monitor

Claim 1

In an electrogasdynamic dust monitor having means to charge particles suspended in a gaseous stream, means to collect the charge at a downstream location, and means to measure the rate at which charge is collected, the improvement comprising: a collector section operating as the means to collect and formed from electrically independent segments of conducting material arranged in series along the gaseous stream downstream from the means to charge, with each segment froming an outer bound for the gaseous stream, whereby charges from the particles are collected on the separate conducting segments at varying distances from the means to charge, and means for independently measuring the rate at which charge is collected on each conducting segment.

Claim 8

A method for measuring the properties of particles entraineD in a flowing gas stream comprising: charging the particles with a unipolar charge, collecting the charge from the particles at a downstream location on a plurality of electrically independent collector segments positioned serially along the gaseous stream, independently measuring the rate at which charge is collected on each collector segment by measuring a separate electrical collector current flowing from each collector segment, assigning each of the plurality of collector segments and the collector current flowing from the corresponding collector segment a similar reference numeral i, where i 1, 2, 3, . . . , n for a plurality of n collector segments, forming for each collector current, Ii, an equation based upon the expression: where '''' Alpha '''' is the weight ratio of particles to gas, a is the particle radius in meters, (x1-xi 1) is the length in meters of the (i) collector segment from the upstream end of the series of collector segments, and C3 and C4 are calibration constants, and solving the resultant set of equations for the unknown values.

Claim 9

A method for measuring the properties of particles entraineD in a flowing gas stream comprising: charging the particles with a unipolar charge, collecting the charge from the particles at a downstream location on a plurality of electrically independent collector segments positioned serially along the gaseous stream, independently measuring the rate at which charge is collected on each collector segment by measuring a separate electrical collector current flowing from each collector segment, assigning each of the plurality of collector segments and the collector current flowing from the corresponding collector segment a similar reference numeral i, where i 1, 2, 3, . . . , n for a plurality of n collector segments, forming for each collector current, Ii, an equation based upon the expression: where '''' Alpha '''' is the weight ratio of particles to gas, a is the particle radius in meters, (x1-xi 1) is the length in meters of the (i) collector segment from the upstream end of the series of collector segments, and C3 and C4 are calibration constants, and solving the resultant set of equations for the unknown values.