Optical wet steam monitor

Claim 2

An optical wet steam monitor comprising: a laser source having a laser output; a beam splitter receiving the laser output and generating therefrom two equal power, coherent beams, each beam having at least one spectral line; means for focusing the two beams at a point of intersection within a steam environment, optical path length differences in the two beams at the point of intersection forming a fringe pattern, and a single particle of steam passing through the fringe pattern producing backscattered light; means for converting the backscattered light into an electrical signal; signal processing means, receiving the electrical signal from the converting means, for producing a frequency domain waveform having a primary frequency peak and a plurality of sidebands associated with the primary frequency peak; and means for correlating a bandwidth of the primary peak and the plurality of sidebands to a specific particle size.

Claim 3

An optical wet steam monitor according to claim 1, wherein the laser source is an argon-ion laser, and the two spectral lines are at 488 nm and 514.5 nm.

Claim 4

An optical wet steam monitor according to claim 1, wherein the focusing means comprises a positive lens.

Claim 5

An optical wet steam monitor according to claim 3, wherein the converting means comprises color separator means for isolating the two spectral components of the backscattered light and focusing each component onto a corresponding photomultiplier tube, backscatter light collector means, disposed in the optical path of the backscattered light, for focusing the backscattered light into the color separator means, each photomultiplier tube producing a corresponding electrical signal for each spectral line which is fed to the signal processing means.

Claim 6

An optical wet steam monitor according to claim 4, further comprising a beam expander disposed between the positive lens and the backscatter light collector means.

Claim 7

An optical wet steam monitor according to claim 1, wherein the signal processing means comprises a spectrum analyzer.

Claim 8

An optical wet steam monitor according to claim 1, wherein the bandwidth of the primary peak varies in accordance with particle size.

Claim 9

An optical wet steam monitoring system comprising: a single optical port disposed in a wall of a structure which contains a steam environment; a laser source having a laser output; a beam splitter receiving the laser output and generating therefrom two equal power, coherent beams, each beam having at least one spectral line; means for focusing the two beams at a point of intersection within a steam environment through the single optical port, optical path length differences in the two beams at the point of intersection forming a fringe pattern, and a single particle of steam passing through the fringe pattern producing backscattered light; means for converting the backscattered light into an electrical signal; signal processing means, receiving the electrical signal from the converting means, for producing a frequency domain waveform having a primary frequency peak and a plurality of sidebands associated with the primary frequency peak; and means for correlating a bandwidth of the primary peak and the plurality of sidebands to a specific particle size.

Claim 10

An optical wet steam monitoring system comprising: a single optical port disposed in a wall of a structure which contains a steam environment; a laser source having a laser output; a beam splitter receiving the laser output and generating therefrom two equal power, coherent beams, each beam having at least one spectral line; means for focusing the two beams at a point of intersection within a steam environment through the single optical port, optical path length differences in the two beams at the point of intersection forming a fringe pattern, and a single particle of steam passing through the fringe pattern producing backscattered light; means for converting the backscattered light into an electrical signal; signal processing means, receiving the electrical signal from the converting means, for producing a frequency domain waveform having a primary frequency peak and a plurality of sidebands associated with the primary frequency peak; and means for correlating a bandwidth of the primary peak and the plurality of sidebands to a specific particle size.

Claim 11

An optical wet steam monitoring system according to claim 8, wherein the laser source is an argon-ion laser, and the two spectral lines are at 488 nm and 514.5 nm.

Claim 12

An optical wet steam monitoring system according to claim 8, wherein the focusing means comprises a forward lens.

Claim 13

An optical wet steam monitor according to claim 10, wherein the converting means comprises color separator means for isolating the two spectral components of the backscattered light and focusing each component onto a corresponding photomultiplier tube, backscatter light collector means, disposed in the optical path of the backscattered light, for focusing the backscattered light onto the color separator means, each photomultiplier tube producing a corresponding electrical signal for each spectral line which is fed to the signal processing means.

Claim 14

An optical wet steam monitoring system according to claim 11, further comprising a beam expander disposed between the forward lens and the backscatter light collector means.

Claim 15

An optical wet steam monitoring system according to claim 8, wherein the signal processing means comprises a spectrum analyzer.