Self-aligning optical particle sizer for the monitoring of particle growth processes in industrial plants

We describe a diffraction based optical particle sizer to be used on-line in an industrial plant for monitoring the growth process of polystyrene beads in the range (400 μm-4 mm). The instrument has been designed to perform elastic light scattering measurements at very small angles (from 8×10-5 to 8×10-3 rad) and is provided with an active servo system that controls the beam alignment during operations.