The REVOLUTION Powder Analyzer can measure your powder's ability to flow, consolidate, granulate, cake, pack and fluidize by measuring the power, time and variances in energy of your powder in a rotating drum. This data can be used to quantify your powder's particle behavior during process applications such as blending, tableting, mixing and transportation.
The REVOLUTION Powder Analyzer is both easy to load and automatic, eliminating the opportunity for human error.
How does the instrument work?
The REVOLUTION Powder Analyzer consists of a rotating drum that measures the flow properties of granular and fluidized materials. Several drum sizes are available, from drums requiring 10 cc's of sample to drums using 500 cc's. The instrument is very easy to use. A measured volume of test powder is collected using the provided sample cup. The sample is then loaded into the sample drum and the drum is placed inside the instrument on two rollers in front of a machine vision camera. The drum is back or front lighted depending on the measurements required. The test is started and images of the sample powder are taken with the camera and are analzyzed using image analysis software as the drum turns or vibrates. The analysis software locates the powder and measures several powder parameters automatically for every image.
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| measure sample | load sample drum | load sample drum in analyzer | analyze powder flow behavior |
A stepper motor turns high precision silicone rollers which in return rotates the drum. The operator can set the drum rotation rate (range 0.1 to 200 RPM) and prep time (range 0 to 999 seconds) of the analysis. A digital camera with the assistance of back-light illumination takes digital images of the powder during the rotation process. The images can be accumulated up to a rate of 500 frames per second.
Using patented algorithms, the software measures the behavior of the powder from the images collected due to the drum rotation and how this behavior changes over time. This data is then used to calculate various parameters representing the powder's quality and process ability.
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Slow Speed |
Medium Speed |
Fast Speed |
Vibration |
Test are run at low speeds, medium speeds, and high speeds and also with vibrational energy
Images of the sample powder are taken at precise intervals and at high speeds to capture the the powder behavior. Powder flow is not random but in a time sequence therefore images must be taken fast enough to capture the true powder behavior. Frames rates are typically 10 to 500 frames per second and complete tests use 5,000 to 10,000 images. Each image is analyzed in real time and parameters related to the flow properties of the powder are measured. Data is then extracted when the powder starts flowing, when it stops flowing and during flow.
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Slow Imaging Rate 1 Frame Per Second Just random images - Too slow to determine what the powder is doing |
Fast Imaging Rate 20 Frames per Second Time Series -Can see when the powder starts and stops flowing |
The user can perform the following types of analysis: Caking, Flowability, Fluidization, Granulation, Multi-Flow and Packing.