Volumix: A device for measuring the volume and characterize the shape of small agglomerated particles

APPLICATION FIELDS: Fields related with design and production of powders such as:Food Industry, Pharmaceutic Industry, Materials industries (polymers, asphalts, …), Research Laboratories on powder and particles technology. Laboratory equipment suppliers to measure powder shape and volume.

NEED: Agglomerates are assemblies of particles bound together by solid bridges. In the food industry, the agglomeration improves solubility of powders due to the porosity of the agglomerates, however the porosity makes them fragile. To measure porosity, volume estimation is necessary but there is not a device to estimate volume of such fragile and small agglomerates.

DESCRIPTION:The proposal is a computer-controlled device to measure the volume of small and fragile agglomerates. The device is composed by a rotating mechanism, a camera and a software. The camera takes a set of images while the mechanism rotates the agglomerate to acquire different views. The set of images are processed by the software to extract a 3D representation of the agglomerate. Using the 3D representation, the software also estimates volume and shape parameters.

Agglomerates are assemblies of particles bound together by

solid bridges. Example: milk agglomerates

Agglomerates fabrication from primary particles (powders)

The porosity is a final propertie of theagglomerates that increases solubility of the powder but makes the agglomeratefragile.

The porosity is related to theagglomerate volume.

Agglomerate section view

Agglomerates fabrication from primary particles (powders)

Agglomerate section view

The porosity is a final propertie of theagglomerates that increases solubility of the powder but makes the agglomeratefragile.

The porosity is related to theagglomerate volume.

Agglomerates are products that improve physical properties

such as solubility

Agglomerates are commonly used in:

a) Food industry, b) Pharmaceutic industry and

b) Materials industry

Instituto Politécnico Nacional Centro de Investigación en Ciencia

Aplicada y Tecnología Avanzada

Proposal: A device to measure volume of small particles

Advantages: Estimates volume, shape, low cost, simplicity and

accuracy

VOLUMIX E3D-1010: three pages booklet

VOLUMIX E3D-1010: Main components

(tested at AgroParisTech labs, France)

Rotational mechanism

Electronic controller Software: GUI

Volume estimation of agglomerates and 3D reconstruction.

Using 3D information shapecharacteristics (elongation, flatness, sphericity, …) can be also determined

Institutions and companies working in the area related to proposal

• AgroParisTech, UMR GenIAl 1145, Massy, France.• All the laboratories working on powder

characterization for food applications (the list is long).• All the laboratories working on powder

characterization for pharmaceutical applications (thelist is long).

• All the laboratories working on powdercharacterization for materials applications (the list islong).

• …

• BRAND GMBH + CO KG, Germany.• BULK HANDLING SYSTEMS,, The Netherlands.• MALVERN INSTRUMENTS LTD., United Kingdom.• RETSCH TECHNOLOGY, Germany• …

Research laboratories working on powder technology,

manufacturing and characterization: Companies offering particles measurement

devices: