Imaging Particle Analysis - Technology

All imaging particle analysis systems contain 3 basic core technologies: optics, electronics and fluidics. The basic block diagram below shows an overview of how these are arranged in FlowCAM^® Systems:

FlowCAM Basic Features:

High-Speed Digital Imaging (color or monochrome) Broad particle size range (2µm to 2mm) using interchangeable magnifications Up to 26 individual particle measurements captured per particle Intuitive VisualSpreadsheet© analysis software Automatic statistical pattern recognition and classification Optional fluorescence and scatter triggering/measurement

The fluidics system uses a pump (persistaltic, syringe or vacuum, depending upon application) to pull the fluid sample through a flow cell perpendicular to the optical path. The optical system is similar to a microscope, and is used to capture real-time images of the particles in the fluid as the pass through the flow cell. For each overall image captured, the individual particles are extracted as separate small images (greatly reducing the data storage requirements) and stored separately along with up to 26 individual particle measurements for each image. Additional optional electronics can also capture 2 channels of fluorescence information per particle