Automatic Analysis of Particles in Industrial Environments

Carl Zeiss Particle Analyser is a complete application solution for fast, high resolution analysis and documentation of particulates during quality assessment.

For the first time, the high resolution analysis of filtered particles during many routine quality assessment procedures can now be automatically carried out and documented. Particle Analyser from Carl Zeiss completely controls the microscope and digital camera to automatically record, analyse and archive digital image series of complete round filters at target magnification.

In industries ranging from pharmaceuticals to the automotive supply sector, quality inspection and materials analyses procedures call for the filtration and collection of residues from the product under test. Many guidelines demand the evaluation of the complete filter. However, the magnification required to image the particles necessitated the collection of a large number of individual frames must be manually combined before full analysis can begin. This time consuming process, and the difficulties in evaluating those particles that cross the boundaries between the individual frames, has limited filter size to 50mm until now.

Particle Analyser overcomes these disadvantages to bring a new level of quality to industrial testing practice. It automatically collects the individual, high-resolution images and assembles them to form a single overview image. Particle Analyser retains the pixel accuracy of the original individual images while combining the overlapping images so precisely that all the details of the specimen are recorded. Analysis is then performed on the complete mosaic image.

The complete Particle Analyser consists of microscope, motorised stage, brightfield and darkfield contrasting techniques, computer, TFT monitor and software. The Axio Imager.M1m microscope is included in the system for particle sizes up to 50 micrometres, with SteREO Discovery.V12 used for larger particles. These two recently-launched microscopes set new standards in optical quality and Z-drive reproducibility. Particle Analyser is also available as a retrofit for existing Zeiss microscopes.

Particle Analyser integrates fully with Zeiss AxioVision software, making the system easy to operate and configure. Company-specific standards can be implemented easily by users while familiar directives and standards, such as VDA Band 19, ISO 16232 and ISO 4406 are included. The system can be supplied with a calibration certificate while certified particle standards and microscope slides are available.