Patent ID: 8427642
Filing Date: 2013-04-23
Classification: G01N

Abstract:
1. A method for detecting a single particle in a fluid flow, said method comprising the steps: providing said fluid flow having said particle; exposing said fluid flow to a beam of electromagnetic radiation by passing said particle in said fluid flow through said beam of electromagnetic radiation, wherein interaction between said particle and said beam of electromagnetic radiation generates scattered or emitted electromagnetic radiation from said particle; directing at least a portion of said scattered or emitted electromagnetic radiation from said particle onto a plurality of detector elements provided in an array of a two-dimensional detector; detecting at least a portion of the scattered or emitted electromagnetic radiation from said particle for a single particle detection event corresponding to passage of said particle through said beam of electromagnetic radiation, wherein at least a portion of said detector elements of said array generate output signals corresponding to detected intensities of said scattered or emitted electromagnetic radiation from said particle, generating a plurality of detection frames of said two-dimensional detector for said single particle detection event corresponding to a sequence of images of said particle passing through said beam of electromagnetic radiation; wherein each detection frame comprises a plurality of said output signals of at least a portion of said detector elements of said two-dimensional detector for a given time interval; wherein said time interval of each of said detection frames is less than the time it takes for the particle to traverse said beam of electromagnetic radiation; combining a plurality of said detection frames to provide a composite image of a said single particle detection event; wherein said composite image comprises a composite of data points resulting from a combination of at least a portion of the output signals for said plurality of detection frames for said single particle detection event; analyzing said composite image to determine a size of the particle, thereby detecting said particle.