Patent ID: 8506799

Claim:
A system for characterizing a suspended particle in a water sample in a treatment facility, the system comprising: a chamber for receiving the water sample at a point downstream of a chemical addition point wherein the chamber further comprises a first closable valve located at a water entry point to the chamber and a second closable valve located a discharge point from the chamber; a controller coupled to the first valve and the second valve wherein the controller sends a control signal that closes the first valve and a control signal that closes the second valve whereby the water sample is isolated and batch sample mode conditions are created in the chamber; an imaging element comprising an electro-optical imaging device configured to view the particle in a defined sample volume of the water sample and generate an image signal responsive to an optical image of the particle in the sample volume; an electronic circuit coupled to the imaging device wherein the electronic circuit receives the image signal, which conveys a plurality of time-sequential optical images and recorded times when each image was generated; and a computing engine configured to process the plurality of time-sequential optical images and recorded times to: determine quantifiable values representing an area and a perimeter of the particle; determine a first position of the particle in a first time-sequential optical image at a first recorded time wherein said first position further comprises a first horizontal position and a first vertical position; track the particle from the first time-sequential image to a second time-sequential optical image at a second recorded time; determine a second position of the particle in the second time-sequential optical image wherein said second position further comprises a second horizontal position and a second vertical position; compute a vertical displacement from the difference between the second vertical position and the first vertical position; compute a horizontal displacement from the difference between the second horizontal position and the first horizontal position; compute a time difference between the first recorded time and the second recorded time; compute a gravitational settling velocity in response to the vertical displacement and the time difference.