Algorithm of nonrespirable dust fraction suppression using an optical transducer of dust mass concentration

An algorithm for processing information from an optical transducer of dust mass concentration is presented. It processes measurements of electromagnetic radiation ranging from the visible to the infrared, which is scattered by the smaller respirable dust particles but which is not similarly effected by the larger nonrespirable dust particles of the same material. The algorithm is based on discretizing the wavelength of the radiation scattered by the dust into the finite number of the wavelength bands. The mass concentration of the respirable dust is obtained as the weighted sum of radiant fluxes occurring in the wavelength bands. The Mie theory has been used for the description of the radiation scattering by the dust particles. Computational simulation results are presented to demonstrate the validity of this algorithm. The algorithm is suitable for real-time measurement.