Oxford Lasers

Particle Image Velocimetry systems are used for flow velocity measurements in liquids and gases. In addition to supplying conventional 2D PIV, stereo PIV, micro PIV and High speed (Time Resolved) systems, Oxford Lasers supplies stand-alone dual pulse and high repetition rate lasers, cameras and PIV software. These systems can also be used for flow visualization.

Vector Analysis is a very powerful technique for performing flow velocity measurements in air or water or for measuring spray droplet / particle velocity using VidPIV - PIV Software . In addition, the same hardware can be used for flow visualization and Particle Tracking Velocimetry (PTV).

Vector Analysis Systems from Oxford Lasers offer an unparalleled choice for flow measurement / visualisation. The VisiVector range includes standard 2d / planar, stereo / 3D, high speed / time resolved and micro.

Oxford Lasers also provides components and accessories including lasers, cameras, software and light delivery.

• 2D / Planar provides velocity measurement in a single plane, normally at frame rates up to 15 image pairs/second.
• Stereo / 3D systems use a pair of cameras to provide stereo / 3D measurement of velocity.
• High speed / time resolved products use high speed cameras and high repetition rate, double pulse lasers to take thousands of image pairs per second to provide time resolved velocity data.
• Micro systems view via a time resolved system and provide flow measurement in microfluidic devices.

All Particle Image Velocimetry systems except micro use the same technique. A laser light sheet (normally from a frequency doubled Nd:YAG laser) illuminates particles entrained in a flow. Pairs of images are captured using a high-speed digital camera. Software computes how far the particles moved between the two images and a velocity map is generated. In micro systems the flow is seeded with fluorescent powder which is viewed through a filter to block the large amounts of scattered laser light.