Measuring of filtration efficiency of nonwoven textiles in volume from scattered light by seeding particles

Technical University of Liberec, Halkova 917/6, 460 01 Liberec 1, Czech Republic

^a e-mail: petr.bilek@tul.cz
^b e-mail: petr.sidlof@tul.cz

Abstract

This paper deals with the method which calculates a filtration efficiency of nonwoven textiles from scattered light intensity by seeding particles. Thefiltration efficiency is commonly measured by particle counters. Samples of liquid or gas are taken during a test in front of and behind a filtration material. The concentration of particles is measured and the filtration efficiency is calculated. The filtration efficiency does not have to be uniform in itswhole surface. The uniformity of filtration is another indicator of a quality of filtration materials. Measurements described in this article were performed on a water filtration setup which enables optical access to the place where the filtration material is mounted. Pictures of illuminated seeding particles are made by a laser sheet and a camera. Visualisation of the filtration process enables measuring of the efficiency of separation versus time and also versus two-dimensional position in case of use of a traverse mechanism. The filtration textiles were tested by 1 μm seeding particles. Mean value of light intensity and number of bright pixels in evaluative areas during image analysis were obtained. On the basis of these data, the filtration efficiency iscalculated. The best image analysis method was chosen.