CPC G01N 27/74 (2013.01) [G01N 33/2888 (2013.01)] | 18 Claims |
1. A method for determining a detection threshold used for determining the presence of a particle in a system, comprising:
a) collecting channel data from a sensor;
b) calculating a detection threshold based on a measure of background noise in the system;
c) processing the channel data to identify a ferrous and nonferrous signal;
d) processing the ferrous and nonferrous signals to determine signal peaks above the detection threshold;
e) adjusting the detection threshold if more signal peaks are observed than allowable particles in a given time window; and
f) transmitting the detection threshold determined in step e); and further comprising
receiving the detection threshold, and monitoring the sensor by:
identifying a rate limit as a function of the detection threshold;
calculating a rate limit influence factor;
summing a discrete rate limit influence continuously over a window to calculate the rate limit;
transmitting the calculated rate limit to a particle release rate comparison algorithm; and
generating an alert if the calculated rate limit is below an acceptable limit.
|