US 11,885,731 B2
Optical particle detector and method of manufacturing the same
Salim Boutami, Grenoble (FR); Maryse Fournier, Grenoble (FR); Gabriel Jobert, Grenoble (FR); Christian Seassal, Lyons (FR); and Cécile Jamois, Caluire (FR)
Assigned to COMMISSARIAT A L'ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES, Paris (FR); CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE, Paris (FR); CPE LYON FORMATION CONTINUE ET RECHERCHE, Villeurbanne (FR); ECOLE CENTRALE DE LYON, Ecully (FR); INSTITUT NATIONAL DES SCIENCES APPLIQUEES DE LYON, Villeurbanne (FR); and UNIVERSITE CLAUDE BERNARD LYON 1, Villeurbanne (FR)
Filed by COMMISSARIAT A L'ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES, Paris (FR); CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE, Paris (FR); CPE LYON FORMATION CONTINUE ET RECHERCHE, Villeurbanne (FR); ECOLE CENTRALE DE LYON, Ecully (FR); INSTITUT NATIONAL DES SCIENCES APPLIQUEES DE LYON, Villeurbanne (FR); and UNIVERSITE CLAUDE BERNARD LYON 1, Villeurbanne (FR)
Filed on Sep. 21, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/448,254.
Claims priority of application No. 20 09545 (FR), filed on Sep. 21, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2022/0091018 A1, Mar. 24, 2022
Int. Cl. G01N 15/14 (2006.01)
CPC G01N 15/1434 (2013.01) 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An optical particle detector comprising:
at least one channel configured to receive a fluid carrying at least one particle, and across which light rays are configured to pass such that said light rays are partially scattered by the at least one particle,
a plurality of photodetectors configured to receive said scattered light rays,
wherein said detector comprises at least one optical waveguide comprising at least a first part and a second part separated from one another by the channel, the first part of the waveguide having a first entrance and a first exit opening out onto the channel and the second part of the waveguide having a second entrance and a second exit opening out onto the channel, said first and second parts being arranged in such a way that the first entrance faces the second exit and the second entrance faces the first exit, the optical waveguide being configured to:
collect, at least at one entrance of the waveguide from among the first and second entrances, light rays that were not scattered by the at least one particle and having crossed the channel, and to
reinject said unscattered light rays into the channel through at least one exit of the waveguide from among the first and second exits.