Development of a Near Real-Time Instrument for Nuclei Measurement: The ABS Acoustic Bubble Spectrometer^®

The ABS Acoustic Bubble Spectrometer^® (ABS) is an acoustics based device that measures bubble size distributions and void fractions in liquids using the properties of acoustic wave propagation through a two-phase medium. The ABS is PC-based and uses software that controls signal generation, detection and signal processing through data boards and two hydrophones. The data is processed and analyzed utilizing inverse problem solution algorithms to obtain the bubble size distribution. All physical, experimental, and analytical parameters are input by the user via a series of dialog boxes. The results are displayed graphically by the interface in real time and can also be stored or printed. In this paper we describe the method and present validation experiments that compare bubble distributions and void fraction results of ABS measurements with optical measurements in the laboratory. The two methods give very close results with the ABS possessing the significant advantage of enabling near real-time measurements with the potential to become an on-line measuring device.