Automation of sedimentation test.

This paper reports on the development of an automated method to perform sedimentation tests on a suspension, to study the settling and sedimentation behaviour of particle suspension. The standard method for measuring sedimentation rate is the jar test, but this is burdened with some errors: the possibility of misinterpretation of the interface or subjective readings by technicians. In order to overcome these problems, there are many different methods that exclude subjective mistakes. The proposed solution automatically detects the phase separation boundary and, by use of a moving camera, plots the real-time sedimentation curve. The good agreement of settling curves between the manual method, another CCD image processing method and the current technique demonstrates the reliability of the system. This system can be used for testing different types of suspensions. The article presents a comparison of the commonly used method of image analysis and the proposed solution with a tracking camera, based on the example of a coal suspension.