1. Volumix: A device for measuring the volume and characterize the shape of small agglomerated particles
APPLICATION FIELDS: Fields related with design and production of powders such as:
Food Industry, Pharmaceutic Industry, Materials industries (polymers, asphalts, …), Research Laboratories on powder
and particles technology. Laboratory equipment suppliers to measure powder shape and volume.
NEED: Agglomerates are assemblies of particles bound together by solid bridges. In the food industry, the
agglomeration improves solubility of powders due to the porosity of the agglomerates, however the porosity makes
them fragile. To measure porosity, volume estimation is necessary but there is not a device to estimate volume of
such fragile and small agglomerates.
DESCRIPTION:
The proposal is a computer-controlled device to measure the volume of small and fragile agglomerates. The device
is composed by a rotating mechanism, a camera and a software. The camera takes a set of images while the
mechanism rotates the agglomerate to acquire different views. The set of images are processed by the software to
extract a 3D representation of the agglomerate. Using the 3D representation, the software also estimates volume
and shape parameters.

2. Agglomerates are assemblies of particles bound together by
solid bridges. Example: milk agglomerates

3. Agglomerates fabrication from primary particles (powders)
The porosity is a final propertie of the
agglomerates that increases solubility of
the powder but makes the agglomerate
fragile.
The porosity is related to the
agglomerate volume.
Agglomerate section view

4. Agglomerates fabrication from primary particles (powders)
Agglomerate section view
The porosity is a final propertie of the
agglomerates that increases solubility of
the powder but makes the agglomerate
fragile.
The porosity is related to the
agglomerate volume.

5. Agglomerates are products that improve physical properties
such as solubility

6. Agglomerates are commonly used in:
a) Food industry, b) Pharmaceutic industry and
b) Materials industry

7. Proposal: A device to measure volume of small particles
Instituto Politécnico Nacional Centro de Investigación en Ciencia
Aplicada y Tecnología Avanzada
Advantages: Estimates volume, shape, low cost, simplicity and
accuracy

8. VOLUMIX E3D-1010: three pages booklet

9. VOLUMIX E3D-1010: Main components
(tested at AgroParisTech labs, France)
Rotational mechanism
Electronic controller Software: GUI

10. Volume estimation of agglomerates and 3D reconstruction.
Using 3D information shape
characteristics (elongation, flatness,
sphericity, …) can be also determined

11. Institutions and companies working in the area related to proposal
• AgroParisTech, UMR GenIAl 1145, Massy, France.
• All the laboratories working on powder
characterization for food applications (the list is long).
• All the laboratories working on powder
characterization for pharmaceutical applications (the
list is long).
• All the laboratories working on powder
characterization for materials applications (the list is
long).
• …
• BRAND GMBH + CO KG, Germany.
• BULK HANDLING SYSTEMS,, The Netherlands.
• MALVERN INSTRUMENTS LTD., United Kingdom.
• RETSCH TECHNOLOGY, Germany
• …
Research laboratories working on powder technology,
manufacturing and characterization: Companies offering particles measurement
devices: