Abstract
An in situ viscosity measurement can enhance both quality and efficiency of production process by detailed observation of the phenomenon in the process through monitoring real time viscosity fluctuation. In the present study, prototype of optical hand-held viscosity sensor has been developed in order to attempt easy and quick hand-held measurement. The proposed sensor enables non-contact high speed viscosity sensing based on an optical measurement method called laser-induced capillary wave method. In order to robustly detect the intensity of the first-order diffracted signal which contains the information of the viscosity, the surface tracking system and distance monitoring system has been developed and integrated on the sensor. The experiment using the proposed hand-held sensor to detect the signal while controlling the incident angle of laser and timing of measurement has been performed.
