Low-cost particle image velocimetry (PIV) system

PIVlab is an easy-to-use Matlab toolbox that calculates velocities in image data (movies, pictures). It uses a method called 'Particle Image Velocimetry'. This method is typically used to calculate velocities in fluids, but there are also many other possibilities. PIVlab is developed by our employee William Thielicke. If you have specific requirements for this software, please feel free to contact us.

Here at OPTOLUTION, we have enhanced PIVlab with the possibility to directly capture images in the PIVlab GUI. Additionally, PIVlab can control the timing of the whole system and control the laser, making PIVlab the most simple to use PIV measurement suite. The required additional hardware (camera, laser, synchronizer) is available at OPTOLUTION.

If a double-pulse Nd:YAG laser (see example 1) is not necessary for a PIV experiment, then the cost can be reduced quite dramatically. For many applications, our low-cost laser diodes are very suitable (see examples 2 & 3). For a complete PIV System, you will need the following components:

Standard system, example 1: PIV system for large-scale measurements in air (1-15 Hz)

• • MATLAB and MATLAB Image Processing Toolbox
• • PIVlab for analysing the data
• • PIVlab SimpleSync wireless synchronizer to control laser and camera 
• • Double-pulse Nd:YAG laser (e.g. Quantel Evergreen 70)
• • Camera (e.g. pco.panda 26 DS)
• • Light sheet optics LSO OPTOLUTION
• • Mirror arm
• • Seeding generator OPTOLUTION

Low-cost system, example 2: PIV system for time-resolved measurements in water (up to 1000 Hz)

• • MATLAB and MATLAB Image Processing Toolbox
• • PIVlab for analysing the data
• • OPTOLUTION LD-PS laser (e.g. 5 W, synchronizer and light sheet optics integrated)
• • Camera (e.g. Chronos 1.4)
• • Tracer particles

Low-cost system, example 3: PIV system for measurements in air (1-15 Hz)

• • MATLAB and MATLAB Image Processing Toolbox
• • PIVlab for analysing the data
• • OPTOLUTION LD-PS laser (e.g. 40 W, synchronizer and light sheet optics integrated)
• • Camera (e.g. pco.panda 26 DS)
• • Seeding generator OPTOLUTION