Online particle size estimation on one-pass edge detection and particle shape

In order to quickly and accurately estimate average size of densely packed aggregate particles on a moving conveyor belt, a new image processing method is studied, the method consists of the two major algorithms, the one is one-pass edge detection algorithm, and the other is the average size estimation based on image edge density. The method calculates average particle size without explicit delineating complicated aggregates. To prove the new method, two different aggregate samples were taken for testing, the testing result is satisfactory. The new method is much fast than ordinary particle segmentation algorithm, and is applicable for the image sequence of the densely packed complicated particles.