A pulsed Nd:YAG is normally used as a light source. Combined with a fast acustooptic shutter the use of a cw laser e.g. Ar+ is also possible. The articulated arm allows both the save transmission of the high power laser light and the positioning of the light sheet in a 1600 mm working range. The light sheet optic is compact and powerful. Large area light sheets can be generated by the variable sheet angle. The high light sensitive correlation camera allows the capture of high flow velocities due to a minimum frame distance of 200 ns. Angle correlated measurements e.g. in the field of turbomachinery are possible using the external PIV-Syncronizer, which controls the time between the pulse laser and the camera. The syncronization signals can be transmitted over a wide range by fiber otics. The measuring system is PC based, that means all calculation are done with the PC microprocessor. So a continuous increase of evaluation speed is guaranted by the improvement of the PC power. Moreover this concept allows the support of several camera systems and the transfer of user orientated demands. The control and evaluation software is running under Windows (TM) with its well known user interface. Extensive help functions are guiding the user to his aim. 

The PIV Assistant supports the user during his first steps. The essential parameters for the succesful acquisition of PIV images are determined interactively. The Correlation Scan allows the evaluation of the correlation and to find the optimum parameters. The validation of the evaluated velocity vectors is done by an extensive post processing. The software is supporting a second camera for 3D-PIV and LIF applications. A direct Tecplot (TM) interface generates isolines, vector fields and vorticity plots.

Some PIV applications need an additional support like technical endoscopy, special light guiding systems or specific software solutions. The ILA is gladly supporting this. The ILA is arranging - even with already existing components - a customer specific PIV system.