A dynamic volume imaging based on the principle of electrical capacitance tomography (ECT), namely, electrical capacitance volume tomography (ECVT), has been developed in this study. The technique generates, from the measured capacitance, a whole volumetric image of the region enclosed by the geometrically three-dimensional capacitance sensor. This development enables a real-time, 3-D imaging of a moving object or a real-time volume imaging (4-D) to be realized. Moreover, it allows total interrogation of the whole volume within the domain (vessel or conduit) of an arbitrary shape or geometry. The development of the ECVT imaging technique primarily encloses the 3-D capacitance sensor design and the volume image reconstruction technique. The electrical field variation in three-dimensional space forms a basis for volume imaging through different shapes and configurations of ECT sensor electrodes. The image reconstruction scheme is established by implementing the neural-network multicriterion optimization image reconstruction (NN-MOIRT), developed earlier by the authors for the 2-D ECT. The image reconstruction technique is modified by introducing into the algorithm a 3-D sensitivity matrix to replace the 2-D sensitivity matrix in conventional 2-D ECT, and providing additional network constraints including 3-to-2-D image matching function. The additional constraints further enhance the accuracy of the image reconstruction algorithm. The technique has been successfully verified over actual objects in the experimental conditions.Index Terms-3-D ECT, dynamic volume imaging, electrical capacitance volume tomography, Hopfield analog neural network.

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Gas and solids mixing characteristics in the bubbling

Choking is commonly defined as a phenomenon where a sudden change in the solids holdup occurs in a gas

In this work a new image reconstruction technique for imaging two- and three-phase flows using electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) has been developed. A brief review on reconstruction techniques developed recently for ECT is also given. The reconstruction technique proposed here is based on multi-criterion optimization using an analogue neural network, hereafter referred to as neural network multi-criteria optimization image reconstruction (NN-MOIRT). The reconstruction technique is a combination between a multi-criterion optimization image reconstruction technique for linear tomography, and the so-called linear back projection (LBP) technique commonly used for capacitance tomography. The multi-criterion optimization image reconstruction problem is solved using Hopfield model dynamic neural network computing. For three-component imaging, the single-step sigmoid function in the Hopfield networks is replaced by a double-step sigmoid function, allowing the neural computation to converge to three distinct stable regions in the output space corresponding to the three components, enabling differentiation among the single phases. The technique has been tested on a capacitance data set obtained from simulated measurement as well as experiment using a 12-electrode sensor. The performance of the technique has been compared with other commonly used iterative techniques, i.e. iterative linear back projection technique (ILBP) and the simultaneous image reconstruction technique (SIRT) for two-phase system imaging, and has shown great improvements in the accuracy and the consistency as compared with those techniques. The technique has also shown the capability of three-phase image reconstruction with high accuracy.

Bed dynamic beha®ior in a gas-solid fluidization system is measured in real time using ECT

This article describes the recent progress in research and development on electrical capacitance tomography (ECT). Specifically, the article highlights several aspects of ECT including the electrical capacitance volume tomography (ECVT), 3D sensor design, 3D neural network multicriterion image reconstruction technique (3D-NN-MOIRT), multimodal imaging based on ECT and ECVT sensors, static-charge effects and the scheme of their elimination in the ECT image reconstruction, and multiphase flow imaging applications. The multimodal capability that enables permittivity and conductivity imaging to be simultaneously conducted is illustrated. The simulation and experimental results are presented to provide quantitative and/or qualitative assessment of the significance of various ECT techniques. The employment of ECVT in conjunction with using electrical capacitance based imaging sensors is shown to represent a favorable tool for industrial multiphase flow imaging.

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