CRLH-TL Sensors for Flow Inhomogeneties Detection of Pneumatic Conveyed Pulverized Solids

Abstract

This paper presents an application of a Composite Right/Left-Handed (CRLH) Transmission Line resonator for a compact mass flow detector which is able to detect inhomogeneous flows. In this concept, series capacitors and shunt inductors are used to synthesize a medium with simultaneously negative permeability and permittivity -the so called metamaterial. The helix shape of the cylindrical CRLH-TL sensor offers the possibility to detect flow inhomogeneities within the pipeline which can be used to correct the detected massflow rate. A combination of two CRLH-TL structures within the same cross-section of the pipeline can improve the angular sensitivity of the sensor.A prototype was realized and tested in a dedicated measurement setup to prove the concept.

A4.3 - Cross-Sectional Detection of Flow Inhomogeneities for Pneumatic ConveyedPulverized Soldis Using a Helix-Shaped CRLH-Mass Flow Sensor

“…The challenge of detecting inhomogeneous flows can either be solved by a helix shaped CRLH-TL structure [9] or by using several CRLH-TL structures assembled around the tube. The combination of two CRHL-TL structures can dramatically improve the angular sensitivity of the sensor system without increasing the sensor length [10]. Since the cross-sectional detection accuracy is a function of the number of patches assembled around the pipeline in a certain fraction of a pipeline, the accuracy can be increased by using more than one CRLH-Transmission Line distributed around the pipeline.…”