Dual modality ECT–MIT multi-phase flow imaging

Abstract

Three-phase flow imaging is a very challenging problem in industrial process tomography. A particular interest here is three phase flow including both conductive and non-conductive phases. Currently there is no robust solution to this problem. Electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) has been applied to visualize the permittivity distribution by measuring inter-capacitance between electrodes around sensing area. Magnetic inductance tomography (MIT) is a technique to image the conductivity distribution through the inductance measurements over the coils around the sensing area. In this paper, the three-phase flow is classified into two scenarios: air background and water background. A dual-modality method of ECT and MIT is proposed to image both the conductive and dielectric components under test. As a result of this experiment, the dual-modality method is able to solve air-background three-phase flow imaging, but a problem has been raised in the water-background scenario. The static experiment results are promising for such contactless three phase flow imaging.