Multi-Parametric Indicator Design for ECT Sensor Optimization Used in Oil Transmission

Abstract

Electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) is a non-invasive multiphase flow detecting technique. Sensor optimal design, which is multi-parametric with multiple indicators, is one of the key parts of the ECT technique. In this paper, an enhanced objective function- combination fuzzy index of the ECT (CFIECT) is defined and presented as a multi-parametric indicator for the optimization of the sensor for paraffin deposition detection. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the CFIECT and optimize the sensor structure, uniformity index $P_{cv}$ and image error $I_{er}$ were set as the single optimization objectives, respectively. A $L_{9}(3^{4})$ orthogonal design was applied to analyze the weight of the three structural parameters during the sensor design (electrode length, electrode width, and the number of sensor electrodes), which significantly increased the efficiency of the experiments. A semi-normal distribution was selected to characterize the change trend of the CFIECT. Finally, a comparison was proposed. The experimental results indicated that the sensor structure optimized with the CFIECT could derive a greater sensitivity distribution and a better imaging reconstruction results simultaneously. It provides a new optimization method for ECT sensor designs.