Feasibility Study of Planar-Array Electromagnetic Inductance Tomography (EMT)

S Ramli1, A J Peyton2

1 Engineering Unit, Malaysian Institute for Nuclear Technology Research (MINT), 43000 Kajang, Malaysia, shaharum@mint.gov.my

2 Engineering Department, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YR, UK, a.peyton@lancaster.ac.uk

Abstract - Many previously reported studies using electrical tomography have involved circular or near circular sensor arrays. In many situations, the object space has circular geometry and access is freely available around the complete periphery for installation of individual sensor elements. However there are some applications where access is restricted and non-invasive measurements can only be taken from one surface.

This paper describes a study using EMT techniques to obtain cross-sectional images perpendicular to a measurement plane. The motivation for this research was to assess the feasibility of using a planar EMT sensor to inspect the distribution of electrically conductive bars using measurements from only one surface.

The study makes extensive use of 2D parametric finite element simulation in order to assess the feasibility of this approach. An iterative SIRT type image reconstruction algorithm has been employed and images from a variety of object geometries have been obtained which illustrate the potential and limitations of this method.

Keywords : Sensors, Tomography, Inductance, Planar