International Society for Industrial Process Tomography

Industrial Applications of High-speed
Electrical Capacitance Tomography

Andrew Hunt

Atout Process Ltd, Ardearn, Wilverley Road, New Milton BH25 5TX, UK

Email: ahunt@atoutprocess.com

ABSTRACT

Development of a new high-speed Electrical Capacitance Tomography (ECT) system has enabled a series of industrial applications to be explored. The new ECT system is capable of operating at up to 4000 frames per second in two planes, and is small, robust and light, enabling use in difficult environments. Three key industrial application examples are described:

• Measurement of flow structure in gas-oil flows typical of oilfield pipeline flows,
• Development of a smart-tank for satellite propellant tanks,
• Monitoring of combustion in a novel rocket meter.

The results presented show that for a wide range of industrial applications ECT can provide a level of detail unobtainable by other means - offering high-speed accurate measurement of flow structures in a wide range of challenging environments.

Keywords ECT, gas-oil flows, smart tanks, combustion.

Industrial Applicationoil and gas, space propulsion