Imaging of solid flow in a gravity flow rig using infra-red tomography

Information on flow regimes is vital in the analysis and measurement of industrial process flow. Almost all currently available method of measuring the flow of two-component mixtures in industrial pipelines endeavors to average a property of the flow over the pipe cross-section. They do not give information on the nature of the flow regime and they are unsuitable for accurate measurement where the component distribution is spatially or time varying. The overall aim of this project is to investigate the use of an optical tomography method based on infra-red sensors for real-time monitoring of solid particles conveyed by a rotary valve in a pneumatic pipeline. The infra-red tomography system can be divided into two distinct portions of hardware and software development process. The hardware development process covers the infra-red sensor selection, fixtures and signals conditioning circuits, and control circuits. The software development involves data acquisition system, sensor modeling, image algorithms, and programming for a tomographic display to provide solids flow information in pipeline such as concentration and velocity profiles. Collimating the radiated beam from a light source and passing it via a flow regime ensures that the intensity of radiation detected on the opposite side is linked to the distribution and the absorption coefficients of the different phases in the path of the beam. The information is obtained from the combination of two orthogonal and two diagonal light projection system and 30 cycles of real-time measurements. Those information on the flow captured using upstream and downstream infra-red sensors are digitized by the DAS system before it was passed into a computer for analysis such as image reconstructions and cross-correlation process that provide velocity profiles represented by 16 × 16 pixels mapped onto the pipe cross-section. This project successfully developed and tested an infra-red tomography system to display two-dimensional images of concentration and velocity

TWO PHASE FLOW USING ELECTRICAL TOMOGRAPHY

The aim of this project is to improve the performance of current flow rigs to enable bubble flow regime, to fabricate new sensor of ERT for data acquisition and to calculate the void fraction using the image processing techniques

Study of phase distribution in pipe cyclonic compact separator using wire mesh sensor

Separation of gas–liquid mixture, which is achieved by using either large gravity separators or compact separators is a common and vital operation in the petroleum industry. Where space and cost are key project considerations, gas–liquid compact separators are very attractive because of their versatility and cost effectiveness. Efficient performance of the cyclonic separator depends on smooth and steady swirling flow. Unsteady swirling flow in the separator may be due to capacity constraint, improper design or unforeseen flow instability at the inlet. An understanding of phase distribution in gas discharge section of these separators would help design engineers make a better decision when selecting and sizing inlet nozzle, diameter and length of the separator. In this paper, the structure of phase distribution and liquid holdup in the gas discharge section of the separator was obtained using a 24x24 resolution wire mesh sensor (WMS). The acquired area average liquid holdup and the images were analysed using time series and 2D slice to discriminate between partial separation and critical separation condition. The liquid holdup as a function of separator inlet superficial velocity was quantified

POMIARY PRZEPŁYWÓW WIELOFAZOWYCH Z WYKORZYSTANIEM TOMOGRAFU MULTIMODALNEGO DECART

The multi-phase flow measurements are very important tasks in many areas of industrial processes applications. One of them is undersea exploration of oil in the petroleum industry. The submitted paper presents application of DECART tomograph designed and built in Lodz University of Technology - together with combined measurements of signals acquired from gamma ray measurement system. Use of all measuring modalities allowed for performing measurements of a flow composed of sea water, oil and gas. The paper presents theoretical principles applied to design multimodality tomograph and results of experiments performed in the University of Bergen. Measurement confirmed that multi-modality approach allows giving fast and reliable on-line results of measurements of composition of multi-phase flow. Applied algorithms allowed to speed up on-line measurements and presenting results in a form required in industrial applications. The derived conclusions can be used as guidelines for preparation of industrial applicable construction of tomograph.Pomiary przepływów wielofazowych są szeroko wykorzystywane w wielu procesach przemysłowych. Jednym z nich jest przemysł petrochemiczny, w szczególności dziedzina eksploatacji podwodnych złóż ropy naftowej. W artykule zostało przedstawione zastosowanie tomografu DECART - zaprojektowanego i zbudowanego w Instytucie Informatyki Stosowanej Politechniki Łódzkiej. Pomiary z tomografu zostały powiązane z sygnałami uzyskanymi z systemu pomiaru promieniowania gamma. Wykorzystanie danych uzyskanych z różnych rodzajów czujników umożliwiło pomiar przepływu mieszaniny składającej się z wody morskiej, ropy naftowej i gazu. W pracy przedstawiono podstawy teoretyczne, które stanowiły punkt wyjścia do wykorzystania tomografu multimodalnego jak i wyniki eksperymentów przeprowadzonych na Uniwersytecie w Bergen. Pomiary potwierdziły, że podejście multimodalne umożliwia szybki i niezawodny pomiar udziału faz w przepływie wielofazowym. Zastosowane algorytmy pozwalają na przyspieszenie pomiarów on-line i przedstawienie wyników w formie wymaganej w zastosowaniach przemysłowych. Wnioski z badań mogą być wykorzystane jako wskazówki dla konstrukcji tomografu do praktycznych zastosowań przemysłowych

Modeling, Identification and Control at Telemark University College

Master studies in process automation started in 1989 at what soon became Telemark University College, and the 20 year anniversary marks the start of our own PhD degree in Process, Energy and Automation Engineering. The paper gives an overview of research activities related to control engineering at Department of Electrical Engineering, Information Technology and Cybernetics

Modeling, Identification and Control at Telemark University College

Master studies in process automation started in 1989 at what soon became Telemark University College, and the 20 year anniversary marks the start of our own PhD degree in Process, Energy and Automation Engineering. The paper gives an overview of research activities related to control engineering at Department of Electrical Engineering, Information Technology and Cybernetics

Convolutional Neural Networks and Feature Fusion for Flow Pattern Identification of the Subsea Jumper

The gas–liquid two-phase flow patterns of subsea jumpers are identified in this work using a multi-sensor information fusion technique, simultaneously collecting vibration signals and electrical capacitance tomography of stratified flow, slug flow, annular flow, and bubbly flow. The samples are then processed to obtain the data set. Additionally, the samples are trained and learned using the convolutional neural network (CNN) and feature fusion model, which are built based on experimental data. Finally, the four kinds of flow pattern samples are identified. The overall identification accuracy of the model is 95.3% for four patterns of gas–liquid two-phase flow in the jumper. Through the research of flow profile identification, the disadvantages of single sensor testing angle and incomplete information are dramatically improved, which has a great significance on the subsea jumper’s operation safety.publishedVersio

The NASA SBIR product catalog

The purpose of this catalog is to assist small business firms in making the community aware of products emerging from their efforts in the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. It contains descriptions of some products that have advanced into Phase 3 and others that are identified as prospective products. Both lists of products in this catalog are based on information supplied by NASA SBIR contractors in responding to an invitation to be represented in this document. Generally, all products suggested by the small firms were included in order to meet the goals of information exchange for SBIR results. Of the 444 SBIR contractors NASA queried, 137 provided information on 219 products. The catalog presents the product information in the technology areas listed in the table of contents. Within each area, the products are listed in alphabetical order by product name and are given identifying numbers. Also included is an alphabetical listing of the companies that have products described. This listing cross-references the product list and provides information on the business activity of each firm. In addition, there are three indexes: one a list of firms by states, one that lists the products according to NASA Centers that managed the SBIR projects, and one that lists the products by the relevant Technical Topics utilized in NASA's annual program solicitation under which each SBIR project was selected