Expert Series

Electrical Capacitance Tomography- from Principle to Applications (Intro)

Wuqiang Yang

Abstract

Among various industrial tomography modalities, electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) is the most mature and has been used for many challenging applications. ECT is based on measuring very small capacitance from a multi-electrode sensor and reconstructing the permittivity distribution in a cross section of an industrial process. Compared with other tomography modalities, ECT has several advantages: no radioactive, fast response, both non-intrusive and non-invasive, withstanding high temperature and high pressure and of low-cost. Because of very small capacitance to be measured (much smaller than 1 pF) and the “soft-field” nature, ECT does present challenges in capacitance measurement and solving the inverse problem. The latest AC-based ECT system can generate online images typically at 100 frames per second with a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 73 dB. Examples of industrial applications include gas/oil/water flows, wet gas separation, pneumatic conveyors, cyclone separators, pharmaceutical fluidised beds, and clean use of coal by circulating fluidised bed combustion and methanol-to-olefins conversion. During this tutorial, ECT is discussed from principle to industrial applications, together with demonstration of an AC-based ECT system.

Keywords: electrical, capacitance, tomography, ieee, ims, wugiang yang, tutorials, education, applications

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Presenter

Wuqiang Yang

The University of Manchester

United Kingdom

Wuqiang Yang

Biography

Professor Wuqiang Yang (FIEEE, FIET, FInstMC, CEng) received his BEng (Distinction) 1982, MSc 1985 and PhD (Distinction) 1988, from Tsinghua University. After 3 years as a Lecturer at Tsinghua University, he joined UMIST in 1991 and became Professor in 2005. Currently, he is Director of Business Engagement and Innovation in the Dept. of Electrical and Electronics Engineering. His research is focused on electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) and industrial applications. He has published 400 papers and two books "Sensor Array" and "Imaging Sensor Technoligies and Applications", and holds 10 patents, including 2 WO patents. He is an Associate Editor of IEEE Trans. IM and IET Sci. Meas. Technol. and editorial board member of 7 other journals, including Meas. Sci. Technol. and Sensor Review, and reviews papers for >50 journals. He has been invited by many universities and research institutions worldwide and international conferences to give lectures/seminars/keynotes. From 2010 to 2016, he was an IEEE IMS Distinguished Lecturer. He is a visiting professor at 8 universities, including Tsinghua University. In 2006 he received Global Research Award from the Royal Academy of Engineering and took sabbatical leave at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in USA as a visiting professor. He is one of key organisers of IEEE International Conference on Imaging Systems and Techniques. He organised many special issues as a Guest Editor for IEEE Trans. IM, Meas. Sci. Technol., Sensors and other journals. In 2016 he stayed at Chiba University in Japan as a JSPS Invitation Fellow. He will visit Chiba University again as a JSPS Bridge Fellow. He is recognised by International Center for Scientific Research (France), as one of top 30 technology researchers in the world, and Intota as an expert. His biography has been included in Who's Who in the World, Who's Who in Science and Engineering and Who's Who in America since 2002. In 2019, he set up a joint research lab for touch sensors for domestic robots between University of Manchester and Beijing Tashan Co. Ltd.

Affiliation(s)

The University of Manchester

United Kingdom