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Ultrasonic Transmission Tomography Sensor Design for Bubble Identification in Gas-Liquid Bubble Column Reactors
Nan Li1,2, Mingchen Cao3, Kun Xu4
1School of Automation, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710129, China. nan.li@hotmail.co.uk.
Sensors (Basel, Switzerland)
|December 7, 2018
Summary
Ultrasonic transmission tomography (UTT) offers a non-destructive way to monitor gas bubbles in reactors. This study designed an effective UTT sensor capable of identifying bubble size and flow patterns for industrial applications.
Area of Science:
- Chemical Engineering
- Non-destructive Testing
- Fluid Dynamics
Background:
- Gas-liquid bubble column reactors are crucial in chemical processes.
- Monitoring bubble distribution is essential for process optimization and safety.
- Existing methods for bubble monitoring can be invasive or limited in industrial settings.
Purpose of the Study:
- To design and validate an ultrasonic transmission tomography (UTT) sensor for non-destructive monitoring of gas bubble distribution in bubble column reactors.
- To investigate factors influencing transducer design for optimal performance.
- To evaluate advanced image reconstruction algorithms for accurate visualization of two-phase flow.
Main Methods:
- Design of a cylindrical ultrasonic transducer (10 mm diameter, 6.7 mm thickness) operating at 300 kHz.
- Development of a UTT system incorporating the designed transducer array.
- Application of Sector-diffusion-matrix based Linear Back Projection (SLBP) and its variants (SLBP-HR, SLBP-ATF) for image reconstruction.
- Experimental verification of the UTT system's capability to image gas bubbles and flow patterns.
Main Results:
- The designed UTT sensor effectively identified gas bubbles as small as 3 mm radius.
- The system successfully distinguished between single bubble, double bubble, and eccentric flow patterns.
- Optimized transducer parameters (300 kHz excitation, specific geometric dimensions) improved imaging quality.
- SLBP-based algorithms provided accurate reconstruction of gas/liquid two-phase flow.
Conclusions:
- The developed UTT sensor is a viable non-destructive tool for monitoring bubble distribution in industrial gas-liquid bubble column reactors.
- The study demonstrates the effectiveness of the designed transducer and advanced image processing techniques for characterizing two-phase flow.
- This technology has the potential to enhance process control and safety in relevant industrial applications.
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