DEVELOPMENT OF FAST SWITCHING AND DATA ACQUISITION CIRCUIT FOR IN HOUSE ECT SYSTEM

Electrical Capacitance tomography, or ECT, is the technology to generate visual representation of flow’s different phases using the distribution of electrical permittivity [1].
In this project, an enhanced design of data collection and switching circuit which aims to improve the in-house ECT system, especially to implement an automatic switching circuit, and increase the data collection rates.
The proposed design uses short analogue signals routes by implementing a local ADC module for every data collection circuit. Furthermore, this design has adheres to universal communication standards and can be integrated in most of nowadays technologies. Furthermore, it implements an on-board reprogrammable microcontroller. Therefore, the design enjoys high portability and can be re-configured to meet various ECT system requirements for different applications with minimum hardware adjustments.
The main focus of this project is to improve the performance of the in-house ECT system by improving the data collection circuitry to incorporate an automatic switching module that is able to switch operation of the electrode modules between four modes namely, Excitation, Detection, floating and grounding. As well as, increasing the data collection data rate by enabling parallel detection operations.