DEVELOPMENT OF ELECTRICAL CAPACITANCE TOMOGRAPHY SYSTEM DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEM FOR NON-CONDUCTIVE MULTIPHASE PROCESSES

Electrical Tomography System has gained much attention these recent years as the ultimate
solution of multiphase flow analysis and multiphase level analysis. It offers a Non-Destructive
Testing (NDT) method that produces real-time images of cross-sectional area of an enclosed
space. This provides the solution to problems involving non-conductive processes where
hydrocarbon-based environment are of interest. Problems ranges from variation in the velocity
profile, uneven phase distribution and flow characterization and by analyzing the multiphase
flow patterns and multiphase level patterns, an accurate model of the fluid transportation could
be attained. Distribution profile of the different phases are present in the multiphase
transportation system can be determined across the cross sectional area during the transportation
process at varying velocity and pressure. The chosen Electrical Tomography System to be
developed in the project is the Electrical Capacitance Tomography System (ECT) as it has no
hazardous radiation emission, low cost, able to be used in high temperature and pressure
environment and its high accuracy [13]. The system is also very advantageous to be used in the
measurements involving non-conducting processes and it have been proven to be very stable and
accurate [13, 14]. The project will focus on the development of ECT system with some
additional improvement made based on the current development of the technology. The main
focus of the project is to develop a Data Acquisition System for UTP’s own Electrical
Capacitance System. Major focus will be given in increasing the efficiency of the Data
Acquisition System by having to implement several techniques that suppress the common
problems faced by the conventional Electrical Capacitance Tomography. Associated issues
include the existence of stray capacitances, switching problems and speed of the system. The
research will first proceeds with a comparison profile of all prior conventional Data Acquisition
System developed for Electrical Capacitance Tomography and then a newer Data Acquisition
System layout have been designed based on prior systems. Several test measurements involving
multiphase flow analysis will be done in order to justify the accuracy and reliability of the ECT
system developed. Finally, a profile of the accuracy and the reliability of the ECT system
developed will be tabulated to be compared with other current developments of the system.