Ultrasonic Transmission Tomography Sensor Design for Bubble Identification in Gas-Liquid Bubble Column Reactors
Scientists require methods to monitor the distribution of gas bubbles in gas-liquid bubble column reactors. One non-destructive method that can potential satisfy this requirement in industrial situations is ultrasonic transmission tomography (UTT). In this paper, an ultrasonic transmission tomograph...
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| Format: | Article |
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MDPI AG
2018-12-01
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| Series: | Sensors |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/18/12/4256 |
| _version_ | 1828112617149825024 |
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| author | Nan Li Mingchen Cao Kun Xu Jiabin Jia Hangben Du |
| author_facet | Nan Li Mingchen Cao Kun Xu Jiabin Jia Hangben Du |
| author_sort | Nan Li |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Scientists require methods to monitor the distribution of gas bubbles in gas-liquid bubble column reactors. One non-destructive method that can potential satisfy this requirement in industrial situations is ultrasonic transmission tomography (UTT). In this paper, an ultrasonic transmission tomography sensor is designed for measuring bubble distribution in a reactor. Factors that influence the transducer design include transmission energy loss, the resonance characteristics and vibration modes of the transducer, and diffusion angles of the transducers, which are discussed. For practical application, it was found that an excitation frequency of 300 kHz could identify the location and size of gas bubbles. The vibration mode and diffusion also directly affect the quality of the imaging. The geometric parameters of the transducer (a cylinder transducer with a 10 mm diameter and 6.7 mm thickness) are designed to achieve the performance requirements. A UTT system, based on these parameters, was built in order to verify the effectiveness of the designed ultrasonic transducer array. A Sector-diffusion-matrix based Linear Back Projection (SLBP) was used to reconstruct the gas/liquid two-phase flow from the obtained measurements. Two other image processing methods, based on SLBP algorithm named SLBP-HR (SLBP-Hybrid Reconstruction) and SLBP-ATF (SLBP-Adaptive Threshold Filtering), were introduced, and the imaging results are presented. The imaging results indicate that a gas bubble with a 3 mm radius can be identified from reconstructed images, and that three different flow patterns, namely, single gas bubble, double gas bubble with different diameters, and eccentric flow, can be identified from reconstructed images. This demonstrates that the designed UTT sensor can effectively measure bubble distribution in gas-liquid bubble column reactors. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T11:53:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-88b0ae8d12bf499b8d7dc287725a03ff |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1424-8220 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T11:53:10Z |
| publishDate | 2018-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sensors |
| spelling | doaj.art-88b0ae8d12bf499b8d7dc287725a03ff2022-12-22T04:25:15ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202018-12-011812425610.3390/s18124256s18124256Ultrasonic Transmission Tomography Sensor Design for Bubble Identification in Gas-Liquid Bubble Column ReactorsNan Li0Mingchen Cao1Kun Xu2Jiabin Jia3Hangben Du4School of Automation, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710129, ChinaSchool of Mechanical Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, ChinaDepartment of Applied Nuclear Technology, China Institute of Atomic Energy, Beijing 102413, ChinaAgile Tomography Group, School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FG, UKSchool of Automation, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710129, ChinaScientists require methods to monitor the distribution of gas bubbles in gas-liquid bubble column reactors. One non-destructive method that can potential satisfy this requirement in industrial situations is ultrasonic transmission tomography (UTT). In this paper, an ultrasonic transmission tomography sensor is designed for measuring bubble distribution in a reactor. Factors that influence the transducer design include transmission energy loss, the resonance characteristics and vibration modes of the transducer, and diffusion angles of the transducers, which are discussed. For practical application, it was found that an excitation frequency of 300 kHz could identify the location and size of gas bubbles. The vibration mode and diffusion also directly affect the quality of the imaging. The geometric parameters of the transducer (a cylinder transducer with a 10 mm diameter and 6.7 mm thickness) are designed to achieve the performance requirements. A UTT system, based on these parameters, was built in order to verify the effectiveness of the designed ultrasonic transducer array. A Sector-diffusion-matrix based Linear Back Projection (SLBP) was used to reconstruct the gas/liquid two-phase flow from the obtained measurements. Two other image processing methods, based on SLBP algorithm named SLBP-HR (SLBP-Hybrid Reconstruction) and SLBP-ATF (SLBP-Adaptive Threshold Filtering), were introduced, and the imaging results are presented. The imaging results indicate that a gas bubble with a 3 mm radius can be identified from reconstructed images, and that three different flow patterns, namely, single gas bubble, double gas bubble with different diameters, and eccentric flow, can be identified from reconstructed images. This demonstrates that the designed UTT sensor can effectively measure bubble distribution in gas-liquid bubble column reactors.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/18/12/4256ultrasonic transmission tomographysensor designbubble distributionbubble distributionbubble column reactors |
| spellingShingle | Nan Li Mingchen Cao Kun Xu Jiabin Jia Hangben Du Ultrasonic Transmission Tomography Sensor Design for Bubble Identification in Gas-Liquid Bubble Column Reactors Sensors ultrasonic transmission tomography sensor design bubble distribution bubble distribution bubble column reactors |
| title | Ultrasonic Transmission Tomography Sensor Design for Bubble Identification in Gas-Liquid Bubble Column Reactors |
| title_full | Ultrasonic Transmission Tomography Sensor Design for Bubble Identification in Gas-Liquid Bubble Column Reactors |
| title_fullStr | Ultrasonic Transmission Tomography Sensor Design for Bubble Identification in Gas-Liquid Bubble Column Reactors |
| title_full_unstemmed | Ultrasonic Transmission Tomography Sensor Design for Bubble Identification in Gas-Liquid Bubble Column Reactors |
| title_short | Ultrasonic Transmission Tomography Sensor Design for Bubble Identification in Gas-Liquid Bubble Column Reactors |
| title_sort | ultrasonic transmission tomography sensor design for bubble identification in gas liquid bubble column reactors |
| topic | ultrasonic transmission tomography sensor design bubble distribution bubble distribution bubble column reactors |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/18/12/4256 |
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