Industrial process imaging

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Industrial process imaging, or industrial process tomography or process tomography are methods used to form an image of a cross-section of vessel or pipe in a chemical engineering or mineral processing, or petroleum extraction or refining plant. [1] [2] Process imaging is used for the development of process equipment such as filters, separators and conveyors, as well as monitoring of production plant including flow rate measurement. As well as conventional tomographic methods widely used in medicine such as X-ray computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and gamma ray tomography, and ultra-sound tomography, new and emerging methods such as electrical capacitance tomography and magnetic induction tomography and electrical resistivity tomography (similar to medical electrical impedance tomography) are also used.

Although such techniques are not in widespread deployment in industrial plant there is an active research community, including a Virtual Center for industrial Process Tomography, [3] and a regular World Congress on Industrial Process Tomography, now organized by a learned society for this area, the International Society for Industrial Process Tomography [4]

A number of applications of tomography of process equipment were described in the 1970s, using Ionising Radiation from X-ray or isotope sources but routine use was limited by the high cost involved and safety constraints. Radiation-based methods used long exposure times which meant that dynamic measurements of the real-time behaviour of process systems were not feasible. The use of electrical methods to image industrial processes was pioneered by Maurice Beck at the UMIST in the mid-1980s [5]

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An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz (30×1015 Hz to 30×1018 Hz) and energies in the range 145 eV to 124 keV. X-ray wavelengths are shorter than those of UV rays and typically longer than those of gamma rays. In many languages, X-radiation is referred to as Röntgen radiation, after the German scientist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, who discovered it on November 8, 1895. He named it X-radiation to signify an unknown type of radiation. Spellings of X-ray(s) in English include the variants x-ray(s), xray(s), and X ray(s). The most familiar use of X-rays is checking for fractures (broken bones), but X-rays are also used in other ways. For example, chest X-rays can spot pneumonia. Mammograms use X-rays to look for breast cancer.

CT scan Medical imaging procedure using X-rays to produce cross-sectional images

A computed tomography scan is a medical imaging technique used to obtain detailed internal images of the body. The personnel that perform CT scans are called radiographers or radiology technologists.

Radiography Imaging technique using ionizing and non-ionizing radiation

Radiography is an imaging technique using X-rays, gamma rays, or similar ionizing radiation and non-ionizing radiation to view the internal form of an object. Applications of radiography include medical radiography and industrial radiography. Similar techniques are used in airport security. To create an image in conventional radiography, a beam of X-rays is produced by an X-ray generator and is projected toward the object. A certain amount of the X-rays or other radiation is absorbed by the object, dependent on the object's density and structural composition. The X-rays that pass through the object are captured behind the object by a detector. The generation of flat two dimensional images by this technique is called projectional radiography. In computed tomography an X-ray source and its associated detectors rotate around the subject which itself moves through the conical X-ray beam produced. Any given point within the subject is crossed from many directions by many different beams at different times. Information regarding attenuation of these beams is collated and subjected to computation to generate two dimensional images in three planes which can be further processed to produce a three dimensional image.

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Medical imaging is the technique and process of imaging the interior of a body for clinical analysis and medical intervention, as well as visual representation of the function of some organs or tissues (physiology). Medical imaging seeks to reveal internal structures hidden by the skin and bones, as well as to diagnose and treat disease. Medical imaging also establishes a database of normal anatomy and physiology to make it possible to identify abnormalities. Although imaging of removed organs and tissues can be performed for medical reasons, such procedures are usually considered part of pathology instead of medical imaging.

Nondestructive testing Evaluating the properties of a material, component, or system without causing damage

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Electrical impedance tomography

Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is a noninvasive type of medical imaging in which the electrical conductivity, permittivity, and impedance of a part of the body is inferred from surface electrode measurements and used to form a tomographic image of that part. Electrical conductivity varies considerably among various biological tissues or the movement of fluids and gases within tissues. The majority of EIT systems apply small alternating currents at a single frequency, however, some EIT systems use multiple frequencies to better differentiate between normal and suspected abnormal tissue within the same organ.

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Electrical capacitance tomography

Electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) is a method for determination of the dielectric permittivity distribution in the interior of an object from external capacitance measurements. It is a close relative of electrical impedance tomography and is proposed as a method for industrial process monitoring.

Industrial radiography

Industrial radiography is a modality of non-destructive testing that uses ionizing radiation to inspect materials and components with the objective of locating and quantifying defects and degradation in material properties that would lead to the failure of engineering structures. It plays an important role in the science and technology needed to ensure product quality and reliability. In Australia, industrial radiographic non-destructive testing is colloquially referred to as "bombing" a component with a "bomb".

Process tomography consists of tomographic imaging of systems, such as process pipes in industry. In tomography the 3D distribution of some physical quantity in the object is determined. There is a widespread need to get tomographic information about process. This information can be used, for example, in the design and control of processes.

Richard A. Williams OBE FREng FTSE, FRSE is a British academic and engineer. He is the Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Heriot-Watt University. He took up this position on 1 September 2015. He is a chemical engineer. He was Vice President and a Trustee of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

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Industrial computed tomography Computer-aided tomographic process

Industrial computed tomography (CT) scanning is any computer-aided tomographic process, usually X-ray computed tomography, that uses irradiation to produce three-dimensional internal and external representations of a scanned object. Industrial CT scanning has been used in many areas of industry for internal inspection of components. Some of the key uses for industrial CT scanning have been flaw detection, failure analysis, metrology, assembly analysis and reverse engineering applications. Just as in medical imaging, industrial imaging includes both nontomographic radiography and computed tomographic radiography.

Active thermography is an advanced nondestructive testing procedure, which uses a thermography measurement of a tested material thermal response after its external excitation. This principle can be used also for non-contact infrared non-destructive testing (IRNDT) of materials.

Electrical capacitance volume tomography (ECVT) is a non-invasive 3D imaging technology applied primarily to multiphase flows. It was first introduced by W. Warsito, Q. Marashdeh, and L.-S. Fan as an extension of the conventional electrical capacitance tomography (ECT). In conventional ECT, sensor plates are distributed around a surface of interest. Measured capacitance between plate combinations is used to reconstruct 2D images (tomograms) of material distribution. In ECT, the fringing field from the edges of the plates is viewed as a source of distortion to the final reconstructed image and is thus mitigated by guard electrodes. ECVT exploits this fringing field and expands it through 3D sensor designs that deliberately establish an electric field variation in all three dimensions. The image reconstruction algorithms are similar in nature to ECT; nevertheless, the reconstruction problem in ECVT is more complicated. The sensitivity matrix of an ECVT sensor is more ill-conditioned and the overall reconstruction problem is more ill-posed compared to ECT. The ECVT approach to sensor design allows direct 3D imaging of the outrounded geometry. This is different than 3D-ECT that relies on stacking images from individual ECT sensors. 3D-ECT can also be accomplished by stacking frames from a sequence of time intervals of ECT measurements. Because the ECT sensor plates are required to have lengths on the order of the domain cross-section, 3D-ECT does not provide the required resolution in the axial dimension. ECVT solves this problem by going directly to the image reconstruction and avoiding the stacking approach. This is accomplished by using a sensor that is inherently three-dimensional.

References

  1. McCann, H and Scott, D.M (eds) Process Imaging for Automatic Control, Taylor and Francis, 2005, ISBN   0-8247-5920-6
  2. MS Beck and R Williams, Process Tomography: Principles, Techniques and Applications, Butterworth-Heinemann (July 19, 1995), ISBN   0-7506-0744-0
  3. Virtual centre for Industrial Process Tomography, www.vciptorg.uk, Accessed 06/10/2006
  4. "International Society for Industrial process Tomography" . Retrieved 2008-08-08.
  5. Roger Waterfall, Maurice Sidney Beck M Inst P (1929-1999), November 1999, "Industrial Process Tomography at the University of Manchester". Archived from the original on 2007-10-31. Retrieved 2007-10-06..