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Industrial process tomography possesses unique advantages in biphasic medium measurement and has received broad attention in the past decades. Aiming at the widely existing low-contrast biphasic medium, this article proposes a nonlinear ultrasonic transmissive tomography (UTT) approach using continuous-wave excitation. Considering the refraction effect at the biphasic interface, the reconstruction method with nonlinear forward problem and the prototype-based resolution enhancement algorithm is proposed with higher accuracy, resolution, and speed. The UTT system is improved with a high-voltage excitation module and fan-beam transducer array to evaluate the proposed method, where the performance is qualitatively and quantitatively compared with the state-of-the-art reconstruction algorithms and measurement techniques from different perspectives. The results show that the reconstruction performance is significantly improved where the size, shape, and position of the dispersed medium can be accurately discriminated. Accordingly, the ultrasonic tomography with continuous-wave excitation is proved to be feasible and efficient in the visualized measurement of low-contrast biphasic medium.

Electrical Capacitance Tomography (ECT) is a well-established industrial process tomography technique. Image reconstruction for the ECT is a nonlinear problem, and the inverse problem is usually ill-posed and ill-conditioned. Hence, the solutions for the ECT are not unique and highly sensitive to the measurement noise. In this paper, a novel tuned fuzzy algorithm is proposed for reconstructing accurate images to monitor the distribution of the multi-phase flow in the industrial process. The proposed algorithm utilizes a Tuned Fuzzy Inference System (TFIS) to overcome the nonlinear characteristics of the ECT system. The optimal parameters of the fuzzy membership functions are obtained using the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) technique. In the past few decades, the naturally inspired intelligent swarm algorithms got more attention due to their wide spectrum of research for real-world complex problems optimization. The proposed PSO-tuned fuzzy algorithm is fast since it does not require solving the forward problem to update the sensitivity matrix. Comparing the results with traditional reconstruction algorithms, the proposed algorithm performs better in visual effects and imaging quality, since the image edges and details are better preserved.

Today, in-situ analyzing and monitoring are imperative for ensuring successful and healthy industrial processes in confined environments. With the rapid development of digitization, augmented reality (AR) has been utilized for letting people immersively interact with the necessary information. However, there are still knowledge gaps between AR technique and domain users pertaining to effective analysis of complex data. Hence, new solutions empowering domain users would benefit the whole industry. In this study, we report an initial prototype supporting complex data visualization and analysis in entire 3D surroundings within industrial process tomography (IPT). Microsoft HoloLens 2 is equipped for users to interact with the 3D information characterizing the workflow of the industrial process with high immersion. Our work distinctly improves the performance compared to existing solutions, pointing the way towards how AR should be deployed and developed more efficiently for aiding IPT systems.

Electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) exhibits several attractive features that are important for industrial process tomography applications. These features include low cost, high speed, and nonintrusive nature. However, due to its soft-field character, a relatively low image resolution is an outstanding challenge for ECT. While many efforts have been made to tackle this challenge by improvements in image reconstruction algorithms, relatively less has been done to enhance the basic ECT hardware sensor configuration and data acquisition process. In this paper, a new measurement acquisition strategy is introduced to increase image resolution when using adaptive ECT (AECT). The proposed strategy is based on the manipulation of synthetic electrodes plates (“metaplates”) formed by a set of combined smaller physical electrodes (segments). The synthetic electrodes are sequentially activated with partial overlap of constituent segments to provide a fine-stepped axial and/or azimuthal electronic scan along the entire sensor. Consequently, an increased number of independent capacitance measurements are made available. Reconstruction results using the proposed measurement acquisition strategy (AECT) are shown to illustrate the enhanced resolution and stability in the imaging of objects compared to conventional ECT sensors.

Computed tomography technology uses an electromagnetic radiation source or particulate radiation source, to analyze / study different samples that can range from living organisms to the most diverse objects (rocks, phantoms, etc.). The use of the radioactive materials may cause harm to the operator if he is exposed to the source of radiation, so aiming at the safety of the operator, the objective of this work is to develop an Internet of Things automation system for the opening of the Industrial Process Tomography source port for industrial tomography applications. Thus, this system can drive the stepper motors through this platform can be opened at a safe distance to the operator, avoiding the operator to take radiation dose to perform this operation. For the IPT project, five source ports were made so that each was positioned diametrically opposite each array of detectors. In this project we used 192Ir sources that have activity of 18,500 MBq and that were produced in the reactor IEA-R1, from the neutron bombardment of the pellet containing stable isotope 191Ir. The main characteristics of 192Ir are: half-life of 74.2 days; radiation energy from 0.13 to 0.65 MeV. For the safety of the operator during the opening of the sources, an automated opening system with IoT that can be activated with software installed on the tomography or by a smartphone application by the MQTT protocol, which makes it possible to be monitored in real time at long distance showing the opening and closing status of each source port.

Industrial process tomography (IPT) based process control is an advisable approach in industrial heating processes for improving system efficiency and quality. When using it, appropriate dataflow pipelines and visualizations are key for domain users to implement precise data acquisition and analysis. In this article, we propose a complete data processing and visualizing workflow regarding a specific case—microwave tomography (MWT) controlled industrial microwave drying system. Furthermore, we present the up-to-date augmented reality (AR) technique to support the corresponding data visualization and on-site analysis. As a pioneering study of using AR to benefit IPT systems, the proposed AR module provides straightforward and comprehensible visualizations pertaining to the process data to the related users. Inside the dataflow of the case, a time reversal imaging algorithm, a post-imaging segmentation, and a volumetric visualization module are included. For the time reversal algorithm, we exhaustively introduce each step for MWT image reconstruction and then present the simulated results. For the post-imaging segmentation, an automatic tomographic segmentation algorithm is utilized to reveal the significant information contained in the reconstructed images. For volumetric visualization, the 3D generated information is displayed. Finally, the proposed AR system is integrated with the on-going process data, including reconstructed, segmented, and volumetric images, which are used for facilitating interactive on-site data analysis for domain users. The central part of the AR system is implemented by a mobile app that is currently supported on iOS/Android platforms.

This article describes the implementation of microwave tomography for industrial process applications. Microwave tomography for industrial process imaging has different requirements from that for medical imaging. In addition to spatial resolution, high temporal resolution or real-time imaging is also important for high-speed processes, flows, or rapid reactions. Depending on the specific application, both quantitative imaging and qualitative imaging may be needed. Qualitative imaging would be sufficient to display distributions, patterns, or shapes, which may be adequate for some applications. Quantitative imaging would, however, be more informative, giving images with quantitative dielectric contrast or permittivity values from which other physical parameters, such as density, moisture content, and phase fraction, may be derived. With the microwave tomography approach described, several example applications in industrial processes are demonstrated, and a number of experimental imaging results are presented.

The paper discusses the capabilities of industrial computed tomography (CT) in the field of dimensional measurement of products with close tolerances. Computed tomography is a method that allows inspection and measurements of both reachable and unreachable characteristics which makes it very desirable and interesting for application in wide range of industries. In order to evaluate the quality of measurement results obtained by industrial CT, two objects with the same geometry, and made from different materials, were measured. Results obtained with CT were compared with the results obtained by coordinate measuring machine, which were considered to be reference values, and deviations between the results have been analysed. Measurements were repeated five times under repeatability conditions. Repeatability is expressed quantitatively in terms of the dispersion characteristics of the results. Statistical analysis showed that in majority of cases, there were no statistically significant differences between measurement results of equal characteristics obtained at different materials. Obtained deviations in the research could be explained by the fact that the measurements were performed at the industrial CT for general applications. Much better results can be achieved by using a metrology CT device.

The measurement of volume fractions of different components in multiphase flows is of great interest in many industrial applications. Ultrasound process tomography is especially well-suited for the differentiation of gaseous and liquid phases. This paper presents a measurement system, which was developed for real-time ultrasound process tomography, utilizing a ring of 32 ultrasound transducers on a measurement pipe. Simulations and measurements were conducted, and a reflection-mode reconstruction technique was used to obtain the system's point spread function and examine the performance on inhomogeneous configurations of water containing multiple gaseous objects. Furthermore, the possibility of increasing the measurement rate by reducing the number of excitations and its effects on the quality of the reconstructed images is investigated.

The needs and the feasibility of simultaneous computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were recently reported. In this paper, a spiral magnetic resonance X-ray CT (MRX) imaging system is proposed for head and extremities imaging, which serves as a simple, cost-effective solution on the path to a full-scale CT-MRI fusion. While MRI and X-ray radiography were integrated before, we propose novel designs to acquire simultaneous CT and MR views for synchronized radiographic imaging or joint tomographic reconstruction. Our preliminary permanent magnet configurations achieve a magnetic field strength between 0.1 and 0.2 T while keeping weight low enough for portability. We have also shown that a field strength up to 0.35 T is achievable with permanent magnets that maintain a compact profile, though increased weight would hinder ease of transportation. Simulation results of a joint tomographic reconstruction scheme show the advantage of simultaneously acquired images. The proposed MRX system performs double helical scans in CT and MRI mechanisms, and has multiple niche applications, such as medical imaging on disaster sites, in battle fields, and for under-developed regions.

Industrial process tomography (IPT) is a set of multi-dimensional sensor technologies and methods that aim to provide unparalleled internal information on industrial processes used in many sectors [...]

O uso da tomografia computadorizada despertou o interesse das indústrias pela possibilidade em utilizar as informações tomográficas de um produto, de processo ou de equipamento, para auxiliar no controle da qualidade de produtos e também para aperfeiçoar o processo produtivo. Porém, quando se trata de tomografia industrial, ao contrário da já amplamente utilizada tomografia médica, nem sempre as condições para a realização da aquisição tomográfica são favoráveis, pois os objetos industriais podem ter diferentes dimensões, composição química e densidades. O objetivo deste trabalho foi desenvolver um novo desenho para o sistema de tomografia computadorizada industrial, Industrial Process Tomography (tomógrafo), para análises de sistemas multifásicos. Nesta proposta, foram utilizados 70 conjuntos de cristais detectores de NaI(Tl) fotomultiplicadoras, ligados a 5 módulos com 12 detectores. A configuração desenvolvida permitiu a obtenção de um halo de 360° ao redor do objeto a ser tomografado, além da análise em tempo real do processo industrial. O sistema de porta-fontes, desenvolvido para este projeto, permite acomodar dois isótopos radioativos, que com a eletrônica do tipo multicanal, também desenvolvida durante este projeto, possibilitou realizar a seleção de várias faixas espectrais, ao mesmo tempo, em cada detector. O porta-fontes ainda conta com sistema de abertura e de fechamento à distância, para segurança do operador. O tomógrafo, desenvolvido para este trabalho, atendeu às expectativas. Seu desenho possibilita o transporte para as plantas de trabalho, pois este tomógrafo é modular, e apresentou também os picos característicos referentes aos espectros radioativos utilizados, além de apresentar um tempo de aquisição de espectros rápido, o que possibilita a realização de tomografias em tempo real. Computerized tomography has promoted the interest of industries for the possibility of using the tomographic data of a product, process, or equipment for quality control of a product, and improve the production process. However, unlike the already widely used medical tomography if compared to industrial tomography, the conditions to perform tomographic acquisition are not always favorable, once industrial objects may have different dimensions, chemical composition, and densities. The aim of this work was to develop a new design for the Industrial Process Tomography (IPT), for multiphase analysis. In this work, 70 sets of photomultiplier with NaI(Tl) detector crystals, connected to 5 modules with 14 detectors, were used. The developed configuration allowed to obtain a 360 ° halo around the object to be tomographed, and, also, real-time analysis of industrial processes. The source holder system developed can accommodate two radioactive isotopes, which with the multichannel electronics as well developed during this project, made it possible to select several spectral bands at the same time, in each detector. The source holder also has a remote opening and closing system for operator safety. The tomography developed for this work reached the expectations; its design turns it possible to transport it to the industrial plants because this tomography is modular, it also presented the characteristic peaks related to the radioactive sources spectra used, besides presenting a fast spectra acquisition time, which enables real-time CT scans.

A new imaging algorithm of permittivity for Electrical Capacitance Tomography (ECT) was proposed in this paper. Some aspects of sensitivity analysis and the application of adjoint variables were discussed. In the final section of this paper some advantages and disadvantages were shown.

This study describes the development of a multisource computed tomography (CT) system that proved to be a useful tool to study multiphase systems. In this CT system, two different radioisotope sources, 192 Ir (317 keV and 448 keV) and 137 Cs (662 keV), were placed in a single lead collimator and several tomography measurements carried out. The multisource CT system was capable of determining as well as differentiating the attenuation coefficients of materials with two phases (gas and liquid). It was also able to provide important information concerning the hydrodynamics occurring inside a multiphase column.

Oil-water biphasic medium widely existed in mining and transportation process of petroleum industry, where visualized measurement processes vital importance in production increase, state monitoring and fault prognosis. Ultrasonic Tomography (UT) is a non-invasive and non-radioactive sensing modality in industrial Process Tomography, which is demonstrated as a competitive monitoring technique with great potential. However, facing the refraction effect of Ultrasound wave at oil-water interfaces, the accuracy of reconstruction algorithm is with large error and serious artifacts. To address the issue, a modified ray-tracing image reconstruction algorithm is proposed. The amplitude attenuation during ultrasound propagation in nonhomogeneous medium is quantitatively modeled to form absolute UT model. With ray tracing strategy applied and improved, the nonlinear refraction effect is characterized in the form of iterative update of sensitivity matrix, followed by which the sound speed mapping transfers reconstructed attenuation images to sound speed distribution for ray tracing computation. Numerical tests indicate that the proposed method significantly improves reconstruction accuracy through projection-based, regularization-based and algebraic-based inverse algorithms, which demonstrate its benefits in conducting oil-water biphasic medium imaging.

Electrical resistance tomography (ERT) and electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) are two established process tomography techniques that can be applied into various indsutries. ERT can monitor the electrical conductivity changes in the process whereas ECT can detect the electrical dielectric materials. Due to their high-speed and low cost features, they are particularly attractive to industrial applications which require real time conditional monitoring. For the past decades, 2D linear back projection (LBP) has been the standard technique for both commercialised ERT and ECT systems because of its simplicity and fast reconstruction speed. In this paper, ITS Plc has released a 'Reconstruction Tool-Suite' software that allows industrial users to utilise different reconstruction algorithms to further understand their processes. Different algorithms are integrated into this software package including the single step Tikhonov method and the iterative Landweber method. In the latest version of the software, the full-field 3D tomography reconstruction scheme is also included, which allows the users to perform 3D reconstruction for their processes. A series of experiments are conducted to validate the pros and cons of different methods.

Three-phase flow imaging is a very challenging problem in industrial process tomography. A particular interest here is three phase flow including both conductive and non-conductive phases. Currently there is no robust solution to this problem. Electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) has been applied to visualize the permittivity distribution by measuring inter-capacitance between electrodes around sensing area. Magnetic inductance tomography (MIT) is a technique to image the conductivity distribution through the inductance measurements over the coils around the sensing area. In this paper, the three-phase flow is classified into two scenarios: air background and water background. A dual-modality method of ECT and MIT is proposed to image both the conductive and dielectric components under test. As a result of this experiment, the dual-modality method is able to solve air-background three-phase flow imaging, but a problem has been raised in the water-background scenario. The static experiment results are promising for such contactless three phase flow imaging.

Tomography is a non-invasive, non-intrusive imaging technique allowing the visualization of phase dynamics in industrial and biological processes. This article reviews progress in Electrical Capacitance Volume Tomography (ECVT). ECVT is a direct 3D visualizing technique, unlike three-dimensional imaging, which is based on stacking 2D images to obtain an interpolated 3D image. ECVT has recently matured for real time, non-invasive 3-D monitoring of processes involving materials with strong contrast in dielectric permittivity. In this article, ECVT sensor design, optimization and performance of various sensors seen in literature are summarized. Qualitative Analysis of ECVT image reconstruction techniques has also been presented.

Electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) is a well-established industrial process tomography technique. The application of ECT is generally limited to imaging insulating objects with permittivity contrast. Although ECT imaging for grounded conductors are studied earlier, there is not a systematic study of imaging floating metals using ECT. To broaden the application of the ECT, imaging of suspended metallic samples is studied in this paper. Placing a metallic conductor between electrodes has an effect of shortening the spacing between the electrodes, thus the capacitances are increased. This increment in capacitances can be regarded as placing a dielectric sample with higher permittivity than the reference data. An ECT image of the floating metallic samples can be reconstructed using traditional sensitivity based image reconstruction, which is in the same way as imaging dielectric permittivity. In this paper, both metallic and dielectric samples are tested, and the results show the feasibility of ECT imaging for floating metals.

The main advantages of the use of computed x-ray tomography for nondestructive testing of the state of the internal structure of laminated polymer composite materials with the aim of improving the quality of manufacture of products from composites have been demonstrated.

Process tomography is a technique to realize flow imaging in a process vessel or pipeline by using the sensor system. This technique involves the use of tomographic imaging methods to manipulate data from sensors in order to collect sufficient information about the flow in the pipeline. The overall aim of this paper is to investigate the benefits of dual modality (optical and electrodynamic) tomography system for the measurement of tomographic images of solids flow. This research will investigate the distribution of conveying plastic beads in a conveying pipe by placing optical and electrodynamic sensors around the pipe without interrupting the flow inside the pipe.

Magnetic induction tomography (MIT) is a tomographic technique capable of imaging the passive electromagnetic properties of an object. It has the advantages of being contact-less and non-invasive, as the process involves interrogating the electromagnetic field of the imaging subject. As such, the potential applications of MIT are broad, with various domains of operation including biomedicine, industrial process tomography and non-destructive evaluation. Consequently, there is a rich—yet underexplored—research landscape for the practical applications of MIT. The aim of this review is to provide a non-exhaustive overview of this landscape. The fundamental principles of MIT are discussed, alongside the instrumentation and techniques necessary to obtain and interpret MIT measurements.

Because of low resolution, Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) had been criticized by the experts and scholars. Although the resolution of the Magnetic Resonance Electrical Impedance Tomography (MREIT) which is combined EIT with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technology and the resolution of the Magneto-Acoustic-Electrical Tomography (MAET) which is combined EIT with ultrasonic technology are improved, there are still existing problems, which are the electrode RF shielding in MREIT, the difficulty of further improving resolution in MAET. Combining the technologies of MRI and MAET for mutual advantage, this paper proposed a new method of Magnetic Resonance Motional-Electrical Tomography (MRMET) based on the principle of MAET. The software Comsol and Matlab were used to establish a two-dimensional simulation model, and the forward problem and inverse problem of MRMET were researched on the simulation works. The simulation results could reflect the conductivity distribution inside the simulation model, and MRMET could solve the problems of the EIT combination technologies.

Research Article published by International Journal of Computer Applications Volume 101– No.8, September 2014

Process tomography (PT) techniques have been developed rapidly for visualizing the internal behavior of industrial processes, e.g. multi-phase flow measurement. Most of tomography systems employ a single measurement technique, such as computerized tomography (CT), optical tomography (OT), electrical resistance tomography (ERT) or electrical capacitance tomography (ECT). It is now possible to fit two or more tomographic systems to an industrial process. Detailed information from different modalities can be gained by inspection of separate tomographs, and the advantage of the strongest features provided by each unit can be taken. A combined tomogram can be produced of superior quality to any of the separate tomograms. To maximize the information available from the combined tomographic system, data fusion is the better option. In this paper, a dual-mode tomography system based on capacitance sensor and gamma sensor was developed to capture oil–gas two-phase flow. The two modalities can work at the same time. Two fusion methods, namely image fusion method and data fusion method, are proposed. Both simulation and static experiments for oil–gas two-phase flow were conducted. The reconstruction results of different fusion methods and modalities were compared and discussed.

X-ray luminescence and X-ray fluorescence computed tomography (CT) are two emerging technologies in X-ray imaging that provide functional and molecular imaging capability. Both emission-type tomographic imaging modalities use external X-rays to stimulate secondary emissions, either light or secondary X-rays, which are then acquired for tomographic reconstruction. These modalities surpass the limits of sensitivity in current X-ray imaging and have the potential of enabling X-ray imaging to extract molecular imaging information. These new modalities also promise to break through the spatial resolution limits of other in vivo molecular imaging modalities. This paper reviews the development of X-ray luminescence and X-ray fluorescence CT and their relative merits. The discussion includes current problems and future research directions and the role of these modalities in future molecular imaging applications.

Calderon&rsquo, s method has been successfully used for the direct image reconstruction in electrical capacitance tomography. In the method, the truncation radius adopted in numerical integral greatly influences the reconstruction results. In the past, the truncation radius is selected as a constant empirically according to the permittivity distribution pattern and noise level. In this paper, the influence of the truncation radius in Calderon&rsquo, s method on the reconstruction results was first analyzed by numerical simulation. Then, a strategy for adaptive selection of the truncation radius was proposed. The amplitude information of the elements in the scattering transform matrix computed from the Dirichlet-to-Neumann (DN) map was used to determine the range for the truncation radius selection, and the phase information was further used to select a proper truncation radius value within this selection range. Finally, experiments were carried out to verify the strategy. Experimental results showed that small relative image error and good visual effect could be obtained by using the truncation radius selected by the proposed strategy.

The image of the current non-destructive testing system using a high energy accelerator is limited to conventional two-dimensional metaphysical information. Requirements for the present manufacturing industry are growing rapidly and include quantitative measurements, high-density component model extraction, reverse process development and precision inspection to meet the needs for the verification of manufactured goods. Therefore, industrial three-dimensional high-penetration tomography has emerged as the most promising method. In this study, in order to evaluate the applicability of a MeV-level high-energy accelerator, we developed a three-dimensional tomography system using a 450 kV X-ray generator. Evaluation of the three-dimensional tomography image is based on measurements of the penetration and the image resolution for high-energy X-rays.

Multiphase flow imaging is a very challenging and critical topic in industrial process tomography. In this article, simulation and experimental results of reconstructing the permittivity profile of multiphase material from data collected in electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) are presented. A multiphase narrowband level set algorithm is developed to reconstruct the interfaces between three- or four-phase permittivity values. The level set algorithm is capable of imaging multiphase permittivity by using one set of ECT measurement data, so-called absolute value ECT reconstruction, and this is tested with high-contrast and low-contrast multiphase data. Simulation and experimental results showed the superiority of this algorithm over classical pixel-based image reconstruction methods. The multiphase level set algorithm and absolute ECT reconstruction are presented for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, in this paper and critically evaluated. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Supersensing through industrial process tomography’.

Electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) is a non-destructive detection technique for imaging the permittivity distributions inside an observed domain from the capacitances measurements on its boundary. Owing to its advantages of non-contact, non-radiation, high speed and low cost, ECT is promising in the measurements of many industrial or biological processes. However, in the practical industrial or biological systems, a deposit is normally seen in the inner wall of its pipe or vessel. As the actual region of interest (ROI) of ECT is surrounded by the deposit layer, the capacitance measurements become weakly sensitive to the permittivity perturbation occurring at the ROI. When there is a major permittivity difference between the deposit and the ROI, this kind of shielding effect is significant, and the permittivity reconstruction becomes challenging. To deal with the issue, an interface and permittivity simultaneous reconstruction approach is proposed. Both the permittivity at the ROI and the geometry of the deposit layer are recovered using the block coordinate descent method. The boundary and finite-elements coupling method is employed to improve the computational efficiency. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated with the simulation tests. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Supersensing through industrial process tomography’.

Non-intrusive visualization of the structure of flames can offer us many advantages in studying the reaction mechanisms of combustion and observing special distributions of the parameters required for the development of equipment such as jet engines and gas turbines. Process tomography is a relatively new technique for such a task, but is useful owing to its fast speed and capability of detecting signals related to ionizations caused by chemical reactions and thermal effects. Electric capacitance tomography (ECT) is one of the process tomographic techniques. ECT usually comprises a sensor array of electrodes that detect permittivity variations in the measuring zone, a data-logging device and a computer that controls data acquisition and carries out image reconstruction. There have been studies on ECT imaging of flames; however, ECT has not been exploited sufficiently to reveal the inner structure of the flames. In this study, a sensor with planar electrodes is created, and the associated three-dimensional sensitivity map is generated by the finite-element method to detect flame structure. A series of experiments are carried out covering a range of feed rates of fuel and air. Data are collected by the ECT sensor and hardware. The results of the ECT reconstruction show good agreement with actual features, and the structure of the flame is found. This opens up a new route for the study of flames. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Supersensing through industrial process tomography’.

Electromagnetic flow meters (EMFMs) are the gold standard in measuring flow velocity in process industry. The flow meters can measure the mean flow velocity of conductive liquids and slurries. A drawback of this approach is that the velocity field cannot be determined. Asymmetric axial flows, often encountered in multiphase flows, pipe elbows and T-junctions, are problematic and can lead to serious systematic errors. Recently, electromagnetic flow tomography (EMFT) has been proposed for measuring velocity fields using several coils and a set of electrodes attached to the surface of the pipe. In this work, a velocity field reconstruction method for EMFT is proposed. The method uses a previously developed finite-element-based computational forward model for computing boundary voltages and a Bayesian framework for inverse problems. In the approach, the v z -component of the velocity field along the longitudinal axis of the pipe is estimated on the pipe cross section. Different asymmetric velocity fields encountered near pipe elbows, solids-in-water flows in inclined pipes and in stratified or multiphase flows are tested. The results suggest that the proposed reconstruction method could be used to estimate velocity fields in complicated pipe flows in which the conventional EMFMs have limited accuracy. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Supersensing through industrial process tomography’.

In this introduction article, we present a brief overview of industrial process tomography. This will start by linking between the concept of industrial process tomography and super-sensing. This will follow with a brief introduction to various process tomography systems and in particular electrical tomography methods. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Supersensing through industrial process tomography’.

Magnetic induction tomography (MIT) is a new and emerging tomographic imaging technique, which has found applications in industrial process tomography and material inspection, particularly for imaging metallic objects. In this paper, a rotational MIT (RMIT) system has been developed, in which a coil array is rotated with respect to a central axis perpendicular to the plane of the coil array. The RMIT is capable of producing images with better quality as a result of increasing the number of independent measurements. An eight-coil MIT system has been developed to generate the experimental data required in this paper. To show the proof of principle, a manual rotational scheme has been implemented. The advantages of the RMIT system have been established using theoretical analysis and comparison of the underlying inverse problem in MIT and RMIT. The effectiveness of RMIT has been shown using both synthetic and experimental data. Several image quality measures have been used to critically evaluate RMIT against the traditional MIT system.

Magnetic Induction Tomography (MIT) is a new and emerging type of tomography technique that is able to map the distribution of all three passive electromagnetic properties, however most of the current interests are focusing on the conductivity and permeability imaging. In an MIT system, coils are used as separate transmitters or sensors, which can generate the background magnetic fleld and detect the perturbed magnetic fleld respectively. Through switching technique the same coil can work as transceiver which can generate fleld at a time and detect the fleld at another time. Because magnetic fleld can easily penetrate through the non-conductive barrier, the sensors do not need direct contact with the imaging object. These non-invasive and contactless features make it an attractive technique for many applications compared to the traditional contact electrode based electrical impedance tomography. Recently, MIT has become a promising monitoring technique in industrial process tomography, for example MIT has been used to determine the distribution of liquidised metal and gas (high conductivity two phase ∞ow monitoring) for metal casting applications. In this paper, a low conductivity two phase ∞ow MIT imaging is proposed so the reconstruction of the low contrast samples (< 6S/m) can be realised, e.g., gas/ionised liquid. An MIT system is developed to test the feasibility. The system utilises 16 coils (8 transmitters and 8 receivers) and an operating frequency of 13MHz. Three difierent experiments were conducted to evaluate all possible situations of two phase ∞ow imaging: 1) conducting objects inside a non-conducting background, 2) conducting objects inside a conducting background (low contrast) and 3) non-conducting objects inside a conducting background. Images are reconstructed using the linearised inverse method with regularisation. An experiment was designed to image the non-conductive samples inside a conducting

Magnetic Induction Tomography (MIT) is a relatively new and emerging type of tomography techniques that is able to map the distribution of all three passive electrical properties (PEPs). Its non-invasive and contactless features make it an attractive technique for many applications compared to the traditional contact electrode based electrical impedance tomography. Recently, MIT has become a promising monitoring technique in industrial process tomography, and the area of the research interest has moved from 2D to 3D because of the volumetric nature of electromagnetic field. Three dimensional MIT images provide more information on the conductivity distribution, especially in the axial direction. However, it has been reported that the reconstructed 3D images can be distorted when the imaging object is located at a less sensitive region. Although this distortion can be compensated by adjusting the regularisation criteria, this is not practical in real life applications as the prior information about the object's location is often unavailable. This paper presents a memory efficient 4D MIT algorithm which can maintain the image quality under the same regularisation circumstances. Instead of solving each set of measurement individually, the 4D algorithm takes advantage of the correlations between the image and its neighboring data frames to reconstruct 4D of conductivity movements. The 4D algorithm improves the image qualities by increasing the temporal resolution. It also overcomes some sensitivity issues of 3D MIT algorithms and can provide a more stable result in terms of the size consistency of the reconstructed image. Several experimental results using real laboratory data are presented for validating the proposed algorithms.

We describe the achievements of the Karpenko Physicomechanical Institute of the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences in the development of new methods and tools for the ultrasonic computer tomography of structural materials in the last decade. The results of investigations of thick-plate products with welded joints performed by using a transmission ultrasonic computer tomograph are presented. We also describe the technologies of evaluation of the space distribution of scattering power of the metal in thick-walled pipelines by recording scattered ultrasonic signals with the help of an ultrasonic computer tomograph. These technologies prove to be promising for implementation at the objects of nuclear power plants. The results of experimental testing of the technologies of passive ultrasonic computer tomography are discussed.

Electrical Capacitance Tomography (ECT) is a non- invasive and non-destructive imaging technique that uses electrical capacitance measurements at the periphery of an object to generate map of dielectric permittivity of the object. This visualization method is a relatively mature industrial process tomography technique, especially in 2D imaging mode. Volumetric ECT is a new method that poses major computational challenges in image reconstruction and new challenges in sensor design. This paper shows a nonlinear image reconstruction method for 3D ECT based on a validated forward model. The method is based on the flnite element approximation for the complete sensor model and the solution of the inverse problem with nonlinear iterative reconstruction. The nonlinear algorithm has been tested against some complicated experimental test cases, and it has been demonstrated that by using an improved forward model and nonlinear inversion method, very complex shaped samples can be reconstructed. The reconstruction of very complex geometry with objects in the shape of letters H, A, L and T is extremely promising for the applications of 3D ECT.

Mutual induction tomography (MIT) attempts to image the electromagnetic characteristics of an object by measuring the mutual inductances between sets of coils placed around its periphery. The application of MIT for molten metal flow visualization is of interest in this paper, which focuses on computational aspects of the forward and inverse MIT problem. The forward problem has been solved using an edge finite element formulation. The Jacobian matrix is a key to image reconstruction in MIT. The entries of the Jacobian matrix are the sensitivity of the measurement data to the image values, which has been generated by an efficient adjoint formulation. We have implemented a standard regularized Gauss-Newton scheme to solve such a problem. The reconstructed images for a high-contrast conductivity example of steel/argon flow shown in this paper are some of the first nonlinear image reconstruction results for MIT.

Process tomography (PT) techniques have been developed rapidly for visualising the internal behaviour of industrial processes. Most tomography systems employ a single measurement technique, such as Electrical Resistance Tomography (ERT) or Electrical Capacitance Tomography (ECT). Although single-modality process tomography systems provide sufficient information for some applications, in other applications, e.g. three-phase flow, additional information is required. In fact, many industrial processes are complex and contain multiple components, which require multiple measurement techniques to individually quantify them. To facilitate this process, a multi-modal process tomography system must allow individual modality data to be collected and combined effectively. This paper describes opportunities for rationalisation and sharing of resources that have been exploited to create a dual-modality tomography system.

Multi-phase flow imaging is a challenging topic in industrial process tomography. In this paper, we present a non-invasive imaging technique for the electrically conductive phase of a multi-phase flow problem. Magnetic induction tomography (MIT) is sensitive to the conductivity of the target, and as such has the potential to be used as an imaging technique to visualise the conductive components in a multi-phase flow application. A 16 channel MIT system is used for this study, among which eight excitation coils are supplied with a 15 V peak, 13 MHz sinusoidal signal in sequence from a signal generator, while the remaining eight coils are floated as receivers. The imaging region of this MIT system has an inner and outer diameter of 190 mm and 200 mm respectively. Static fluid distribution patterns are produced using several fluids with different conductivities and placed inside the imaging region to form conductivity phase contrasts. Experimental results show within our hardware and software capability, a conductivity contrast of 0.06 S/m for an inclusion that occupies 8.69% of the imaging region can be imaged. An in-depth experimental evaluation of the system response towards various fluid measurements is shown for the first time, as are results for quasi-static fluid experiments showing that a non-homogenous flow of gas bubbles can be imaged in various conductive backgrounds. In sum, the analyses presented investigate the feasibility and capability of MIT for this application, while also reporting some of the first flow rig tests in this field.

Head computed tomography (CT) plays an important role in the comprehensive evaluation of acute stroke. Photon-counting spectral detectors, as promising candidates for use in the next generation of x-ray CT systems, allow for assigning more weight to low-energy x-rays that generally contain more contrast information. Most importantly, the spectral information can be utilized to decompose the original set of energy-selective images into several basis function images that are inherently free of beam-hardening artifacts, a potential advantage for further improving the diagnosis accuracy. We are developing a photon-counting spectral detector for CT applications. The purpose of this work is to determine the optimal beam quality for material decomposition in two head imaging cases: nonenhanced imaging and K-edge imaging. A cylindrical brain tissue of 16-cm diameter, coated by a 6-mm-thick bone layer and 2-mm-thick skin layer, was used as a head phantom. The imaging target was a 5-mm-thick blood vessel centered in the head phantom. In K-edge imaging, two contrast agents, iodine and gadolinium, with the same concentration ([Formula: see text]) were studied. Three parameters that affect beam quality were evaluated: kVp settings (50 to 130 kVp), filter materials ([Formula: see text] to 83), and filter thicknesses [0 to 2 half-value layer (HVL)]. The image qualities resulting from the varying x-ray beams were compared in terms of two figures of merit (FOMs): squared signal-difference-to-noise ratio normalized by brain dose ([Formula: see text]) and that normalized by skin dose ([Formula: see text]). For nonenhanced imaging, the results show that the use of the 120-kVp spectrum filtered by 2 HVL copper ([Formula: see text]) provides the best performance in both FOMs. When iodine is used in K-edge imaging, the optimal filter is 2 HVL iodine ([Formula: see text]) and the optimal kVps are 60 kVp in terms of [Formula: see text] and 75 kVp in terms of [Formula: see text]. A tradeoff of 65 kVp was proposed to lower the potential risk of skin injuries if a relatively long exposure time is necessarily performed in the iodinated imaging. In the case of gadolinium imaging, both SD and BD can be minimized at 120 kVp filtered with 2 HVL thulium ([Formula: see text]). The results also indicate that with the same concentration and their respective optimal spectrum, the values of [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] in gadolinium imaging are, respectively, around 3 and 10 times larger than those in iodine imaging. However, since gadolinium is used in much lower concentrations than iodine in the clinic, iodine may be a preferable candidate for K-edge imaging.

We present a new setup for time-resolved diffuse optical tomography based on multiple source-detector acquisitions analysed by means of the Mellin-Laplace transform. The proposed setup has been used to perform pre-clinical measurements on rats in order to show its suitability for non-invasive assessment of flap viability.

Electrical tomography technology is a kind of process tomography technology. It is accompanied by the development of computer technology and sensor technology. Electrical resistance tomography is a kind of mode of electrical tomography. It has some excellent characteristics that are non-invasive, portable, l ow cost and fast response etc. In this paper, the system of ERT unit are introduced. Mainly summarized the application of ERT system in the measurement of multiphase flow, medicine, the concrete structure detection and other aspects.

Computed tomography has revolutionized diagnostic radiology with the introduction of spiral CT in the early 1990s, allowing for the first time the acquisition of volume data without the danger of misregistration or double registration of anatomical details. The next revolution occurred in 1998 when all major CT manufacturers introduced multislice CT (MSCT) systems, which typically offered simultaneous acquisition of four slices, providing considerable improvement towards the goal of isotropic three-dimensional imaging. The most recent generation of MSCT systems acquire 64 slices per rotation, enabling a whole body CTA with 1,500 mm scan range and an isotropic resolution of down to 0.4 mm in only 22- 25 s. The tube and the detector measurement system belong to the most important system components of a CT system, having a large influence on system performance. For example, new rotating envelope tube design principles allow for faster rotation times and for double z-sampling techniques in order to increase resolution. The applied dose is ultimately the limiting factor for the improvement of image quality and increase in isotropic resolution. In order to make best diagnostic use of the applied dose, sophisticated dynamic dose adaptation techniques to patient size and geometry have been developed.

Dual-modality imaging is a technique in which computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging is combined with positron emission tomography or single-photon emission CT to acquire structural and functional images with an integated system. The data are acquired in a single procedure; the patient remains on the scanner table while undergoing both x-ray and radionuclide studies to facilitate correlation between the structural and functional images. The resulting data can aid in localization, enabling more specific diagnosis than can be obtained with a conventional imaging study. In addition, the anatomic information can be used to compensate the correlated radionuclide data for physical perturbations such as photon attenuation, scatter radiation, and partial volume errors. Thus, dual-modality imaging provides a priori information that can improve both the visual quality and the quantitative accuracy of the radionuclide images. Dual-modality imaging systems are also being developed for biologic research involving small animals. Small-animal dual-modality systems offer advantages for measurements that currently are performed invasively with autoradiography and tissue sampling. By acquiring data noninvasively, dual-modality imaging permits serial studies in a single animal, enables measurements to be performed with fewer animals, and improves the statistical quality of the data.