Multi Phase Flow Decomposition and Imaging Using Electrical Capacitance Volume Tomography Sensors

The proposed innovation aims at using Electrical Capacitance Volume Tomography sensors (ECVT) for decomposing components of a multi-phase flow into separate phases, electronically. Here, each phase would be imaged and measured independently for accurate assessment of phase boundaries, phase velocity, and phase hold-up or distribution. This innovation is based on exploiting the dependence of electric properties of several materials on excitation frequency at which electrical capacitance is measured. Dielectric and conductivity values of liquids often undergo changes as the excitation frequency used in acquiring capacitance values is changed. For example, previous studies quantified the change in dielectric constant and dielectric loss of aqueous liquids, including de-ionized water, under different frequencies. Their findings show that such liquids often undergo significant changes in electrical properties with varying excitation frequencies. Typically, ECVT sensors are excited at frequencies in that range of tens of Khz to tens of Mh. At those frequency ranges, the electric properties of materials, especially those that contain water in multi-phase flow mixture, undergo significant changes.