Application of a digital ECT system for measurements of dense-phase gas-solid flows

Recently, serious geological subsidence disasters have been found in some coal-mining area worldwide. Among various countermeasures, pulverulent material pneumatic conveying refilling technique is a competitive candidate to restore the ecological environment. However, long-distance, i.e. several kilometers, pneumatic conveying of pulverulent materials with high efficiency is still a challenging job and requires careful arrangement of the pneumatic conveying system. To evaluate the feasibility and safety of the system, two electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) systems have been used for real-time monitoring of the flows. As a new tomographic technique, ECT is able to provide the information inside pipe without interrupting the investigated flow. The recently developed digital ECT system with embedded high-capacity FPGA can provide real-time data acquisition, image reconstruction and visualization, thus guarantee continuous monitoring of the investigated flow.