Mass Flow Rate Measurement Based on Electrical Capacitance Tomography with Feasibility Application in Cereal Combines and Assessment of Discretization on Field Potential

Authors

1 Department of Mechanical Engineering of Biosystems, University of Tehran.

2 Department of Mechanical Engineering of Biosystems, Faculty of agricultural and natural resource, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

3 Former student of Department of Biosystems Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran.

4 Expert in port and maritime organization of Amirabad, Behshahr, Mazandaran.

Abstract

Mass flow rate measurement has application in many industrials, e.g. silos, ports, food and drug industry. Mass flow sensors are used in cereal combines as well. Installed mass flow sensors on the combines creates some problems such as; cost, precision, recalibration and sensitivity for environmental conditions. So, introducing a new sensor based on new technology would had potential for future installation. A mass flow rate measurement sensor based on electrical capacitance tomography constructed and evaluated in this research. Defining the best discretization method for solving potential equations in FEM was the main objective of this research. Therefore, four discretizing method are compared and results are evaluated from run-time and precision viewpoint. According to results, the finer elements near the electrodes and increasing element numbers in such a way that don’t break the in-situ condition would be the best cases. The ECT system with fine elements and mesh numbers of 2048 would be applicable for mass flow rate measurement in combine harvesters.

Keywords


Basu, S. (2019). Plant Flow Measurement and Control Handbook (Book Chapter; Solid flow measurement). https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-812437-6.00008-1
Biswanath M. (2009). Electric field calculations by numerical techniques. A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of bachelor of technology. Department of electrical engineering national institute of technology Rourkela.
Hunt, A. (2014). Weighing without touching applying electrical capacitance tomography to mass flow rate measurement in multiphase flows. Measurement and Control. Vol. 47(1) 19–25.
Li, Y. (2008). Key issues of 2D 3D image reconstruction in electrical tomography. A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. University of Manchester.
Marashdeh, Q. (2006). Advances in electrical capacitance tomography. A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The Ohio State University.
Mokhtar, KH. Z. (2018). Gas/Solids mass flow measurement by electrical capacitance tomography and electrostatic sensors. A thesis submitted to the niversity of Manchester for the degree of master of philosophy in the faculty of science and engineering.
Mousazadeh, H. Tarabi, N., Taghizadeh-Tameh, J., Kiapey, A. and Mohammadid, F.  (2021). Potential distribution and sensitivity map in ECT systems based on finite element method. 13th Iranian National Congress on Biosystems Engineering and Mechanization.
Shafquet, A. SH. (2011). Measurement of void fraction using electrical capacitance tomography for air-water co-current bubble column. Master’s thesis, University Technology PETRONAS. 
 Shafquet, A., Ismail I., Jaafar, A. (2014). Modeling and simulation of multi-plane electrical capacitance tomography sensor for flow imaging by using finite element analysis. 978-1-4799-4653-2/14/$31.00 © 2014 IEEE.
Shaib, M. F. B. A. Mohamad, E. J. Rahim, R. A. Jamil, M. B. A. Ling, L. P. (2011). An Overview: Effectiveness of different arrangement for electrode guard in electrical capacitance tomography. Sensors & Transducers Journal, Vol. 135, Issue 12.
Tarabi, N., Mousazadeh, H., Jafari, A., Taghizadeh-Tameh, J., Kiapey, A. (2021). Developing and evaluation of an electrical impedance tomography system for measuring solid volumetric concentration in dredging scale. Flow Measurement and Instrumentation. p. 101986.
Yan, H., Shao, F., Wang, S. (1999). Simulation Study of Capacitance Tomography Sensors. 1st Word Congress on Industrial Tomography, Buxton, Greater Manchester, April 14-17. 
Zhang, L. F., Wang, H. X. (2009). A new normalization method based on electrical field lines for electrical capacitance tomography. Meas. Sci. Technol. 7pp.
Zheng, J., Jinku, L., Yi, L., Lihui, P. (2018). A Benchmark dataset and deep learning-based image reconstruction for electrical capacitance tomography. Sensors. 18, 3701.