Imaging of Gas Bubbles Using Ultrasound

Sallehuddin Ibrahim; Mahdi Faramarzi; Mohd Amri Md Yunus

doi:10.37934/iccm.1.1.7585

Authors

Sallehuddin Ibrahim Department of Control and Mechatronic Engineering, Fakulti Kejuruteraan Elektrik, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia
Mahdi Faramarzi Department of Control and Mechatronic Engineering, Fakulti Kejuruteraan Elektrik, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia
Mohd Amri Md Yunus Department of Control and Mechatronic Engineering, Fakulti Kejuruteraan Elektrik, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37934/iccm.1.1.7585

Keywords:

Bubbles, imaging, ultrasound

Abstract

Imaging of flow involving gas bubbles is important for the process industries in order to comprehend the operation and transport aspect of bubble columns which is difficult for conventional flow meters. Traditional methods are not suitable for such purpose as they invade the process. An ultrasonic system based on the tomography concept provides a useful tool for visualizing the internal behavior of such flow. This paper presents an investigation on the use of an ultrasonic tomography system to visualize gas bubbles flow in a vertical pipe. At first mathematical modeling was carried out on the propagation of ultrasound in the system. The image reconstruction was performed based on projections collected by collectors placed at different angles around the object of interest. The system which has sixteen 333 kHz ultrasonic transceivers was tested with five different phantoms resembling gas bubble flow and the results showed that it was capable of accurately detecting the locations of single and multiple bubbles in the flow pipe.