A High-Speed Digital Electrical Capacitance Tomography System Combining Digital Recursive Demodulation and Parallel Capacitance Measurement

Two means can be used to improve the data acquisition rate of the electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) system with a fixed excitation frequency, i.e., improving the capacitance measurement speed or changing the capacitance measurement mode from serial to parallel. This paper presents a newly developed high-speed ECT system by combing digital recursive demodulation and parallel-mode capacitance measurement methods. By using the digital recursive demodulator, the time-cost for one time of capacitance measurement can be one period of the excitation sinusoid or less. By using the parallel-mode capacitance measuring unit, capacitances between the exciting electrode and all other measuring electrodes can be measured simultaneously. The data acquisition rate of the parallel-mode ECT system with a sensor of N electrodes is N-1 times of a traditional serial-mode ECT system with the same excitation frequency. When the excitation frequency is 100 kHz and 0.6 periods of data are used for signal demodulation, the data acquisition rate can reach up to 15 150 frames/s. The developed system together with a heat-resisting circular ECT sensor with 12 electrodes was used to monitor the ignition process of a cylindrical flame generated by a Bunsen burner. Experimental results show that the ECT system can locate the position and capture the dynamic process of the flame with a high temporal resolution.