Development of a novel linear ERT sensor to measure surface deposits

This paper investigates the feasibility of using electrical resistance tomography (ERT) to visualize the surface deposit during a cleaning-in-place (CIP) process, which is a common problem in various industries. A pilot scale cleaning rig with a purposely designed ERT test section was used for monitoring the prerinse CIP stage of cleaning milk paste adhering to a test section. The ERT test section comprises a CIP-ERT multilinear sensor consisting of four planes of eight electrodes. The industrial tomography system, P2000 ERT system, was used to collect the voltage data that were processed in a MATLAB-based ERT toolkit. 3-D images were reconstructed using the L-curve Tikhonov method. A feasibility study was conducted to evaluate the performance of the CIP-ERT sensor. Image analysis showed that ERT is suitable for monitoring and visualizing the CIP process for the materials that foul similar to milk pastes. The success of this paper contributes to a time/energy efficient industrial process as the cleaning process can be visualized and over cleaning can be avoided.