Industrial Process Tomography at the University of Manchester

Tomography is a field of measurement concerned with the imaging of internal parameters of a subject based on measurements taken around its periphery in response to an externally applied stimulus. From the measurements, image reconstruction methods are used to reconstruct the internal distribution of the parameter of interest, from which information about the imaged process can be inferred. Research into tomography has been carried out at the University of Manchester since the 1980s primarily using electrical, optical, and microwave techniques. This seminar will give an overview of our tomography research with a focus on Chemical Species Tomography (CST), an optical tomographic technique concerned with imaging the distribution of molecules and particulates, and discuss its application and implications for industrial processes.This first part of the seminar will present the research profile of the Sensing Imaging and Signal Processing (SISP) Research Group at the University of Manchester and outline the application of the group’s research in the industrial process and medical fields. The second part of the seminar will provide an overview of CST and discuss the research challenges and progress made in this field by the McCann Group at Manchester using a case study of a recent project applying near-IR absorption tomography to imaging chemical species in internal combustion engines. The third part of the seminar will introduce the Fibre-Laser Imaging of Turbine Exhaust Species (FLITES) project, a 4-year £2.8 million industry-academia consortium, which aims to establish the fundamental engineering knowledge base of measuring and imaging molecular and particulate species in gas turbine exhaust plumes. The seminar will conclude by discussing how the FLITES project will contribute to the field of CST in the coming years.