Tracking of moving interfaces in sedimentation processes using electrical impedance tomography

Sedimentation monitoring is widely used to control and optimize industrial processes. In this paper we propose a novel computational method for sedimentation monitoring using electrical impedance tomography (EIT). EIT measurements consist of electric current and voltage measurements that are made on the surface of the sedimentation tank and therefore they do not interfere with the sedimentation process. The proposed computational method is based on shape estimation and state estimation formulation of the EIT problem. The sedimentation is parameterized by the locations of the phase interfaces and conductivities of the phase layers. Three different evolution models for the state parameters are considered and the state estimates are computed using the extended Kalman filter algorithm. The performance of the method and the models are evaluated using simulated data from a six electrode EIT measurement configuration. From the results a promising performance of the method can be seen. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All fights reserved.