SBIR-STTR Award

Controlling emissions and increasing efficiencies are essential requirements in future advanced power plants. Herein, next generation power systems require greater flexibility in their operations for meeting the higher efficiency and lower emissions conditions that are geared toward meeting consumer demand and adhering to increased regulatory standards, simultaneously. Those requirements can be met by developing non-invasive imaging systems that can reveal details of combustion and power generation flow systems toward their optimization. This Phase I effort is to establish feasibility of developing such system based on capacitance sensors. Capacitance sensors were successfully used to image flow variables in cold flow systems. An Electrical Capacitance Volume Tomography (ECVT) system was successfully developed for that objective. Capacitance sensors exhibit favorable features of safety, flexibility, and suitability for scale-up applications that make them a favorable solution for industrial applications. In this Phase I, a feasibility of using capacitance sensors for imaging flow variables in harsh conditions; typical in power generations systems; will be established. Capacitance sensors will be tested at high temperatures and materials for designing ECVT sensors for harsh environments will be devised. Chambers for imaging flames and combustions particles will constructed and utilized for testing ECVT sensors. A mass- Gauging method will also be devised to measure mass-flows of process variables, in real-time. Results from tasks conducted in this Phase I will be used to develop a full ECVT system for power generation systems at high temperatures and pressures. Tasks in this Phase I are based on Logical progressions from past experience of developing imaging systems. Tasks here are focused on testing sensors in harsh conditions for better understanding of their performance, they are also structured to match requested budget. Successful completion of this project will result in significant public benefit due to the potential of this technology in helping the energy industry increase efficiencies and lower emissions. The proposed system would also advance multi-phase flow research of hot systems by providing access to obscure locations of a flow system. It also has a very high potential of attracting commercial interests as the need for advanced instrumentation is imminent to address the increased sophistication of advanced power plants. This would also benefit the public by spurring economic growth.

Advanced instrumentation for energy processes is critical for improving efficiencies, controlling emissions, and optimizing process control. Multiphase flow processes are an integral part of almost all energy generation systems. Monitoring and controlling energy generation multiphase flow processes requires instrumentation that can withstand the harsh conditions of energy processes, is noninvasive, easy to implement, can be scaled to various dimensions, and can be operated in different multiphase flow combinations of gases, liquids, and solids. Such solutions are currently scarce and very expensive. Electrical Capacitance Volume Tomography (ECVT) has emerged recently as a viable solution for advanced multiphase flow instrumentation. The overall approach of Phase I/Phase II project involved developing ECVT sensors and algorithms to withstand the harsh conditions of energy processes. That effort concluded with a demonstration unit capable of withstanding temperatures up to 900C for a gas-solid flow system. The unit was used to demonstrate operation on a multiphase flow system of air/iron-oxide flow in a Chemical looping reactor. Algorithms were also developed to calculate the mass flow rate in this gas-solid reactor. In this sequential Phase IIB project, we intend to expand the application of ECVT technology beyond gas-solid applications. In the year after concluding the first Phase II effort and developing the first prototype; we received purchase orders from customer interested in the gas-liquid and gas-solid-liquid applications. The plan in Phase II B is to further develop the ECVT technology and work on a prototype for those applications. The conditions for those new applications involve high pressures, high temperatures, and liquid phases. The liquids nature of those applications requires more research and development to adapt the first prototype design, materials and algorithms to address this need. (attached are two purchase orders we received, one for a geothermal gas- liquid application and the other for gas-liquid-solid application in the Oil industry) Future commercial applications involve a variety of multiphase flow instrumentation for phase measurement of liquid flow rate in geothermal pipes, Oil flow rate in Oil pipelines, Solid flow rates in feedstock feeders, and three phase measurements in advanced energy processes. Those applications are crucial to advancing the energy industry and spurring economic growth.