Towards Real-Time Analysis of Gas-Liquid Pipe Flow: A Wire-Mesh Sensor for Industrial Applications.

Real-time monitoring of gas-liquid pipe flow is highly demanded in industrial processes in the chemical and power engineering sectors. Therefore, the present contribution describes the novel design of a robust wire-mesh sensor with an integrated data processing unit. The developed device features a sensor body for industrial conditions of up to 400 °C and 135 bar as well as real-time processing of measured data, including phase fraction calculation, temperature compensation and flow pattern identification.

Temperature Compensation for Conductivity-Based Phase Fraction Measurements with Wire-Mesh Sensors in Gas-Liquid Flows of Dilute Aqueous Solutions.

Wire-mesh sensors are well-established scientific instruments for measuring the spatio-temporal phase distribution of two-phase flows based on different electrical conductivities of the phases. Presently, these instruments are also applied in industrial processes and need to cope with dynamic operating conditions increasingly. However, since the quantification of phase fractions is achieved by normalizing signals with respect to a separately recorded reference measurement, the results are sensitive to temperature differences in any application.