Analysis of Performance and Capacitance Sensitivity Distributions of Sensor for Electrical Capacitance

The sensitivity-field distribution of sensors in the Electrical Capacitance Tomography (ECT) system is influenced by the distribution of multiphase-flow media, and the soft-field characteristics can bring great difficulty into image reconstruction. The subject investigated of this paper is major in the ECT system of 8-electrode oil-water two-phase flow. According to the method of Finite Element Simulation, we can analyze the influence of radial electrodes and their embedded sizes on capacitance values and the distribution of sensitivity field in the system, and the embedded sizes of radial electrodes can be determined based on the simulation analysis. Then the dynamic variation range of measured capacitance values and the difficulty in designing the data acquisition circuit can be reduced, the sensitivity of capacitance response is increased, and the sensitivity-field distribution of sensors and the performance of the ECT system are also improved.