About Tomoflow

Process tomography is a method of measuring the internal flows within process pipes and vessels. The technique is directly analogous to the use of body scanners on the human body. Initial applications of tomographic techniques have covered pipes, mixing vessels and other industrial processes. The technology has spawned a large academic community since it started in the late 1980's and there is now an established biannual international congress attracting 100 or more attendees.

Multiphase flow systems are of major commercial importance, and process tomography is one of the few technologies which has the potential to measure the flow rates of the individual components at a realistic cost.. Tomoflow Ltd was established in 2001 to develop commercial tomographic multiphase flowmeters and has already launched its first product. Tomoflow works closely with Process Tomography Ltd, which has been supplying Electrical Capacitance Tomography (ECT) imaging systems for use in research applications since 1994.

Tomoflow has developed a flow analysis system based on twin-plane ECT. ECT gives concentration (holdup) images of the flow cross-section in non-conducting two-phase flows. The flow velocities are measured by correlating the transit of flow structures between two planes spaced axially along the pipe. Integrating the product of concentration and velocity over the area of the cross-section of the pipe yields the volumetric flow rate. If the material densities are known, the mass flowrates can then be obtained.

The Tomoflow innovation allows the multiphase flow measurement problem to be tackled with an elegant and powerful solution.