Simulation Research on Direct 3D ECT Imaging Based on 16 Electrodes

Abstract

Electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) attempts to visualise the permittivity distribution inside a vessel by measuring capacitances between pairs of electrodes, which are placed around the periphery of the vessel. In this work, direct 3D ECT imaging based on 16 electrodes was researched. These electrodes were arranged in four planes. Every four electrodes on each plane were rotated 0 (sensor 1) or 45 (sensor 2) with reference to the previous. Using finite element analysis, the sensor sensitivity distributions and simulation data of capacitance measurements were obtained. And then 3D images were reconstructed directly by using linear back projection (LBP). Simulation research shows that sensor 2 is better because it has better reconstruction quality and lower requirement for the dynamic range of capacitance measurement circuit