720026Development of a new tomography instrument platformClosedGRD Development of PrototypeInnovate UKITS has successfully developed a market in electrical process tomography. Users take real time 2D & 3D measurements of industrial processes, such as mixing and multiphase flows. This is the industrial equivalent of a medical CAT scan (although ITS instruments are less expensive and faster although provide coarser images). Such measurements provide benefits in improved process quality, efficiency and yield. A significant number of applications have been identified requiring capabilities beyond the existing instrumentation which ITS commercialised from work done at Manchester University in the 1990s. These are in diverse fields eg multi-phase flows involving sea water; mixing in large vessels; highly conducting chemical processes. Leeds University has developed a new approach to electrical tomography measurements that allows data to be taken in these more challenging environments. In addition, the electronics is considerably smaller than ITS’s existing platform which is of considerable benefit to a number of key customers (such as NASA and Van Oord). This approach has been demonstrated through a PhD and is now ready for commercialisation. ITS has agreed terms to licence this patented technology from Leeds and this project’s objective is to carry this work forward. The project will involve taking the experimental system invented at Leeds University and developing a pre-production prototype system and will have the following work packages: - electronics development to meet commercial production requirements - software development to develop user friendly interface - product design to meet customer needs and ITS brand - benchmark testing to ensure finished device complies with regulatory requirements - system performance testing to establish overall capabilities (measurement speed, accuracy etc) - market testing with key end users and distributors through site visits, user days IP protection will be based on patents applied for by Leeds University.