Hindawi Publishing Corporation

Journal of Sensors
Volume 2016, Article ID 7390470, 10 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/7390470

Research Article
Research on Application of Wax Deposition
Detection in the Nonmetallic Pipeline Based on Electrical
Capacitance Tomography

Nan Li,1,2 Kui Liu,2 Xiangdong Yang,3 and Mingchen Cao2

1
School of Automation, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710071, China
2
Beijing Engineering Research Center of Precision Measurement Technology and Instruments,
Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China
3
Quality Department, BAIC MOTOR, Beijing 101300, China

Correspondence should be addressed to Nan Li; [email protected]

Received 22 April 2016; Revised 17 June 2016; Accepted 3 July 2016

Academic Editor: Lei Yuan

Copyright © 2016 Nan Li et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Wax deposition detection in nonmetallic pipelines is an important requirement in the oil industry. In this paper, an ECT (electrical
capacitance tomography) sensor is developed for wax deposition detection in nonmetallic pipelines. Four wax models with
different concentrations were established for detection. These models were analyzed through simulations and practical experiments
simultaneously and data were compared. A linear back projection algorithm is applied to reconstruct the image with both simulated
and experimental data. A comparison of binary images with different concentration of stratified flow was demonstrated; this
illustrates that the difference in concentration between the experimental results and profile distribution is less than 1.2%. The
experimental results indicate that the ECT system is valid and feasible for detecting the degree of wax deposition in the nonmetallic
pipelines.

1. Introduction radiological image method [11], and magnetic flux leakage

detection method [12–14]. However, most of these techniques
Heat and pressure are widely used in oil and gas pipeline are applied to detect pipeline defects, and it is difficult to
transmission to reduce the viscosity of crude oil and the detect the sediment (i.e., paraffin wax) of the pipeline by using
deposition of wax. However, due to difference in radial tem- the above technologies, due to various reasons.
perature, radiation loss occurs rapidly. The wax is gradually The detection of wax deposition in the pipeline is essen-
separated out and deposited on the pipe wall, which can lead tially a multiphase detection, which is composed of the wax
to condensate tube accidents [1]. The situation is more serious layer, oil layer, and gas. ECT (electrical capacitance tomog-
in China, as the crude oil produced in China has several raphy) is a visual procession from measurement capacitance
distinguishing characteristics, such as high waxy distillate to object distribution. The method is a noninvasive and
and low temperature viscosity. Therefore, it is important nondestructive technique. An ECT sensor is a typical “soft”
and necessary to develop a technique that can detect the field sensor, which means that the Electromagnetic (EM)
deposition degree of wax inside the pipe. With consideration field propagates across the entire probed volume, as shown
to the operating environment of the pipeline, as well as the in Figure 1. The measurement at the volume surface depends
cost of detection, for practical application, nondestructive- on the values of the measured quantity everywhere in the
based techniques are highly recommended. Many nonde- volume.
structive techniques have achieved some degree of success The related research began in the 1980s at the University
in the pipeline detection field, for instance, the eddy current of Manchester and, from hardware, image construction
testing method [2, 3], ultrasonic-based technique [4–10], algorithms to sensor design has made considerable progress
2 Journal of Sensors

Excitation
electrode

Detective
electrodes

Figure 1: Schematic diagram of the “soft” field.

[15–21]. Johansen et al. developed a dual sensor system occurs due to the thermal radiation. The permittivity of wax is
consisting of an 8-electrode ECT sensor and 𝛾-ray sensor. The 1.9∼2.5. The wax is deposited on the inner wall of the pipeline,
new system was applied to reconstruct the image of oil- and the structure could be simplified as a stratified flow
gas-water three-phase flow [22]. Dyakowski et al., based pattern in a laboratory environment. A series of wax depo-
on this sensor structure, presented an image reconstruction sition models is built and the cross-sections are shown in
algorithm, which can be used to evaluate the concentration Figure 2. Note that the last model of Figure 2 is a special
of a measured cross-section [23]. Schmitz and Mewes applied model, namely, heteromorphous flow. In order to further
the ECT to the chemical industry, and the system was used to clarify the different structures of the wax, 𝑢 is defined as
detect the transient multiphase flow in bubble columns [24]. concentration. Note that (1) is valid for 2D problems:
In 2010, Yang introduced an application that used an ECT
𝐴 wax
sensor to analyze the drying, pellets, and coating process of 𝑢= × 100%, (1)
pharmaceutical fluidized beds [25]. Ismail et al. applied the 𝐴0
ECT to the oil and gas separation process in the oil industry where 𝐴 wax is the area of wax and 𝐴 0 refers to the area of
to determine the concentration and flow rate of each stage sensing area, that is, the cross-section of the pipeline.
[26]. Al Hosani et al. suggested to use a narrowband pass
filter to enhance the resolution of the produced images; the 2.2. Setup of Measurement System. The ECT sensor electrodes
experimental results indicated that the method can improve consist of copper, and earthed shielding plates are placed
the resolution of reconstruction images [27]. around the sensor electrodes. The measurement system and
Sensor optimization is an important part of the ECT the sensor structure are shown in Figure 3.
system. Xie et al. presented a uniformity of sensitivity The shielding wire and BNC joints are used to prevent
distribution as an evaluation criterion to determine the interference. In this study, the pipe consists of PVC material.
performance of the ECT sensor [28]. Peng et al. analyzed The end guarding plate consists of copper, and the earthed
the influence of electrode length on sensitivity distribution of shielding plate consists of aluminum. According to our
the ECT sensor. The results showed that the electrode length previous research [32], the parameters of the ECT sensor are
of the ECT sensor should be at least equal to the width of determined as listed in Table 1: 𝑁 is the number of electrodes;
the sensor electrode [29]. In 2012, Peng et al. discussed the 𝑊 refers to the central angle of the electrodes; and 𝑟1 , 𝑟2 ,
influence of the number of the ECT sensor electrodes on the and 𝑟3 are the radii of the pipe’s interior and exterior and
quality of image reconstruction and recommended that the the radius of the earthed shielding plate, respectively. 𝐿 plate
number of electrodes be 12 [30]. Ren et al. presented a new represents the length of the sensor electrodes. The width of
algorithm to reconstruct the three-dimensional inclusion the end guarding plate is 𝐿 end , and the distance between the
shapes; the method is valid and effective [31]. end guarding plate and sensor electrode is defined as 𝐿 gap .
The purpose of the present paper is to develop an
ECT system for wax deposition detection of a nonmetallic 3. Results and Discussion
pipeline. The optimal sensor structure is determined based on
our previous research [32]. An ECT system is demonstrated The practical stratified models are shown in Figure 4, and
in the experimental part, and the feasibility of the system is the concentrations u of the deposited wax are 11%, 18.5%,
verified based on a comparison of the reconstructed images 52.2%, and 62.5%, respectively. In order to calibrate the mea-
according to simulation and experimental results. surement results, two more situations should be considered,
namely, those for an empty pipe and a pipe full of wax. More-
2. Methodology over, simulation and practical experiments are processed and
analyzed simultaneously, presented, respectively, as 𝐶sim and
2.1. Wax Models. In the long-range transportation process, 𝐶𝑚 . The results are listed in Table 2. The simulation model is
the temperature of the crude oil decreases and wax deposition 3D model; FEM (finite element method) is used to analyze the
Journal of Sensors 3

u = 11% u = 18.5%

r1 = 35 (mm) r1 = 35 (mm)

h = 16.8 (mm)
h = 11.7 (mm)

(a) (b)

u = 62.5%
u = 52.2%
r󳰀 = 17.5 (mm)

r1 = 35 (mm)

h = 36.2 (mm)
r1 = 35 (mm)
(c) (d)

Figure 2: Different thicknesses of wax deposition models. (a) Concentration is 11%. (b) Concentration is 18.5%. (c) Concentration is 52.2%.
(d) Concentration is 62.5% (note: the last one is special stratified flow–heteromorphous flow).

Table 1: Parameters of the sensor.

Sensor electrodes Pipeline Earthed shielding plate End guarding plate
Materials Copper PVC Aluminum Copper
𝑁 𝑊 𝐿 plate 𝑟1 𝑟2 𝑟3 𝐿 end 𝐿 gap
Parameters
6 15∘ 105 mm 35 mm 40 mm 50 mm 20 mm 10 mm

sensitivity distribution. The conditions of simulation models According to Figure 5, the following can be derived. The
are the same as practical models. However, because the same tendencies for the measurement results from the sim-
electrostatic module is applied, the frequency of excitation is ulation and experiments are observed. For regular stratified
not considered during simulation. flow patterns, the difference of the two curves decreases with
In order to illustrate the comparison results more intu- the increase of concentration 𝑢, as shown in Figures 5(a)–5(c).
itively, the normalized capacitances are calculated according The reason for this comes from two aspects: (i) the sensitivity
to (2), and the results are shown in Figure 5. Consider distribution of the ECT sensor which was nonuniform; the
sensitivity close to the sensor electrodes was much higher
(𝐶𝑚 − 𝐶𝑙 ) than that in the center of the sensing area; (ii) the inaccurate
𝑛𝑜𝑟𝐶 = , (2)
(𝐶ℎ − 𝐶𝑙 ) forward modeling or the noise in measurements. Note that
the difference of the two curves increases in Figure 5(d)
where norC is the normalized value and 𝐶𝑙 and 𝐶ℎ are compared with Figure 5(c), the reason for which is that a
measured capacitance filled with low dielectric constant and heteromorphous model affects the measurement results.
high permittivity materials, respectively. For example, in this In order to examine the effects of the design factors,
study 𝐶𝑙 is the capacitance when the pipe is empty, and 𝐶ℎ is it was necessary to perform the image reconstructions.
the capacitance when the pipe is full of wax. Large numbers of algorithms have been developed to derive
4 Journal of Sensors

AC voltage
AD7746
Data acquisition unit Sensor
electrodes
Ground Earthed
shielding plate

PC
End guarding plate
Excitation
plate

Detective
plates
Earthed
shielding plate

Ground
Excitation
(a)

E4 Earthed
N=6

L end (mm)
shielding plate

Sensor
E5 E2
W (∘ ) electrodes
L plate (mm)

r3 = 50 (mm)
End
r1 = 35 (mm) r2 = 40 (mm) guarding plate

L gap (mm)
E2
E6

Pipeline

E1

(b)

Figure 3: ECT system and sensor structure. (a) Diagram of measurement system and practical ECT sensor. (b) Parameters of the ECT sensor.

reconstructed images over the past several decades, such as Correlation coefficient
linear back projection (LBP), Landweber iteration, and the
sparsity-inspired image reconstruction method. In [19], Yang ∑𝑁
𝑖=1 (̂ ̂ ) (𝑔𝑖 − 𝑔)
𝑔𝑖 − 𝑔
and Peng have analyzed the characterizations of five image = ,
2 2
reconstruction algorithms and three criteria were used to √ ∑𝑁
𝑖=1 (̂ ̂ ) ∑𝑁
𝑔𝑖 − 𝑔 𝑖=1 (𝑔𝑖 − 𝑔)
evaluate the performance of reconstructed images:
(3)
(1) relative image error,
(2) relative capacitance residual, where 𝑔 is the true permittivity distribution of the test object,
̂ is the reconstructed permittivity distribution, and 𝑔 and
𝑔
(3) correlation coefficient between the test object and the
̂ are the mean values of 𝑔 and 𝑔
𝑔 ̂ , respectively. 𝜆 is the
reconstruction.
normalized capacitance vector, 𝑆 represents the normalized
Consider sensitivity matrix, and 𝑁 refers to the number of pixels.
󵄩󵄩 𝑔 󵄩
󵄩 ̂ − 𝑔 󵄩󵄩󵄩 According to [19], the image error and correlation coefficient
Image error = 󵄩󵄩󵄩 󵄩,
󵄩󵄩 𝑔 󵄩󵄩󵄩 of LBP are better than SVD and Tikhonov and worse than
Iterative Tikhonov method. The capacitance residual of LBP
󵄩󵄩 ̂ 󵄩󵄩󵄩󵄩
󵄩𝜆 − 𝑆 ⋅ 𝑔 is similar to Iterative Tikhonov and Projected Landweber,
Capacitance residual = 󵄩 , but worse than SVD and Tikhonov methods. Due to the fact
‖𝜆‖
Journal of Sensors 5

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

Figure 4: Practical models of stratified flow wax. (a) Concentration is 11%. (b) Concentration is 18.5%. (c) Concentration is 52.2%. (d)
Concentration is 62.5%.

Table 2: Comparison of simulation results with experimental results.

Flow Stratified Stratified Stratified Stratified

Empty [fF] Full wax [fF]
patterns flow (a) [fF] flow (b) [fF] flow (c) [fF] flow (d) [fF]
𝑢 0% 100% 11% 18.5% 52.2% 62.5%
𝐶𝑖𝑗 𝐶sim 𝐶𝑚 𝐶sim 𝐶𝑚 𝐶sim 𝐶𝑚 𝐶sim 𝐶𝑚 𝐶sim 𝐶𝑚 𝐶sim 𝐶𝑚
1 2 300.9 288.3 419.8 382.3 380.0 335.6 427.6 350.5 448.9 383.0 444.8 385.3
1 3 45.9 47.7 100.9 100.7 56.0 53.2 58.7 56.8 72.1 71.2 70.2 71.4
1 4 30.8 30.5 70.3 69.3 37.2 35.8 39.0 37.1 42.7 42.7 45.8 50.4
1 5 45.3 44.7 99.7 85.3 55.1 44.7 58.4 47.6 71.4 60.8 96.4 90.5
1 6 298.0 264.1 416.5 351.4 376.0 317.7 430.4 335.0 445.3 358.0 432.0 346.6
2 3 304.4 307.5 424.4 405.8 300.6 301.1 300.3 297.0 343.7 331.1 340.3 338.3
2 4 45.2 48.7 99.4 100.8 43.1 47.6 44.7 48.1 56.8 59.2 57.0 66.1
2 5 30.9 29.1 70.7 68.7 29.0 29.1 31.0 32.4 45.8 44.2 62.9 72.4
2 6 45.1 46.6 99.3 99.1 48.3 60.2 68.0 77.3 116.0 110.5 111.9 104.3
3 4 298.1 297.0 416.4 397.5 296.8 294.5 295.6 295.6 280.2 285.3 281.3 274.8
3 5 45.3 44.3 99.5 96.6 43.9 43.2 42.5 43.5 38.3 38.4 47.9 62.4
3 6 30.7 30.4 70.2 67.7 29.0 30.7 31.1 33.0 45.8 47.0 47.1 45.7
4 5 300.4 295.9 419.6 390.3 299.6 296.7 298.7 284.9 288.1 285.9 291.7 334.8
4 6 45.2 41.5 99.5 90.4 43.6 41.0 45.2 42.7 57.9 54.4 69.9 72.1
5 6 298.6 171.5 417.2 268.7 296.9 168.4 298.7 173.2 340.3 209.1 397.1 273.4
6 Journal of Sensors

Excitation plate number, i Excitation plate number, i

0.7 1.2
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
0.6 1

0.5

Normalized capacitance
Normalized capacitance

0.8
0.4
0.6
0.3
0.4
0.2
0.2
0.1

0 0

−0.1 −0.2
2 3 4 5 6 3 4 5 6 4 5 6 5 6 6 2 3 4 5 6 3 4 5 6 4 5 6 5 6 6
Detective plate number, j Detective plate number, j

Simulation results Simulation results

Experimental results Experimental results
(a) (b)
Excitation plate number, i Excitation plate number, i
1.4 1.4
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
1.2 1.2

1
1
Normalized capacitance

Normalized capacitance

0.8
0.8
0.6
0.6
0.4
0.4
0.2
0.2
0
0 −0.2

−0.2 −0.4
2 3 4 5 6 3 4 5 6 4 5 6 5 6 6 2 3 4 5 6 3 4 5 6 4 5 6 5 6 6
Detective plate number, j Detective plate number, j

Simulation results Simulation results

Experimental results Experimental results
(c) (d)

Figure 5: Normalized capacitance trend analysis. (a) Concentration is 11%. (b) Concentration is 18.5%. (c) Concentration is 52.2%. (d)
Concentration is 62.5%.

that noniterative algorithms are typically used in practical Figure 6(b) is a series of reconstructed images based on the
applications and that the time consumption is less than in experimental results.
iterative algorithms, in order to simplify the comparison, The imaging results of the experiments are consistent
the LBP algorithm is used to reconstruct the image [32]. with the reconstructed images of the simulations, which
Moreover, the LBP method is more suitable than iterative signifies that the designed ECT system is valid and feasible.
algorithms for dealing with stratified flow patterns. The For different concentrations of the wax, the reconstructed
reconstructed images are shown in Figure 6. Note that the images are varied. Especially for the heteromorphous flow
images are based on the normalized data of the simulation pattern, the shape of the semicircular convex is difficult to
and experiment data, separately. Figure 6(a) is a series of identify. The boundary of the heteromorphous flow pattern
reconstructed images based on the simulation results, and is difficult to determine, and the stratified flow resembles an
Journal of Sensors 7

35 35 35 35 1

0.8

0.6
0 0 0 0
0.4

0.2

−35 −35 −35 −35 0

−35 0 35 − 35 0 35 −35 0 35 −35 0 35
u = 11% u = 18.5% u = 52.2% u = 62.5%
(a)
35 35 35 35 1

0.8

0.6
0 0 0 0
0.4

0.2

−35 −35
35 −35
35 −35
35 0
−35 0 35 −35 0 35 −35 0 35 −35 0 35
u = 11% u = 18.5% u = 52.2% u = 62.5%
(b)

Figure 6: Different concentrations of stratified flow image results. (a) Simulation results. (b) Experimental results.

inclined plane. According to [19, 21], this issue could be solved Table 3: Contrast between standard images and reconstructed
in terms of two aspects, namely, algorithm improvement and images.
ECT sensor optimization. In order to evaluate the validation
Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4
of using reconstructed images to identify the concentration
of the wax, threshold processing was completed, and binary Concentration of standard 11% 18.5% 52.5% 62.5%
images of different concentrations of stratified flow are images
presented and compared with the standard models. The Concentration of 12.2% 19.2% 52.97% 62.9%
threshold processing is based on adaptive threshold filtering reconstructed images
method which was presented by Xie et al. [33] as shown in Correlation coefficient 93.79% 92.78% 98.01% 87.04%
Figure 7.
In Figure 7, 𝛽𝑚 is the initial concentration, which can be
determined via a nonthreshold imaging results and experi-
ence. In this study, we define 𝛽𝑚 = 𝑁(𝐺𝑠 (𝑒𝑘 )max )/𝑁(𝐺𝑠 (𝑒𝑘 )),
where 𝑁 is the number of pixels, 𝐺𝑠 represents standard The threshold value takes the minimum pixel value as a
binary image, 𝑁(𝐺𝑠 (𝑒𝑘 )max ) refers to the number of pixels reference; the increment is the product of pixel value differ-
whose value is 1 in standard binary image, and 𝑁(𝐺𝑠 (𝑒𝑘 )) rep- ence and threshold increment. In this paper, the threshold
resents the total number of pixels in standard binary image. values are 0.705, 0.78, 0.38, and 0.395, respectively, for the
The concentration increment Δ𝛽 = |𝛽𝑡 − 𝛽𝑚 | and the initial four reconstructed images.
value is set to 0, where 𝛽𝑡 = 𝑁(𝐺new (𝑒𝑘 )max )/𝑁(𝐺new (𝑒𝑘 )); The binary images of different concentrations of strat-
𝑁(𝐺new (𝑒𝑘 )max ) represents number of pixels whose value is ified flows are shown in Figure 8, and the concentrations
1 in processed image and 𝑁(𝐺new (𝑒𝑘 )) represents the total and correlation coefficients are listed in Table 3. The differ-
number of pixels in processed image. 𝑇𝑟 refers to threshold, ence of concentrations between the standard models and
and Δ𝑇 is the threshold increment whose initial value is set reconstructed images is less than 1.2%, which indicates the
to 0. Taking the flow chart as an example, each iteration step validation of the ECT system. However, the definition of
increment is 0.0005; steps can be corrected according to the concentration is the ratio of wax deposition to the total
actual operation. Threshold is determined by the following sensing cross-section. It may be improper to evaluate the
equation: quality of reconstructed image. Therefore, the correlation
coefficients of different models are listed in Table 3.
As we can see from Table 3, when concentration is 52.5%
𝑇𝑟 = 𝐺min + Δ𝑇 (𝐺max − 𝐺min ) . (4) (model 3), the correlation coefficient is the best (98.01%).
8 Journal of Sensors

Start

𝛽m = N(Gs (ek )max )/N(Gs (ek ))

(Gs standard binary image)
n×n

Δ𝛽 = 0.0

ΔT = 0.0; Δ𝛽 = Δ𝛽 + 0.0005

ΔT = ΔT + 0.0005

Gmin = min (G), Gmax = max (G)

Tr = Gmin + ΔT (Gmax − Gmin )
{ 0; if G (ek ) < Tr Yes
Gnew (ek ) = { Yes
{ 1; if G (ek ) ≥ Tr

𝛽t = N(Gnew (ek )max )/N(Gnew (ek ))

(Gnew reconstructed binary image)
n×n

Δ𝛽 ≤ |𝛽t − 𝛽m |
and ΔT < 1.0

No

ΔT ≥ 1.0

No

Display Gnew (ek )

n×n

End

Figure 7: Flowchart of the linear back projection threshold processing method.

When the concentration is 11% and 18.5% (model 1 and difficult to identify the special stratified model. The boundary
model 2), the correlation coefficients are similar to each other of the heteromorphous flow pattern was recognized as an
and the quality of images is acceptable. However, when the incline in the reconstructed images. For the concentrations
concentration is 62.5% (model 4), the correlation coefficient of 11%, 18.5%, 52.5%, and 62.5%, the differences between
is the worst (87.04%). The main reason is the limitation the profile and reconstructed image were 1.2%, 0.7%, 0.47%,
of the LBP algorithm which is not good at imaging of and 0.4%, respectively. The correlation coefficients between
heteromorphous flow, especially for edge imaging. standard images and reconstructed images were 93.79%,
92.78%, 98.01%, and 87.04%, separately. This proves that
the system designed in this paper can be applied to wax
4. Conclusions deposition detection of nonmetallic pipelines.
For wax deposition detection in nonmetallic pipelines, the
use of an ECT sensor was demonstrated. LBP algorithm was Competing Interests
applied to reconstruct images. Four models were tested, and
the reconstructed images showed that the sensor is feasible. The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests
However, due to the limitations of the algorithm, it was regarding the publication of this paper.
Journal of Sensors 9

35 35 35 35

0 0 0 0

−35 −35
35 −35
35 −35
35
−35 0 35 −35 0 35 −35 0 35 −35 0 35
u = 11% u = 18.5% u = 52.2% u = 62.5%
(a)
35 35 35 35

0 0 0 0

−35 −35 −35 −35

−35 0 35 −35 0 35 −35 0 35 −35 0 35
u = 11% u = 18.5% u = 52.2% u = 62.5%
(b)

Figure 8: Binary images of different concentrations of stratified flow. (a) Profile distribution. (b) Threshold processing image based on
experimental data.

Acknowledgments [8] G. T. Yim and T. G. Leighton, “Real-time on-line ultrasonic

monitoring for bubbles in ceramic ‘slip’ in pottery pipelines,”
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