The Instrumentation team has established a strong international reputation for developing innovative sensors and instrumentation systems for the power generation, manufacturing and healthcare industries. As a result of a number of interrelated projects, the team has developed a flame imaging technology capable of providing the measurement of flame characteristics such as temperature distribution, oscillation frequency and flame stability. Prototype measurement systems operating on this technology have been extensively tested on industrial-scale combustion test facilities and full scale power plants in the UK, France, Saudi Arab and China. The team has also developed novel solutions to the long-standing industrial problems of mass flow metering of pneumatically conveyed solids and on-line particle sizing of pulverised fuel. The instruments for pulverised fuel flow measurement have been installed on a number of full-scale coal fired power stations in several countries. The impact of the Instrumentation team’s research in burner flame imaging and pulverised fuel flow metering is recognised by a number of prestigious awards from leading professional institutions such as the IEEE, IET and InstMC.

Acoustic and triboelectric sensors for pulverised fuel flow metering and on-line particle sizing

The team’s current research programmers cover a number of application areas, including:

• Advanced flame monitoring and characterisation through digital imaging and spectroscopy
• Advanced flame monitoring through electrostatic and acoustic sensing
• Advance monitoring and diagnosis for utility boilers through in-situ flame monitoring and data fusion
• Investigations into oxy-combustion behaviours of biomass particles through digital imaging
• Flow measurement of particulate solids in pneumatic conveying pipelines
• On-line particle sizing and characterisation of granular and pulverised materials
• Multiphase flow metering through multi-modal sensing and soft computing
• Rotational speed and vibration measurement through electrostatic sensing and multispectral imaging
• Smart condition monitoring of inflatable rubber dams and pneumatically-operated spillway gates
• Development of medical instrumentation to measure swallowing parameters
• Multiparameter assessment of upper limb motion in neuro-rehabilitation