Based on a laser diode, a 12 × 6 photodiode array sensor, and machine learning techniques, a new void fraction measurement method for gas-liquid two-phase flow in small channels is proposed. To overcome the influence of flow pattern on the void fraction measurement, the flow pattern of the two-phase flow is firstly identified by Fisher Discriminant Analysis (FDA). Then, according to the identification result, a relevant void fraction measurement model which is developed by Support Vector Machine (SVM) is selected to implement the void fraction measurement. A void fraction measurement system for the two-phase flow is developed and experiments are carried out in four different small channels. Four typical flow patterns (including bubble flow, slug flow, stratified flow and annular flow) are investigated. The experimental results show that the development of the measurement system is successful. The proposed void fraction measurement method is effective and the void fraction measurement accuracy is satisfactory. Compared with the conventional laser measurement systems using standard laser sources, the developed measurement system has the advantages of low cost and simple structure. Compared with the conventional void fraction measurement methods, the proposed method overcomes the influence of flow pattern on the void fraction measurement. This work also provides a good example of using low-cost laser diode as a competent replacement of the expensive standard laser source and hence implementing the parameter measurement of gas-liquid two-phase flow. The research results can be a useful reference for other researchers’ works.

A capacitance measurement system is developed for the measurement of gas-liquid two-phase flow in glass micro-pipes with inner diameters of 3.96, 2.65 and 1.56 mm, respectively. As a typical flow regime in a micro-pipe two-phase flow system, slug flow is chosen for this investigation. A capacitance sensor is designed and a high-resolution and high-speed capacitance measurement circuit is used to measure the small capacitance signals based on the differential sampling method. The performance and feasibility of the capacitance method are investigated and discussed. The capacitance signal is analyzed, which can reflect the voidage variation of two-phase flow. The gas slug velocity is determined through a cross-correlation technique using two identical capacitance sensors. The simulation and experimental results show that the presented capacitance measurement system is successful. Research work also verifies that the capacitance sensor is an effective method for the measurement of gas liquid two-phase flow parameters in micro-pipes.

A new capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection (C⁴D) sensor with an improved simulated inductor is developed in this work. The improved simulated inductor is designed on the basis of the Riordan-type floating simulated inductor. With the improved simulated inductor, the negative influence of the coupling capacitances is overcome and the conductivity measurement is implemented by the series resonance principle. The conductivity measurement experiments are carried out in three pipes with different inner diameters of 3.0 mm, 4.6 mm and 6.4 mm, respectively. The experimental results show that the designs of the new C⁴D sensor and the improved simulated inductor are successful. The maximum relative error of the conductivity measurement is less than 5%. Compared with the C⁴D sensors using practical inductors, the measurement accuracy of the new C⁴D sensor is comparable. The research results also indicate that the adjustability of a simulated inductor can reduce the requirement for the AC source and guarantee the interchangeableness. Meanwhile, it is recommended that making the potential of one terminal of a simulated inductor stable is beneficial to the running stability. Furthermore, this work indirectly verifies the possibility and feasibility of the miniaturization of the C⁴D sensor by using the simulated inductor technique and lays a good foundation for future research work.

Combining the Capacitively Coupled Contactless Conductivity Detection (C⁴D) technique and the principle of cross correlation flow measurement, a new method for flow rate measurement in millimeter-scale pipes was proposed. The research work included two parts. First, a new five-electrode C⁴D sensor was developed. Second, with two conductivity signals obtained by the developed sensor, the flow rate measurement was implemented by using the principle of cross correlation flow measurement. The experimental results showed that the proposed flow rate measurement method was effective, the developed five-electrode C⁴D sensor was successful, and the measurement accuracy was satisfactory. In five millimeter-scale pipes with different inner diameters of 0.5, 0.8, 1.8, 3.0 and 3.9 mm respectively, the maximum relative difference of the flow rate measurement between the reference flow rate and the measured flow rate was less than 5%.