Monitoring of scaling in dilute phase pneumatic conveying systems using non-intrusive acoustic sensors – A feasibility study

Scale formation in pneumatic conveying systems is a major industrial challenge. The underlying scale formation mechanisms can be intricate as they often involve a combination of several mutually enhancing binding forces and can be affected by a number of different factors. A non-intrusive monitoring technique capable of measuring scale growth would be a valuable tool to investigate different scaling mechanisms. In this study, the feasibility of an active acoustic sensor technique for monitoring of scale growth in a pneumatic conveying system is evaluated. Tests are performed in a pilot scale pneumatic conveying system transporting sand in dilute phase. The acoustic sensors conducts measurements on test pipes which are coated with a primer/powder mixture, one layer after the other, to simulate scale progression. Reference measurements of the coating layer thickness in the test pipes are obtained by a laser imaging technique for each added coating layer. A multivariate method is used to calibrate prediction models of the scale thickness using acoustic measurements as independent variables and the reference measurements as the dependent variable. Results show that the active monitoring method is capable of monitoring scale growth in pneumatic conveying systems and that dilute phase conveying of sand does not affect the precision of predictions made by the method.