Development of a concentration measurement technique for steady state solid-liquid mixing using a neural network

A measurement technique that can measure the concentration of the solid particles in liquid flow was developed. The measurement system consists of a color camera and three LCD displays. The solid particles were put at the bottom of a cylindrical mixing tank in which JetA1 oil was filled. Transient mixing of the solid particles was performed by rotating a propeller type agitator with three different rotation speed (500, 600, 700 r/min). Mixing state was visualized by the LCD displays and a color camcorder. The color intensity of the glass particles changes with their concentration. The color information was decoded into three principle colors R, G, and B so that, the calibration curve of color-to-concentration was performed using these information. A neural network was used for this calibration. The transient concentration field of the solid particles was quantitatively visualized.