SLUG FLOW VELOCITY ESTIMATION DURING PNEUMATIC CONVEYING OF BULK SOLID MATERIALS BASED ON IMAGE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES

The article presents the use of fast cameras and image processing and analysis methods to determine the velocity of pneumatic transport of bulk material. The presented solution is dedicated to the analysis of dense flow in the form of slugs moving in a horizontal section of the pipeline. The developed image-processing algorithm is based on the estimation of the bulk solid material level in the pipeline in particular moments of the process. The acquisition of an image containing the area of two separate sections of the pipeline allows to determine the shift-time of material between two pre-defined pipeline regions. The obtained results indicate the proper action of the developed system.