Introduction of the Chair
Modern medical diagnostics, materials research and many basic research disciplines would be unthinkable without modern imaging technologies. High speed video cameras, thermography, electron microscopy, ultrasound imaging and computed tomography are prominent examples of this. The physical and technical complexity of such imaging techniques as well as the many specific operation conditions in industrial processes demand a profound multidisciplinary understanding, which is imparted in the academic studies. The research and development being carried out by the Chair creates new scientific and technical fundamentals for a broad employment of known and new imaging techniques in process diagnostics.
The research topic „Imaging Techniques“
The Chair is currently active in the development of the following imaging technologies:
- Wire-mesh sensors
- High-speed videometry
- Particle image velocimetry and particle tracking
- Process microscopy
- X-ray tomography (conventional, micro-focus CT, synchrotron CT, ultrafast CT)
- Gamma ray tomography
- Positron emission tomography
- Optical tomography
- Muon imaging
Besides research and development in the field of physical imaging sensors and techniques, we furthermore work on methods of automated four-dimensional image processing, feature extraction and data fusion as well as with the implementation of sophisticated image processing routines on massive parallel computation systems, such as GPU and image-based process control.
Regarding the application of imaging techniques we closely collaborate with many external partners from industry and public and private research. Prominent application examples for our imaging techniques are analyses of multiphase flows in process engineering systems, such as chemical reactors and distillation equipment, hydraulic machines and systems, like hydrodynamic couplings, valves and pumps, systems of mineral oil extraction and processing, solar thermal systems and research facilities for nuclear safety analysis. Thereby the focus of our work is on the qualification of sensors and imaging techniques for the use in aggressive industrial environments. In the area of technology transfer we create fundamentals for the development of commercial multiphase flow measurement and imaging systems in close collaboration with industrial partners, such as HZDR Innovation GmbH.