Smart moving Process Environment Actuators and Sensors (SMARTPEAS)

Themes: Signal processing for communication

The quality of industrial products is affected by insufficient mixing and in-homogeneities in process equipment such as tanks. To measure this, we need local sensors in small units (PEAS of the size of tennis balls) that report their observations (temperature, local flow field), as well as their locations, to the outside control unit.

The application of Smart PEAS can offer a breakthrough in control techniques by enabling the local measurements and the three-dimensional profiling of different parameters inside process equipment. Moreover, Smart PEAS will provide local information on the actual condition within certain equipment that is of importance for the development of accurate predictive process models.

The main idea here is to float sensor-equipped small microelectronic devices inside certain process equipment. Such sensors apply Ultra-Wide Band technology for transmitting large amounts of data with very low power over relative short distances. The proper hydrodynamic design of sensors with respect to size, density, robustness and fluid compatibility enables the spatial and temporal monitoring of process variables all over the vessel. The actuation function may as well be integrated into such devices enabling the dynamic control of different process variables.