Fellow: Marzieh Hosseini (ESR 14)

Host: University of Eastern Finland (Finland)

Main Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Marko Vauhkonen

Background:

Microwave heating is an attractive technology for drying porous materials for example in food and pharmaceutical industries. The doctoral student shall develop electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) towards integration into control of microwave drying processes. This comprises development of an ECT sensor for capacitance measurements of porous materials, software for estimating moisture content based on ECT images and development of process model and online optimal control for a real microwave drying process. The work comprises fundamental scientific analyses, software development and technical demonstration, together with groups at the universities in Lodz (Poland), Chalmers (Sweden), Karlsruhe (Germany) and different industry partners.

Research Activities / Objectives:

• Design and develop an ECT sensor for capacitance measurements of porous materials
• Modify and implement ECT imaging algorithms for spatial moisture content extraction of porous materials
• Develop process modelling of microwave drying
• Develop optimal control approach for microwave drying process using ECT as a measurement device
• Demonstrate first-ever online microwave drying control with ECT in KIT facility

Secondments:

• Nov. 2018: Lodz University of Technology (Poland)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Dec. 2018: Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden)
• Jan. / Feb. 2020: Vötsch Industrietechnik GmbH (Germany)
• Feb. / March 2020: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Germany)