Development of an improved positron emission particle tracking system

An improved Positron Emission Particle Tracking (PEPT) system has been developed for the non-intrusive investigation of solids flow in a gas-solids Interconnected Fluidised Bed (IFB) reactor. This system tracks continuously the 3D location of a single positron emitting particle. This particle has the same size and density as the solids and can be made as small as 500 μm. The system performance was improved through the use of graded absorbers which enable to filter valuable information from the Compton spectrum. A radiotracer particle moving at 1 m s ^-1 can be located with a 3D resolution better than 15 mm in a continuous trajectory. For a velocity of 0.1 m s ^-1 the 3D resolution is better than 5 mm. The obtained results are presented through ensemble-averaged solids' velocity patterns.