Magnetic Induction Tomography: A Review of Process and Medical Tomography Systems

Being a non-contact safe imaging technique, MIT has been an appropriate method for non-invasive and non-destructive industrial and medical imaging. In this imaging method, a primary magnetic field is applied by one or more excitation coils to induce eddy currents in the material to be studied, and then the secondary magnetic field from these eddy currents is detected in sensing coils. Image reconstruction is obtained from estimated electric conductivity coefficients by using measurement data and solutions of forward and inverse problems. MIT is a promising modality for noninvasive medical imaging due to its contactless and nonionizing technology. On the other hand, one of the needs of experts in oil/gas industry is to get information about process inside pipelines and tanks containing oil and gas, which is usually not accessible without disconnecting the process. For this reason, tremendous efforts have been made on measurements and nondestructive tests without physical disconnecting the process. In recent years, applications of process tomography as an imaging non-invasive tool for imaging from inside of pipelines, monitoring and measuring flows have increased. In this Paper, the properties of process and medical tomography systems reviewed.