Industrial Tomography Systems plc, occasionally abbreviated to ITOMS or simply ITS, is a manufacturer of process visualization systems based upon the principles of

tomography Tomography is imaging by sections or sectioning that uses any kind of penetrating wave. The method is used in radiology, archaeology, biology, atmospheric science, geophysics, oceanography, plasma physics, materials science, astrophysics, ...

. Headquartered in

Manchester, UK Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The two ...

, the company provides instrumentation to a variety of organisations across a range of sectors; including oil refining, chemical manufacturing, nuclear engineering, dairy manufacturing, and research/academia.

History

Industrial Tomography Systems began as an incubator company in 1997, responsible for commercializing technologies developed by

University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) was a university based in the centre of the city of Manchester in England. It specialised in technical and scientific subjects and was a major centre for research. On 1 Oct ...

. Founders included a number of academics who had helped to develop tomography technology, such as Professors Brian Hoyle and Mi Wang (of

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

) and Professor Richard Williams (then of

Camborne School of Mines The Camborne School of Mines ( kw, Scoll Balow Cambron), commonly abbreviated to CSM, was founded in 1888. Its research and teaching is related to the understanding and management of the Earth's natural processes, resources and the environment. ...

); as well as Ken Primrose, who continues to function as CEO as of late-2016. Currently, Industrial Tomography Systems has over a dozen staff based in the company's headquarters (located just off one of Manchester's major thoroughfares), and has systems installed in a number of global companies, including

Johnson Matthey Johnson Matthey is a British multinational speciality chemicals and sustainable technologies company headquartered in London, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History Early years Jo ...

, and GlaxoSmithKline and

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since ...

. In addition, the company has collaborated with major engineering firms, such as Philadelphia Mixers, to host international tomography workshops that showcase its technologies. In 2011, Industrial Tomography Systems was recognised as a "global leader in its field" after it was short-listed in the Institution of Engineering and Technology Innovation Awards. In an interview with the

Manchester Evening News The ''Manchester Evening News'' (''MEN'') is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in North West England, founded in 1868. It is published Monday–Saturday; a Sunday edition, the ''MEN on Sunday'', was launched in February 20 ...

, Primrose attributed the success of the company to being able to offer tailored solutions that are designed to meet the needs of individual applications, as well as having a coordinated network of international distributors and agents.

Products

Industrial Tomography Systems' scanning technology works on a similar principle to CAT scanners that are used in hospitals to see inside the human body: by passing an electric current very rapidly between pairs of

electrodes An electrode is an electrical conductor used to make contact with a nonmetallic part of a circuit (e.g. a semiconductor, an electrolyte, a vacuum or air). Electrodes are essential parts of batteries that can consist of a variety of materials dep ...

that are in contact with the process media, real-time images of the industrial process can be extrapolated from measuring the resulting difference in

voltages Voltage, also known as electric pressure, electric tension, or (electric) potential difference, is the difference in electric potential between two points. In a static electric field, it corresponds to the work needed per unit of charge to mo ...

. Since 2001, the company has developed a range of instruments based upon different types of

, which are outlined below.

EIT and ERT Systems

Industrial Tomography Systems' instrumentation that utilizes the principles of electrical impedance tomography & electrical resistance tomography (the two terms are often used interchangeably) include: z8000, p2+, and v5r. These systems have been used to visualize processes involving mixing, crystallization, bubble columns, packed beds, flows, and separations.

ECT Systems

Electrical capacitance tomography instruments released by the company include: m3000c, m3000dual (combines ERT measurements with ECT), and m3c. These instruments are used when the phases in a process are non-conducting, with readings instead based upon

electrical permittivity In electromagnetism, the absolute permittivity, often simply called permittivity and denoted by the Greek letter ''ε'' (epsilon), is a measure of the electric polarizability of a dielectric. A material with high permittivity polarizes more in r ...

rather than electrical conductivity. As such, ECT instruments can be used in similar processes to those where ERT is deployed, including flows,

fluidized bed A fluidized bed is a physical phenomenon that occurs when a solid particulate substance (usually present in a holding vessel) is under the right conditions so that it behaves like a fluid. The usual way to achieve a fluidize bed is to pump pressur ...

s, and pneumatic conveying.

Ultrasound Systems

Until mid-2013, Industrial Tomography Systems supported one instrument based upon ultrasound spectroscopy technology: the u2s.

Dens-itometer

In 2015, Industrial Tomography Systems launched their industry changing

Densitometer A densitometer is a device that measures the degree of darkness (the optical density) of a photographic or semitransparent material or of a reflecting surface. The densitometer is basically a light source aimed at a photoelectric cell. It determ ...

, a system which uses no nuclear power sources. Based on electrical resistance tomography, this new measurement system can take data independent of flow regime and also concentration of measure materials which are neutrally buoyant. The instrument is supplied as a pipe based sensor and a standard IP67 instrument enclosure (600x600x300mm). The device has gone on to make a huge impact in the dredging sector, due to its environmentally friendly technology.

Mix-itometer

Years of listening to industry professionals complain about their batch mixers has prompted ITS to develop the Mix-itometer, which utilises tomography solutions to resolve mixing problems. The Mix-itometer probe when placed inside batch mixers, replacing an existing baffle, measures average concentration and a mixing index by surveying more than 200 locations inside the process vessel. Mix-itometer software provides users with a visual representation of mixing upon a PC-based interface; the instrumentation produces real time volumetric imagery which gives producers a vividly detailed look of what occurs inside batch mixers.

Industrial applications

Findings published in AAPS's PharmSciTech in 2005 indicate that Industrial Tomography Systems' technology is able to monitor (1) the on-line measurement of solids distributed in a stirred tank, (2) crystallization, (3) the performance of industrial pressure filters, and (4) flow profiles and velocity measurements. Additionally Primrose claims that, due to the non-invasive nature of tomography technology, it can be used to create images of industrial processes in hard-to-reach places, such as in pipelines that contain radioactive/toxic materials.Kate Bassett
"Ken Primrose"
''Real Business'', 1 July 2011

References

{{reflist
Industrial Tomography Systems plc website
Engineering companies of the United Kingdom