This paper introduces the design of an ultra fast x-ray tomography scanner based on electron beam technology. The scanner has been developed for two-phase flow studies where frame rates of 1 kHz and higher are required. Its functional principle is similar to that of the electron beam x-ray CT scanners used in cardiac imaging. Thus, the scanner comprises an electron beam generator with a fast beam deflection unit, a semicircular x-ray production target made of tungsten alloy and a circular x-ray detector consisting of 240 CZT elements with 1.5 mm × 1.5 mm × 1.5 mm size each. The design is optimized with respect to ultra fast imaging of smaller flow vessels, such as pipes or laboratory-scale chemical reactors. In that way, the scanner is capable of scanning flow cross-sections at a speed of a few thousand frames per second which is sufficient to capture flows of a few meters per second velocity.

We report on the development of a high resolution gamma ray tomography scanner that is operated with a Cs-137 isotopic source at 662 keV gamma photon energy and achieves a spatial image resolution of 0.2 line pairs/ mm at 10% modulation transfer function for noncollimated detectors. It is primarily intended for the scientific study of flow regimes and phase fraction distributions in fuel element assemblies, chemical reactors, pipelines, and hydrodynamic machines. Furthermore, it is applicable to nondestructive testing of larger radiologically dense objects. The radiation detector is based on advanced avalanche photodiode technology in conjunction with lutetium yttrium orthosilicate scintillation crystals. The detector arc comprises 320 single detector elements which are operated in pulse counting mode. For measurements at fixed vessels or plant components, we built a computed tomography scanner gantry that comprises rotational and translational stages, power supply via slip rings, and data communication to the measurement personal computer via wireless local area network.

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