Air bubble dispersion imaging in whipping cream with specified fat contents by fuzzy phase classification implemented in electrical impedance tomography

Abstract

The air bubble dispersion in whipping cream during agitation has been imaged by fuzzy phase classification implemented in electrical impedance tomography (fEIT) for internal morphological structure visualization. The fEIT consists of non-linear conductivity reconstruction and fuzzy phase classification to classify into a probabilistic cluster (: oil-in-water phase, : air bubble). In the experiments, probabilistic air bubble cluster of whipping cream with five milk fat (MF) contents were reconstructed by fEIT during agitation to image the air bubble dispersion. The demonstrated the air bubble dispersion within the sensor area caused by agitation. The spatial average was increased and then decreased due to the incorporation and subsequent departure of air bubbles during agitation. The peak time ts, which represents the critical saturation point of air bubbles, was decreased as MF content increased, which was verified by OR measurement and microscope observation. Compared to reconstructed by EIT influenced by the liquid water phase, fat and air bubbles, reconstructed by fEIT successfully imaged air bubble dispersion in whipping cream. Furthermore, fEIT demonstrated comparable performance to OR measurements in evaluating the internal morphological structure of whipping cream during agitation, while providing the advantage of inline measurement.