Dr Gang Lu

Dr Gang Lu is a Reader in Electronic Instrumentation with the School of Engineering and Digital Arts, University of Kent. He received his BEng degree in Mechanical Engineering from Central South University, China in 1982, and worked as an Engineer, Senior Engineer and Department Director in the Institute of Metallurgical Equipment Design and Research, Beijing, and Teesside Technology Centre, British Steel for fourteen years. Dr Lu returned to academia in 1996, and obtained his PhD degree in Electronic Engineering from the University of Greenwich, UK in 2000. He was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow/Associate with the University of Greenwich and the University of Kent before becoming a Lecturer in Electronic Instrumentation in the University of Kent in 2006 and Senior Lecturer in 2012.
Dr Lu’s main areas of expertise are in sensors, instrumentation, measurement, digital image/signal processing, 2-D and 3-D visualisation and characterisation for combustion systems, condition monitoring, machine learning for engineering solutions. He has been a principal investigator or co-investigator for a range of research projects on advanced monitoring and characterisation of flames in both lab- and industrial-scale fossil/biomass fuel combustion systems, supported by external and internal funding bodies including EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council), ERC (European Research Council), UKCCSRC (UK Carbon Capture & Storage Research Centre), BF2RA (Biomass and Fossil Fuel Research Alliance), Innovate UK, KIE (Kent Innovation & Enterprise), and UK industry (e.g., EDF, RWE Generation, EON UK, Drax Power Station, Doosan Babcock, British Sugar). Dr Lu has published more than 100 papers in peer reviewed journals and conference proceedings. His h-index is 25 with over 2100 citations. He was awarded the Engineering Innovation Prize (Energy) by the IET (Institution of Engineering and Technology) in 2006 in recognition of his contributions to flame visualisation and characterisation.
Dr Lu is a Chartered Engineer, Senior Member of IEEE, Member of the Energy Institute, and Fellow of Higher Education Academy.

Current and past research projects

• A condition-based monitoring and advisory tool for utility boilers, BF2RA, 2018-21
• In-situ monitoring and characterisation of agglomeration and defluidisation in a biomass FB combustor through digital imaging and acoustic sensing, UKCCSRC, 2019-20
• Advanced flame monitoring and emission predication through digital imaging and spectrometry, BF2RA, 2015-19
• INCASE- Towards industry 4.0 via networked control applications and sustainable engineering, ERC (Interreg V), 2016-19
• Experimental investigation into oxy-combustion behaviour of single biomass/coal particles through digital imaging techniques, UKCCSRC, 2017-18
• Imaging of coal fired flames on the Doosan Babcock’s 40MW CTF (Enterprise project), 2017
• Advanced burner flame monitoring through digital imaging, Innovate UK, 2016-17.
• Investigation into the characterisation of oxy-coal/biomass flames through digital imaging, UKCCSRC, 2015
• Intelligent flame detection incorporating burner condition monitoring and on-line fuel tracking, BCURA (British Coal Utilisation Research Association), 2010-13
• EPSRC‐E.ON strategic partnership, carbon capture and storage, EPSRC, 2009-14
• In-depth studies of oxy-coal combustion processes through numerical modelling and 3D flame imaging, EPSRC, 2009-14
• Quantitative characterisation of flame radical emissions for combustion optimisation through spectroscopic imaging, EPSRC, 2009-11
• Optimization of biomass/coal co-firing processes through integrated measurement and computational modelling, EPSRC, 2008-11
• A stereoscopic fire detector, KIE, 2011
• GOSE- Optimisation of combustion plant through advanced measurement and computer modelling, ERC (Interreg III), 2006-10

• EL896 Computer and Microcontroller Architectures (Msc)
• EL890 MSc Project
• EL844 Image Analysis with Security Applications (MSc)
• EL875 Advanced Sensors and Instrumentation Systems (MSc)
• EL600 Project (Stage 3, Module convenor)
• EL565 Electronic Instrumentation and Measurement Systems (Stage 2)
• EL515 Physiological Measurement (Stage 2, Module convenor)
• EL562 Computer Interfacing Group Project (Stage 2)
• EL318 Engineering Mathematics (Stage 1)
• EL027 Semiconductor and Digital Electronics (Stage 0, Module convenor)

Dr Lu has supervised more ten PhD students to successful completion. 

Selected current and past PhD projects

• A condition-based monitoring and advisory tool for utility boilers
• Advanced flame monitoring and emission predication through digital imaging and spectrometry
• Flame stability and burner condition monitoring through optical sensing and digital imaging
• Tomographic characterisation of burner flames through digital imaging and image processing
• Digital imaging based characterisation of biomass particles in power generation
• 3-D visualisation and quantitative characterisation of flames using tomography and digital imaging techniques
• 3-D visualisation and quantitative characterisation of burner flames
• Profiling of single coal particle combustion and monitoring of combustion process through digital imaging and soft-computing
• NOx prediction in a biomass-fired CTF through flame radical imaging and machine learning
• Contactless temperature measurement of stored biomass

Potential PhD projects

• Combustion stability monitoring through flame imaging and machine learning
• Emission profiling through flame radical imaging and soft-computing
• Monitoring and characterisation of biomass-fired flames based on emission imaging and spectrogram analysis
• 3-D reconstruction of flame radical emissions of through stereoscopic tomography
• Flame chemiluminescence reconstruction through high-speed spectroscopic and acoustic sensing
• 3-D monitoring and characterisation of flames in gas turbine systems using stereoscopic imaging techniques
• Non-invasive measurement and characterisation of avian eggs through digital imaging and biological analysis

• Chartered engineer
• Senior member of IEEE
• Member of the Energy Institute
• Fellow of Higher Education Academy
• Grant reviewer for EPSRC and STFC
• Regular reviewer of more than 30 international Journals from IEEE, Elsevier, IET, IOP, ACS, OSA, and Taylor & Francis, etc
• External examiner for PhD viva voce examinations at Edinburgh, Sheffield, Manchester, Cardiff, South Wales, Strathclyde Universities, etc
• External examiner for BEng (Hons) and MEng (Hons) Instrumentation and Control Engineering, University of Teesside