Apparatus for mixing of fluids flowing through a conduit

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10058828-B2
Application number	US-201514727463-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 1, 2015
Priority date	Jun 1, 2015
Publication date	Aug 28, 2018
Grant date	Aug 28, 2018

Abstract

An apparatus for mixing fluids within a pipe is provided. In one embodiment, the apparatus includes a fluid mixing device with a pipe having a pipe wall and an axial bore for conveying fluids through the pipe. The fluid mixing device also includes a sleeve disposed about the pipe and a cavity provided between an exterior surface of the pipe and an interior surface of the sleeve. The cavity and the axial bore of the pipe are in fluid communication with one another via an opening through the pipe wall. Additional systems, devices, and methods are also disclosed.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a fluid mixing device including:
a pipe having a pipe wall and an axial bore that extends from an inlet of the pipe to an outlet of the pipe for conveying fluids through the pipe from the inlet of the pipe to the outlet of the pipe;
a sleeve disposed about the pipe;
a cavity provided between an exterior surface of the pipe and an interior surface of the sleeve, wherein the cavity and the axial bore of the pipe are in fluid communication with one another via an opening through the pipe wall, and the opening through the pipe wall is located between the inlet of the pipe and the outlet of the pipe;
an outlet tap connected to the pipe at a location between the inlet of the pipe and the outlet of the pipe so as to receive, through the pipe wall from the axial bore, a portion of the fluids conveyed through the pipe; and
an inlet tap connected to the sleeve, wherein the outlet tap is positioned downstream of the inlet tap.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the outlet tap is in fluid communication with the inlet tap via a fluid return loop including an analysis system for analyzing the portion of the fluids received through the outlet tap.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , comprising a pump coupled in fluid communication between the outlet tap and the inlet tap, wherein the pump is configured to draw the portion of the fluids conveyed through the pipe from the axial bore via the outlet tap and to pump the portion of the fluids drawn from the axial bore into the cavity via the inlet tap, and the opening through the pipe wall is configured to jet the portion of the fluids from the cavity into the axial bore to mix the fluids conveyed through the pipe.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the cavity and the axial bore of the pipe are in fluid communication with one another via multiple openings through the pipe wall.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the multiple openings are angled through the pipe wall.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein each of the multiple openings is provided at a same angle through the pipe wall.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein one of the multiple openings is angled toward the direction of flow through the axial bore and another of the multiple openings is angled away from the direction of flow through the axial bore.

8. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein each of the multiple openings has dimensions identical to the other openings of the multiple openings.

9. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the multiple openings include interior ends at the interior of the pipe wall that are axially aligned with one another.

10. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the multiple openings include at least two openings having interior ends at the interior of the pipe wall that are axially offset from one another.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the cavity is an annular cavity.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the pipe of the fluid mixing device is connected in-line with other pipes of a pipeline.

13. An apparatus comprising:
a conduit having a bore for conveying a multiphase fluid, the conduit extending from an inlet of the conduit to an outlet of the conduit and including a plurality of ducts extending through a wall of the conduit between the inlet of the conduit and the outlet of the conduit; and
an external pump that is outside the conduit and is coupled in fluid communication with the plurality of ducts so as to enable a mixing fluid to be pumped into the bore by the external pump through the wall via the plurality of ducts, wherein the external pump is coupled in fluid communication with the conduit via an outlet tap positioned between the inlet of the conduit and the outlet of the conduit to draw a portion of the multiphase fluid out of the bore through the outlet tap and then pump the portion of the multiphase fluid back into the bore through the wall via the plurality of ducts between the inlet of the conduit and the outlet of the conduit as the mixing fluid.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , comprising an enclosed cavity along an outside of the conduit, wherein the external pump is coupled in fluid communication with the plurality of ducts via the enclosed cavity.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , comprising a sleeve positioned about the conduit such that the enclosed cavity lies between the outside of the conduit and an inside of the sleeve.

16. A method comprising:
routing a multiphase fluid into a pipe of a fluid mixing device, the pipe having a pipe wall and an axial bore that extends from an inlet of the pipe to an outlet of the pipe for conveying the multiphase fluid through the pipe from the inlet of the pipe to the outlet of the pipe, wherein the fluid mixing device also includes: a sleeve disposed about the pipe; a cavity provided between an exterior surface of the pipe and an interior surface of the sleeve, wherein the cavity and the axial bore of the pipe are in fluid communication with one another via openings through the pipe wall, and the opening through the pipe wall is located between the inlet of the pipe and the outlet of the pipe; an outlet tap connected to the pipe at a location between the inlet of the pipe and the outlet of the pipe so as to receive, through the pipe wall from the axial bore, a portion of the fluids conveyed through the pipe; and an inlet tap connected to the sleeve, wherein the outlet tap is positioned downstream of the inlet tap; and
jetting a mixing fluid directly into the pipe via the openings through the pipe wall to mix components of the multiphase fluid with one another.

17. The method of claim 16 , comprising routing the multiphase fluid through the axial bore of the pipe and jetting the mixing fluid directly into the axial bore without obstructing flow of the multiphase fluid with a structure extending into the axial bore.

18. The method of claim 16 , comprising pumping the mixing fluid into the cavity, wherein jetting the mixing fluid directly into the pipe includes jetting the mixing fluid from the cavity into the pipe.

19. The method of claim 16 , comprising drawing the mixing fluid from the multiphase fluid routed into the pipe.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein drawing the mixing fluid from the multiphase fluid routed into the pipe includes drawing the mixing fluid from the multiphase fluid via the outlet tap downstream of a location at which the mixing fluid is jetted into the pipe through the openings in the wall.

21. The method of claim 16 , comprising:
routing the multiphase fluid through a series of fluid mixing devices including the fluid mixing device and one or more additional fluid mixing devices having a pipe for receiving the multiphase fluid and openings through a pipe wall of the pipe to mix components of the multiphase fluid with one another, wherein the configuration of the openings through the pipe wall differ between the fluid mixing device and the one or more additional fluid mixing devices; and
selecting the fluid mixing device for mixing the components based on a characteristic of the multiphase fluid.

Assignees

• Cameron Int Corp

Inventors

• Jiskoot Mark A
• Baker James M
• Potten Gary M

Classifications

• B01F5/0485

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B01F5/0275 Primary

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B01F5/0475

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B01F5/0476

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B01F5/0483

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic