Tomography apparatus, multi-phase flow monitoring system, and corresponding methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10732017-B2
Application number	US-201515511155-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 15, 2015
Priority date	Sep 15, 2014
Publication date	Aug 4, 2020
Grant date	Aug 4, 2020

Abstract

A flow monitoring system is described for monitoring flow of a mixed-phase sample comprising at least a first phase and a second phase having different electrical conductivities, the second phase being a liquid or a gas and substantially electrically non-conductive and the first phase being a liquid and having a conductivity higher than the second phase. The system comprises: a conduit through which the mixed-phase sample can be arranged to flow; tomography apparatus arranged to generate tomography data indicative of at least a first conductivity profile of at least a portion of a first cross section of the mixed phase sample when flowing through the conduit; a flow meter arranged to detect flow of the first phase though the conduit and provide a flow signal indicative of a flow velocity of the first phase; and processing means adapted to calculate, from said data, a fraction of said first cross section occupied by the first phase, and calculate, from said fraction and said flow signal, a volumetric flow rate of the first phase through the conduit.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A flow monitoring system for monitoring flow of a mixed-phase sample comprising at least a first phase and a second phase having different electrical conductivities, the second phase being a liquid or a gas and electrically non-conductive and the first phase being a liquid and having a conductivity higher than the second phase, the system comprising:
a conduit through which the mixed-phase sample is arranged to flow;
a tomography apparatus arranged to generate tomography data indicative of at least a first conductivity profile of at least a portion of a first cross section of the mixed phase sample when flowing through the conduit;
a flow meter arranged to detect flow of the first phase though the conduit and provide a flow signal indicative of a flow velocity of the first phase; and
a processing means adapted to calculate, from said data, an area fraction of said first cross section occupied by the first phase, and calculate, from said area fraction and said flow signal, a volumetric flow rate of the first phase through the conduit,
wherein the tomography apparatus comprises:
a plurality of electrodes each having a respective contact surface arranged to be in electrical contact with a sample flowing through said conduit; and
the tomography apparatus configured to perform a plurality of measurements on a sample flowing through said conduit to generate said tomography data, each measurement comprising driving a current between a pair of said electrodes and measuring a voltage across another pair of said electrodes,
wherein at least a portion of each electrode contact surface slopes inwardly, toward a longitudinal axis of the conduit, along the longitudinal axis, such that accumulation of deposits on each said portion is at least partly inhibited by sample flow past each said portion, and
wherein said plurality of electrodes are evenly spaced around said conduit, and the respective contact surface of each said electrode is flush mounted with an inner surface of the conduit, and has a convex shape along the longitudinal axis,
such that the plurality of contact surfaces provide a constriction in said conduit to increase axial flow velocity over the convex shaped contact surfaces.

2. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a temperature sensor arranged to sense a temperature of the sample flowing though the conduit and provide a temperature signal, indicative of said temperature, to the processing means.

3. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a heating means operable to heat at least part of each electrode, wherein each contact surface is a surface of the respective said part.

4. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a vibrating means operable to vibrate at least part of each electrode, wherein each contact surface is a surface of the respective said part.

5. The system of claim 1 , further comprising conductivity measuring means arranged to measure an electrical conductivity of the first phase of the sample flowing through the conduit and provide a conductivity signal, indicative of the measured conductivity, to the processing means.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the conductivity measuring means comprises a chamber arranged in communication with the sample-containing volume of the conduit such that when the sample is flowing through the conduit, a portion of the sample collects in the chamber, a plurality of electrodes arranged to be in electrical contact with first phase material collected in the chamber, the plurality of electrodes arranged to drive a current through the collected first phase material and measure a voltage developed across the first phase material.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein said data is further indicative of a second conductivity profile of at least a portion of a second cross section of the mixed phase sample when flowing through the conduit.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the tomography apparatus comprises a first array of electrodes arranged around said first cross section and a second array of electrodes arranged around said second cross section.

9. The system of claim 7 , wherein the processing means is adapted to calculate a volume fraction of the first phase in the sample using said data.

10. The system of claim 7 , wherein the processing means is adapted to calculate an axial velocity and a volume fraction of the second phase in the sample using said data.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the mixed-phase sample comprises a third phase, the third phase being a liquid or a gas, being electrically non-conductive, and having a density different from a density of the second phase, the system further comprising means for measuring a density of the mixed-phase sample flowing through the conduit and generating density data indicative of the density of the mixed-phase sample.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the second phase is a liquid and the third phase is a gas.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the processing means is adapted to calculate a volume fraction of the second and/or third phase in the sample using the tomography data.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the processing means is adapted to calculate a volumetric flow rate of the first phase using the tomography data and electromagnetic flow meter data.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the processing means is adapted to measure flow-mix density using a flow-mixture density meter.

16. The system of claim 11 , wherein the processing means is adapted to calculate a volumetric flow rate of the third phase using tomography data and flow-mixture density data.

17. The system of claim 11 , wherein said conduit is arranged with its longitudinal axis substantially vertical, and the means for measuring a density comprises a first pressure sensor arranged at a first height and a second pressure sensor arranged at a second height, each pressure sensor being arranged to sense pressure of the flowing sample in the conduit at the respective height and provide a respective pressure signal, indicative of sample pressure, to the processing means.

18. A flow monitoring method for monitoring flow of a mixed-phase sample comprising at least a first phase and a second phase having different electrical conductivities, the second phase being a liquid or a gas and electrically non-conductive and the first phase being a liquid and having a conductivity higher than the second phase, the system comprising:
arranging the mixed-phase sample to flow through a conduit;
using a tomography apparatus to generate tomography data indicative of at least a first conductivity profile of at least a portion of a first cross section of the mixed phase sample flowing through the conduit;
using a flow meter to detect flow of the first phase though the conduit and generate a flow signal indicative of a flow velocity of the first phase; and
calculating, from said data, an area fraction of said first cross section occupied by the first phase, and calculating, from said area fraction and said flow signal, a volumetric flow rate of the first phase through the conduit,
wherein the tomography apparatus comprises:
a plurality of electrodes each having a respective contact surface arranged to be in electrical contact with a sample flowing through said conduit; and
the tomography apparatus configured to perform a plurality of measurements on a sample flowing through said conduit to generate said tomography data, each measurement comprising driving a current between a pair of said electrodes and measuring a voltage across another pair of said electrodes,

Assignees

• Univ Leeds Innovations Ltd

Inventors

• Wang Mi
• Jia Jiabin
• Faraj Yousef
• Wang Qiang

Classifications

• G01F1/712

  using auto-correlation or cross-correlation detection means · CPC title

• G01F1/7088

  using electrically charged particles as tracers · CPC title

• G01N33/2823

  Raw oil, drilling fluid or polyphasic mixtures · CPC title

• F17D3/10

  for taking out the product in the line (sampling in general, examining the physical or chemical properties of materials G01N) · CPC title

• G01F1/58 Primary

  by electromagnetic flowmeters · CPC title