Fluid flow conditioning

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11268368-B2
Application number	US-201816500187-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 5, 2018
Priority date	Apr 5, 2017
Publication date	Mar 8, 2022
Grant date	Mar 8, 2022

Abstract

There is provided an apparatus (30) and method for conditioning the flow of a mixed phase flow from a supply pipe (101) from a hydrocarbon well. The apparatus (30) comprises an elongate reservoir (11) having a first end for receiving a multi-phase fluid flow from the supply pipe and a second closed end, there being provided a gas outlet (02) from the upper part of the first end, a liquid separation region downstream of the first end, and a liquid outlet (12) from the lower part of the liquid separation region; and a gas-liquid mixer to which the gas and liquid outlets are connected such that the separated gas and liquid may be recombined. The reservoir (11) may accommodate surges of liquid such that the flow rate from the liquid outlet is relatively invariant over time compared to that of the flow received by the apparatus.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An apparatus for conditioning a flow of a mixed phase flow from a supply pipe from a hydrocarbon well, the apparatus comprising:
an elongate reservoir having a first end arranged to receive a multi-phase fluid flow directly from the supply pipe and a second closed end, there being provided a gas outlet from an upper part of the first end, a liquid separation region downstream of the first end, and a liquid outlet from a lower part of the liquid separation region; and
a gas-liquid mixer to which the gas and liquid outlets are connected such that the separated gas and liquid can be recombined,
wherein the reservoir is arranged to accommodate surges of liquid such that the flow rate from the liquid outlet is relatively invariant over time compared to that of the flow received by the apparatus; and
wherein the elongate reservoir is a length of the supply pipe from the hydrocarbon well so that the supply pipe itself is used to form the elongate reservoir.

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the second end is closed by means of a valve located in the supply pipe.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the gas-liquid mixer comprises a T-pipe connection.

4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein there is provided a supplementary reservoir in series with the elongate reservoir and connected thereto by means of the liquid outlet therefrom.

5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of supplementary reservoirs in parallel with each other, wherein each supplementary reservoir is arranged to receive liquid from the elongate reservoir.

6. An apparatus as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the apparatus is arranged such that liquid levels in the supplementary reservoirs are balanced.

7. An apparatus as claimed in any of claims 4 to 6 claim 4 , wherein the apparatus is arranged such that during use excess liquid in the supplementary reservoirs overflows the supplementary reservoirs and combines with flow from the gas outlet of the elongate reservoir.

8. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein flow control or restriction devices are provided in the flow paths from the liquid outlet and/or the gas outlet to the gas-liquid mixer to enable the gas/liquid mixture to be adjusted or preset.

9. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising an inlet for receiving compressed multi-phase fluid from a compressor and a flow path for returning the compressed fluid to the supply pipe.

10. An apparatus as claimed in claim 9 , further comprising a liquid-gas separator in the flow path for returning the compressed fluid to the supply pipe for separating gas from the compressed fluid, and a conduit to permit at least some of the separated gas to be mixed into the supply to the compressor.

11. An apparatus as claimed in claim 10 , whereby such wherein recirculation of the separated gas may be controlled to adjust or preset the gas/liquid mixture supplied to the compressor.

12. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the gas outlet of the elongate reservoir is arranged to partition flow into parallel flows.

13. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in combination with a compressor, wherein the compressor is arranged to receive the conditioned multi-phase fluid from the apparatus, compress the multi-phase fluid, and return the fluid to the apparatus.

14. An apparatus as claimed in claim 13 , further comprising a supply line from a hydrocarbon well into which the supply line is connected such that fluid from the supply line flows directly into the reservoir, which forms an extension thereof, and the compressed multi-phase fluid is returned to the supply line at a downstream location.

15. A system for conditioning a flow of a mixed phase flow in a supply pipe from a hydrocarbon well and supplying the mixed phase flow to a multi-phase fluid processing device, the system comprising:
an apparatus including:
an elongate reservoir having a first end arranged to receive a multi-phase fluid flow directly from the supply pipe and a second closed end, there being provided a gas outlet from an upper part of the first end, a liquid separation region downstream of the first end, and a liquid outlet from a lower part of the liquid separation region; and
a gas-liquid mixer to which the gas and liquid outlets are connected such that the separated gas and liquid can be recombined,
wherein the reservoir is arranged to accommodate surges of liquid such that the flow rate from the liquid outlet is relatively invariant over time compared to that of the flow received by the apparatus, and
wherein the elongate reservoir is a length of the supply pipe from the hydrocarbon well so that the supply pipe itself is used to form the elongate reservoir; and

a flow path for receiving processed fluid from the fluid processing device connected to the supply pipe to return the processed fluid thereto,
wherein the reservoir is configured to accommodate surges of liquid such that the flow rate from the liquid outlet is relatively invariant over time compared to that of the flow received by the apparatus.

16. A system as claimed in claim 15 , wherein the fluid processing device is a compressor.

17. A method of conditioning a flow of a mixed phase flow from a supply pipe from a hydrocarbon well, the method comprising:
receiving a multi-phase fluid directly from the supply pipe at a first end of an elongate reservoir, the reservoir having a second closed end, there being provided a gas outlet from an upper part of the first end from which gas flows, a liquid separation region downstream of the first end, and a liquid outlet from a lower part of the liquid separation region from which a mostly-liquid containing fluid flows,
wherein the fluids flow to a gas-liquid mixer where the separated gas and liquid are recombined,
wherein the reservoir accommodates surges of liquid such that the flow rate from the liquid outlet is relatively invariant over time compared to that of the flow received by the apparatus, and
wherein the elongate reservoir is a length of the supply pipe from the hydrocarbon well so that the supply pipe itself is used to form the elongate reservoir.

18. A method as claimed in claim 17 , further comprising compressing the multi-phase fluid at a remote fluid processing device and returning the multi-phase fluid to the supply pipe.

19. A method as claimed in claim 18 , further comprising separating gas from the compressed fluid and recirculating the gas through the fluid processing device in order to adjust or preset the mixture supplied to the inlet of the fluid processing device.

20. A method as claimed in claim 18 , wherein the fluid processing device is a compressor.

Assignees

• Equinor Energy As

Inventors

• Brenne Lars

Classifications

• E21B43/34 Primary

  Arrangements for separating materials produced by the well · CPC title

• F17D1/20

  Arrangements or systems of devices for influencing or altering dynamic characteristics of the systems, e.g. for damping pulsations caused by opening or closing of valves (fluid dynamics F15D; damping pulsations in fluids in pipes in general F16L55/04) · CPC title

• F04D31/00 Primary

  Pumping liquids and elastic fluids at the same time · CPC title

• F04D27/0261

  by varying driving speed · CPC title

• E21B43/01

  specially adapted for obtaining from underwater installations · CPC title