Characterization of fluid inside pipe using multi frequency electrical signal

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11536676-B2
Application number	US-202016948851-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 2, 2020
Priority date	Oct 2, 2020
Publication date	Dec 27, 2022
Grant date	Dec 27, 2022

Abstract

A multi-frequency signal may be used to induce voltage difference across a portion of a pipe. The voltage difference may be induced to take multi-frequency measurement of impedance characteristics of fluid inside the pipe. The multi-frequency measurement of the impedance characteristic of the fluid inside the pipe may be used to determine a characteristic of the fluid inside the pipe. This may be achieved by active integration of experimental data with high-resolution multi-frequency electrical impedance tomography (MFEIT) modeling.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for determining fluid characteristics, the system comprising:
a set of electrodes configured to measure an impedance characteristic of fluid inside a pipe, the set of electrodes including a first electrode positioned at a first location along the pipe and a second electrode positioned at a second location along the pipe;
a signal generator configured to generate a multi-frequency signal, the multi-frequency signal inducing voltage difference between the first location along the pipe and the second location along the pipe, the voltage difference induced for multi-frequency measurement of the impedance characteristic of the fluid inside the pipe; and
one or more physical processors configured by machine-readable instructions to:
obtain the multi-frequency measurement of the impedance characteristic of the fluid inside the pipe from the set of electrodes; and
determine fluid composition of the fluid inside the pipe based on the multi-frequency measurement of the impedance characteristic of the fluid inside the pipe, the fluid composition of the fluid including hydrocarbon concentration in the fluid;

wherein:
responsive to the voltage difference being initially induced for the multi-frequency measurement of the impedance characteristics of the fluid using voltage input and the hydrocarbon concentration in the fluid being lower than a first threshold value, the inducement of the voltage difference is switched from using the voltage input to using current input; and
responsive to the voltage difference being initially induced for the multi-frequency measurement of the impedance characteristics of the fluid using the current input and the hydrocarbon concentration in the fluid being higher than a second threshold value, the inducement of the voltage difference is switched from using the current input to using the voltage input.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the multi-frequency signal includes a voltage chirp signal.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the multi-frequency signal includes a current chirp signal.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the impedance characteristic of the fluid inside the pipe measured by the set of electrodes includes the voltage difference between the first location along the pipe and the second location along the pipe.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the impedance characteristic of the fluid inside the pipe measured by the set of electrodes includes current between the first location along the pipe and the second location along the pipe.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein fluid flow regime inside the pipe is determined based on the multi-frequency measurement of the impedance characteristic of the fluid inside the pipe.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the hydrocarbon concentration in the fluid includes percentage of oil and water in the fluid.

8. The system of claim 6 , wherein the determination of the fluid flow regime inside the pipe includes identification of stratified flow, bubbly flow, or slug flow inside the pipe.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the fluid composition of the fluid inside the pipe determined for different times is used to determine a dynamic characteristic of the fluid inside the pipe.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the pipe is inside a horizontal well, and the fluid composition of the fluid inside the pipe determined for different locations is used to identify producing stages and non-producing stages inside the horizontal well.

11. A method for determining fluid characteristics, the method comprising:
generating a multi-frequency signal to induce voltage difference between a first location along a pipe and a second location along the pipe, the voltage difference induced for multi-frequency measurement of an impedance characteristic of fluid inside the pipe;
obtaining the multi-frequency measurement of the impedance characteristic of the fluid inside the pipe from a set of electrodes, the set of electrodes configured to measure the impedance characteristic of the fluid inside the pipe, the set of electrodes including a first electrode positioned at the first location along the pipe and a second electrode positioned at the second location along the pipe; and
determining fluid composition of the fluid inside the pipe based on the multi-frequency measurement of the impedance characteristic of the fluid inside the pipe, the fluid composition of the fluid including hydrocarbon concentration in the fluid;
wherein:
responsive to the voltage difference being initially induced for the multi-frequency measurement of the impedance characteristics of the fluid using voltage input and the hydrocarbon concentration in the fluid being lower than a first threshold value, the inducement of the voltage difference is switched from using the voltage input to using current input; and
responsive to the voltage difference being initially induced for the multi-frequency measurement of the impedance characteristics of the fluid using the current input and the hydrocarbon concentration in the fluid being higher than a second threshold value, the inducement of the voltage difference is switched from using the current input to using the voltage input.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the multi-frequency signal includes a voltage chirp signal.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the multi-frequency signal includes a current chirp signal.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the impedance characteristic of the fluid inside the pipe measured by the set of electrodes includes the voltage difference between the first location along the pipe and the second location along the pipe.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the impedance characteristic of the fluid inside the pipe measured by the set of electrodes includes current between the first location along the pipe and the second location along the pipe.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein fluid flow regime inside the pipe is determined based on the multi-frequency measurement of the impedance characteristic of the fluid inside the pipe.

17. The method of claim 11 , wherein the hydrocarbon concentration in the fluid includes percentage of oil and water in the fluid.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein determining the fluid flow regime inside the pipe includes identifying stratified flow, bubbly flow, or slug flow inside the pipe.

19. The method of claim 11 , wherein the fluid composition of the fluid inside the pipe determined for different times is used to determine a dynamic characteristic of the fluid inside the pipe.

20. The method of claim 11 , wherein the pipe is inside a horizontal well, and the fluid composition of the fluid inside the pipe determined for different locations is used to identify producing stages and non-producing stages inside the horizontal well.

Assignees

• Triad Nat Security Llc
• Chevron Usa Inc

Inventors

• Chillara Vamshi Krishna
• Mudunuru Maruti Kumar
• Viswanathan Hari Selvi
• Karra Satish
• Ahmmed Bulbul
• App Jeffrey Foering
• Hoversten Gary Michael

Classifications

• G01N33/2823 Primary

  Raw oil, drilling fluid or polyphasic mixtures · CPC title

• G01N27/026

  Dielectric impedance spectroscopy (electrochemical impedance spectroscopy for measuring corrosion G01N17/02) · CPC title

• G01N27/028 Primary

  Circuits therefor (measuring impedance per se G01R27/02) · CPC title