Controlling the flow of fluid to high pressure pumps

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2022195856-A1
Application number	US-202017247769-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 22, 2020
Priority date	Dec 22, 2020
Publication date	Jun 23, 2022
Grant date	—

Abstract

A hydraulic fracturing system can include valve apparatuses that control the delivery of fluid to high-pressure pumps that supply the fluid to a wellhead. The valve apparatuses can receive electronic signals from a control system to regulate the flow rate of the fluid to the high-pressure pumps. In one or more examples, the flow rate of the fluid can be controlled such that proppant in the fluid remains in solution.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A hydraulic fracturing system comprising:
a wellhead; a pump system that includes:
one or more high-pressure pumps to deliver fluid to the wellhead; and
a fluid communication system, the fluid communication system including a number of valve apparatuses to supply the fluid to the high-pressure pumps;
a control system to:
determine a target flow rate for the fluid supplied to the one or more high-pressure pumps;
determine a valve apparatus actuation scheme based on the target flow rate, the valve apparatus actuation scheme indicating that a valve apparatus of the number of valve apparatuses is to be in an open state; and
send an actuation signal to the valve apparatus to actuate a flow control member of the valve apparatus.

2 . The hydraulic fracturing system of claim 1 , wherein the valve apparatus includes a signal receiving unit and an actuator, the actuator being configured to move the flow control member.

3 . The hydraulic fracturing system of claim 2 , wherein the signal receiving unit is coupled to one or more wires that communicate signals between the signal receiving unit and the control system.

4 . The hydraulic fracturing system of claim 2 , wherein the signal receiving unit includes a transceiver to wirelessly communicate signals between the signal receiving unit and the control system.

5 . The hydraulic fracturing system of claim 1 , wherein the valve apparatus includes one or more sensor devices and the valve apparatus sends additional signals to the control system indicating output from the one or more sensor devices.

6 . The hydraulic fracturing system of claim 1 , wherein the fluid is delivered to the pump system at pressures from about 90 pounds per square inch (psi) to about 150 psi and the one or more high-pressure pumps deliver the fluid to the wellhead at pressures from about 10,000 psi to about 20,000 psi.

7 . The hydraulic fracturing system of claim 1 , wherein the target flow rate is from about 50 barrels per minute (bpm) to about 125 bpm and the target flow rate corresponds to a flow rate such that a proppant included in the fluid stays in solution as the fluid is supplied to the one or more high pressure pumps.

8 . The hydraulic fracturing system of claim 1 , wherein the flow control member of the valve apparatus is configured to open according to a plurality of gradations, an inner diameter of the valve apparatus is from about 3.5 inches to about 6 inches, and the valve apparatus includes a butterfly valve.

9 . A method to control the flow of fluid to one or more high-pressure pumps of a hydraulic fracturing system, the method comprising:
determining, by a control system, a target flow rate for the fluid supplied to the one or more high-pressure pumps; determining, by the control system, a valve apparatus actuation scheme based on the target flow rate, the valve apparatus actuation scheme indicating that a valve apparatus of a number of valve apparatuses is to be in an open state; and sending, by the control system, an actuation signal to the valve apparatus to actuate a flow control member of the valve apparatus.

10 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
receiving, by the control system, data from a number of sensor devices of a pump system included in the hydraulic fracturing system, the pump system including the one or more high-pressure pumps and the valve apparatus; and analyzing, by the control system, the data to determine a current flow rate of the fluid supplied to the one or more high-pressure pumps.

11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
analyzing, by the control system, the current flow rate with respect to a flow rate threshold; determining, by the control system, that the current flow rate is outside of the flow rate threshold; and determining, by the control system, a modified valve apparatus actuation scheme based on a difference between the current flow rate and the target flow rate.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein:
the flow rate threshold corresponds to a minimum flow rate for the fluid supplied to the one or more high-pressure pumps; the current flow rate is less than the minimum flow rate; and the modified valve apparatus actuation scheme indicates that a state of the valve apparatus is to be modified from open to closed.

13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein:
the flow rate threshold corresponds to a maximum flow rate for the fluid supplied to the one or more high-pressure pumps; the current flow rate is greater than the maximum flow rate; and the modified valve apparatus actuation scheme indicates that an additional state of an additional valve apparatus of the number of valve apparatuses is to be modified from closed to open.

14 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the target flow rate is based on a demand of the one or more high-pressure pumps to deliver the fluid to the wellhead and the demand is based on a stage of a hydraulic fracturing operation that is being performed by the hydraulic fracturing system.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the target flow rate corresponds to a first stage of the hydraulic fracturing operation, and the method further comprising:
determining an additional target flow rate for the fluid supplied to the one or more high-pressure pumps, the additional target flow rate corresponding to a second stage of the hydraulic fracturing operation.

16 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the fluid includes water and proppant and the target flow rate corresponds to a flow rate such that the proppant stays in the water as the fluid is supplied to the one or more high pressure pumps.

17 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the valve apparatus actuation scheme indicates a location of the valve apparatus within the hydraulic fracturing system in addition to respective locations and states of additional valve apparatuses of the hydraulic fracturing system that supply the fluid to the one or more high-pressure pumps.

18 . A pump system to supply fluid to a wellhead of a hydraulic fracturing system, the pump system comprising:
a high-pressure pump; and a fluid communication system coupled to the high-pressure pump, the fluid communication system including a plurality of valve apparatuses, individual valve apparatuses of the plurality of valve apparatuses including a signal receiving unit to receive electronic signals to actuate a flow control member of the individual valve apparatus.

19 . The pump system of claim 18 , wherein a valve apparatus of the plurality of valve apparatuses is configured to:
actuate the flow control member to enable a first flow rate through the valve apparatus based on one or more first electronic signals received by the valve apparatus; and actuate the flow control member of the valve apparatus to enable a second flow rate that is different from the first flow rate through the valve apparatus based on one or more second electronic signals received by the valve apparatus.

20 . The pump system of claim 18 , further comprising a plurality of sensor devices to send data to a control system, the data indicating a current flow rate of the fluid supplied to the high-pressure pump.

Assignees

• Nat Oilwell Varco Lp

Inventors

• BOLT Travis Lee
• Baker Zachary Daniel
• Sears Eric O'Reilly
• Maxwell Jonathan Tyler

Classifications

• E21B43/2607

  Surface equipment specially adapted for fracturing operations · CPC title

• F04B23/04 Primary

  Combinations of two or more pumps · CPC title

• F04B7/0046

  for rotating distribution members · CPC title

• F04B49/065

  and making use of computers · CPC title

• E21B43/26 Primary

  by forming crevices or fractures · CPC title