Wireless measurement of the position of a piston in an accumulator of a blowout preventer system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9410392-B2
Application number	US-201213671777-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 8, 2012
Priority date	Nov 8, 2012
Publication date	Aug 9, 2016
Grant date	Aug 9, 2016

Abstract

A measurement system including a container including an element moveable within an internal volume of the container. A sensor wirelessly measures the position of the element within the container and transmits the measured position information. Also included is an information system capable of reading the position information from the sensor.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A measurement system, including:
a container including an element moveable within an internal volume of the container, wherein the element includes a piston moveable within an internal volume of a hydraulic fluid accumulator, the piston dividing the internal volume into a first chamber having hydraulic fluid and a second chamber having a gas with the volumes of the first and second chambers depending on the position of the piston;
a sensor capable of wirelessly measuring the position of the piston within the hydraulic fluid accumulator and transmitting the measured position information, wherein the sensor is installed on a stationary portion of the accumulator, is positioned at a fixed location within the second chamber to emit a wireless signal from the sensor through the gas toward the piston for measuring the position of the piston within the accumulator, and is capable of providing pressure measurement data for the second chamber within the hydraulic fluid accumulator between the piston and the sensor based on the emitted wireless signal; and
an information system capable of reading the position information from the sensor.

2. The system of claim 1 , further including:
a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag located on the element; and
the sensor including a radio-frequency transceiver capable of sending a radio-frequency signal to the RFID tag and reading a response signal from the RFID tag.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the sensor is at least one of a radio-frequency sensor, a far field electromagnetic (microwave) sensor, a near field electromagnetic sensor, and an acoustic sensor.

4. The system of claim 1 , further including:
more than one container including a moveable element;
transponders located on each element and capable of communicating with the sensor to identify each element from the other elements.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the information system includes an information hub located remotely from the sensors.

6. The system of claim 1 , further including a sensor capable of measuring the temperature inside the container and transmitting the measured temperature information to the information system.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the container, sensor, and information system are all locatable subsea.

8. The system of claim 1 , further including:
more than one container including a moveable element;
sensors capable of wirelessly measuring the position of the elements within the containers and transmitting the measured position information; and
the information system capable of reading the position information from the sensors.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the sensor installed on the stationary portion of the accumulator and positioned at the fixed location within the second chamber is capable of self-calibration to account for variations in propagation speed related to changes in pressure of the gas in the container.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the containers, sensors, and information system are all locatable subsea.

11. A measurement system, including:
blowout preventers (BOPs) configured in a blowout preventer (BOP) stack;
a hydraulic fluid accumulator mounted on the BOP stack and including a piston moveable within an internal volume of the accumulator, the piston dividing the internal volume into a first chamber having hydraulic fluid and a second chamber having a gas with the volumes of the first and second chambers depending on the position of the piston, and the accumulator being capable of providing the hydraulic fluid from the first chamber to operate a BOP of the BOP stack;
a sensor capable of wirelessly measuring the position of the piston within the accumulator and transmitting the measured position information, wherein the sensor is installed on a stationary portion of the accumulator, is positioned at a fixed location within the second chamber to emit a wireless signal from the sensor through the gas toward the piston for measuring the position of the piston within the accumulator, and is capable of providing pressure measurement data for the second chamber within the hydraulic fluid accumulator between the piston and the sensor based on the emitted wireless signal; and
an information system capable of reading the position information from the sensor.

12. The system of claim 11 , further including:
a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag located on the piston; and
the sensor including a radio-frequency transceiver capable of sending a radio-frequency signal to the RFID tag and reading a response signal from the RFID tag.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the sensor is at least one of a radio-frequency sensor, a far field electromagnetic (microwave) sensor, a near field electromagnetic sensor, and an acoustic sensor.

14. The system of claim 11 , further including:
more than one accumulator including a piston;
transponders located on each piston and capable of communicating with the sensor to identify each piston from the other pistons.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the information system includes an information hub located remotely from the sensors.

16. The system of claim 11 , further including a sensor capable of measuring the temperature inside the accumulator and transmitting the measured temperature information to the information system.

17. The system of claim 11 , wherein the BOP stack is a subsea BOP stack and the hydraulic fluid accumulator, sensor, and information system are all locatable subsea.

18. The system of claim 11 , further including:
more than one accumulator including a piston;
sensors capable of wirelessly measuring the position of the pistons within the accumulators and transmitting the measured position information; and
the information system capable of reading the position information from the sensors.

19. The system of claim 11 , wherein the sensor installed on the stationary portion of the accumulator and positioned at the fixed location within the second chamber is capable of self-calibration to account for variations in propagation speed related to changes in pressure of the gas in the accumulator.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the BOP stack is a subsea BOP stack and the hydraulic fluid accumulator, sensor, and information system are all locatable subsea.

Assignees

• Cameron Int Corp

Inventors

• Jaffrey Andrew
• Davies Jon

Classifications

• G01F22/00 Primary

  Methods or apparatus for measuring volume of fluids or fluent solid material, not otherwise provided for · CPC title

• E21B33/06 Primary

  Blow-out preventers {, i.e. apparatus closing around a drill pipe, e.g. annular blow-out preventers (rotating blow-out preventers E21B33/085)} · CPC title

• E21B47/14

  using acoustic waves · CPC title

• G01S13/878

  Combination of several spaced transmitters or receivers of known location for determining the position of a transponder or a reflector (G01S13/874 takes precedence) · CPC title

• E21B33/0355

  Control systems, e.g. hydraulic, pneumatic, electric, acoustic, for submerged well heads · CPC title