Apparatus and method for fluid phase fraction determination using X-rays

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9448189-B2
Application number	US-201214345398-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 28, 2012
Priority date	Sep 29, 2011
Publication date	Sep 20, 2016
Grant date	Sep 20, 2016

Abstract

An apparatus for determining fluid phase fraction of a multiphase fluid mixture ( 13 ) comprises: —a x-ray generator ( 20 ) arranged to emit a x-ray radiation spectrum comprising a low energy region and a high energy region, the high energy region including a Bremsstrahlung spectrum; —a pipe section ( 27 ) through which the multiphase fluid mixture ( 13 ) flows comprising a measurement section ( 28 ), said measurement section ( 28 ) being coupled to said x-ray generator ( 20 ); —a detector ( 30 ) coupled to said measurement section ( 28 ) and arranged to detect x-ray radiation that has passed through said multiphase fluid mixture ( 13 ), the detector ( 30 ) being coupled to a multichannel analyzer ( 32 ) producing a measurement output comprising a low energy (LE) and high energy (HE) measurement counts; wherein the measurement output further comprises a low energy (LV) and high energy (HV) control counts, in a low energy and high energy control windows located on an edge of the Bremsstrahlung spectrum, respectively; and wherein the apparatus further comprises an electrical parameter control arrangement ( 33 ) coupled to the x-ray generator ( 20 ) and the detector ( 30 ), the electrical parameter control arrangement ( 33 ) being arranged to calculate a first ratio of the high energy control count relative to the low energy control count (R V =HV/LV) and a second ratio of the high energy measurement count relative to the low energy measurement count (R E =HE/LE), and to adjust the electrical operation of the x-ray generator ( 20 ) based on an electrical parameter control function (F C (V)) of said ratios that minimize a dependence of the electrical operation of the x-ray generator on the fluid phase fraction of the multiphase fluid mixture ( 13 ) flowing in the measurement section ( 28 ).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An apparatus for determining fluid phase fraction of a multiphase fluid mixture, the apparatus comprising:
an x-ray generator arranged to emit an x-ray radiation spectrum comprising a Bremsstrahlung spectrum including a low energy region and a high energy region;
a pipe section through which the multiphase fluid mixture flows comprising a measurement section, said measurement section being coupled to said x-ray generator;
a multichannel analyzer;
a detector coupled to said measurement section and arranged to detect an x-ray radiation spectrum that has passed through said multiphase fluid mixture, the detector being coupled to the multichannel analyzer producing a measurement output comprising a low energy measurement count (LE) and a high energy measurement count (HE) and a low energy control count (LV) and a high energy control count (HV), the low energy control count (LV) and the high energy control count (HV) determined from a low energy control window and a high energy control window, wherein each control window is located along an edge of the Bremsstrahlung spectrum, respectively; and
an electrical parameter control arrangement coupled to the x-ray generator and the detector, the electrical parameter control arrangement being arranged to calculate a first ratio (R V ) of the high energy control count (HV) relative to the low energy control count (LV) (R V =HV/LV) and a second ratio (R E ) of the high energy measurement count (HE) relative to the low energy measurement count (LE) (R E =HE/LE), and to adjust an electrical operation of the x-ray generator based on an electrical parameter control function (F C (V)) of said ratios that minimizes a dependence on the fluid phase fraction of the multiphase fluid mixture flowing in the measurement section.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a high voltage generator, wherein the electrical parameter control arrangement is coupled to the high voltage generator of the x-ray generator, the electrical parameter control arrangement being arranged to adjust an acceleration voltage generated by the high voltage generator.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the high voltage generator operates at around 85 kV, and a target of the x-ray generator is made of gold (Au) having around 5 μm thickness such as to generate a Bremsstrahlung spectrum of energy ranging from around 10 to 100 keV.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the x-ray generator comprises a cathode, wherein the electrical parameter control arrangement is coupled to the cathode of the x-ray generator, the electrical parameter control arrangement being arranged to adjust a current in the cathode of the x-ray generator.

5. The apparatus according to anyone of the claim 1 , wherein the x-ray generator comprises a filter arranged to generate the low energy region and the high energy region of the Bremsstrahlung spectrum, said filter being a K-edge filter made of Barium Fluoride (BaF 2 ) having around 0.12 cm thickness such as to generate the low energy region ranging from around 10 to 50 keV and high energy region ranging from around 50 to 100 keV.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising windows made of boron carbide (B 4 C), wherein the x-ray generator and the detector are coupled to the pipe section through the windows.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising at least one control and data acquisition arrangement for calculating the fluid phase fraction of the multiphase fluid mixture based on the measurement output comprising the low energy (LE) and high energy (HE) measurement counts.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the measurement section is selected from the group consisting of: a Venturi, a V-cone, and an orifice plate.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the multiphase fluid mixture is a hydrocarbon effluent comprising gas, oil, and water.

10. A method for determining fluid phase fraction of a multiphase fluid mixture, the method comprising:
flowing the multiphase fluid mixture in a pipe section having a measurement section;
submitting the multiphase fluid mixture in the measurement section to an x-ray beam of an x-ray generator having an x-ray radiation spectrum comprising a Bremsstrahlung spectrum including a low energy region and a high energy region;
detecting the x-ray radiation spectrum that has passed through said multiphase fluid mixture and producing a measurement output comprising a low energy measurement count (LE) and a high energy measurement count (HE) and a low energy control count (LV) and a high energy control count (HV), the low energy control count (LV) and the high energy control count (HV) determined from a low energy control window and a high energy control window, wherein each control window is located along an edge of the Bremsstrahlung spectrum, respectively;
calculating a first ratio (R V ) of the high energy control count (HV) relative to the low energy control count (LV) (R V =HV/LV) and a second ratio (R E ) of the high energy measurement count (HE) relative to the low energy measurement count (LE) (R E =HE/LE), and an electrical parameter control function (F C (V)) of said ratios; and
adjusting an electrical operation of the x-ray generator based on the electrical parameter control function (F C (V)) of said ratios that minimized a dependence on the fluid phase fraction of the multiphase fluid mixture flowing in the measurement section.

11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein adjusting the electrical operation of the x-ray generator comprises adjusting an acceleration voltage generated by a high voltage generator of the x-ray generator.

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein adjusting the acceleration voltage comprises modifying the low energy region and the high energy region to adapt the x-ray radiation spectrum to a compositional variation during time of the multiphase fluid mixture.

13. The method according to claim 10 , wherein adjusting the electrical operation of the x-ray generator comprises adjusting a current in a cathode of the x-ray generator.

14. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the electrical parameter control function F C (V) is given by:
F C,x ( V )={ C 1 ·R V,x ( V )+ C 2 ·R E,x ( V )+ C 3 ·R V,x ( V )· R E,x ( V )}

where:
V is the x-ray generator accelerating voltage;
x refers to a particular constituting element in the multiphase fluid mixture;
R V is the first ratio of the high energy control count relative to the low energy control count (R V =HV/LV);
R E is the second ratio of the high energy measurement count relative to the low energy measurement count (R E =HE/LE);

and where the coefficients C1, C2, C3 minimize:
∥ F C,x ( V )− R V,x=H2O ( V )∥.

15. The method according to claim 10 , further comprising calculating the fluid phase fraction of the multiphase fluid mixture based on the measurement output comprising the low energy measurement count (LE) and the high energy measurement count (HE).

16. A method for determining fluid phase fraction of a multiphase fluid mixture, the method comprising:
flowing the multiphase fluid mixture in a pipe section having a measurement section;
submitting the multiphase fluid mixture in the measurement section to an x-ray beam of an x-ray generator having an x-ray radiation spectrum comprising a Bremsstrahlung spectrum including a low energy region and a high energy region;
detecting the x-ray radiation spectrum that has passed through said multiphase fluid mixture and producing a meas

Assignees

• Schlumberger Technology Corp

Inventors

• Korkin Roman Vladimirovich
• Zakharov Lev
• Zhdaneev Oleg
• Groves Joel Lee

Classifications

• G01N23/087

  using polyenergetic X-rays · CPC title

• G01N33/2823 Primary

  Raw oil, drilling fluid or polyphasic mixtures · CPC title

• G01N23/083

  the radiation being X-rays · CPC title

• G01N23/12 Primary

  the material being a flowing fluid or a flowing granular solid · CPC title

• G01N2223/635

  fluids, granulates · CPC title