Phase wetting detection and water layer thickness characterization in multiphase oil-water and oil-water-gas flow
AssigneeOhio University
InventorLuciano Daniel Paolinelli
Life of this patent
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Abstract
pa In one embodiment, a method of monitoring fluid flow includes mounting at least one probe including at least two electrodes to a conduit having a mixture including at least oil and water flowing therethrough and exciting the at least two electrodes with an AC voltage and a predetermined frequency. The method also includes measuring an impedance between the at least two electrodes and detecting a water layer based on the measured impedance. The mixture may also include gas. In another embodiment, a method of detecting phase wetting in a pipe includes measuring a high frequency impedance response of a two concentric electrode probe flush mounted in the pipe.
Claims13
A method of monitoring water wetting, the method comprising:
- mounting at least one probe including at least two electrodes to a conduit having a mixture including oil and water flowing therethrough;
- exciting the at least two electrodes with an AC voltage and a predetermined frequency;
- measuring an impedance between the at least two electrodes;
- and
- detecting a water layer in contact with the conduit based on the measured impedance;
- and
- determining an oil wet to water wet transition boundary in the conduit relative to the at least two electrodes by the measured impedance,
- wherein mounting the at least one probe includes flush-mounting the at least one probe to the conduit.
A method of detecting phase wetting in a pipe comprising measuring a frequency impedance response of a two concentric electrode probe flush mounted in the pipe, and further comprising determining an oil wet to water wet transition boundary in the pipe relative to the two concentric electrode probe by quantifying time averaged impedance values.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.