Utilizing elastic sensing elements as a monitoring technique for early fault detection of control valve diaphragm failure
AssigneeSaudi Arabian Oil Company
InventorIbrahim Samir Alramadhan
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Abstract
A method for early detection of control valve diaphragm failure is disclosed. The method includes disposing an elastic sensing element on a diaphragm of a pneumatic control valve, generating, using the elastic sensing element, a baseline sensor record comprising initial elasticity measurements of the diaphragm, generating, using the elastic sensing element and during a useful life of the control valve, a sequence of periodic sensor records comprising periodic elasticity measurements of the diaphragm, generating, in response to any periodic sensor record differs from the baseline sensor record by a pre-determined threshold, an alarm, and performing, in response to the alarm, a maintenance operation of the control valve.
Claims20
A method for early detection of control valve diaphragm failure, the method comprising:
- disposing an elastic sensing element on a diaphragm of a pneumatic control valve;
- generating, using the elastic sensing element, a baseline sensor record comprising initial elasticity measurements of the diaphragm, wherein the baseline sensor record is a collection of recorded measurement data of sensor measurements generated throughout one or more complete stroking travel of the diaphragm;
- generating, using the elastic sensing element and during a useful life of the control valve, a sequence of periodic sensor records comprising periodic elasticity measurements of the diaphragm;
- generating, in response to any periodic sensor record differs from the baseline sensor record by a pre-determined threshold, an alarm;
- performing, in response to the alarm, a maintenance operation of the control valve;
- and
- storing the sensor measurements, the baseline sensor record, the periodic sensor records, and the alarm into a buffer.
A system for early detection of control valve diaphragm failure, comprising:
- a pneumatic control valve comprising:
- a valve head,
- a valve seat,
- a valve stem,
- an outer housing encompassing the valve head, the valve stem, and the valve seat,
- a diaphragm for controlling a fluid passage of the pneumatic control valve;
- and
- an elastic sensing element disposed partially on the diaphragm and partially on the diaphragm plate for early failure detection;
- and
- a data gathering and analysis system configured such that the data gathering and analysis system:
- generates, using the elastic sensing element, a baseline sensor record comprising initial elasticity measurements of the diaphragm;
- generates, using the elastic sensing element and during a useful life of the control valve, a sequence of periodic sensor records comprising periodic elasticity measurements of the diaphragm;
- generates, in response to any periodic sensor record differs from the baseline sensor record by a pre-determined threshold, an alarm;
- and
- facilitates, in response to the alarm, a maintenance operation of the control valve.
A pneumatic control valve comprising:
- a diaphragm for controlling a fluid passage of the pneumatic control valve, the control valve comprising:
- a valve head,
- a valve seat,
- a valve stem, and
- an outer housing encompassing the valve head, the valve stem, and the valve seat,
- wherein the valve stem is coupled to a diaphragm plate and the diaphragm;
- and
- an elastic sensing element disposed partially on the diaphragm and partially on the diaphragm plate for early failure detection,
- wherein a baseline sensor record is generated using the elastic sensing element and comprises initial elasticity measurements of the diaphragm,
- wherein a sequence of periodic sensor records during a useful life of the control valve is generated using the elastic sensing element and comprises periodic elasticity measurements of the diaphragm,
- wherein an alarm is generated in response to any periodic sensor record differs from the baseline sensor record by a pre-determined threshold, and
- wherein a maintenance operation of the control valve is performed in response to the alarm.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.