Actuator with embedded monitoring and optimizing functionality

A system, comprising:

• a control valve of a gas injection line configured to control gas injected into the gas line for extracting oil from an oil well;
• a bottom hole pressure gauge situated in a bottom of the oil well;
• and
• a gas actuator that comprises:
• a valve actuator coupled to the control valve and configured to control movements of the control valve;
• a motherboard embedded in the gas actuator that comprises:
• at least one microprocessor and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium;
• the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprises firmware;
• and
• the firmware when executed by the at least one microprocessor from the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium causes the at least one microprocessor to perform operations comprising:
• controlling the control valve through the valve actuator to control gas injection rates of the gas into the gas line;
• and
• using the controlling to operate the actuator in a kickoff mode of operation to obtain a sufficient casing pressure for the gas line and a sufficient gas flow rate for the gas line to initiate extraction of oil from the oil well, a bottom hole pressure optimization mode of operation for a bottom hole pressure provided from the bottom hole pressure gauge to maintain an optimal bottom hole pressure for the oil well, and a well protection mode of operation that monitors current casing pressures and current gas flow rates within the gas line and initiates one of four phases of the kickoff mode of operation based on threshold casing pressures and a threshold gas flow rate, each threshold casing pressure associated with a specific one of the four phases of the kickoff mode of operation.

A method, comprising:

• operating an actuator in a kickoff mode of operation until a current gas flow rate for gas in a gas line is a sufficient gas flow rate to cause oil to be extracted from an oil well by moving a control valve of the gas line to change gas injection rates into the gas line in increments based on monitoring current casing pressures of the gas line and the current gas flow rate following each gas injection;
• operating the actuator in a bottom hole pressure optimization mode of operation by decreasing and increasing the gas injection rates to achieve and to maintain an optimal bottom hole pressure for the oil well;
• and
• iterating the actuator to a specific phase of the kickoff mode of operation when a given current casing pressure or a given current gas flow rate falls below threshold casing pressures or the sufficient gas flow rate.