Method of measuring flow properties of a multiphase fluid
AssigneeSchlumberger Technology Corporation
InventorsCheng-Gang Xie, Songming Huang
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and system for measuring a property of a multiphase fluid comprising a mixture of at least an oil phase and a water phase travelling through a conduit, the method comprising measuring the thickness of the liquid mixture, measuring the permittivity of a portion of the multiphase fluid, combining the thickness measurement with the permittivity measurement to obtain a derived value for the permittivity of the liquid mixture, and using at least the derived permittivity of the liquid mixture and a relationship between a single phase liquid property and a corresponding two-phase property of the liquid mixture, to obtain a calculated water-to-liquid ratio of the liquid mixture.
Claims17
A method of measuring a property of a multiphase fluid, the multiphase fluid including a gas phase and a liquid phase and the liquid phase comprising at least one of oil and water, travelling through a conduit, comprising:
- generating a swirling flow of the multiphase mixture in the conduit, wherein the swirling of the multiphase mixture in the conduit separate the gas and liquid phases and produces a flow of the liquid phase along an inside-wall of the conduit;
- sampling a portion of the liquid phase from the inside-wall of the conduit through a bypass flow line;
- measuring at least one of a permittivity and a conductivity of the portion of the liquid phase in the bypass flow line;
- and
- using at least one of the measured permittivity and the measured conductivity and an oil/water dielectric mixing model to calculate a water-to-liquid ratio of the liquid phase.
A multiphase flowmeter for measuring properties of a multiphase fluid flowing through a conduit, wherein the multiphase mixture comprises a gas phase and a liquid phase and the liquid phase comprises at least one of an oil phase and a water phase, the multiphase flowmeter comprising:
- a swirl generating device configured to induce the multiphase mixture to undergo swirling flow through the conduit;
- a bypass flow line, wherein the bypass flow line comprises a sampling conduit in fluid communication with the conduit via an inlet passing through an inner-wall of the conduit and via an outlet passing through the inner-wall of the conduit, wherein the outlet is disposed downstream of the inlet;
- an electromagnetic sensor coupled with the sampling conduit and configured to measure at least one of a permittivity and a conductivity of a fluid flowing through the bypass flow line;
- and
- a processor configured to process a water-to-liquid ratio from at least one of measured permittivity and the measured conductivity.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.