US 8,915,145 B1 · Multiphase mass flow metering system and method using density and volumetric flow rate determination

Abstract

A system and method for calculating the mass flow rate of a fluid stream are presented. The system includes an inlet pipe that receives the fluid stream, a density determination end, a volumetric flow rate determination end, and an outlet pipe. The density determination end may have pipe sections that are connected to each other, a weighing system to determine the apparent mass of the fluid stream, and inlet and outlet supports. The volumetric flow rate determination end of the system may be a piping system, displacer, displacer position sensors and a piping support system designed to determine the average flowing velocity of the fluid stream. The resulting density and volumetric flow rate measurements are multiplied to determine the mass flow rate of the fluid stream. The system and method are applicable to both single- and multi-phase streams and can be used in onshore and offshore applications.

Claims17

Dependent claims

A system for calculating the mass flow rate of a multiphase fluid stream, the system comprising:

an inlet pipe that receives the multiphase fluid stream, the multiphase fluid stream having a weight;
a density determination end that receives the multiphase fluid stream from the inlet pipe, the density determination end comprising a plurality of pipe sections, a weighing system, an inlet support, and an outlet support, the pipe sections and the multiphase fluid stream having a total weight;
a volumetric flow rate determination end that receives the multiphase fluid stream from the density determination end;
an outlet pipe that receives the multiphase fluid stream from the volumetric flow rate determination end;
and
a means for calculating an average mass flow rate of all phases of the multiphase fluid stream based on information from the density determination end and the volumetric flow rate determination end.

3 more elements

A method for calculating the mass flow rate of a multiphase fluid stream, the method comprising the steps of:

feeding the multiphase fluid stream through a density determination end and a volumetric flow rate determination end of a system;
using measurements from the density determination end of the system to calculate average density of the multiphase fluid stream;
using measurements from the volumetric flow rate determination end of the system to calculate the average volumetric flow rate of the multiphase fluid stream;
multiplying the average density of the multiphase fluid stream and the average volumetric flow rate of the multiphase fluid stream to calculate the average mass flow rate;
weighing a plurality of fluids of known densities in the density determination end to compare the response of the system to an unknown fluid relative to its response to these fluids with known densities and approximate the density of the unknown fluid;
plotting the system response and density of each fluid of known density on a graph;
weighing the unknown fluid stream as it passes through the density determination end to determine its apparent mass/scale weight response;
and
using the graph to compare the density of the unknown fluid stream to the density of the fluids with known density.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Multiphase mass flow metering system and method using density and volumetric flow rate determination

Life of this patent

Multiphase mass flow metering system and method using density and volumetric flow rate determination

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims17