Atlantic Richfield Company

Y Sam Yang

Bentley N Scott

Lloyd A Baillie

Frank H Hsu

The concentration of one liquid, such as water, in another liquid, such as crude or refined oil, existing in a mixture which also includes entrained gas is carried out by an apparatus which measures a change in a microwave oscillator operating frequency and the difference between incident and transmitted power with respect to a measurement section of the apparatus. Continuous monitoring of the difference in incident versus transmitted power is carried out to detect the presence of gas and then selectively averaged peak values of the concentration of one liquid in another are determined to provide an accurate measurement of the content of water in oil even with the presence of various amounts of entrained gas in the mixture.

Method for measuring water-oil mixtures with relatively high gas content

Apparatus for measuring the concentration of one material such as water in another material such as crude or refined oil including a coaxial microwave transmission line formed by a conduit for receiving the material and a center conductor which is sheathed with a dielectric covering which is operable to prevent short circuiting of the transmission path. An oscillator circuit is coupled to the transmission line and is driven by a free-running voltage controlled oscillator and a signal receiver monitors the change in frequency caused by impedance pulling of the oscillator due to the change in the dielectric constant of the mixture. Incident and reflected or transmitted power with respect to the measurement section is measured to determine whether an oil-in-water or water-in-oil emulsion is present to verify the concentration of one fluid in the other for a particular operating frequency.

Microwave apparatus and method for measuring fluid mixtures

An apparatus for measuring the concentration of one material in another, such as the concentration of water in crude or refined mineral oil, comprises a conduit for receiving and discharging a continuous flow stream of the fluid mixture and which is formed as part of a coaxial microwave transmission line. A microwave or radio frequency range signal generator in the form of an unbuffered oscillator is connected to the transmission line for generating a high frequency signal which may be varied by a voltage controlled oscillator tuning circuit. A signal receiver monitors the change in frequency caused by impedance pulling of the oscillator due to the change in fluid dielectric constant and transmits a differential frequency signal to a frequency counter and microprocessor for comparison of the measured signal with known reference signals for determining the percentage of one fluid mixed in the other in the flow stream. The apparatus measurement section is adapted to provide for connecting standard microwave coaxial connectors to a relatively large diameter pipe or conduit comprising the coaxial transmission line portion of the measurement section.

Microwave apparatus for measuring fluid mixtures

The total mass flowrate of a multiphase fluid flowstream such as a water, oil and gas mixture being produced from subterranean wells is determined by passing the flowstream through an apparatus which forces a substantial change in direction of the fluid flowstream and wherein a pressure differential is measured across flow paths of known cross-sectional flow area. The total mass flow is determined from the cross-sectional flow areas, the measured total density of the flowstream and the differential pressure. A sample of the flowstream is withdrawn from the flow path, gas is separated from liquid and the liquid fraction of water is measured by passing the liquid mixture through a device which measures the dielectric constant of the liquid mixture using microwave radiation transmissivity or differential pressure between columns of the liquid mixture and a column of water of equal height is compared. Total density of the flowstream may be obtained by measuring differential pressures across changes in elevation of the flowstream.

Growing community of inventors

Plano, TX, United States of America

Y Sam Yang