The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 10, 2011
Filed:
Feb. 02, 2010
Espen S. Johansen, Humble, TX (US);
Omer Haldun Unalmis, Kingwood, TX (US);
John Lievois, Houston, TX (US);
Espen S. Johansen, Humble, TX (US);
Omer Haldun Unalmis, Kingwood, TX (US);
John Lievois, Houston, TX (US);
Weatherford/Lamb Inc., Houston, TX (US);
Abstract
Methods and apparatus determine phase fractions for phases within a fluid mixture flow under a wide range of flow conditions including wet-gas flow. Appropriate flow algorithms can utilize this phase fraction information with a total flow rate of the mixture to find individual flow rates for phases, such as oil, water, and gas or gas and liquid, which can represent a combination of oil and water phases. For some embodiments, a multiphase flowmeter includes an array of spatially distributed pressure sensors configured to determine a velocity of the mixture flow and hence the total flow rate, which is applied with information from a differential pressure meter to calculate the bulk density of the fluid mixture. Further, additional speed of sound information or a water-in-liquid ratio as may be determined by spectral analysis can enable differentiation between the oil and water phases.