Patent ID: 11952887
Assignee: EXXONMOBIL TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING COMPANY
Field: Civil engineering (Other fields)
Classification: CPC E  F | IPC E

Claim 0:
1. A plunger lift system for a wellbore, the wellbore comprising a production tubing for conveying fluids from a reservoir to a surface, the plunger lift system comprising:
a lubricator attached to a wellhead at the surface;
a plunger dimensioned to travel through the production tubing upon being released from the lubricator;
a bumper spring residing in the production tubing and configured to receive the plunger when the plunger travels toward the bottom of the wellbore;
a plurality of mandrels disposed along the production tubing, each of the plurality of mandrels having a lug that secures a corresponding gas lift valve and a corresponding reverse-flow check valve within each of the mandrels;
magnetic sensor systems installed along the production tubing, wherein each magnetic sensor system comprises a magnetic sensor for detecting a passage of the plunger as the plunger travels through the production tubing, wherein the magnetic sensor systems (i) are designed to be installed between each of the lugs and corresponding reverse-flow check valves, or (ii) are configured to replace the corresponding reserve-flow check valve between the lug and the corresponding gas lift valve;
a communication device that is configured to transmit communication signals between each magnetic sensor system and a computing system located at the surface; and
the computing system, comprising:
a processor; and
a non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-executable instructions that direct the processor to dynamically determine at least one of a plunger position or a plunger velocity based on the communication signals received from the magnetic sensor systems.