Patent ID: 9297238
Filing Date: 2016-03-29
CPC Classification: E21B

Claim Text:
1. A method of operating a plunger lift system in a gas producing well, the method comprising: opening a control valve and allowing a plunger to rise to a top of the well; determining an actual rise time of the plunger based on a time it takes the plunger to rise to the top of the well; using a current afterflow time and a difference between a target rise time and the actual rise time to calculate an adjusted afterflow time; allowing the adjusted afterflow time to pass before closing the control valve and keeping the valve closed for a close time; and repeating the steps of the method, each time calculating a new adjusted afterflow time and keeping the control valve open for the new adjusted afterflow time, wherein the adjusted afterflow time is calculated using the function: and and wherein, ΔAfterflowTime is the change to be made to the afterflow time, TargetRise is the target rise time of the plunger to the top of the well, ActualRise is the time measured for the plunger to reach the top of the well, ScalingFactor is a range between 0-1, and AfterflowTime is the current afterflow time.