Water percentage meter and method

Abstract: A water percentage meter includes a test cell through which a petroleum stream will flow. The test cell has an outer shell which cooperates with a sensor probe to form a sensor capacitor with the petroleum stream as the dielectric, and a reference probe surrounded with dry oil as the dielectric to form a reference capacitor. A comparator network compares the capacitance of the sensor capacitor with the capacitance of the reference capacitor, and provides a signal representative of the capacitance difference. An output circuit provides an output representative of the water percentage in the petroleum stream in accordance with the signal from the comparator network.

Description: The present invention relates to monitoring means and methods for determining the percentage of water in a flowing petroleum stream. Meters for this purpose are sometimes referred to in the oil industry as BS & W (Base, Sediment and Water) meters, and the water percentage is sometimes referred to as the water cut. In accordance with the invention, a water percentage meter includes a test cell through which a petroleum stream will flow. The test cell includes an outer shell, a sensor probe which cooperates with the outer shell to form a sensor capacitor with the flow of the petroleum stream as the dielectric, and a reference probe surrounded with dry oil as the dielectric to form a reference capacitor. Processing apparatus includes a comparator network electrically connected to the sensor capacitor and to the reference capacitor which compares the capacitance of the sensor capacitor with the capacitance of the reference capacitor. The comparator network provides a signal representative of the capacitance difference between the sensor and reference capacitors. An output circuit connected to the comparator network provides an output representative of the water percentage in the petroleum stream in accordance with the signal from the comparator network. US-A-3 774 237 discloses an apparatus for measuring dielectric constants to determine e.g. the moisture content of crude oil in a pipeline. The difference in dielectric constants between liquid in a standard sample cavity and a test sample cavity are determined, the material in the standard sample cavity having a known moisture content. US-A-5 033 289 discloses an apparatus for monitoring the water cut of a flowing petroleum stream wherein charges in a probe signal are composed to charges in a reference signal, as a function of the impedance of the petroleum stream, the probe being located in the pipeline. The objects and advantages of the invention will appear more fully hereinafter from a consideration of the detailed description which follows, taken together with the accompanying drawings wherein two embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example. It is to be expressly understood, however, that the drawings are for illustration purposes only and are not to be construed as defining the limits of the invention. Figure 1 is a drawing of a meter constructed in accordance with the present invention. Figure 2 is a detailed block diagram of one embodiment of the electronic processing equipment shown in Figure 1. Figure 3 is a detailed block diagram of a second embodiment of the electronic processing equipment shown in Figure 1. Figure 4 is a detailed block diagram of the measurement electronics block shown in Figure 3. Figure 5 is a flow diagram representing the operation of the second embodiment. Referring to Figure 1 there is shown a probe 5, which may be made of aluminum, held in position by a probe mount 8, which may be made of Teflon or some other non-conductive material. Attached to probe 5 is a probe tip 14, also made of Teflon, and held in place by threads 20. A housing 26 has male threads 27 and 30 and a multiplicity of internal passageways 35 for permitting the flow of a petroleum stream. Probe 5 has a smaller diameter 50 which is connected to a right angle adapter 53. Adapter 53 is connected to another rod 57. Rod 57 is connected electrically to electronic processing equipment 64. Thus, there is an electrical conductive path from probe 5 to equipment 64. Probe 5 is covered with a thin heat shrinkable coating made of Kynar. Electronic processing equipment 64 is connected to ground 66. A cylinder 72 having a body 76 is threaded onto housing 26. An end cap 80 is threaded to body 76. Dry oil of the type expected to be found in the petroleum stream is inserted through the opening in cylinder 72 and then sealed by end cap 80. Dry oil is defined as oil with no substantial water present. End cap 80 may also have a pressure equalization chamber so that no pressure difference exists across the cylinder wall. A sensing probe 90, similar to probe 5, is held by a Teflon probe mount 93. A probe tip 97 is attached to probe 90 by threads 103. The small diameter 107 of probe 90 connects to a right angle adapter 110. Right angle adapter 110 is connected to another rod 115 which is in turn is connected to electronic processing equipment 64. Probe tips 14 and 97 are sealed with probes 5 and 90 respectively with O rings 120. Similarly probe 5 and 90 are sealed with probe mounts 8 and 93 respectfully with O rings 123. The large diameters of probes 5 and 90 are covered with heat shrinkable coatings of Kynar. Test cell 130 has a sleeve 135 connected to ground 66. It should be noted that sleeve 135 is sized at one end to a pipeline size and the other end to accommodate housing 26. In between, sleeve 135 has a 5cm inside diameter through a measurements section, that is the section in which probe 90 is located. Sleeve 135 is also manufactured to utilize a victaulic connection or, in the alternative, a flange may be attached to sleeve 135. Sleeve 140 is threaded onto housing 26, and like sleeve 135 has adaption for victaulic connection or may also have a flange mounting attached to it. Thus, test cell 130 may be connected in line to a pipeline carrying the petroleum stream. The test cell may be mounted vertically so that gravity does not affect the flowing petroleum stream in a manner which would cause separation of oil and water. This promotes uniformity of the fluid by preventing fluid segregation. With reference to Figure 2, electronic processing equipment 64 includes a 20 MHz oscillator 200. Although a preferred frequency of 20 MHz is used, any frequency within a range of frequencies from 100 KHz to 200 MHz may be used. Oscillator 200 is connected to ground 66 as are all other units in electronic processing equipment 64 so that the signal path is with respect to ground 66. Oscillator 200 provides a signal to a driver/amplifier 206. The output of driver amplifier 206 is provided to a bridge circuit 208 comprising a variable capacitor 210, a fixed capacitor 214 and capacitors 90C and 5C which represent sensor probes 90 and 5 respectively. Outputs 216 and 217 of bridge circuit 208 are connected to a mixer 220. Any difference in capacitance between the measurement probe 90 and the reference probe 5 causes an unbalance in bridge 208 and generates an output signal, which is applied to mixer 220. This difference in capacitance is caused by water in the petroleum stream. A local oscillator 222 provides a 19.998 MHz beat frequency signal to mixer 220, so that the signal from the output of bridge circuit 208 is hetrodyned to an intermediate frequency of 2 KHz. The output of mixer 220 is provided to an intermediate frequency amplifier 224. The signal from amplifier 224 is converted to a DC voltage E out by a precision rectifier 230. The DC voltage from precision rectifier 230 is converted to digital signals by an A to D converter 236. The digital signals are provided to an EPROM means 240. EPROM means 240 is a programmable memory which converts the measured output voltage into a percent water content using the previously stored data relating water percentage to voltage (E out ). EPROM means 240 provides a digital output to a digital to analog converter 245, which in turn provides a 4-20 milliamp output as the water percentage signal E wc . It should be noted that the digital signals from EPROM means 240 may be used directly as a digital output of water percentage. Referring now to Figure 3, there is shown another embodiment of the present invention in which reference probe 5 and measurement probe 90 are connected to measurement electronics 250. Measurement electronics 250 provides a voltage signal V, a current signal I, and a phase signal PH to microprocessor means 255 which in turn provides a voltage V r to measurement electronics 250. In order for the measurements to work, all of the units in measurement electronics 250 and microprocessor means 255 are measured with respect to ground 66. With reference to Figure 4, relay means 260 is controlled by voltage V r . It should be noted that elements having the same number as elements in Figure 2 are the same elements. Further, that elements having the same numeric designation but with an alpha suffix operate in the same manner as elements having the same numeric designation without an alpha suffix. Relay means 260 is connected to a current measuring resistor 263 at a connection 265. Oscillator means 200 is connected to resistor 263 at a connection 273. A voltage appearing at connection 265 is provided to an amplifier 268 and to a difference amplifier 269. A voltage appearing at connection 273 is also provided to difference amplifier 269 whose output then corresponds to the current flowing through resistor 263. The outputs from amplifiers 268 and 269 are provided to mixers 220 and 220A, which are receiving a signal from local oscillator means 222. The outputs from mixers 220 and 220A are provided through IF amplifiers 224 and 224A, respectively. The outputs from amplifiers 224 and 224A are provided to precision rectifiers 230 and 230A, respectively, which in turn rectifies them to provide the voltage signal V and the current signal I, respectively. The outputs from amplifiers 224, 224A are also provided to zero crossing detectors 280 and 280A, respectively. Zero crossing detectors 280, 280A are responsive to the outputs from amplifiers 224 and 224A, respectively, to provide a rectangular voltage output to a flip-flop 284. Flip-flop 284, responsive to the signals from zero crossing detector 280 and 280A, provides a signal out which is related to the phase difference between the voltage signal V and the current signal I. The signal from flip-flop 284 is integrated by an integrating means 290 to provide a D.C. signal, corresponding to the phase difference, to a D.C. amplifier 293, where it is amplified and provided as signal PH. The sequence of operation can be seen in Figure 5, where block 300 represents the starting of the process. The next step is in initialize the system which is represented by block 304, followed by the SET V r = 5 volts. The statement V r = 5 volts means that relay 260 connects the reference probe 5 to the other electronic elements in measuring electronics 250. The next block 310 is just a representation to continue with the voltage V r = 5, and we proceed to block 312 which is to acquire both signals V,I and as noted previously refers to the voltage and current measurements. The next step, as represented by block 315, is to calculate the average V,I which is done by repetitively sampling V,I until the number of samples equals 50. This is indicated by block 320, "# SAMP = 50?". If the answer to that question is "No", we go back to block 310 and continue until there are 50 samples. At that time, the answer to block 320 is "Yes", and we proceed to block 324 which is to calculate Z reference (Z REF ). Proceeding to the next block 326, "SET V r = 0". With V r at zero, relay means 260 connects measurement probe 90 to the electronic elements in measurements electronics 250. Block 330 is similar to block 310, it indicates to continue. Again, we acquire V,I as proposed by block 332 and again, we proceed to blocks 335 which is to calculate the average of V,I and this again is accomplished through block 340 which asks the same question as block 320. Again, if the answer is that the number of samples does not equal 50, we return to block 330 to continue acquiring V,I until we have 50 samples. When the answer is "Yes", we proceed to block 344 "calculate Z measurement". Block 350 requires the determination of Z difference (Z DIFF ) between Z reference and Z measurement. The water cut WC is then determined by block 355 where A and B are empirically derived constants. We then proceed to block 360 which asks the question, "# MEAS = 20?". The answer is that we have not made 20 measurements and we return to the continue block 330. If the answer is "Yes", we proceed to block 370 SET V r = 5. The process then loops back to block 310 to continue measuring. From the foregoing we can see that we sample V,I 50 times and use an average sample for the measurement probe and also for the reference probe. When we obtain the difference measurement, we repeat the measurements until we have 20 measurements. Then we start the process all over again by commanding relay 260 to disconnect the measurement probe 90 and to reconnect the reference probe 5. As noted earlier, there is another signal that we have not discussed and that is signal PH. Signal PH relates to the phase difference between the voltage signal and the current signal. This signal is not necessary to the calculation of the water cut. However, as noted previously, the invention can he used in a BS&W meter which normally is used in oil continuous measurements, that is, the phase of the petroleum stream being monitored is oil continuous. However, if too much water occurs in the stream, so that the stream switches over to the water continuous phase, then the measurements would be invalid. Signal PH may be used and is used to notify the operator that there is too much water in the petroleum stream and that the measurements are therefore invalid measurements. It may be used in a number of ways which may include an alarm mechanism, a print out tied in with the print out of the water cuts to show that they are inaccurate, or it may even be used to blank out the water cut signal.

Claims: Apparatus for determining the percentage of water in a flowing petroleum stream characterized by: a test cell (130) arranged to have a said stream flow therethrough and having an outer shell (135) of conductive material; a sensor probe (90) located within said outer shell to form a sensor capacitor (90,135) in cooperation with said outer shell and with said stream serving as the dielectric; a reference capacitor (5,72) disposed within said outer shell (140) and having dry oil as its dielectric; a comparator (208,250) connected to said sensor capacitor and to said reference capacitor to compare the capacitance of the sensor capacitor with the capacitance of the reference capacitor and to provide a signal representative of the comparison; and output means (240,255) connected to the comparator to provide an output signal representative of the water percentage in said stream in accordance with said comparison signal. Apparatus according to claim 1 characterized in that said comparator (208) comprises capacitor means (210,214) connected to said reference capacitor (5,72) and said sensor capacitor (90,135) in a bridge network, and an oscillator (200) to provide an oscillatory signal of a desired frequency to said network. Apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2 characterized in that said output means (240) includes memory means (240) storing values of water percentage over a range of ratios of oil and water in a petroleum stream and storing values of said comparison signal corresponding to said water percentage values, said output means being responsive to said comparison signal to select the corresponding said water percentage value as said output signal. Apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3 characterized in that said sensor probe (90) has a probe tip (97) of non-conductive material at one end and is mounted at the other end by mounting means (93) of non-conductive material having a passage therethrough for electrical connection (107) to said comparator, whereby said sensor probe and said outer shell (135) form a coaxial capacitor. Apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4 characterized in that said reference capacitor comprises a reference probe (5) having a probe tip (14) of non-conductive material at one end and is mounted at the other end by mounting means (8) of non-conductive material having a passage therethrough for electrical connection (50) to said comparator, said reference capacitor further comprising a conductive cylindrical wall (72) surrounding said reference probe (5) and containing said dry oil dielectric. Apparatus according to claim 1 characterized in that said comparator (250) comprises: signal means (268,269) for providing a voltage signal V and a current signal I; and switch means (260) responsive to a control signal to connect either the sensor capacitor (90) or the reference capacitor (5) to the signal means so that the voltage V and current I signals are provided in accordance with the capacitance respectively of the sensor capacitor and of the reference capacitor. Apparatus according to claim 6 characterized by means (280,280A,284) connected to the signal means (268,269) to provide a signal PH representative of the phase difference between the voltage signal V and the current signal I. Apparatus according to claim 6 or claim 7 characterized in that said output means includes a microprocessor (255) for providing said control signal to said switch means (260) and for providing said output signal representative of the water percentage in accordance with said voltage V and current I signals. Apparatus according to claim 8 characterized in that said microprocessor (255) is operable: to determine a first impedance Z REF from the voltage V and current I signals when the reference capacitor (5) is connected to the signal means (268,269) and a second impedance Z MEAS when the sensor capacitor (90) is connected to the signal means (268,269); to determine the impedance difference Z DIFF between the impedances Z REF and Z MEAS; and to determine the water percentage in accordance with the equation: WC=A+B(Z DIFF) wherein A and B are empirically derived constants. Apparatus according to claim 9 characterized in that said first and second impedances are determined from averaged values of said respective V and I signals over a plurality of measurement cycles.

Inventors: COX PERCY TERRELL, COX, PERCY TERRELL
Applicants: TEXACO DEVELOPMENT CORP, TEXACO DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
Application year: 1992
Main classification: G01N33
IPC codes: G01N33, G01N27