Patent ID: 7684540

Claim:
A tool for fluid fraction determination of multiphase fluid comprising: an x-ray generator operable for producing a dual peak radiation spectrum having a low energy region and a high energy region; a sample cell operably connected to said x-ray generator for receiving said dual peak radiation spectrum and serving to pass said dual peak radiation spectrum through a sample of said multiphase fluid inside said sample cell; a measurement radiation detector operably connected to an output of said sample cell and being operable for measuring radiation transmitted through said sample cell and said sample of said multiphase fluid; a reference radiation detector operably connected to an output of said x-ray generator, said reference radiation detector being configured to detect incident photons of said dual peak radiation spectrum not passed through said sample of said multiphase fluid to provide a reference output; an analysis unit operably connected to said reference radiation detector and being configured to receive said reference output in order to maintain a constant, non-shifting dual peak radiation spectrum during operation of the x-ray generator; wherein said reference output comprises counts of incident photons grouped into a high energy window and a low energy window, wherein photons above a set energy level will be added to a high energy reference count and photons below said set energy level will be added to a low energy reference count; and wherein an acceleration voltage of said x-ray generator is controlled by a ratio of the high energy reference count to the low energy reference count, and wherein a beam current of said x-ray generator is controlled by one of the high energy reference count, the low energy reference count, and the sum of the high energy reference count and low energy reference count.