ultrasonic meters in unstabilised crude ??
ultrasonic meters in unstabilised crude ??
(OP)
Anybody had experience with ultrasonic liquid meters on crude oil ?.
Interested in the thought of using the VOS (Velocity of sound) to interperate the oil water cut in the meter..
Interested in the thought of using the VOS (Velocity of sound) to interperate the oil water cut in the meter..





RE: ultrasonic meters in unstabilised crude ??
If your "mixture" changes a lot, ultrasonic may not provide the accuracy you desire. You can try a clamp-on type meter as a trial.
I would suggest an Agar probe for determining the amount of water/oil. They use microwave technology and are designed for this application.
RE: ultrasonic meters in unstabilised crude ??
RE: ultrasonic meters in unstabilised crude ??
The established way to determine water cut is to use and bypass sampler with a capacitance meter, this is quite accurate and is used for custody xfer and fiscal duty.
There's a lot of gen out there on pipeline sampling and determination of water cut (BS&W). Have a look out there. btw dont forget that at low flow conditions in a pipeline, water starts to slug flow or just run along the bottom. I could quote volumes on this topic, having been a specialist in this area.
Ultrasonic flowmeters have always been something full of eastern promise, rarely reaching expectations. At best they will give you an idea that you have some fluid flow, but you need to calibrate in situ by some means, maybe you have a tank, can measure level and have a stop watch - this may give you some quantitave info, but dont be too sure - expect +/-20%. This applies to many of the flow gizmos. O course the attraction is the non invasive concept, no hot tapping
RE: ultrasonic meters in unstabilised crude ??
RE: ultrasonic meters in unstabilised crude ??
RE: ultrasonic meters in unstabilised crude ??
Another solution would be to try a coriolis meter (Micromotion) that is excelent for this use because it measures mass, density an temperature and doesn't depend on flow profile ass volumetric flowmeters.
RE: ultrasonic meters in unstabilised crude ??
Check with Agar for the water cut or perhaps to eliminate the need for a test separator.
John
RE: ultrasonic meters in unstabilised crude ??
Do not even think of using Doppler. This technique in my experience only works for flow/no flow applications.
In all cases, be wary of ultrasonic meters if line pressure is not well above the vapour pressure of the crude oil.
RE: ultrasonic meters in unstabilised crude ??
RE: ultrasonic meters in unstabilised crude ??
Panametrics says they can measure 2-phase flow. I haven't ever tried it, though.
I doubt you could detect water cut with an ultrasonic meter.
RE: ultrasonic meters in unstabilised crude ??
Coriolis are certainly the way to go, but when you talk about a vibrating piece of pipe in 1500# service, design engineers run a mile.
RE: ultrasonic meters in unstabilised crude ??
As always, talk to the manufacturers before deciding.
However, when it comes to water cut, check out the other thread in this forum.
You may also care to consider the various multi-phase meters which are begining to emerge and which are reported to be very vluable as they do away with separators, as i understand it.
RE: ultrasonic meters in unstabilised crude ??
You can only measure 2-phase fluids but the volumetric or mass flow would be calculated as one.