Calculation and measurement of the magnetic field in a large diameter electromagnetic flow meter

An idealized magnet model previously used in a simple coil configuration is applied to a more complicated engineering design problem, where an electromagnetic flow meter in diameter of 500 mm is used with five pairs of coils. The numerical results are compared with measurement data. The difference between theory and experiment and the possible causes of errors are discussed. It is shown that the idealized magnet model is practical for the design and the analysis of the flow meter. The work also shows that the traditional uniform field design based on two dimensional (2D) analysis is not suitable for this kind of flow meter. Thus nonuniform field and 3D analysis is needed.     

Multiphase flow measurements using coupled slotted orifice plate and swirl flow meter

Multiphase flow metering is a major focus for oil and gas industries. The performance of a modified version of a close coupled slotted orifice plate and swirl flow meter for multiphase flow was evaluated to provide further development of a new type of multiphase flow meter. The slotted orifice provides well homogenized flow for several pipe diameters downstream of the plate. This characteristic provides a homogeneous mixture at the inlet of the swirl meter for a wide range of gas volume fractions (GVF) and flow rates. In order to evaluate the performance of the designed flow-meter, its response was investigated for varying pressures and water flow rates. The proper correlations were established to provide high accurate two-phase flow measurements. The new proposed approach provides the GVF measurement with less than ±0.63% uncertainty for GVF range from 60% to 95%.     

A two-phase flow meter for determining water and solids volumetric flow rates in stratified,inclined solids-in-water flows

This paper describes the design and implementation of a two-phase flow meter which can be used in solids-in-water two phase pipe flows to measure the in-situ volume fraction distributions of both phases, the velocity profiles of both phases and the volumetric flow rates for both phases. The system contains an Impedance Cross Correlation (ICC) device which is used in conjunction with an Electromagnetic Velocity Profiler (EVP). Experimental results were obtained for the water and solids velocity and volume fraction profiles in upward inclined flow at 30° to the vertical, in which highly non-uniform velocity and volume fraction profiles occur.     

A V-Cone meter measurement correlation in low pressure wet gas based on Chisholm model

To gain a deeper understanding of the performance of V-Cone meter in low pressure wet gas measurement, the over-reading of the V-Cone meter was experimentally investigated in the present study. The equivalent diameter ratio of the V-Cone meter is 0.55. The experimental fluids were air and tap water. The operating pressure and the gas volume fraction ranged from 0.1 MPa to 0.4 MPa and 97.52%–100%, respectively. The results showed that the existing V-Cone wet gas correlation, which was developed for the medium and high pressure wet gas cannot be well extended to the low pressure conditions. The Chisholm exponent monotonically decreased with the ratio of liquid-to-gas mass flow rate increasing, and was almost not affected by the gas to liquid density ratio and the gas densiometric Froude number in the present test ranges. A measurement correlation dedicated for the low pressure wet gas was developed. In the present cases, the relative deviation of the gas mass flow rate predicted by the new correlation was within ±4.0% and ±3.0% under the 95% and 90% confidence level, respectively; the average relative deviation was 0.046%. Our results provide insights into the measurement performance of V-Cone meter in low pressure wet gas and may help to develop a more comprehensive wet gas correlation.     

电磁流量计的使用及电磁兼容性分析

介绍利用面板及智能终端进行电磁流量计参数设置和组态的方法,以及提高电磁流量计的电磁兼容性技术。电磁流量计的干扰源主要包括工频电磁干扰、流体电化学干扰噪声和电源干扰噪声。目前电磁流量计主要采用低频或双频矩形波励磁技术、同步采样技术、输入保护、接地技术等来降低干扰。实际应用表明,这些技术有较好的抗干扰效果。     

Quantitative multiphase flow characterisation using an Earth's field NMR flow meter

We present a novel nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) multiphase flow metering system with the ability to interpret the flow regime and quantify both the liquid volumetric flowrate and holdup for gas-liquid flows. The flow measurement apparatus consists of a pre-polarising permanent magnet upstream of an Earth's field radio frequency NMR detection coil. In this work, the system is applied to measure the free induction decay (FID) NMR signal of gas-liquid flows at a range of flow rates in both the stratified and slug flow regimes. Tikhonov regularisation is applied to fit a model equation to the acquired FID signal in order to determine the relevant liquid velocity probability distribution. Signal interpretation applied to the individual NMR scans allows monitoring of both the liquid velocity and holdup with time. The NMR estimate of the liquid holdup is comparable to video analysis of the flowing stream through a transparent pipe section. The accuracy of the NMR metering system is successfully validated against an independent in-line rotameter measurement of the liquid volumetric flowrate during multiphase flow. Finally, analysis of the temporal variation in measured liquid flowrate is shown to clearly distinguish the stratified and slug flow regimes.     

3D electromagnetic tomography using a single layer sensor array

Electromagnetic tomography (EMT) is a non-invasive technique to gain the induced voltages and to reconstruct the distribution of electromagnetic properties. A volume imaging using a single layer sensor array, namely, Single Layer 3D-EMT, has been developed in this paper. To solve the forward problem, three kinds of sensor arrays are established with different number of coils,—8, 12 and 16, to conduct simulations. Four typical conductivity distributions are used to verify the 3D-EMT imaging with single layer sensor array. The calculation of sensitivity maps in 3D views is presented, and the sensitivity maps of different layers, from z = 0 to z = 20, are analyzed. The conjugate gradient iterative method has been adopted in image reconstruction. It can be seen from the simulation results that the 3D reconstructed images using a single layer sensor array can display the distribution of the measured objects in position, shape, and size. By calculating the relative error, the quality of the reconstructed images is evaluated andthe result shows that the 12-coil sensor array has the best image quality among three sensor arrays. In addition, the single layer 3D experimental system has been established to evaluate the effectiveness of 3D imaging using a single layer sensor array. In order to save the hardware resources, the paper presents the author's research work about the possibility of Single Layer 3D-EMT imaging in simulations and experiments. This can also provide a guide to explore the potential application with electromagnetic testing technique.     

Design method for flow tube structure of electromagnetic water meter with shrunk measurement tube based on pressure loss-flow restriction

Due to the low flow rate measurement demand for battery-powered electromagnetic water meter, shrunk measurement tubes (such as circular section transition to square section) are often used to enhance flow velocity and measurement performance at small flow rate. However, this will also result in an increase in sensor pressure loss, even exceeding the pressure loss limit. Therefore, it is necessary to study a flow tube structure design method based on pressure loss-flow restriction, and design a flow tube structure which can not only maximize the induced voltage, but also meet the actual pressure loss requirement. Because there are many unknown variables in the formula of pressure loss mechanism, it cannot be directly used in structural design. Therefore, taking DN100 sensor as an example, based on finite element software, the variation of pressure loss with the length, width and height of rectangular section is obtained by orthogonal test method, and the numerical model of pressure loss is established. According to the requirements of industry and induced voltage enhancement, the optimal rectangular section size is found with the established pressure loss numerical model, and the structure of flow tube transition section is further optimized to reduce pressure loss. Finally, the prototype is made according to the optimized structure. Pressure loss experiment shows that the error between simulated value and measured value is within ±2.68% (±0.4 KPa). It means the pressure loss-flow restriction based design method for flow tube structure of electromagnetic water meter with shrunk measurement tube is effective and reliable.     

Precise gamma based two-phase flow meter using frequency feature extraction and only one detector

Flow regime information can be used to enhance measurement accuracy of flowmeters. Void fraction measurement and regime identification of two-phase flows including, liquid and gas phases are crucial issues in oil and gas industries. In this study, three different regimes including annular, stratified and homogeneous in the range of 5%–90% void fractions, were simulated by Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) Code. In simulated structure, a Cesium 137 source and only one NaI detector were used to record received transmitted photons. Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) was applied to the registered signals of the detector in order to analyze in the frequency domain. Several features of signals in the frequency domain were extracted. These features were the average value of fast Fourier transform, the amplitude of dominant frequency, variance, Kurtosis and RMS (root mean square). Different combinations of these features were investigated in order to find the best features with the best separation ability for using as the inputs of Artificial Neural Network (ANNs). Two different Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) neural networks were used to recognize flow regimes and predict the void fraction. In regime identification procedure, all of the three mentioned regimes were recognized correctly and in the volume fractions prediction procedure, the void fraction was also estimated with a Mean Relative Error (MRE) percentage of less than 0.5%. In all of the previous studies, at least two detectors were used. Using the proposed method in this paper, number of detectors was reduced to one.     

峰流速仪标定系统数学模型的研究

对峄流速仪标定系统中的空气运动进行分析，引进特征线方法，建立了峰流速仪标定系统的数学模型，编制了计算机仿真程序，仿真结果与实验结果基本吻合，证明该模型的正确性。利用该模型对待标定的峰流速仪进行了标定。     

电磁流速仪在水文测验中的应用

水文测验中的关键参数——水流流速能否准确、及时地测量,直接影响到测验成果精度,为了提高测验精度,本文介绍了一种新型仪器——电磁流速仪,它可替代传统转子式流速仪,具有使用寿命长,不怕水中漂浮物缠绕和流冰碰撞等优点。     

The development of a multiphase flow meter without separation based on sloped open channel dynamics

The online continuous measurement of multiphase flow is one of the most key technologies which influences the development of oil industry in future. A new type of multiphase meter system is developed based on the open channel flow. The test pipe of the meter is slightly slopped to make the flow pattern mainly stratified flow. Based on the study of oil and gas flow dynamics in the open channel test pipe, the liquid metering model and gas metering model are deduced to calculate the gas and the liquid flow rate, the water cut is measured online by the principle of differential pressure. This device can work online without the separation of the production fluid. By the lab test and field application test, the results of the metering system show that the liquid flow rate errors are within ±5%, the gas flow rate errors can be within ±5%, and the water cut absolute error is within ±2%, which can meet the demands of the field flow rate measurement.     

浅谈石化装置流量仪表的选用

石化行业生产所用的原料及产品种类繁多。根据这些流体特点,需要采用不同的流量计进行测量。该文浅谈了针对不同性能的流体所采用的测量方法和流量计的选型。     

Flow measurement with an electromagnetic flowmeter in two-phase bubbly and slug flow regimes

In order to investigate the characteristics of an electromagnetic flowmeter in two-phase flow, an alternating-current electromagnetic flowmeter was designed and manufactured. The signals and noise from the flowmeter under various flow conditions were obtained, and analyzed in comparison with the flow patterns observed with a high-speed charge-coupled device camera.

An experiment with void simulators, in which a rod-shaped non-conducting material was used, was carried out to investigate the effect of bubble position and void fraction on the flowmeter. Two-phase flow experiments, encompassing bubbly to slug flow regimes, were conducted with a water–air mixture.

The simple relation ΔU_TP=ΔU_SP/(1−), relating the flowmeter signal between single-phase flow and two-phase flow, was verified with measurements of the potential difference and the void fraction for a bubbly flow regime. Due to the lack of homogeneity in a real two-phase flow, the discrepancy between the relation and the present measurement increased slightly with increasing void fraction and superficial liquid velocity j_f.

Whereas there is no difference in the shape of the raw signal between single-phase flow and bubbly flow, the signal amplitude for bubbly flow is higher than that for single-phase flow at the same water flow rate, since the passage area of the water flow is reduced. In the case of slug flow, the phase and the amplitude of the flowmeter output show dramatically the flow characteristics around each slug bubble and the position of the slug bubble itself. Therefore, the electromagnetic flowmeter shows a good possibility of being useful for identifying the flow regimes.     

Dynamic analysis of Coriolis flow meter using Timoshenko beam element

Coriolis mass flow meter (CFM) is used to measure the rate of mass flow through a pipe conveying fluid. In the present work, the Coriolis effect produced in the pipe due to a lateral excitation is modeled using the finite element (FE) method in MATLAB©. The coupled equation of motion for the fluid and pipe is converted to FE equations by applying Galerkin technique. The pipe conveying fluid is excited at its fundamental natural frequency. The time lag observed between symmetrically located measurement points which are equidistant from the point of excitation, is utilized to predict the mass flow rate. The results predicted by the present code is validated using the experimental, and numerical results published in the literature. The main contribution is the development of a FE model, using three node Timoshenko beam element to analyse the dynamics of fluid conveying pipes subjected to external excitation. The direction of the Coriolis force is perpendicular to the plane containing the velocity of flow vector and angular velocity vector of the pipe. Hence a three dimensional FE model is essential. This model can include curved geometry, damping, velocity and gyroscopic effects for three dimensional flexible tubes. The reduced integration used for overcoming shear locking in two node elements, will result in the formation of spurious modes leading to an incorrect prediction of natural frequencies and velocity. These modes will not occur while using three node elements. Influence of spatial as well as temporal discretisation on the time lag and frequency are also discussed. The sensitivity analysis shows that the time lag varies linearly with the mass flow rate.     

基于直线光流场的三维检测新方法

提出了基于直线光流场的三维检测计算方法。在透视投影下,将表示二维直线的参数对时间的导数定义成直线光流场,详细推导出基于直线光流场检测三维刚体运动参数的模型。使用最小二乘法,求出刚体的三维旋转运动参数、平移运动参数和空间直线坐标,从而实现了刚体的三维检测。该方法利用单目图像序列中连续3幅图像的2对直线光流,能够检测出物体的运动参数和结构参数,有助于全面检测和识别物体。多组实验表明该方法是稳定的,具有较好的鲁棒性能。     

差压式流量传感器测量一般气体流量时的温度压力补偿方法

简要介绍使用差压式流量传感器进行一般气体流量测量时的温压补偿方法;指出了差压方式流量传感器测量一般气体的通用流量温压补偿公式,并写出了公式的推导过程;与线性流量传感器温压补偿方法进行对比,强调指出了采用差压式流量传感器时进行温压补偿的注意要点.对公用工程中的一般气体的流量计量工作有一定的指导作用.     

基于三维模型的虚拟装配技术应用

对虚拟装配技术进行了探讨，并对其在液压换向阀中的应用进行了系统的分析，实现了试制样品前的干涉检查、运动配合检查及动态修改。     

Development of a turbine meter for two-phase flow measurement in vertical pipes

The performance of a turbine meter in two-phase (water/air) flow in a vertical pipe is assessed. If the single phase (water) meter factor is used in two-phase flow, the total (water and air) flowrate is found to be underpredicted. The error can be as much as 12.5% at a void fraction of 25%. A technique for using measurements of the fluctuations in the turbine meter rotor velocity to determine void fraction (= air flowrate/total flowrate) is described. A single meter is then used to measure, using this technique, both the water flowrate to an accuracy of ± 2% and void fraction to an accuracy of ±0.02.