Real time em waves monitoring system for oil industry three phase flow measurement

Abstract

Monitoring fluid flow in a dynamic pipeline is a significant problem in the oil industry. In order to manage oil field wells efficiently, the oil industry requires accurate on line sensors to monitor the oil, gas, and water flow in the production pipelines. This paper describes a non-intrusive sensor that is based on an EM Waves cavity resonator. It determines and monitors the percentage volumes of each phase of three phase (oil, gas, and water) in the pipeline, using the resonant frequencies shifts that occur within an electromagnetic cavity resonator. A laboratory prototype version of the sensor system was constructed, and the experimental results were compared to the simulation results which were obtained by the use of High Frequency Structure Simulation (HFSS) software package. © 2009 IOP Publishing Ltd.