METHOD TO DETECT AND CHARACTERIZE CONTAMINANTS IN PIPES AND DUCTS WITH INTERACTIVE TRACERS
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Abstract
A method and an apparatus for detecting, locating, and quantifying contamination in a fluid flow system like a pipe or duct. This characterization technique uses a conservative and one or more interactive tracers that are injected into the fluid flow system and then monitored at another location in the system. Detection, location, and quantification are accomplished by analysis of the characteristic features of measured curves of tracer concentration.
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Citations
39 Claims
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1-19. -19. (canceled)
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20. A method for determining the quantity of a contaminant in a fluid flow system, comprising the steps of:
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(a) isolating a section of the flow system with at least two valves to form an isolated section, wherein the flow system is a pipe or duct that is at least partially filled with a gas, and the valves isolate the section of the pipe or duct from other sections of the pipe or duct; (b) injecting a gaseous conservative tracer and a gaseous interactive tracer into the isolated section of the flow system at a first location, wherein the interactive tracer is a partitioning tracer; (c) advecting the tracers along the isolated section of the flow system in gas phase with an advection gas; (d) extracting the tracers at a second location in the flow system; (e) measuring the concentration of the extracted tracers over a period of time; and (f) characterizing the contaminant from the concentrations of the tracers, wherein the quantity of extracted tracer is related to the quantity of contaminant. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A method for determining the quantity of a contaminant in a fluid flow system, comprising the steps of:
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(a) isolating a section of the flow system with at least two valves to form an isolated section, wherein the flow system is a pipe or duct that is at least partially filled with a gas, and the valves isolate the section of the pipe or duct from other sections of the pipe or duct; (b) injecting a gaseous conservative tracer and a gaseous interactive tracer into the isolated section of the flow system at a first location, wherein the interactive tracer is a reactive tracer; (c) advecting the tracers along the isolated section of the flow system in gas phase with an advection gas; (d) extracting the tracers at a second location in the flow system; (e) measuring the concentration of the extracted tracers over a period of time; and (f) characterizing the contaminant from the concentrations of the tracers, wherein the quantity of extracted tracer is related to the quantity of contaminant. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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Specification