SEPARATOR FOR OIL WELL PRODUCED FLUID, AND SEPARATION DEVICE COMPRISING THE SAME

• US 20160317950A1
• Filed: 04/25/2016
• Published: 11/03/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Central People's Government of The People's Republic of China), Sinopec Exploration & Production Research Institute (Central People's Government of The People's Republic of China)
• Original Assignee: China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Central People's Government of The People's Republic of China), Sinopec Exploration & Production Research Institute (Central People's Government of The People's Republic of China)
• Inventors: DANG, Wei, HUANG, Hui, HU, Changchao, TAN, Wenjie, TANG, Zhiwei, WANG, Lili
• Granted Patent: US 9,981,206 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 17/0208 by sedimentation
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 17/0214 with removal of one of the phases
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 17/0217 by centrifugal force
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 21/003 Sedimentation tanks provided with a plurality of compartments separated by a partition wall B01D21/0039 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 21/267 by using a cyclone
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 43/34 Arrangements for separating materials produced by the well

Abstract

A separator for an oil well produced fluid comprises a housing and a tube group arranged within the housing. The tube group includes a plurality of horizontal pipes in a layered arrangement along a vertical direction, and a plurality of vertical pipes which allows adjacent layers of the horizontal pipes to be in fluid communication with each other. The plurality of horizontal pipes shares an inlet pipe in communication with the outside of the housing, and each of the horizontal pipes has a respective outlet. The separator is configured in such a manner that the horizontal pipes in an upper layer, a middle layer, and a lower layer are respectively used as oil pipes, water pipes, and sediment pipes.

Claims

1. A separator for an oil well produced fluid, comprising:

a housing, and

a tube group arranged within the housing, the tube group including a plurality of horizontal pipes in a layered arrangement along a vertical direction, and a plurality of vertical pipes which allows adjacent layers of the horizontal pipes to be in fluid communication with each other, wherein the plurality of horizontal pipes shares an inlet pipe in communication with outside of the housing, and each of the horizontal pipes has a respective outlet,

wherein the separator is configured in such a manner that the horizontal pipes in an upper layer, a middle layers, and a lower layer are respectively used as oil pipes, water pipes, and sediment pipes.

2. The separator according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of horizontal pipes extends in a straight line.

3. The separator according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of horizontal pipes all extends in respective horizontal curves parallel to each other.

4. The separator according to claim 3, wherein the plurality of horizontal pipes all extends in respective horizontal spiral lines parallel to each other.

5. The separator according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of horizontal pipes has a constant inner diameter.

6. The separator according to claim 1, wherein the water pipe is configured to have a gradually increasing inner diameter along a flow direction of the fluid.

7. The separator according to claim 6, wherein the inner diameter of the water pipe has a variation gradient in the range from 0.002 to 0.005.

8. The separator according to claim 1, wherein the vertical pipes comprise a plurality of first communicating pipes that is parallel with each other and located between the oil pipe and the water pipe, and a plurality of second communicating pipes that is parallel with each other and located between the water pipe and the sediment pipe, and

wherein the first communicating pipes are arranged directly opposite to the second communicating pipes.

9. The separator according to claim 8, wherein a downstream first communicating pipe has a larger inner diameter than an upstream first communicating pipe.

10. The separator according to claim 8, wherein a downstream second communicating pipe has a larger inner diameter than an upstream second communicating pipe.

11. The separator according to claim 1, wherein the sediment pipe is configured to extend obliquely downward.

12. The separator according to claim 11, wherein the sediment pipe has an oblique angle larger than 0°

and smaller than or equal to 15°

.

13. The separator according to claim 1, wherein the outlet of the oil pipe and the outlet of the sediment pipe both extend outside of the housing, while the outlet of the water pipe is located within the housing, so as to allow a liquid from the water pipe to be further separated within the housing.

14. The separator according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of horizontal pipes has three layers, including a top first layer, an intermediate second layer, and a bottom third layer, respectively as the oil pipe, the water pipe, and the sediment pipe.

15. The separator according to claim 1, wherein the inlet pipe has an inner diameter gradually increasing along the flow direction of the fluid.

16. The separator according to claim 1, wherein an interior of the housing is provided with a plurality of partition plates extending along vertical directions, so as to be divided into a plurality of separation chambers in fluid communication with each other, and

wherein a side wall of the housing is provided therein with a plurality of oil guide ports, respectively in fluid communication with the plurality of separation chambers.

17. The separator according to claim 16, wherein a bottom wall of the housing is provided therein with a plurality of sediment outlets respectively in communication with the plurality of separation chambers.

18. The separator according to claim 17, wherein:

the plurality of partition plates comprises;

an upstream first partition plate, which has a top end in sealed connection to a top wall of the housing, and a bottom end in sealed connection to the bottom wall of the housing and configured to have a through passage in a region thereof,

a downstream third partition plate, which has a top end and a bottom end, respectively spaced from the top wall and the bottom wall of the housing, and

a second partition plate located between the first partition plate and the third partition plate, the second partition plate having a bottom end in sealed connection to the bottom wall of the housing, and a top end spaced from the top wall of the housing; and

the plurality of separation chambers comprises;

a first separation chamber defined by the first partition plate and a first end wall of the housing, a second separation chamber defined by the first partition plate and the second partition plate, a third separation chamber defined by the second partition plate and the third partition plate, and a fourth separation chamber defined by the third partition plate and a second end wall of the housing,

wherein the oil guide ports of the second separation chamber and the third separation chamber are located above the top end of the second partition plate and below the top end of the third partition plate, while the oil guide port of the fourth separation chamber is located below the top end of the third partition plate, and

wherein a side wall of the second separation chamber is provided, at a bottom region thereof, with a dissolved gas-containing water inlet, and the second end wall of the housing is provide therein with a water outlet in communication with the fourth separation chamber.

19. The separator according to claim 18, wherein the plurality of partition plates further comprises a fourth partition plate located in the fourth separation chamber adjacent to the third partition plate, the fourth partition plate having a bottom end in sealed connection to the bottom wall of the housing, and a top end spaced from the top wall of the housing and above the bottom end of the third partition plate, and

wherein the fourth partition plate has a sediment outlet located downstream of the fourth partition plate.

20. The separator according to claim 18, further comprising a dissolved gas pump, which has an inlet in communication with the water outlet, and an outlet in communication with the dissolved gas-containing water inlet.

21. A separation device for an oil well produced liquid, comprising a cyclone and the separator according to claim 1,

wherein an outlet of the cyclone is in communication with the inlet pipe of the separator, and

wherein the separation device is configured in such a manner that the cyclone performs primary separation on the oil well produced fluid, and the separator performs fine separation on a fluid from the cyclone.

22. The separation device according to claim 21, wherein the inlet pipe of the separator is provided with a reagent inlet.