Fluid handling system for use in drilling of wellbores
First Claim
1. A vessel for separating materials from a wellbore fluid, comprising:
- (a) a first stage for separating solids contained in the fluid;
(b) a pressure sensor for determining the pressure in the vessel;
(c) a gas control device for discharging gas from the vessel; and
(d) a pressure controller for automatically controlling the operation of the gas control device as a function of the pressure in the vessel.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
This invention provides a fluid-handling system for use in underbalanced drilling operations. The system includes a first vessel which acts as a four phase separator. The first vessel includes a first stage for separating solids. Oil and gas are separated at a second stage. A pressure sensor provides signals to a pressure controller, which modulates a gas flow valve coupled to the vessel for discharging gas from the first vessel. The pressure controller maintains the pressure in the first vessel at a predetermined value. An oil level sensor placed in the first vessel provides a signal to an oil level controller. The oil level controller modulates an oil flow valve coupled to the vessel to discharge oil from the first vessel into a second vessel. Water is discharged into a third vessel. Water from the third vessel is discharged via a water flow control valve, which is modulated by a level controller as a function of the water level in the third vessel. Any gas in the third vessel is discharged by modulating a gas control valve as a function of the pressure in the third vessel. In an alternative embodiment, a central control unit or circuit is utilized to control the operations of all the flow valves. During operations, a control unit maintains the pressure and the levels of the fluids in such vessels at their respective predetermined values according to programmed instructions.
59 Citations
27 Claims
-
1. A vessel for separating materials from a wellbore fluid, comprising:
-
(a) a first stage for separating solids contained in the fluid; (b) a pressure sensor for determining the pressure in the vessel; (c) a gas control device for discharging gas from the vessel; and (d) a pressure controller for automatically controlling the operation of the gas control device as a function of the pressure in the vessel. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
-
-
8. A vessel for separating materials from a wellbore fluid, comprising:
-
(a) a first stage for separating solids contained in the fluid; (b) a pressure sensor for determining pressure in the vessel; (c) a second stage for separating oil and water into a separate reservoir; (d) a separate level sensor associated with the water reservoir and the oil reservoir for respectively determining water level and oil level in their respective reservoirs; and (e) a control circuit, said control circuit receiving signals from the pressure sensor and each of the level sensors for controlling the pressure, oil level, and water level in the vessel. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
-
-
16. A fluid-handling system for separating constituents of a wellstream, comprising:
-
(a) a first vessel having (i) a first stage for separating solids contained in the fluid, (ii) a second stage for separating oil and gas, (iii) a pressure sensor associated with the first vessel for determining the pressure in the first vessel, an oil level sensor for determining the level of the oil in the vessel and a water level sensor for determining the level of water in the first vessel, (iv) a pressure controller for automatically controlling the flow of gas from the first vessel by modulating a gas control valve to maintain the pressure in the vessel below a predetermined value; (v) a first level controller for automatically controlling the flow of oil from the first vessel by modulating a flow control valve as a function of the oil level in the vessel to maintain the oil level in the vessel below a predetermined level; (vi) a second level controller for automatically controlling the flow of water from the first vessel by modulating a second flow control valve as a function of the pressure in the vessel to maintain the water level in the vessel below a predetermined level; (b) a second vessel for receiving oil from the first vessel, said second vessel having a pressure controller cooperating with a pressure sensor associated with the second vessel to discharge any gas contained in the second vessel, said second vessel also having a level controller cooperating with a level sensor to maintain the oil in the second vessel below a predetermined level; and (c) a third vessel for receiving fluid that is substantially free of oil from the first vessel, said third vessel having a pressure controller cooperating with a pressure sensor associated with the third vessel to discharge any gas contained in the third vessel, said third vessel also having a level controller cooperating with a level sensor to maintain the fluid in the third vessel below a predetermined level.
-
-
17. A method for separating solids, oil, gas and water from a relatively high pressure wellbore fluid, comprising:
-
(a) reducing the wellbore fluid pressure to a relatively low pressure; (b) discharging the relatively low pressure fluid into a separator and removing solids from the wellbore fluid within the separator; (c) controlling discharge of gas from the separator by a gas flow control device by a control unit so as to maintain the pressure in the separator below a predetermined value; (d) separating oil and water within the separator; (e) controlling discharge of oil from the separator through an oil flow device by the control unit so as to maintain the oil level in the separator below a predetermined value; and (f) controlling discharge of water from the separator through a water flow device by the control unit so as to maintain the water level in the separator below a predetermined value.
-
-
18. A fluid-handling system for separating constituents of a wellbore fluid that is at a relatively high pressure, comprising:
-
(a) a fluid flow control device for receiving the wellbore fluid at the relatively high pressure and discharging the received fluid at a relatively low pressure; (b) a vessel for receiving the wellbore fluid from the fluid flow control device and for separating constituents of the wellbore fluid, said vessel having, (i) a first stage for separating solids contained in the fluid; (ii) a pressure sensor for determining pressure in the vessel; (iii) a second stage for separating oil and water into a separate reservoir; (iv) a separate level sensor associated with the water reservoir and the oil reservoir for respectively determining water level and oil level in their respective reservoirs; and (c) a control circuit, said control circuit receiving signals from the pressure sensor and each of the level sensors for controlling the pressure, oil level, and water level in the vessel. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
-
-
21. A method for separating constituents of a relatively high pressure wellbore fluid comprising:
-
(a) reducing the wellbore fluid pressure to a relatively low pressure; (b) discharging the relatively low pressure fluid into a separator and separating solids from the fluid in said separator; (c) determining pressure in the vessel; (d) automatically discharging gas from the separator through a gas flow control device in response to the determined pressure in the vessel so as to maintain the pressure in the separator below a predetermined value. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24)
-
-
25. A fluid-handling system for separating constituents of a wellstream, comprising:
-
(a) a first vessel having (i) a first stage for separating solids contained in the fluid, (ii) a second stage for separating oil and gas, (iii) a pressure sensor associated with the first vessel for determining the pressure in the first vessel; (iv) a pressure controller for automatically controlling the flow of gas from the first vessel to maintain the pressure in the vessel below a predetermined value; and (b) a second vessel for receiving oil from the first vessel, said second vessel having a pressure controller cooperating with a pressure sensor associated with the second vessel to discharge any gas contained in the second vessel, said second vessel also having a level controller cooperating with a level sensor to maintain the oil in the second vessel below a predetermined level. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27)
-
Specification