Remote control of fluid-handling devices

• US 8,649,909 B1
• Filed: 12/07/2012
• Issued: 02/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SitePro, Inc.
• Original Assignee: AmpliSine Labs, LLC
• Inventors: Phillips, Aaron
• Primary Examiner(s): Padmanabhan, Kavita
• Assistant Examiner(s): Everett, Christopher E
• Application Number:
  US13/708,557
• Time in Patent Office: 431 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 700/282
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 47/00 Survey of boreholes or wells monitoring pressure or flow of drilling fluid E21B21/08
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/0428 Safety, monitoring G05B19/0423 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/23472 Confirmation of user for the selection of a program setting
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/24015 Monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/25204 Translate between different communication protocols
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31369 Translation, conversion of protocol between two layers, networks
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 9/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 7/0676 by action on flow sources G05D7/0688, G05D7/0694 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

Provided is a process, including: receiving, via the network interface, from a remote user device, a command to change a state of the fluid-handling device to a target state; translating the received command into a translated command operative to cause a local controller of the fluid-handling device to drive the fluid-handling equipment to the target state, the local controller being responsive to the command and feedback from the fluid-handling device indicative of whether the fluid-handling device is in the target state; and sending the translated command to the local controller.

Claims

1. A system for remotely controlling a fluid-handling device of an oil well, a petro water disposal or re-injection facility, or a petroleum pumping station, the system comprising:

a command-center server having a data store storing multiple user accounts, each user account corresponding to a set of one or more oil wells, petro water disposal or re-injection facilities, or petroleum pumping stations, or a combination thereof, each set being operated by a different entity corresponding to the respective user account; and

a plurality of geographically distributed site master controllers, each site master controller corresponding to a respective one of the oil wells, petro water disposal or re-injection facilities, or petroleum pumping stations, each site master controller comprising;

a communication module operable to communicate with a plurality of fluid-handling devices;

a network interface;

memory; and

one or more processors communicatively coupled to the communication module, the network interface, and the memory, wherein the memory stores instructions that when executed by the processors cause the processors to effectuate steps comprising;

receiving, via the network interface, from the command-center server, a plurality of commands encoded in a first protocol to control the fluid-handling devices from a user corresponding to one of the user accounts, different commands among the plurality of commands being directed to different fluid handling devices among the plurality of fluid-handling devices;

for at least some of the plurality of commands, determining a plurality of different target states of a given one of the fluid-handling devices over time, wherein the respective site-master controller is operative to maintain control of the fluid handling devices in the absence of a network connection to the command-center server;

translating the plurality of commands into translated commands encoded in a plurality of protocols different from the first protocol, each translated command being translated into a protocol among the plurality of protocols suitable for a fluid-handling device to which the respective command is directed, the at least some of the translated command being operative to cause a local controller of the given fluid-handling device to drive the given fluid-handling device to the plurality of different target states, the local controller being responsive to the translated commands and feedback from the given fluid-handling device indicative of whether the given fluid-handling device is in a targeted state; and

sending the translated commands to respective local controllers of the respective fluid-handling devices to which the respective commands are directed.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the memory also stores instructions that when executed by the processors cause the processors to effectuate steps comprising:

receiving, from the fluid-handling device, sensor data indicative of the operation of the fluid-handling device obtained by sensors of the fluid-handling device; and

sending, to a remote data store, the received sensor data.

3. The system of claim 2, comprising the remote data store and a web-server, wherein the web-server is operative to perform steps comprising:

receiving, from a user device, a password corresponding to a selected one of the user accounts;

receiving, from the user device, a request for a data indicative of the operation of an oil well, a petro water disposal or re-injection facility, or a petroleum pumping station coupled to the fluid-handling device of the selected one of the user accounts;

retrieving, from the data store, data responsive to the request from the user device; and

sending, to the user device, the retrieved data for presentation to the user.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the request is a request for data indicative of an amount of oil or other type of fluid extracted from, or injected into, an oil well, a petro water disposal or re-injection facility, or a petroleum pumping station to which the fluid-handling device is coupled, and wherein the retrieved data comprises data indicative of the amount of oil, produced fluid, or flowback fluid.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the request is a request to view alarms issued by a fluid-handling device among the plurality of fluid handling devices, and wherein the retrieved data comprises data indicative of the alarms.

6. The system of claim 3, wherein the retrieved data comprises messages provided to the web-server regarding attempts to address the alarms.

7. The system of claim 2, comprising the remote data store and a web-server, wherein the web-server is operative to perform steps comprising:

receiving, from a user device, the command to change the state of the fluid-handling device; and

determining a network address of the network interface of the respective site master controller; and

sending the command to the network interface.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein at least some of the fluid-handling devices comprise a pump, and wherein the plurality of commands comprise a command to change a speed of the pump.

9. The system of claim 1, comprising a remote terminal unit through which the one or more processes communicate with a fluid-handling device among the plurality of fluid-handling devices, wherein translating the received commands comprises:

identifying an address on a serial bus corresponding to a component of the fluid-handling device responsive to the received command;

identifying a command code operative to cause the component to execute the received command; and

sending to the address on the serial bus the command code.

10. The system of claim 1, comprising a digital-to-analog converter, wherein a fluid-handling device among the plurality of fluid-handling devices comprises a valve responsive to an output signal of the digital-to-analog converter, and wherein translating the received commands comprises changing an output signal of the digital-to-analog converter responsive to a received command among the plurality of received commands.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein receiving the commands comprises receiving the commands via a first network socket, and wherein sending the translated command comprises sending at least some of the translated commands via a second network socket.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein translating the commands comprises selecting among an Internet Protocol, a modbus protocol, and an analog output to convey the translated command.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein a fluid-handling device among the plurality of fluid handling devices includes a stuck valve, and wherein the plurality of different target states oscillate a target position of the stuck valve to loosen the stuck valve.

14. The system of claim 1, comprising one of the following coupled to the fluid-handling devices:

an oil well, a salt water disposal well, a carbon-capture well, or a pump station.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein a fluid-handling device among the plurality of fluid handling devices comprises a separation unit configured to separate oil from water, and wherein the command comprises a command operative to change a level of the separation unit at which oil meets water.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the separation unit comprises a pump having a variable-frequency drive, and wherein the local controller is operative to adjust a frequency of the variable frequency drive until the level of the separation unit reaches a target level corresponding to the target state.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein each user account corresponds to one or more user names, one or more user passwords, billing information, and identifiers of one or more of the site master-controllers with which users under the corresponding account are authorized to interact.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is operative to exercise two layers of control, the two layers of control including:

a first layer of control in which targeted states of the fluid handling devices are determined by a respective site master controller in response to some of the received commands; and

a second layer of control in which, for each targeted state specified by the first layer of control, the respective fluid-handling device exercises feedback control to drive the respective fluid-handling device to the respective targeted state.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is operative to provide web-based control and monitoring of oil and gas wells to multiple account holders corresponding to the user accounts.

20. A tangible, non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions that when executed by a data processing apparatus cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

receiving, via a network interface, from a remote user device, a plurality of commands to control a plurality of different fluid-handling devices, each of the plurality of commands being directed to a different one of the plurality of fluid-handling devices, and the plurality of commands being encoded in a first protocol;

determining a plurality of different target states of the fluid-handling devices over time such that control of the fluid handling devices is maintained in the absence of a network connection with the remote user device;

translating the plurality of commands into a plurality of translated commands operative to cause local controllers of the fluid-handling devices to drive the respective fluid-handling devices to different target states among the plurality of different target states, the plurality of translated commands including translated commands encoded in a plurality of different protocols, and the local controllers being responsive to the translated commands and feedback from a corresponding fluid-handling device among the plurality of different fluid handling devices, the feedback being indicative of whether the corresponding fluid-handling device is in a targeted state; and

sending the translated commands to the local controllers.

21. A method, comprising:

receiving, via a network interface, from a remote user device, a plurality of commands to control fluid-handling devices, the plurality of commands being encoded in a shared protocol;

determining a plurality of different target states of the fluid-handling devices over time such that control of the fluid handling devices is maintained;

translating the commands into translated commands encoded in a plurality of different protocols different from the shared protocol, each translated command being encoded in a protocol among the plurality of different protocols suitable for a fluid-handling device to which the respective command is directed, the translated commands being operative to cause local controllers of the fluid-handling devices to drive a respective fluid-handling device different target states among the plurality of different target states, the local controllers being responsive to the translated commands directed to their respective fluid-handling device and feedback from the respective fluid-handling device indicative of whether the respective fluid-handling device is in a targeted state; and

sending the translated commands to the local controllers.