Sensor systems for measuring an interface level in a multi-phase fluid composition

• US 9,658,178 B2
• Filed: 09/28/2012
• Issued: 05/23/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BL Technologies Inc. (Ashland Global Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Surman, Cheryl Margaret, Platt, William Chester, Potyrailo, Radislav A., Dieringer, Jon Albert, Go, Steven, Morris, William Guy
• Primary Examiner(s): Lyons, Michael A
• Assistant Examiner(s): MERCADO, ALEXANDER A
• Application Number:
  US13/630,587
• Publication Number:
  US 20140090454A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,698 Days
• Field of Search: 73 6143, 73 6444, 73 6161
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 27/023 where the material is placed in the field of a coil
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 27/026 Dielectric impedance spectroscopy electrochemical impedance spectroscopy for measuring corrosion G01N17/02
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/2823 Raw oil, drilling fluid or polyphasic mixtures

Abstract

A sensor includes a resonant transducer, the resonant transducer being configured to determine the composition of an emulsion. The composition of the emulsion is determined by measuring the complex impedance spectrum values of the mixture of the emulsion and applying multivariate data analysis to the values.

Claims

1. A sensor comprising:

an electrically resonant transducer comprised of a top winding and a bottom winding, said bottom winding coupled at opposite ends across a capacitor, wherein said top winding provides excitation and detection of the bottom winding, wherein mutual inductance of the top winding is used to sense the bottom winding, said mutual inductance used to measure values of real and imaginary parts of an impedance spectra of the bottom winding across said capacitor and said top winding, said impedance spectra determined from an electrical response of the bottom winding to the top winding of the electrically resonant transducer while said bottom winding is proximate to an emulsion and said measured values of real and imaginary parts of the impedance spectra of the bottom winding are each independently used to determine a composition of the emulsion.

2. The sensor of claim 1 further comprising a sampling cell, wherein the top winding of the electrically resonant transducer is disposed around an upper portion of the sampling cell;

and the bottom winding of the electrically resonant transducer is disposed around a lower portion of the sampling cell.

3. The sensor of claim 2, further comprising a radio frequency absorber disposed around the top winding and the bottom winding.

4. The sensor of claim 3 further comprising a metal shield disposed around the radio frequency absorber.

5. The sensor of claim 4 further comprising a cover disposed around the metal shield.

6. The sensor of claim 2 further comprising an absorber of electromagnetic radiation disposed around the top winding and the bottom winding where the absorber absorbs electromagnetic radiation in the kilohertz, megahertz, gigahertz, and terahertz frequency ranges depending on the operation frequency of the electrically resonant transducer and a source of interferences.

7. The sensor of claim 2 further comprising an absorber of electromagnetic radiation disposed around the top winding and the bottom winding where the absorber is a combination of individual layers for particular frequency ranges.

8. The sensor of claim 1, wherein the measured values for the real and the imaginary parts of the impedance spectra are each independently used to simultaneously determine a concentration of a first and a second component of the emulsion.

9. The sensor of claim 8 wherein the electrically resonant transducer measures at least three data points of the real and the imaginary parts of the impedance spectra of the electrically resonant transducer.

10. The sensor of claim 8 wherein the electrically resonant transducer comprises a sensitive portion that detects changes in capacitance and resistance of the electrically resonant transducer.

11. The sensor of claim 8 wherein the electrically resonant transducer comprises a sensitive portion that detects changes in capacitance, resistance, inductance of the electrically resonant transducer.

12. The sensor of claim 8 where the electrically resonant transducer probes an environment over a sample depth perpendicular to the electrically resonant transducer of between 0.1 mm to 1,000 mm.

13. The sensor of claim 1, wherein the electrically resonant transducer measures a set of LCR resonant circuit parameters, said set of LCR resonant circuit parameters comprise at least one of an impedance spectrum, a real part of the impedance spectrum, an imaginary part of the impedance spectrum, both a real part and an imaginary part of the impedance spectrum, a frequency associated with a maximum of the real part of a complex impedance, a magnitude of the real part of the complex impedance, a resonant frequency, a magnitude of the imaginary part of the complex impedance, and an anti-resonant frequency and a magnitude of the imaginary part of the complex impedance.