The invention generally relates to controlling flows in a well.
In the downhole environment, there are many applications which involve controlling flows. For example, a typical downhole completion may include an oil/water separator, which receives a produced well fluid mixture and separates the mixture into corresponding water and oil flows. The water flow may be reintroduced into the well, and for this purpose, the downhole system may be designed for purposes of generally establishing the rate at which water is introduced back into the well.
The conventional way of controlling a flow in the downhole environment involves the use of a lossy device, such as an orifice or other restriction. The size of the flow path through the device may be determined, for example, using simple hydraulic calculations, which are based on the assumption that the downhole hydraulic parameters are relatively constant over time. However, when the pressure and/or flow characteristic of one part of the hydraulic system changes, the whole flow balance may be disturbed, as the calculated size is no longer correct.
Thus, there is a continuing need for better ways to control flows in a well.
In an embodiment of the invention, a technique that is usable with a well includes providing downhole equipment and regulating a ratio of flows that are provided to the equipment.
In another embodiment of the invention, a system that is usable with a well includes communication paths, which are located in the well to receive flows. A controller of the system regulates a ratio of the flows.
Advantages and other features of the invention will become apparent from the following drawing, description and claims.
In accordance with embodiments of the invention described herein, flows in the downhole environment are controlled by regulating a ratio of the flows. Thus, this approach overcomes challenges of conventional downhole hydraulic systems in which orifice sizes and other hydraulic parameters were designed based on the assumption that no changes would occur to downhole flow rates, pressures, etc. More specifically, referring to
As a more specific example,
Flow sensors 54a and 54b are coupled to sense the flows 46 and 42, respectively, and provide positive feedback to the flow controller 50 in the other flow path. In this manner, the flow controller 50a controls the outlet flow 70 based on the outlet flow 60, which is sensed by the flow sensor 54b. Similarly, the flow controller 50b regulates the outlet flow 60 based on the outlet flow 70 that is sensed by the flow sensor 54a. Due to the positive feedback provided by this control scheme, the flow controller 50a increases the outlet flow 70 in response to sensing an increase in the outlet flow 60. Likewise, the flow controller 50b increases the outlet flow 60 in response to the sensing of an increase in the outlet flow 70.
Although
Q1/Q2=k, Eq. 1
where “k” represents a constant.
As a more specific example, the passive device 74 (see
It is noted that the flow split controller 100 is depicted in
Referring to
The flow control systems, which are disclosed herein may have many downhole applications. As a specific example, in accordance with some embodiments of the invention, the flow control systems may be used for purposes of downhole oil and water separation. The basic principle is to take produced fluid (an oil/water mixture, typically with eighty plus percent of water) and pump the produced fluid through a device that separates a proportion of the water from the mixture and reinjects the water into a downhole disposal zone. As a more specific example,
As depicted in
Without proper regulation of the ratio of the oil and water flows, several problems may be encountered. For example, if the amount of water production increases more than expected, the rate at which the water is reinjected into the disposal zone 260 must be increased, in order to avoid producing the water to the surface of the well 200. If the water production is significantly less than expected, oil may be injected into this disposal zone 260. Therefore, by controlling the ratio of the oil and water flows, the efficiency of the water removal and oil production processes is maximized.
As depicted in
To summarize, the overall goal of the flow split controller is to maintain a flow split ratio at some constant ratio in the downhole environment. The flow split controller senses the changes in flow or pressure and responds to maintain the flow split ratio. This arrangement is to be contrasted to designing a hydraulic system based on an assumed (but possibly inaccurate) model of the flow split; using lossy orifices to force some sort of flow split; or placing a device in the system that maximizes water removal. The latter approach may be significantly more complicated than the use of the flow split controller, as this approach may require sensors for the water and feedback to a flow rate controlling valve.
Several practical issues arise when using flow split controllers in the downhole environment, both general and application specific. The devices are passive (i.e., no external energy required). Therefore, in order to affect the flow split, work must be done and this arises from the losses in the flow measurement device (can be small if a venturi is used) and more so in the flow controller which has to throttle the flow (dominant as typically a partially closed valve). The more control the device has to achieve the greater the losses will be. Thus, significant flow splits against adverse pressure gradients will create the highest pressure drops through the device.
The flow split controllers may have moving parts in order to restrict the flow, and therefore, the presence of solids in the downhole environment may present challenges and possibly preclude positive displacement-type flow controllers. Solids may also be an issue for hydraulic type flow controllers as the flow velocity through the flow sensor and flow controller is high. Usually a flow velocity of several meters per second (m/s) is used in order to achieve sufficient hydraulic forces in the hydraulic feedback. The upper boundary on the flow velocity may be limited by such factors as erosion and the potential for a high flow jamming moving parts.
The devices may have a finite dynamic range depending on the CD versus flow rate characteristic of the flow controllers, but a single device may be able to cover flow split ranging by 10:1 and changes in downstream pressure of one of the flows.
Other challenges may arise in the use of a flow split controller downstream of an oil/water separator, be it a gravity type, hydrocyclone or rotating cyclone. First, the pressures on the two separated flows may not necessarily the same, and secondly, the densities of the two flows may be different. The different inlet pressures may be compensated for in the design of the flow controller in one or both of the lines, either as an offset in the flow controller if the differences are small or as a lossy device (e.g., fixed orifice) in the pressure line.
Using a hydraulic controller involves a flow sensor that has a performance proportional to the square root of density. Thus, differences and changes in the density of one or both of the lines affect the control, but provided there is some knowledge of the initial fluid properties, the initial set point may be made to allow for initial conditions and the square root reduces the sensitivity to this effect. In this configuration the flow sensor for the oil rich line acts on the flow controller for the water rich line and vice versa, so there is a compounded effect of the density contrast between the two lines.
While the present invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, those skilled in the art, having the benefit of this disclosure, will appreciate numerous modifications and variations therefrom. It is intended that the appended claims cover all such modifications and variations as fall within the true spirit and scope of this present invention.
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