Claims
- 1. A method for monitoring a mixture of oil, water and gas flowing through a conduit, comprising the steps of:
- introducing into the flowstream a population of fast neutrons generated by a chemical fast neutron source, said source being substantially free of Beryllium and adapted to gene rate gamma radiation having at least one gamma peak at X MeV, X being greater than the 4.43 Mev C.sup.12 inelastic scattering gamma peak;
- monitoring the gamma emanating from said mixture to establish a first gamma count rate for a range of gamma energies above about X MeV, whereby the first gamma count rate represents the simultaneous detection of the 2.2 Mev C.sup.12 inelastic scattering gamma plus the source gamma at X MeV plus background; and
- comparing the first gamma count rate of an empirical relationship between the count rate and gas fraction to establish the relative amount of gas within the conduit.
- 2. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said range of gamma energies extends from about 6.2 MeV to about 8.0 MeV.
- 3. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said range of gamma energies extends from about 6.4 MeV to about 8.0 MeV.
- 4. The method as set forth in claim 1 further comprising the steps of:
- monitoring the gamma spectrum to establish a second gamma count rate corresponding to gamma emissions falling within the range of gamma energies corresponding to inelastic neutron scattering from C.sup.12 nuclides; and
- comparing the second gamma count rate to an empirical relationship between the count rate and the oil fraction to determine the relative amount of oil with the oil-water mixture.
- 5. The method as set forth in claim 4 wherein establishing said second gamma count rate includes the step of determining the net C.sup.12 inelastic scattering gamma count rate.
- 6. The method as set forth in claim 4 further comprising the steps of:
- monitoring the gamma spectrum to establish a third gamma count rate corresponding to gamma emissions falling within the range of energies corresponding to inelastic neutron scattering from O.sup.16 ; and
- normalizing at least one of said first and second count rates based on said third gamma count rate.
- 7. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the neutron source is a C.sup.13 - Pu.sup.238 source.
- 8. A method for monitoring a mixture of oil, water and gas flowing through a conduit, comprising the steps of:
- introducing into the flowstream a population of fast neutrons, at least 5% of said neutrons having an energy in excess of 4.4 MeV;
- monitoring the gamma spectrum emanating from said mixture to establish a first gamma count rate for a range of gamma energies above about 6.2 MeV;
- comparing the first gamma count rate to an empirical relationship between the count rate and gas fraction to establish the relative amount of gas within the conduit;
- monitoring the gamma spectrum to establish a second gamma count rate corresponding to gamma emissions falling within the range of gamma energies corresponding to inelastic neutron scattering from C.sup.12 nuclides;
- comparing the second gamma count rate to an empirical relationship between the count rate and the oil fraction to determine the relative amount of oil within the oil-water mixture; and
- monitoring the gamma spectrum to establish a third gamma count rate corresponding to gamma emissions falling within the range of energies corresponding to inelastic neutron scattering from O.sup.16 ; wherein at least one of said first and second count rates is normalized based on said third gamma count rate.
Parent Case Info
This application is a continuation application of co-pending application Ser. No. 941,972, filed on Dec. 15, 1986.
US Referenced Citations (18)
Non-Patent Literature Citations (1)
Entry |
Knoll, Glenn F., Radiation Detection and Measurement. Pub: John Wiley & Sons: New York. Copyright 1979, pp. 26-33. |
Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
941972 |
Dec 1986 |
|