Sensor óptico para monitoração de escoamento bifásico em golfadas

Abstract

Gas-liquid two-phase flows are present in many engineering applications such as in petroleum production, where oil and gas stream in the production lines. The online monitoring of two-phase flow is of great importance for safe and efficient operation of production processes. Thus, in recent years there has been an attempt to develop simple and low cost techniques for flow production monitoring. Among the various ways a two-phase flow may occur in a pipe, the flow pattern known as slug flow is the most common in production lines. This work presents an infrared optical system that specifically measures the translational speed of gas bubbles in slugs flow. This system employs optoelectronic components operating at 950 nm along with a mechanical assembly used to assure optical alignment of light emitters and receivers. The electronic circuitry responsible for operating the sensor consists of three measuring channels modulated at different frequencies, thus by measuring the time lag a gas bubble needs to travel from one channel to another, one can calculate speed of gas bubble. This optical technique has the advantage of being a noninvasive measurement system and can be used for other fluids, but it is necessary to adapt the working wavelength according to the characteristics of the fluid to be detected. The developed system was tested in a pilot plant under various operating conditions and compared with reference sensors (wire-mesh and high-speed camera). Results show the good performance of the system with respect to the reference sensors.