Method and apparatus for the measurement of the mass fraction of water in oil-water mixtures

1. An apparatus for measuring the mass fractions of water and oil in a flowing mixture of oil and water through a pipe comprising:

a sensor portion that measures sound velocity and temperature of the flowing oil water mixture at a first time and at a second time;

a temperature changer in thermal communication with the flowing fluid which changes the temperature of the flowing oil water mixture by a measurable amount between the first time and the second time, the sensor portion includes a first sensor portion that measures the sound velocity and temperature of the flowing oil water mixture upstream of the temperature changer, and a second sensor portion that measures the sound velocity and temperature of the flowing mixture downstream of the temperature changer, the first sensor portion includes a sound velocity transducer and a reflecting plug, the sound velocity C of the mixture determined from the transit time t of a pulse of ultrasound from the transducer that travels to the reflecting plug of the first sensor portion and back along axial flow with the flowing fluid to the transducer, the sound velocity transducer producing pulses of ultrasound at frequencies up to 1 MHz, the sound velocity transducer and the reflecting plug being a fixed distance; and

a pump in fluid communication with the mixture to ensure the flowing mixture is moving at a velocity sufficient to achieve emulsification with no slip, wherein the oil water mixture is emulsified so that droplets of a dispersed phase, which is either oil or water, are distributed throughout a continuous phase, which is either water or oil, said dispersal achieved by the flowing mixture moving at a velocity sufficient to achieve emulsification with no slip.

2. The apparatus as described in claim 1 wherein the temperature changer is either a heat exchanger that adds thermal energy to, or a cooler that removes thermal energy from the flowing mixture.

3. The apparatus as described in claim 2 including a controller and processor that determines the mass fraction of the water and oil through an algorithm stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium which is executed by the controller and processor that relates the mass fraction to the change in the sound velocity in the mixture for a known change in temperature.

4. The apparatus as described in claim 2 wherein the pump in fluid communication with the mixture ensures the velocity of the sample mixture is made to meet or exceed the emulsification velocity requirement and wherein a portion of the flowing oil water mixture is continuously sampled and passed through the first and second sensor portions and the temperature changer so as to allow determination of the change in mixture sound velocity for a measured change in temperature.

5. The apparatus as described in claim 2 wherein the pump in fluid communication with the mixture to ensure the velocity of the sample mixture is made to meet or exceed the emulsification velocity requirement and wherein several portions of the flowing oil water mixture are sampled, either continuously or successively, said samples, either singly or in combination pass through the first and second sensor portions and the temperature changer so as to allow the determination of the change in mixture sound velocity for a measured change in temperature for each sample location.

6. The apparatus as described in claim 5 including a sampling arrangement for sampling the fluid in communication with the first sensor portion.

7. The apparatus as described in claim 6 wherein the sampling arrangement includes a plurality of taps disposed at different radii in the pipe which sample the mixture.

8. The apparatus as described in claim 7 wherein the sampling arrangement includes valves for each tap that are maintained open for a period long enough to ensure a representative sound velocity and temperature measurement for the associated tap location.

9. A method for measuring water mass fraction in a flowing mixture of oil and water through a pipe comprising the steps of:

pumping the flowing mixture with a pump in fluid communication with the mixture to ensure the flowing mixture is moving at a velocity sufficient to achieve emulsification with no slip, wherein the oil water mixture is emulsified so that droplets of a dispersed phase, which is either oil or water, are distributed throughout a continuous phase, which is either water or oil, said dispersal achieved by the flowing mixture moving at a velocity sufficient to achieve emulsification with no slip;

measuring sound velocity and temperature of the flowing oil water mixture at a first time with a sensor portion, the measuring step at a first time includes the step of measuring the sound velocity and temperature of the flowing oil water mixture with a first sensor portion of the sensor portion upstream of a temperature changer;

determining the sound velocity C of the mixture from the transit time t of a pulse of ultrasound from a sound velocity transducer that travels along axial flow with the flowing fluid to a reflecting plug of the first sensor portion and back along the axial flow with the flowing fluid to the sound velocity transducer, the sound velocity transducer producing pulses of ultrasound at frequencies up to 1 MHz, the sound velocity transducer and the reflecting, plug being a fixed distance;

changing the temperature of the flowing oil water mixture by a measurable amount with the temperature changer in thermal communication with the flowing fluid; and

measuring sound velocity and temperature of the flowing oil water mixture at a second time with the sensor portion, the measuring step at a second time includes the step of measuring the sound velocity and temperature of the flowing oil water mixture with a second sensor portion of the sensor portion downstream of the temperature changer.

10. The method as described in claim 9 wherein the temperature changer is either a heat exchanger that adds thermal energy to, or a cooler that removes thermal energy from the flowing mixture.

11. The method as described in claim 10 including the step of determining the mass fraction of the water through an algorithm stored on a computer readable medium which is executed by a controller and processor that relates the mass fraction to the change in the sound velocity in the mixture for a known change in temperature.

12. The method as described in claim 11 wherein the step of pumping the mixture with the pump in fluid communication with the mixture includes the step of pumping the mixture to ensure the velocity of the sample mixture is made to meet or exceed the emulsification velocity requirement and wherein a portion of the flowing oil water mixture is continuously sampled and passed through the first and second sensor portions and the temperature changer so as to allow determination of the change in mixture sound velocity for a measured change in temperature.

13. The method as described in claim 11 wherein the step of pumping the mixture with a pump in fluid communication with the mixture includes the step of pumping the mixture to ensure the velocity of the sample mixture is made to meet or exceed the emulsification velocity requirement and wherein several portions of the flowing oil water mixture are sampled, either continuously or successively, said samples, either singly or in combination pass through the first and second sensor portions and the temperature changer so as to allow the determination of the change in mixture sound velocity for a measured change in temperature for each sample location.

14. The method as described in claim 13 including the step of sampling the fluid with a sampling arrangement in communication with the first sensor portion.

15. The method as described in claim 14 wherein the sampling step includes the step of sampling the mixture with a plurality of taps disposed at different radii in the pipe of the sampling arrangement.

16. The method as described in claim 15 including maintaining open valves of each tap of the sampling arrangement for a period long enough to ensure a representative sound velocity and temperature measurement for the associated tap location.