Tracer injection with integrated product identification
A tracer injection system can include a tracer solution, a pump configured to pump the tracer solution, a data transmitter associated with the tracer solution, a data receiver configured to receive tracer characteristic data from the data transmitter, and a pump controller that variably operates the pump, based at least in part on the tracer characteristic data received by the data receiver. A tracer injection method can include associating a data transmitter with a container and a tracer solution in the container, so that the data transmitter is transported with the container and the tracer solution, receiving from the data transmitter data indicative of a characteristic of the tracer solution, and pumping the tracer solution from the container at a flow rate based at least in part on the received data.
1. A tracer injection system, comprising:
a tracer solution;
a pump configured to pump the tracer solution;
a data transmitter associated with the tracer solution;
a data receiver configured to receive tracer characteristic data from the data transmitter; and
a pump controller that variably operates the pump, based at least in part on the tracer characteristic data received by the data receiver,
in which the data transmitter comprises a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag including a memory in which the tracer characteristic data is stored.
2. The system of claim 1 , in which the tracer characteristic data comprises an identification of a tracer material in the tracer solution.
3. The system of claim 1 , in which the tracer characteristic data comprises a concentration of a tracer material in the tracer solution.
4. The system of claim 1 , in which the tracer solution comprises a chemical tracer material or a radioactive tracer material.
5. The system of claim 1 , in which the pump controller controls operation of the pump, so that a difference between a desired tracer injection rate and a measured tracer injection rate is minimized.
6. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a data logger which records the tracer characteristic data received by the data receiver.
7. The system of claim 6 , in which the data logger records a flow rate of the tracer solution pumped by the pump.
8. A tracer injection system, comprising:
a tracer solution;
a pump configured to pump the tracer solution;
a data transmitter associated with the tracer solution;
a data receiver configured to receive tracer characteristic data from the data transmitter;
a pump controller that variably operates the pump, based at least in part on the tracer characteristic data received by the data receiver; and
a data logger which records the tracer characteristic data received by the data receiver, in which the data logger records a mass of the tracer solution as measured by a scale.
9. The system of claim 8 , in which the pump controller controls operation of the pump, so that a difference between a desired tracer mass injection rate and a measured tracer mass injection rate is minimized.
10. A tracer injection method, comprising:
associating a wireless data transmitter with a container and a tracer solution in the container, so that the data transmitter is transported with the container and the tracer solution;
receiving from the data transmitter data indicative of a characteristic of the tracer solution; and
pumping the tracer solution from the container at a flow rate based at least in part on the received data.
11. The method of claim 10 , in which the associating comprises affixing the data transmitter to the container.
12. The method of claim 10 , in which the pumping comprises a pump controller operating a pump, so that a difference between the flow rate of the tracer solution and a desired flow rate is minimized.
13. The method of claim 10 , in which the tracer solution characteristic data comprises an identification of a tracer material in the tracer solution.
14. The method of claim 10 , in which the tracer solution characteristic data comprises a concentration of a tracer material in the tracer solution.
15. The method of claim 10 , in which the pumping comprises a pump controller operating a pump, so that a difference between a desired tracer injection rate and a measured tracer injection rate is minimized.
16. The method of claim 10 , in which the data transmitter comprises a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag including a memory in which the tracer characteristic data is stored.
17. The method of claim 10 , further comprising recording the received tracer solution characteristic data.
18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising recording at least one of a volumetric flow rate and a mass flow rate of the pumped tracer solution.
19. The method of claim 18 , in which the pumping comprises a pump controller controlling operation of a pump, so that a difference between a desired tracer mass injection rate and a measured tracer mass injection rate is minimized.