IP Library › Granted Patent US 11,408,758
Granted Patent B2
US 11,408,758 · App. 16/824,320 · Granted Aug 9, 2022

Machine learning server-side flow measurement

Inventors: Jeffrey Garoon (Houston, TX); David Jed Somers (San Francisco, CA)
Assignee: FlowCommand Inc.
G01F1/667G06N5/04G06N20/00
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,408,758
App. No.
16/824,320
Granted
Aug 9, 2022
Kind
B2
Abstract

Systems and methods enable predicting flow rate in a pipeline by using machine learning. Data is collected from a pipeline with an acoustic device and transmitted from the acoustic device to a server. The data is processed and, based on the processing, a reference model is selected that is most appropriate for the processed data. Features extracted from the data are input to the reference model. The reference model outputs a predicted flow rate.

Claims (42)

1. A computer-implemented method for measuring the flow rate of a fluid or gas or multi-phase flow flowing through a pipeline, the method comprising:

transmitting, by an acoustic device, signals into an outer shell of a pipeline;

receiving, by the acoustic device, received signals reflected from the contents of the pipeline;

processing, by the acoustic device, the received signals to generate a data stream;

transmitting, by the acoustic device, the data stream to a server; computing a flow rate based on the data stream by analyzing a Doppler frequency of the received signals;

performing dimensionality reduction, by the server, on the data stream and one or more acoustic device attributes to generate a device signature;

identifying, by the server, one of a plurality of reference models having a device signature that is most similar to the device signature of the acoustic device to select a most similar reference model;

applying, by the server, an attribute identification machine learning model to identify a plurality of important features from the data stream and one or more device attributes; and

applying a multivariate machine learning model associated with the most similar reference model, using the identified important features in the multivariate machine learning model, to predict a flow rate.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of reference models comprises an associated multivariate machine learning model.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the attribute identification machine learning model is a nearest neighbors algorithm.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising selecting the most similar reference model by using a distance metric.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising applying a feature extraction module to the data stream.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising modeling the flow rate by using a physics model.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising training the attribute identification machine learning model using parameters from one or more of the reference models.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

performing dimensionality reduction, by the server, on the data stream and one or more indicators of a firmware update installed on the acoustic device to generate a firmware update signature;

identifying, by the server, one of a plurality of firmware models having a firmware update signature that is most similar to the firmware update signature of the acoustic device to select a most similar firmware model; and

transmitting a firmware update associated with the firmware model to the acoustic device.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising selecting the most similar firmware model by using a distance metric.

10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising measuring, by the acoustic device, the flow rate in the pipeline using updated firmware settings.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions for:

transmitting, by an acoustic device, signals into an outer shell of a pipeline;

receiving, by the acoustic device, received signals reflected from the contents of the pipeline; processing, by the acoustic device, the received signals to generate a data stream;

transmitting, by the acoustic device, the data stream to a server;

computing a flow rate based on the data stream by analyzing a Doppler frequency of the received signals;

performing dimensionality reduction, by the server, on the data stream and one or more acoustic device attributes to generate a device signature;

identifying, by the server, one of a plurality of reference models having a device signature that is most similar to the device signature of the acoustic device to select a most similar reference model;

applying, by the server, an attribute identification machine learning model to identify a plurality of important features from the data stream and one or more device attributes; and

applying a multivariate machine learning model associated with the most similar reference model, using the identified important features in the multivariate machine learning model, to predict a flow rate.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein each of the plurality of reference models comprises an associated multivariate machine learning model.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the attribute identification machine learning model is a nearest neighbors algorithm.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 , further comprising instructions for selecting the most similar reference model by using a distance metric.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 , further comprising instructions for applying a feature extraction module to the data stream.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 , further comprising instructions for modeling the flow rate by using a physics model.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 , further comprising instructions for training the machine learning model using parameters from one or more of the reference models.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 , further comprising instructions for:

performing dimensionality reduction, by the server, on the data stream and one or more indicators of a firmware update installed on the acoustic device to generate a firmware update signature;

identifying, by the server, one of a plurality of firmware models having a firmware update signature that is most similar to the firmware update signature of the acoustic device to select a most similar firmware model; and

transmitting a firmware update associated with the firmware model to the acoustic device.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18 , further comprising instructions for selecting the most similar firmware model by using a distance metric.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18 , further comprising instructions for measuring, by the acoustic device, the flow rate in the pipeline using updated firmware settings.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 19, 2020
From: GAROON, JEFFREY; SOMERS, DAVID JED
To: FLOWCOMMAND INC.
Reel/Frame 052172/0729 →
Continuity (2)
Provisional Application 62873799 · Jul 12, 2019
Related Publication 20210010839A1 · Jan 14, 2021
Cited By (1)
US 12,693,143