Granted Patent B2

US 12,461,006 · App. 18/259,160 · Granted Nov 4, 2025

Inventors: Konstantin Mikhailovich Serdyuk (Berdsk, RU); Roman Alexandrovich Skachkov (Quincy, MA); Dilara Ildusovna Serdyuk (Novosibirsk, RU); Grigory Yurievich Mikhalev (Novosibirsk, RU); Barbara Zielinska (Palaiseau, FR); Eduardo Vidal (Atyrau, KZ)

Assignee: SCHLUMBERGER TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION

G01N15/0227F23G7/08G06T7/40G06T7/62G01N2015/0026

Abstract

Claims (84)

1 . An apparatus for monitoring unburned fallout droplets from a liquid flare burner, the apparatus comprising:

one or more processors configured to:

invoke a first control valve to isolate the liquid flare burner from a test fluid source; and

invoke a second control valve to fluidly couple the liquid flare burner to a hydrocarbon source to generate the unburned fallout droplets;

calculate a first fallout volume associated with the unburned fallout droplets captured by first measurement surfaces in a first measurement region, wherein the first measurement surfaces comprise a heat-resistant material;

calculate a second fallout volume associated with unburned fallout droplets captured by second measurement surfaces in a second measurement region, wherein the second measurement surfaces comprise a non-heat resistant material; and

determine a fallout efficiency of the liquid flare burner based on the first fallout volume and the second fallout volume; and

in response to the fallout efficiency not satisfying a fallout efficiency threshold, adjust a configuration of the liquid flare burner based on the fallout efficiency.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first measurement surfaces are heat-resistant tiles and the second measurement surfaces are paper sheets.

3 . The apparatus of claim 1 , further including:

an image sensor to capture an image of a portion of the first measurement surfaces;

wherein the one or more processors are configured to:

generate a processed image of the portion of the first measurement surfaces based on the image; and

identify spots associated with the unburned fallout droplets; and

calculate a fallout surface density of the portion of the first measurement surfaces based on a first volume of the identified spots and an area of the portion of the first measurement surfaces;

determine a second volume of a geometric area including the portion of the first measurement surfaces based on the fallout surface density; and

calculate the first fallout volume based on a sum of determined ones of the second volumes for a plurality of the geometric areas.

4 . The apparatus of claim 1 , further including:

an image sensor to capture an image of a portion of the second measurement surfaces;

wherein the one or more processors are configured to:

generate a first processed image of the portion of the second measurement surfaces based on the image;

identify spots associated with the unburned fallout droplets;

generate first fallout data based on the identified spots;

generate second fallout data corresponding to a plurality of processed images corresponding to the second measurement surfaces, the plurality of the processed images including the first processed image;

fit the second fallout data to a two-dimensional peak function; and

integrate the two-dimensional peak function with respect to an entirety of the second measurement region to calculate the second fallout volume.

5 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to:

invoke the second control valve to isolate the liquid flare burner from the hydrocarbon source; and

invoke the first control valve to fluidly couple the liquid flare burner to the test fluid source to generate unburned test fluid droplets, the unburned test fluid droplets to be captured by the first measurement surfaces and the second measurement surfaces.

6 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the test fluid source is an alcohol-based fluid and the hydrocarbon source is crude oil.

7 . A method for monitoring unburned fallout droplets from a liquid flare burner, the method comprising:

invoking a first control valve to isolate the liquid flare burner from a test fluid source;

invoking a second control valve to fluidly couple the liquid flare burner to a hydrocarbon source to generate the unburned fallout droplets;

calculating a first fallout volume associated with the unburned fallout droplets captured by first measurement surfaces in a first measurement region, wherein the first measurement surfaces comprise a heat-resistant material;

calculating a second fallout volume associated with unburned fallout droplets captured by second measurement surfaces in a second measurement region, wherein the second measurement surfaces comprise a non-heat resistant material;

determining a fallout efficiency of the liquid flare burner based on the first fallout volume and the second fallout volume; and

in response to the fallout efficiency not satisfying a fallout efficiency threshold, adjusting a configuration of the liquid flare burner based on the fallout efficiency.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the first measurement surfaces are heat-resistant tiles and the second measurement surfaces are paper sheets.

9 . The method of claim 7 , further including:

capturing an image of a portion of the first measurement surfaces;

generating a processed image of the portion of the first measurement surfaces based on the image;

identifying spots associated with the unburned fallout droplets;

calculating a fallout surface density of the portion of the first measurement surfaces based on a first volume of the identified spots and an area of the portion of the first measurement surfaces;

determining a second volume of a geometric area including the portion of the first measurement surfaces on the fallout surface density; and

calculating the first fallout volume based on a sum of determined ones of the second volumes for a plurality of the geometric areas.

10 . The method of claim 7 , further including:

capturing an image of a portion of the second measurement surfaces;

generating a first processed image of the portion of the second measurement surfaces based on the image;

identifying spots associated with the unburned fallout droplets;

generating first fallout data based on the identified spots;

generating second fallout data corresponding to a plurality of processed images corresponding to the second measurement surfaces, the plurality of the processed images including the first processed image;

fitting the second fallout data to a two-dimensional peak function; and

integrating the two-dimensional peak function with respect to an entirety of the second measurement region to calculate the second fallout volume.

11 . The method of claim 7 , further including:

invoking the second control valve to isolate the liquid flare burner from the hydrocarbon source; and

invoking the first control valve to fluidly couple the liquid flare burner to the test fluid source to generate unburned test fluid droplets, the unburned test fluid droplets to be captured by the first measurement surfaces and the second measurement surfaces.

12 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the test fluid source is an alcohol-based fluid and the hydrocarbon source is crude oil.

13 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor to at least:

invoke a first control valve to isolate a liquid flare burner from a test fluid source;

invoke a second control valve to fluidly couple the liquid flare burner to a hydrocarbon source to generate unburned fallout droplets;

calculate a first fallout volume associated with the unburned fallout droplets captured by first measurement surfaces in a first measurement region, wherein the first measurement surfaces comprise a heat-resistant material;

calculate a second fallout volume associated with unburned fallout droplets captured by second measurement surfaces in a second measurement region, wherein the second measurement surfaces comprise a non-heat resistant material;

determine a fallout efficiency of the liquid flare burner based on the first fallout volume and the second fallout volume; and

in response to the fallout efficiency not satisfying a fallout efficiency threshold, adjust a configuration of the liquid flare burner based on the fallout efficiency.

14 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the first measurement surfaces are heat-resistant tiles and the second measurement surfaces are paper sheets.

15 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the at least one processor to:

capture an image of a portion of the first measurement surfaces;

generate a processed image of the portion of the first measurement surfaces based on the image;

identify spots associated with the unburned fallout droplets;

calculate a fallout surface density of the portion of the first measurement surfaces based on a first volume of the identified spots and an area of the portion of the first measurement surfaces;

determine a second volume of a geometric area including the portion of the first measurement surfaces based on the fallout surface density; and

calculate the first fallout volume based on a sum of determined ones of the second volumes for a plurality of the geometric areas.

16 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the at least one processor to:

capture an image of a portion of the second measurement surfaces;

generate a first processed image of the portion of the second measurement surfaces based on the image;

identify spots associated with the unburned fallout droplets;

generate first fallout data based on the identified spots;

generate second fallout data corresponding to a plurality of processed images corresponding to the second measurement surfaces, the plurality of the processed images including the first processed image;

fit the second fallout data to a two-dimensional peak function; and

integrate the two-dimensional peak function with respect to an entirety of the second measurement region to calculate the second fallout volume.

17 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the at least one processor to:

invoke the second control valve to isolate the liquid flare burner from the hydrocarbon source; and

invoke the first control valve to fluidly couple the liquid flare burner to the test fluid source to generate unburned test fluid droplets, the unburned test fluid droplets to be captured by the first measurement surfaces and the second measurement surfaces.

18 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the test fluid source is an alcohol-based fluid and the hydrocarbon source is crude oil.

Assignments (1)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (16)