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Sensing in Oil and Gas Applications
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Sensing in Oil and Gas Applications

A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Physical Sensors".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2019) | Viewed by 111296

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Wai-Keung Fung

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Cardiff School of Technologies, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Llandaff Campus, Western Avenue, Cardiff CF5 2YB, UK
Interests: intelligent robotics; networked robotics; computational intelligence; human¬–machine interaction; nanomanipulation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Radhakrishna Prabhu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Engineering, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen AB10 7GJ, UK
Interests: leakage detection; optical fibre-based sensors; robots; hollow core photonic crystal fibres; biosensors and instrumentation; environmental sensing and monitoring; clean technology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Sensing technologies have been widely adopted in the oil and gas industry in order to monitor various processes in petroleum production, from exploration, Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR), well drilling, well completion, pigging, fracking, and refining, to decommissioning. Different modalities, including temperature, pressure, vibration, and strain/stress, are required to sense and monitor continuously in order to guarantee integrity of oil and gas production, storage and transport infrastructure onshore and offshore. Thus, the safety and reliability of oil production can be assured. Various advanced sensing techniques have been developed to satisfy the sensing requirements under high-pressure-high-temperature (HPHT) evnironments in oil and gas applications in recent decades. Recent advances in computer technology, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, augmented reality, Internet of Things (IoT), big data, cloud computing, blockchain technology and so on, together with advanced sensing techniques will definitely faciliate better monitoring, security and management of oil and gas industry with higher productivity and reduced cost and casualities. This Special Issue encompasses a broad range of state-of-the-art sensing techniques and applications in oil and gas industry.

Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):
  • Temperature Sensing
  • Pressure Sensing
  • Seismic Sensing
  • Hydrocarbon Sensing
  • Flow Measurement
  • Corrosion Detection
  • Distributed and Multimodal Sensing
  • Signal Conditioning in HPHT evnironments
  • AI/Machine Learning based Sensor Interrogation
  • Sensing in HPHT wells
  • Sensing in Enhanced Oil Recovery
  • Logging While Drilling (LWD) and Measurement While Drilling (MWD)
  • Vision based Non-contact Sensing
  • Non-destructive Testing of Petrochenical Pipes and Tanks
  • AI/Machine Learning based Fault Detection
  • Structural Health Monitoring of Offshore Structures
  • Sensing in robotic systems for offshore/subsea applications
  • Wireless Sensor Networks for Remote monitoring
  • Subsea Sensing

Dr. Wai-Keung Fung
Dr. Radhakrishna Prabhu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sensors is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers (15 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 9494 KiB  
Article
Distributed Fiber Optic Sensing for Real-Time Monitoring of Gas in Riser during Offshore Drilling
by Giuseppe Feo, Jyotsna Sharma, Dmitry Kortukov, Wesley Williams and Toba Ogunsanwo
Sensors 2020, 20(1), 267; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s20010267 - 02 Jan 2020
Cited by 30 | Viewed by 6684
Abstract
Effective well control depends on the drilling teams’ knowledge of wellbore flow dynamics and their ability to predict and control influx. Unfortunately, detection of a gas influx in an offshore environment is particularly challenging, and there are no existing datasets that have been [...] Read more.
Effective well control depends on the drilling teams’ knowledge of wellbore flow dynamics and their ability to predict and control influx. Unfortunately, detection of a gas influx in an offshore environment is particularly challenging, and there are no existing datasets that have been verified and validated for gas kick migration at full-scale annular conditions. This study bridges this gap and presents pioneering research in the application of fiber optic sensing for monitoring gas in riser. The proposed sensing paradigm was validated through well-scale experiments conducted at Petroleum Engineering Research & Technology Transfer lab (PERTT) facility at Louisiana State University (LSU), simulating an offshore marine riser environment with its larger than average annular space and mud circulation capability. The experimental setup instrumented with distributed fiber optic sensors and pressure/temperature gauges provides a physical model to study the dynamic gas migration in full-scale annular conditions. Current kick detection methods primarily utilize surface measurements and do not always reliably detect a gas influx. The proposed application of distributed fiber optic sensing overcomes this key limitation of conventional kick detection methods, by providing real-time distributed downhole data for accurate and reliable monitoring. The two-phase flow experiments conducted in this research provide critical insights for understanding the flow dynamics in offshore drilling riser conditions, and the results provide an indication of how quickly gas can migrate in a marine riser scenario, warranting further investigation for the sake of effective well control. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensing in Oil and Gas Applications)
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15 pages, 5236 KiB  
Article
Modeling and Research on Power System of Distributed Sensor Networks for Long Streamers in Marine Seismic Exploration
by Hongwei Yu, Kezhu Song, Junfeng Yang, Chuan Wu, Ke Zhong and Wengui Lv
Sensors 2020, 20(1), 28; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s20010028 - 19 Dec 2019
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3144
Abstract
The electric power system plays an important role in sensor networks. In the marine seismic exploration streamer system (MSESS), an underwater power system transmits high-voltage direct current to all nodes in the streamer through a daisy chain structure. As offshore oil exploration develops [...] Read more.
The electric power system plays an important role in sensor networks. In the marine seismic exploration streamer system (MSESS), an underwater power system transmits high-voltage direct current to all nodes in the streamer through a daisy chain structure. As offshore oil exploration develops toward deep water, it is necessary to study long streamers with large-scale sensor networks for deep water exploration. When the length of a streamer is increased to a certain value, the output current of the power supply increases sharply. This results in the activation of the overcurrent protection and the power supply shuts down. This paper puts forward an accurate model for an underwater power system applied to MSESS. Using the Newton iteration algorithm and a reverse algorithm, equations established by the model are solved and laboratory test results are used to verify the accuracy of the model. Based on simulation and analysis of the model, we explain why the power system crashes when the streamer is too long. Software that can quickly calculate the maximum number of nodes (the maximum length with which the system works normally) is developed and it is significant for the design of MSESS. The method of research could also be applied to relevant work such as large-scale sensor networks with daisy-chaining power supply in land seismic exploration. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensing in Oil and Gas Applications)
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16 pages, 3165 KiB  
Article
A Visual Measurement of Water Content of Crude Oil Based on Image Grayscale Accumulated Value Difference
by Qing Liu, Bo Chu, Jinye Peng and Sheng Tang
Sensors 2019, 19(13), 2963; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s19132963 - 05 Jul 2019
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 3678
Abstract
In the process of oil exploitation, the water level of an oil well can be predicted and the position of reservoir can be estimated by measuring the water content of crude oil, with reference for the automatic production of high efficiency in the [...] Read more.
In the process of oil exploitation, the water level of an oil well can be predicted and the position of reservoir can be estimated by measuring the water content of crude oil, with reference for the automatic production of high efficiency in the oil field. In this paper, a visual measuring method for water content of crude oil is proposed. The oil and water in crude oil samples were separated by centrifugation, distillation or electric dehydration, and a water–oil layered mixture was formed according to the unequal densities. Then the volume ratio of water and oil was analyzed by digital image processing, and the water content and oil content was able to be calculated. A new method for measuring water content of crude oil based on IGAVD (image grayscale accumulated value difference) is proposed, which overcomes the uncertainty caused by environmental illumination and improves the measurement accuracy. In order to verify the effectiveness of the algorithm, a miniaturization and low-cost system prototype was developed. The experimental results show that the average power consumption is about 165 mW and the measuring error is less than 1.0%. At the same time, the real-time and remote transmission about measurement results can be realized. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensing in Oil and Gas Applications)
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14 pages, 2367 KiB  
Article
Application of Logging While Drilling Tool in Formation Boundary Detection and Geo-steering
by Gaoyang Zhu, Muzhi Gao, Fanmin Kong and Kang Li
Sensors 2019, 19(12), 2754; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s19122754 - 19 Jun 2019
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2823
Abstract
Logging while drilling (LWD) plays a crucial role in geo-steering, which can determine the formation boundary and resistivity in real time. In this study, an efficient inversion, which can accurately invert formation information in real time on the basis of fast-forward modeling, is [...] Read more.
Logging while drilling (LWD) plays a crucial role in geo-steering, which can determine the formation boundary and resistivity in real time. In this study, an efficient inversion, which can accurately invert formation information in real time on the basis of fast-forward modeling, is presented. In forward modeling, the Gauss–Legendre quadrature combined with the continued fraction method is used to calculate the response of the LWD instrument in a layered formation. In inversion modeling, the Levenberg–Marquardt (LM) algorithm, combined with the line search method of the Armijo criterion, are used to minimize the cost function, and a constraint algorithm is added to ensure the stability of the inversion. A positive and negative sign is added to the distance parameter to determine whether the LWD instrument is located above or below the formation boundary. We have carried out a series of experiments to verify the accuracy of the inversion. The experimental results suggest that the forward algorithm can make the infinite integral of the Bessel function rapidly converge, and accurately obtain the response of the LWD instrument in a layered formation. The inversion can accurately determine the formation resistivity and boundary in real time. This is significant for geological exploration. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensing in Oil and Gas Applications)
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13 pages, 4400 KiB  
Article
Study of Transfer Characteristics of a Molecular Electronic Sensor for Borehole Surveys at High Temperatures and Pressures
by Ilya Evseev, Dmitry Zaitsev and Vadim Agafonov
Sensors 2019, 19(11), 2545; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s19112545 - 04 Jun 2019
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 2773
Abstract
The paper considers the development and experimental study of the characteristics of a high-temperature motion parameter sensor based on molecular-electronic technology (MET) operating at elevated pressures. Studies were conducted in an extended temperature range (25–125 °C) with a static external pressure of up [...] Read more.
The paper considers the development and experimental study of the characteristics of a high-temperature motion parameter sensor based on molecular-electronic technology (MET) operating at elevated pressures. Studies were conducted in an extended temperature range (25–125 °C) with a static external pressure of up to 10 atm. A pilot plant based on a high-pressure chamber with the ability to output an electrical signal was specially designed and commissioned. A family of amplitude-frequency characteristics of a ME sensor in an extended temperature range was obtained for the first time. A theoretical model was constructed and verified to describe the transfer function of the sensor at high temperatures and pressures. The activation energies of active carriers were calculated, and a prediction was made about the possibility of using the developed devices for the needs of the oil and gas mining industries. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensing in Oil and Gas Applications)
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22 pages, 1319 KiB  
Article
Design and Validation of an Articulated Sensor Carrier to Improve the Automatic Pipeline Inspection
by Antonio Ramirez-Martinez, Noé Amir Rodríguez-Olivares, Sergio Torres-Torres, Guillermo Ronquillo-Lomelí and Jorge Alberto Soto-Cajiga
Sensors 2019, 19(6), 1394; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s19061394 - 21 Mar 2019
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 4960
Abstract
Pipeline inspection gauges (PIGs) carry out automatic pipeline inspection with nondestructive testing (NDT) technologies like ultrasound, magnetic flux leakage, and eddy current. The ultrasonic straight beam allows technicians to determine the wall thickness of the pipeline through the time of flight diffraction (TOFD), [...] Read more.
Pipeline inspection gauges (PIGs) carry out automatic pipeline inspection with nondestructive testing (NDT) technologies like ultrasound, magnetic flux leakage, and eddy current. The ultrasonic straight beam allows technicians to determine the wall thickness of the pipeline through the time of flight diffraction (TOFD), providing the pipeline reconstruction and allowing the detection of several defects like dents or corrosion. If the pipeline is of a long distance, then the inspection process is automatic, and the fluid pressure pushes the PIG through the pipeline system. In this case, the PIG velocity and its axial alignment with the pipeline cannot be controlled. The PIG geometry, the pipeline deformations, and the girth welds cause a continuous chattering when the PIG is running, removing the transducers perpendicularity with the inspection points, which means that some echoes cannot be received. To reduce this problem, we propose a novel method to design a sensor carrier that takes into account the angularity and distance effects to acquire the straight beam echoes. The main advantage of our sensor carrier is that it can be used in concave and convex pipeline sections through geometric adjustments, which ensure that it is in contact with the inner pipe wall. Our improvement of the method is the characterization of the misalignment between the internal wall of the pipeline and the transducer. Later, we analyzed the conditions of the automatic pipeline inspection, the existing recommendations in state-of-the-art technology, and the different mechanical scenarios that may occur. For the mechanical design, we developed all the equations and rules. At the signal processing level, we set a fixed gain in the filtering step to obtain the echoes in a defined distance range without saturating the acquisition channels. For the validation, we compared through the mean squared error (MSE) our sensor carrier in a straight pipe section and a pipe elbow of steel versus other sensor carrier configurations. Finally, we present the design parameters for the development of the sensor carrier for different pipeline diameters. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensing in Oil and Gas Applications)
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11 pages, 7523 KiB  
Article
Communication Rate Increase in Drill Strings of Oil and Gas Wells Using Multiple Actuators
by Erjian Zhang and Ali Abdi
Sensors 2019, 19(6), 1337; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s19061337 - 17 Mar 2019
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3586
Abstract
Wireless data communication and telemetry during drilling deep oil and gas wells are important enablers for safe and timely drilling operations. The transmission of information through drill strings and pipes using sound waves is a useful and practical approach. However, given the limited [...] Read more.
Wireless data communication and telemetry during drilling deep oil and gas wells are important enablers for safe and timely drilling operations. The transmission of information through drill strings and pipes using sound waves is a useful and practical approach. However, given the limited available bandwidth, transmission rates are typically smaller than what is needed. In this paper, a new method and system are proposed to increase the transmission rate over the same bandwidth, by deploying more than one actuator. Upon using multiple actuators, several data streams can be transmitted simultaneously. This increases the data rate without the need for additional bandwidth. The experimental results of a testbed with two actuators are presented, where the transmission rate is doubled with no bandwidth increase. A strain sensor receiver and accelerometer receivers are used to separate and demodulate the two data streams. It is demonstrated that it is possible to recover the data in the new faster system benefiting from two actuators, while having about the same bit error probability performance as a one-actuator system. Various combinations of strain and acceleration sensors are considered at the receive side. Due to some properties of strain channels (e.g., smaller delay spreads and their less-frequency-selective behavior) presented in this paper, it appears that a strain sensor receiver and an accelerometer receiver together can offer a good performance when separating and demodulating the two actuators’ data in the testbed. Overall, the experimental results from the proposed system suggest that upon using more than one actuator, it is feasible to increase the data rate over the limited bandwidth of pipes and drill strings. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensing in Oil and Gas Applications)
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24 pages, 11847 KiB  
Article
Novel Aerial Manipulator for Accurate and Robust Industrial NDT Contact Inspection: A New Tool for the Oil and Gas Inspection Industry
by Miguel Ángel Trujillo, José Ramiro Martínez-de Dios, Carlos Martín, Antidio Viguria and Aníbal Ollero
Sensors 2019, 19(6), 1305; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s19061305 - 15 Mar 2019
Cited by 90 | Viewed by 8070
Abstract
There is a strong demand in the oil and gas industry to develop alternatives to manual inspection. This paper presents AeroX, a novel aerial robotic manipulator that provides physical contact inspection with unprecedented capabilities. AeroX has a semi-autonomous operation, which provides interesting advantages [...] Read more.
There is a strong demand in the oil and gas industry to develop alternatives to manual inspection. This paper presents AeroX, a novel aerial robotic manipulator that provides physical contact inspection with unprecedented capabilities. AeroX has a semi-autonomous operation, which provides interesting advantages in contact inspection. In the free-flight mode, the pilot guides the robot until performing contact with its end-effector on the surface to be inspected. During contact, AeroX is in its fully-autonomous global navigation satellite system (GNSS)-free contact–flight mode, in which the robot keeps its relative position w.r.t. the surface contact point using only its internal sensors. During autonomous flight, the inspector can move—with uninterrupted contact—the end-effector on the surface for accurately selecting the points where to perform A-scan measurements or continuous B-scan or C-scan inspections. AeroX adopts an eight-tilted rotor configuration and a simple and efficient design, which provides high stability, maneuverability, and robustness to rotor failure. It can perform contact inspection on surfaces at any orientation, including vertical, inclined, horizontal-top or horizontal-bottom, and its operation can be easily integrated into current maintenance operations in many industries. It has been extensively validated in outdoor experiments including a refinery and has been awarded the EU Innovation Radar Prize 2017. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensing in Oil and Gas Applications)
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21 pages, 15553 KiB  
Article
High-Sensitivity Real-Time Tracking System for High-Speed Pipeline Inspection Gauge
by Guanyu Piao, Jingbo Guo, Tiehua Hu and Yiming Deng
Sensors 2019, 19(3), 731; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s19030731 - 11 Feb 2019
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 6225
Abstract
Real-time tracking of pipeline inspection gauges (PIGs) is an important aspect of ensuring the safety of oil and gas pipeline inline inspections (ILIs). Transmitting and receiving extremely low frequency (ELF) magnetic signals is one of the preferred methods of tracking. Due to the [...] Read more.
Real-time tracking of pipeline inspection gauges (PIGs) is an important aspect of ensuring the safety of oil and gas pipeline inline inspections (ILIs). Transmitting and receiving extremely low frequency (ELF) magnetic signals is one of the preferred methods of tracking. Due to the increase in physical parameters of the pipeline including transportation speed, wall thickness and burial depth, the ELF magnetic signals received are short transient (1-second duration) and very weak (10 pT), making the existing above-ground-marker (AGM) systems difficult to operate correctly. Based on the short transient very weak characteristics of ELF signals studied with a 2-D finite-element method (FEM) simulation, a data fusion model was derived to fuse the envelope decay rates of ELF signals by a least square (LS) criterion. Then, a fast-decision-tree (FDT) method is proposed to estimate the fused envelope decay rate to output the maximized orthogonal signal power for the signal detection through a determined topology and a fast calculation process, which was demonstrated to have excellent real-time detection performance. We show that simulation and experimental results validated the effectiveness of the proposed FDT method, and describe the high-sensitivity detection and real-time implementation of a high-speed PIG tracking system, including a transmitter, a receiver, and a pair of orthogonal search coil sensors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensing in Oil and Gas Applications)
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10 pages, 3324 KiB  
Article
Fluorescence Hyperspectral Imaging of Oil Samples and Its Quantitative Applications in Component Analysis and Thickness Estimation
by Wentao Jiang, Jingwei Li, Xinli Yao, Erik Forsberg and Sailing He
Sensors 2018, 18(12), 4415; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s18124415 - 13 Dec 2018
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 3730
Abstract
The fast response and analysis of oil spill accidents is important but remains challenging. Here, a compact fluorescence hyperspectral system based on a grating-prism structure able to perform component analysis of oil as well as make a quantitative estimation of oil film thickness [...] Read more.
The fast response and analysis of oil spill accidents is important but remains challenging. Here, a compact fluorescence hyperspectral system based on a grating-prism structure able to perform component analysis of oil as well as make a quantitative estimation of oil film thickness is developed. The spectrometer spectral range is 366–814 nm with a spectral resolution of 1 nm. The feasibility of the spectrometer system is demonstrated by determining the composition of three types of crude oil and various mixtures of them. The relationship between the oil film thickness and the fluorescent hyperspectral intensity is furthermore investigated and found to be linear, which demonstrates the feasibility of using the fluorescence data to quantitatively measure oil film thickness. Capable of oil identification, distribution analysis, and oil film thickness detection, the fluorescence hyperspectral imaging system presented is promising for use during oil spill accidents by mounting it on, e.g., an unmanned aerial vehicle. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensing in Oil and Gas Applications)
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23 pages, 3017 KiB  
Article
The Limpet: A ROS-Enabled Multi-Sensing Platform for the ORCA Hub
by Mohammed E. Sayed, Markus P. Nemitz, Simona Aracri, Alistair C. McConnell, Ross M. McKenzie and Adam A. Stokes
Sensors 2018, 18(10), 3487; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s18103487 - 16 Oct 2018
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 6693
Abstract
The oil and gas industry faces increasing pressure to remove people from dangerous offshore environments. Robots present a cost-effective and safe method for inspection, repair, and maintenance of topside and marine offshore infrastructure. In this work, we introduce a new multi-sensing platform, the [...] Read more.
The oil and gas industry faces increasing pressure to remove people from dangerous offshore environments. Robots present a cost-effective and safe method for inspection, repair, and maintenance of topside and marine offshore infrastructure. In this work, we introduce a new multi-sensing platform, the Limpet, which is designed to be low-cost and highly manufacturable, and thus can be deployed in huge collectives for monitoring offshore platforms. The Limpet can be considered an instrument, where in abstract terms, an instrument is a device that transforms a physical variable of interest (measurand) into a form that is suitable for recording (measurement). The Limpet is designed to be part of the ORCA (Offshore Robotics for Certification of Assets) Hub System, which consists of the offshore assets and all the robots (Underwater Autonomous Vehicles, drones, mobile legged robots etc.) interacting with them. The Limpet comprises the sensing aspect of the ORCA Hub System. We integrated the Limpet with Robot Operating System (ROS), which allows it to interact with other robots in the ORCA Hub System. In this work, we demonstrate how the Limpet can be used to achieve real-time condition monitoring for offshore structures, by combining remote sensing with signal-processing techniques. We show an example of this approach for monitoring offshore wind turbines, by designing an experimental setup to mimic a wind turbine using a stepper motor and custom-designed acrylic fan blades. We use the distance sensor, which is a Time-of-Flight sensor, to achieve the monitoring process. We use two different approaches for the condition monitoring process: offline and online classification. We tested the offline classification approach using two different communication techniques: serial and Wi-Fi. We performed the online classification approach using two different communication techniques: LoRa and optical. We train our classifier offline and transfer its parameters to the Limpet for online classification. We simulated and classified four different faults in the operation of wind turbines. We tailored a data processing procedure for the gathered data and trained the Limpet to distinguish among each of the functioning states. The results show successful classification using the online approach, where the processing and analysis of the data is done on-board by the microcontroller. By using online classification, we reduce the information density of our transmissions, which allows us to substitute short-range high-bandwidth communication systems with low-bandwidth long-range communication systems. This work shines light on how robots can perform on-board signal processing and analysis to gain multi-functional sensing capabilities, improve their communication requirements, and monitor the structural health of equipment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensing in Oil and Gas Applications)
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13 pages, 1647 KiB  
Article
Feature Extraction from Indirect Monitoring in Marine Oil Separation Systems
by Graciliano Nicolás Marichal, Deivis Ávila, Ángela Hernández, Isidro Padrón and Cristina Castejón
Sensors 2018, 18(9), 3159; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s18093159 - 19 Sep 2018
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 4219
Abstract
In this article, a study of characteristic vibrations of marine oils separation system is presented. Vibrations analysis allows for the extraction of representative features that could be related to the lifetime of their pieces. Actual measurements were carried out on these systems on [...] Read more.
In this article, a study of characteristic vibrations of marine oils separation system is presented. Vibrations analysis allows for the extraction of representative features that could be related to the lifetime of their pieces. Actual measurements were carried out on these systems on Ro-Pax vessels to transport passengers and freight. The vibrations obtained were processed in the frequency domain and following this, they were used in a Genetic Neuro-Fuzzy System in order to design new predictive maintenance strategies. The obtained results show that these techniques as a promising strategy can be utilized to determine incipient faults. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensing in Oil and Gas Applications)
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22 pages, 1833 KiB  
Article
Improvement of Ultrasonic Pulse Generator for Automatic Pipeline Inspection
by Noé Amir Rodríguez-Olivares, José Vicente Cruz-Cruz, Alejandro Gómez-Hernández, Rodrigo Hernández-Alvarado, Luciano Nava-Balanzar, Tomás Salgado-Jiménez and Jorge Alberto Soto-Cajiga
Sensors 2018, 18(9), 2950; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s18092950 - 05 Sep 2018
Cited by 23 | Viewed by 7732
Abstract
This paper presents the improvement of an ultrasonic pulse generator for a pipeline inspection gauge (PIG), which uses 64 transducers for inspecting distances up to 100 km with an axial resolution fixed at 3 mm and variable speeds between 0 and 2 m/s. [...] Read more.
This paper presents the improvement of an ultrasonic pulse generator for a pipeline inspection gauge (PIG), which uses 64 transducers for inspecting distances up to 100 km with an axial resolution fixed at 3 mm and variable speeds between 0 and 2 m/s. An ultrasonic pulse generator is composed of a high-voltage (HV) MOSFETs, driver logic and an HV power supply. We used a DC-HV DC converter device as the HV power supply because it reduces the size of the ultrasound system considerably. However, pipeline geometry and inspection effects such as hammer and shock cause a variable pulse repetition frequency (PRF), producing voltage drops, poor quality of the HV pulse generated, failures in the dimensioning of defects and damage to devices by over-voltage. Our improvement is to implement a control scheme to maintain the high quality of the HV regardless of the variable PRF. To achieve this, we characterized three transfer functions of the DC-HV DC converter, varying the connected load to 10%, 45% and 80%. For the characterization, we used the least squares technique, considering an autoregressive exogenous (ARX) model. Later, we compared three control schemes: (1) proportional-integral-derivative (PID) tuned by simultaneous optimization of several responses (SOSR), (2) PID tuned by a neural network (NN) and (3) PI tuned by the analytical design method (ADM). The metrics used to compare the control schemes were the recovery time, the maximum over-voltage and the excess energy when the shock and hammer effects happen to occur. Finally, to verify the improvement of the HV pulser, we compared the ultrasonic pulses generated for various frequencies and amplitudes using the pulse generator with and without the control scheme. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensing in Oil and Gas Applications)
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17 pages, 6930 KiB  
Article
Dynamic Toolface Estimation for Rotary Steerable Drilling System
by Weiliang Wang, Yanfeng Geng, Kai Wang, Jieru Si and Joice De Oliveira Fiaux
Sensors 2018, 18(9), 2944; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s18092944 - 04 Sep 2018
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 6436
Abstract
In drilling engineering, Toolface is an angle used to describe bit direction. It is a challenging task to accurately estimate Toolface while drilling because of the downhole harsh conditions, but it is a primary step for the dynamic point-the-bit rotary steerable system (DPRSS). [...] Read more.
In drilling engineering, Toolface is an angle used to describe bit direction. It is a challenging task to accurately estimate Toolface while drilling because of the downhole harsh conditions, but it is a primary step for the dynamic point-the-bit rotary steerable system (DPRSS). A new dynamic Toolface estimator is present, which fuses measurements from two accelerometers and one gyro. A dual-accelerometer Toolface measuring method is designed to compensate the circumferential acceleration of DPRSS. A nonlinear Complementary Filter (CF) is used to suppress the effect of vibration and axial acceleration. The frequency-domain characteristics of nonlinear CF are analyzed and its natural frequency is determined adaptively based on real time drilling conditions. This new estimator is validated on a DPRSS prototype under typical drilling modes; it is demonstrated with high robustness and follows the references satisfactorily. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensing in Oil and Gas Applications)
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Review

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36 pages, 2833 KiB  
Review
Recent Advances in Pipeline Monitoring and Oil Leakage Detection Technologies: Principles and Approaches
by Mutiu Adesina Adegboye, Wai-Keung Fung and Aditya Karnik
Sensors 2019, 19(11), 2548; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/s19112548 - 04 Jun 2019
Cited by 265 | Viewed by 35308
Abstract
Pipelines are widely used for the transportation of hydrocarbon fluids over millions of miles all over the world. The structures of the pipelines are designed to withstand several environmental loading conditions to ensure safe and reliable distribution from point of production to the [...] Read more.
Pipelines are widely used for the transportation of hydrocarbon fluids over millions of miles all over the world. The structures of the pipelines are designed to withstand several environmental loading conditions to ensure safe and reliable distribution from point of production to the shore or distribution depot. However, leaks in pipeline networks are one of the major causes of innumerable losses in pipeline operators and nature. Incidents of pipeline failure can result in serious ecological disasters, human casualties and financial loss. In order to avoid such menace and maintain safe and reliable pipeline infrastructure, substantial research efforts have been devoted to implementing pipeline leak detection and localisation using different approaches. This paper discusses pipeline leakage detection technologies and summarises the state-of-the-art achievements. Different leakage detection and localisation in pipeline systems are reviewed and their strengths and weaknesses are highlighted. Comparative performance analysis is performed to provide a guide in determining which leak detection method is appropriate for particular operating settings. In addition, research gaps and open issues for development of reliable pipeline leakage detection systems are discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sensing in Oil and Gas Applications)
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