A Microwave Liquid Level Determination Method for Oil and Gas Pipelines

The modeling and design of a complete wireless liquid level determination system within a metallic pipeline is examined. Applications include the oil and gas industry, and propagation within other enclosed environments like tunnels, mines, and airplanes. For the oil and gas well scenario, the liquid...

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Main Authors: Konstantinos Kossenas, Symon K. Podilchak, Martin Beveridge
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2022-01-01
Series:IEEE Access
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9777948/
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author Konstantinos Kossenas
Symon K. Podilchak
Martin Beveridge
author_facet Konstantinos Kossenas
Symon K. Podilchak
Martin Beveridge
author_sort Konstantinos Kossenas
collection DOAJ
description The modeling and design of a complete wireless liquid level determination system within a metallic pipeline is examined. Applications include the oil and gas industry, and propagation within other enclosed environments like tunnels, mines, and airplanes. For the oil and gas well scenario, the liquid level determination is achieved by measuring the delay between the original and the reflected signal by a liquid that could be positioned at the bottom of an oil well. In the design of the proposed system, the propagating mode was selected to be a superposition of the TE<sub>21</sub> and the TE<sub>31</sub> modes of the overmoded guide as standard pipeline dimensions from the oil and gas industry were employed. The wave velocity for the adopted signal within the guide was also defined and verified by theory, full wave simulations, and measurements. In particular, the excited signals were Gaussian and rectangular pulses. A specific link budget equation was also developed for the 2.4 GHz microwave system and measured successfully using a 2 meter carbon steel pipeline. Based on this link budget equation, which was supported by lab measurements, the maximum depth that can be achieved with the proposed system is 250 meters, and when the stimulated power is 1 kW; this range is mainly defined by the attenuation due to metal along the length of the pipe. Regardless of these factors and to the best knowledge of the authors, no similar microwave liquid level determination system has been developed previously with supporting theory, full-wave simulations, and measurements for propagation within industry standard oil and gas wells.
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spelling doaj.art-f9b702fc7348450ca014f12e0eaa58842022-12-22T02:39:13ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362022-01-0110670316704610.1109/ACCESS.2022.31763469777948A Microwave Liquid Level Determination Method for Oil and Gas PipelinesKonstantinos Kossenas0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1311-6339Symon K. Podilchak1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6062-6732Martin Beveridge2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4295-7789The Institute for Digital Communications (IDCOM), The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, U.K.The Institute for Digital Communications (IDCOM), The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, U.K.Innerpath Technologies Ltd., Aberdeen, U.K.The modeling and design of a complete wireless liquid level determination system within a metallic pipeline is examined. Applications include the oil and gas industry, and propagation within other enclosed environments like tunnels, mines, and airplanes. For the oil and gas well scenario, the liquid level determination is achieved by measuring the delay between the original and the reflected signal by a liquid that could be positioned at the bottom of an oil well. In the design of the proposed system, the propagating mode was selected to be a superposition of the TE<sub>21</sub> and the TE<sub>31</sub> modes of the overmoded guide as standard pipeline dimensions from the oil and gas industry were employed. The wave velocity for the adopted signal within the guide was also defined and verified by theory, full wave simulations, and measurements. In particular, the excited signals were Gaussian and rectangular pulses. A specific link budget equation was also developed for the 2.4 GHz microwave system and measured successfully using a 2 meter carbon steel pipeline. Based on this link budget equation, which was supported by lab measurements, the maximum depth that can be achieved with the proposed system is 250 meters, and when the stimulated power is 1 kW; this range is mainly defined by the attenuation due to metal along the length of the pipe. Regardless of these factors and to the best knowledge of the authors, no similar microwave liquid level determination system has been developed previously with supporting theory, full-wave simulations, and measurements for propagation within industry standard oil and gas wells.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9777948/Coaxial waveguideliquid levellink budget equationmandreloil and gas wellpipeline configuration
spellingShingle Konstantinos Kossenas
Symon K. Podilchak
Martin Beveridge
A Microwave Liquid Level Determination Method for Oil and Gas Pipelines
IEEE Access
Coaxial waveguide
liquid level
link budget equation
mandrel
oil and gas well
pipeline configuration
title A Microwave Liquid Level Determination Method for Oil and Gas Pipelines
title_full A Microwave Liquid Level Determination Method for Oil and Gas Pipelines
title_fullStr A Microwave Liquid Level Determination Method for Oil and Gas Pipelines
title_full_unstemmed A Microwave Liquid Level Determination Method for Oil and Gas Pipelines
title_short A Microwave Liquid Level Determination Method for Oil and Gas Pipelines
title_sort microwave liquid level determination method for oil and gas pipelines
topic Coaxial waveguide
liquid level
link budget equation
mandrel
oil and gas well
pipeline configuration
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9777948/
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AT konstantinoskossenas microwaveliquidleveldeterminationmethodforoilandgaspipelines
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