The Use of Induction Heating in Assessing the Technical Condition and Operating Intervals in Producing Wells

The paper considers two approaches based on the use of an induction heater: the first is a "large thermal anemometer", in which the casing is heated by induction action and the problem of determining column flows, determining the flow rate and the inflow profile is solved by analyzing the formation of thermal labels (Valiullin et al., 2001, Valiullin et al., 2002), the second is a "small radial-azimuth thermal anemometer - small thermal anemometer", where an induction heater is used to heat the element of the thermal anemometer. In the second case, the problem of estimating the flow direction and estimating the flow rate is solved. For the first approach, "large thermal anemometer", the results of theoretical and experimental studies of the temperature field distribution in a physical model as close as possible to the design of a real oil well, with induction heating of the column taking into account the column flow of liquid. The influence of forced convection on the readings of temperature sensors with different locations in the well (pressed against the inner wall of the column, along the axis of the device) is studied. The advantages of the azimuthal location of temperature sensors when measuring temperature anomalies of the column motion of a liquid are shown. It is established that with the help of an azimuthally distributed temperature probe, it is possible to determine the column flow "from above" when measuring above and below the heating point of the inductor. The optimal time intervals for measuring the temperature at which the allocation of channels for the column movement of the liquid is most effective are determined. For the second approach, "small thermal anemometer", the design features of a borehole thermoconductive indicator of the inflow of indirect heating, which is heated using an induction heater, are considered. Using an induction heater, a uniform heating of the housing of the borehole thermoconductive inflow indicator is achieved. Due to the developed design, the sensor is able to detect the presence of a liquid flow directed perpendicular to the body, and determine the direction of this flow. The "large thermal anemometer" technology has been tested, which has shown its effectiveness and prospects for using it to determine backwater flows (column circulation), but there are still questions related to assessing the effect of thermal convection on the recorded temperature and the possibility of diagnosing the column circulation channel (Valiullin et al., 2017). The article (Valiullin et al., 2008) describes the developed equipment of the "active thermometry" method for conducting geophysical studies of wells, while the classical location of temperature sensors along the axis of the device is used in the borehole probe, which does not make it possible to determine the channels of the circulation channels. The sensors located in this way are more susceptible to the influence of thermal convection, while the change in the velocity and composition of the fluid can be estimated as the presence of circulation channel. In this regard, work was carried out to reduce the influence of convection, the design of the temperature probe was developed, which allows minimizing the influence of thermal convection and increasing the efficiency of the allocation of circulation channel. Thermoanemometers, better known as thermoanemometer sensors (borehole thermoconductive inflow indicator), have been widely used in field geophysics (Zhuvagin et al., 1973). The traditional sensor of a thermal anemometer, with all its advantages, is not without disadvantages, and one of these is the inability to unambiguously determine the presence and direction of the fluid flow directed perpendicular to its body. The solution of this problem would allow, along with the known solved problems, to increase the information content of the thermoanemometer sensor, namely, in terms of detecting the leakiness of the column, evaluating the operating intervals at low debits, the flow direction. This problem is solved in this work on the basis of the use of an indirect induction heater.

Wind direction sensor based on thermal anemometer for olfactory mobile robot

A wind direction sensor has been implemented for many applications, such as navigation, weather, and air pollution monitoring. In an odor tracking system, the wind plays the important role to carry gas from its source. Therefore, the precise, low-cost, and effective wind direction sensor is required to trace the gas source. In this study, a new design of wind direction sensor has been developed using thermal anemometer principle with the main component of the positive temperature coefficient thermistor. Three anemometers each of which has different directions are used as inputs for the neural network to determine the direction of the wind automatically.The experimental results show that the wind sensor system is able to detect twelve wind directions. A mobile robot equipped with this sensor system can navigate to a wind source in the open air with a success rate of 80%.This system is expected to increase the success rate of the mobile robot in searching for dangerous leaking gas in the open air.

Visualization of the shielding gas flow in SLM machines by space-resolved thermal anemometry

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to introduce an approach in measuring the shielding gas flow within laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) machines under near-process conditions (regarding oxygen content and shielding gas flow).Design/methodology/approachThe measurements are made sequentially using a hot-wire anemometer. After a short introduction into the measurement technique, the system which places the measurement probe within the machine is described. Finally, the measured shielding gas flow of a commercial L-PBF machine is presented.FindingsAn approach to measure the shielding gas flow within SLM machines has been developed and successfully tested. The use of a thermal anemometer along with an automated probe-placement system enables the space-resolved measurement of the flow speed and its turbulence.Research limitations/implicationsThe used single-normal (SN) hot-wire anemometer does not provide the flow vectors’ orientation. Using a probe with two or three hot-films and an improved placement system will provide more information about the flow and less disturbance to it.Originality/valueA measurement system which allows the measurement of the shielding gas flow within commercial L-PBF machines is presented. This enables the correlation of the shielding gas flow with the resulting parts’ quality.