Friction Flowmeter in Slurry Flows

该项目的重点是通过将最小侵入式声学传感器集成到专利计算方法中，提高泥浆应用中摩擦流量计的精度。这种新型传感器将提供浆料中固体含量的估计，因此可以纠正对测量的影响。此外，它应该提供关于固体物理性质的更详细信息，并进一步了解该过程。由于泥浆流体对物理性质和固体含量的变化非常敏感，因此准确测量流速非常具有挑战性。有了一个系统，可以计算这些参数作为测量的一部分，消除了单独的测量和使用单独的测量校正的需要-这一切都是在一个设备与摩擦流量计。随着可再生技术对稀土矿物的需求不断增加，以及地热能和地下储层碳封存的钻井应用，浆料型流量预计将在未来几年增长。钻井可能是一个昂贵的过程，特别是在北海近海，钻井船的租金可以超过每周200万英镑，一次租几个月。通过更好的控制和自动化，节省10%的钻井时间，每台设备每年可节省数百万英镑，这对于能源转型中这样一个新兴而重要的行业来说是巨大的经济刺激。

The project focusses on improving the accuracy of the friction flowmeter in slurry applications by incorporating a minimally intrusive acoustic sensor into the patented calculation method. This new sensor will provide an estimate of the solids content of the slurry so the impact on the measurement can be corrected. Additionally, it should provide more detailed information on the solids physical properties as well adding further insight into the process.Slurry fluids are notoriously challenging to measure flow rate accurately because of the sensitivity to changes in physical properties and solids content. Having a system that can calculate these parameters as part of the measurement, eliminates the need for separate measurements and employing separate measurement corrections -- it's all done in the one device with the friction flowmeter.Slurry type flows are expected to grow in coming years with the increasing demand of rare earth minerals used in renewable technologies as well as drilling applications for geothermal energy and carbon sequestration in underground storage reservoirs. Drilling can be a costly process, especially offshore in the North Sea where a drillship can be leased for over £2m per week for months at a time. Saving 10% of drilling time through better control and automation could save millions of pounds per year per installation which could be a huge financial stimulus for such an fledgling and important industry for the energy transition.