RU2379657C1 - X-ray-fluorescence analyzer of gas-fluid flow component composition and component-by-component flow rate - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: instrument making.

SUBSTANCE: proposed analyzer is used to determine component composition and rate parameters of three-component flow. Proposed invention consists in that the analyzer incorporates X-ray tube, primary and secondary collimators, roentgen-transparent inserts arranged in the walls of pipe carrying controlled gas-fluid flow, as well as multiple X-ray radiation detectors arranged in various directions relative to aforesaid pipe. Note that proposed device comprises secondary radiators arranged in secondary collimators holes, gas-fluid flow pressure and temperature pickups, flow conditions controller, timers, jet straightening device and flow normalizer, and electronic unit.

EFFECT: higher accuracy.

6 dwg

Description

The invention relates to measuring equipment and can be used in the oil industry to control the flow rate of oil wells.

Fluorescence analyzers of gas-liquid flow parameters are known based on the irradiation of a controlled flow with a gamma-ray beam (see patent RU 2301985, IPC G01N 9/24 and RF patents for utility model 35892, IPC G01N 9/24 and 37222, IPC G01N 23/00) .

Known analyzers contain a gamma radiation source, for example, a radioisotope source of gamma rays, a primary collimator designed to form a gamma radiation beam at the output of the radioisotope source, a scintillation gamma radiation detector and a photoelectric converter designed to convert a gamma radiation beam transmitted through a controlled medium, into an electrical signal, a secondary collimator, designed to form a gamma-ray beam at the input of the scintillation detector, calculator for determining a liquid flow parameter for information on the degree of absorption of gamma radiation controlled environment.

The disadvantages of the known devices are low measurement accuracy and the need for continuous environmental monitoring.

The first of these drawbacks is associated with the high energy of gamma rays and becomes especially significant when controlling the flow of an oil-water-gas mixture, since the atomic numbers of the heaviest elements that make up oil and water — carbon (12) and oxygen (16) —are small differ in magnitude, and the absorption coefficient of gamma radiation by individual components of a controlled environment depends mainly on the atomic numbers of the elements that make up these components. In this regard, the differences in the absorption of high-energy radiation by water and oil differ slightly from each other, which makes it difficult to accurately determine the component composition of the controlled medium.

The second disadvantage of the known devices is explained, firstly, by the high energy of gamma radiation and, secondly, by the inability to suspend the radiation of a radioisotope source during non-working periods of the device’s life cycle: during storage, transportation and disposal. This circumstance significantly complicates the operation and disposal of known devices and requires continuous environmental monitoring.

The known X-ray fluorescence analyzer of the composition of the gas-liquid flow, based on the irradiation of the controlled medium with a low-energy X-ray beam, is free from these drawbacks (see US Patent 5689540, IPC G01N23 / 22, G01N23 / 06, G01N23 / 087).

This analyzer contains a housing, an x-ray source - an x-ray tube, an x-ray tube power supply, primary collimators for generating x-ray beams at the output of the x-ray tube, scintillation x-ray detectors, secondary collimators for generating x-ray beams at the input of scintillation detectors, photoelectronic signal converters of scintillation detectors, as well as a computer designed to nny for determining the liquid flow of the information parameters from the photoelectric converters and for controlling the source of X-ray tube power supply.

A disadvantage of the known device is the inability to determine the speed and flow rate of a gas-liquid stream.

This disadvantage is caused by the fact that informative signals about the state of the gas-liquid flow generated by X-ray detectors are not related to the flow velocity parameters, but depend only on the relative content of the flow components and the composition of each component.

Also known is an X-ray fluorescence analyzer of the composition of the gas-liquid stream, based on the sequential irradiation of a three-component medium containing oil, water and gas with two levels of x-ray radiation: high-level radiation and low-level radiation (see US patent No. 2007/0291898 A1, IPC G01N23 / 06, G01F 1/66).

This analyzer contains a casing, an x-ray source — an x-ray tube, a controlled x-ray tube power supply, measuring and control scintillation x-ray detectors, x-ray transparent inserts installed in the casing, primary and secondary collimators, and a volume and mass content calculator for the components of the controlled medium.

A disadvantage of the known analyzer is the inability to determine the component flow rate of a gas-liquid stream.

These disadvantages are absent in the closest to the proposed invention in terms of technical essence and the achieved result of the known X-ray fluorescence analyzer of the component composition and component flow rate of the gas-liquid flow (see US patent 6097786, IPC G01N23 / 06).

This analyzer is taken as the closest analogue (prototype) of the present invention.

In the known analyzer, two different measurement methods are used.

To measure the component composition of the gas-liquid flow, the method of x-ray sensing of a controlled medium using a low-energy x-ray source, an x-ray tube, was used. Information about the component volume composition of the controlled medium is generated in a known analyzer by measuring the degree of attenuation of x-ray radiation as it passes through the controlled medium, where it is absorbed and scattered. The degree of attenuation is measured by scintillation detectors that convert x-rays to visible light. Optical signals from the outputs of the detectors are converted into electrical signals using photoelectronic converters and fed to an electronic unit, which includes modules for processing the mentioned electrical signals, a gas-liquid flow parameter calculator, and an X-ray tube power supply control module.

In this method, the output signal of each scintillation detector depends on the energy of the x-ray radiation transmitted through the controlled medium and is a function of the volume component composition of this medium, which allows us to calculate the relative volume content of each component of the controlled stream.

To measure the velocity of the gas-liquid flow, the cross-scattering method was used, in which the data for calculating the speed are formed as a result of x-ray irradiation of the controlled stream in two different zones, sequentially located in the direction of the flow, and control of x-rays transmitted through the controlled stream in each of the mentioned zones, with using the second and first scintillation x-ray detectors, sequentially installed in the direction of gas-liquid flow. The method allows one to calculate the velocities of one or several components of a gas-liquid flow based on information generated by the second and first scintillation detectors by detecting a local inhomogeneity of its composition moving with the flow velocity and measuring the local inhomogeneity moving time from the second to the first scintillation detectors.

The composition of the known analyzer includes a low-energy X-ray generator — an X-ray tube, an X-ray tube power supply, primary collimators designed to form X-ray beams at the output of the X-ray tube, a housing, which is a section of a pipeline designed for the flow of a controlled medium, X-ray transparent inserts installed in the wall of the housing, the first and second scintillation detectors designed to receive x-ray radiation exercises passed through X-ray transparent inserts and a controlled environment, single-channel photoelectronic converters, for example, ionization chambers, each of which is designed to convert an optical signal from the output of the corresponding scintillation detector into an electrical signal, secondary collimators designed to form x-ray beams at the inputs of scintillation detectors, and an electronic unit, which includes a calculator, a control module and processing modules electrical signals designed to convert electrical signals from the outputs of the photoelectronic converters into measuring information about the component volumetric composition and speed of the controlled flow, as well as to control the power source of the x-ray tube. Scintillation detectors and an x-ray tube of the known analyzer are mounted on opposite sides of the housing, the first scintillation detectors being installed in the plane of the cross section of the housing passing through the axis of radiation of the x-ray tube, and the second scintillation detectors are installed in front of the first detectors in the direction of flow.

The known analyzer allows you to calculate the relative volume content of the components of the gas-liquid flow based on the measured parameters of the absorption of x-ray radiation in a controlled environment; in addition, the known analyzer allows you to calculate the velocity parameters of the gas-liquid flow using the cross-correlation method by measuring the speed of movement of the local heterogeneity of the composition of the controlled medium.

The disadvantages of the known analyzer include:

- a significant error in the measurement of velocity parameters of the gas-liquid flow;

- low accuracy of measuring the mass content of the components of the controlled environment;

- high instrumental error in the measurement of the parameters of the controlled flow, caused by the spread in magnitude and drift in time of the transmission coefficients of individual single-channel scintillation detectors and individual single-channel photoelectronic converters.

The first drawback of the known analyzer - a significant error in measuring the velocity parameters of the gas-liquid flow - is caused by differences in the method for determining the location of a moving local heterogeneity of the composition of the controlled medium by the first and second scintillation detectors. The first detectors perceive x-ray radiation crossing the case in a plane containing the axis of radiation of the x-ray tube, and determine the location of the local inhomogeneity of the flow with respect to this plane orthogonal to the longitudinal axis of the case. However, the second detectors, located downstream of the first, receive x-ray radiation crossing the case at a certain angle to the plane of its cross section, and, therefore, determine the location of the same local inhomogeneity with respect to not some orthogonal, but to some inclined plane. This leads to ambiguity in determining both the configuration and the location of the local flow inhomogeneity and does not make it possible to unambiguously fix the time instant of the passage of the inhomogeneity past the first and past second scintillation detectors, which leads to a significant error in calculating the flow velocity by the cross-scattering method.

It should be noted that to reduce the specified error in the prototype provides an embodiment using an additional x-ray tube mounted in the plane of the second scintillation detectors. However, this solution, despite the significant complication of the design of the known device, does not significantly reduce the mentioned error due to the inevitable difference between the spectra, intensities and temporal drifts of the radiation of two x-ray tubes.

The second drawback of the known analyzer, the low accuracy of measuring the mass content of components of a controlled environment, is caused by the fact that the degree of absorption of x-ray radiation by a controlled medium is ambiguously related to the density of the medium and cannot be reliably used as an informative parameter for determining the mass content of its components.

The third drawback of the known analyzer - the high instrumental error in measuring the parameters of the controlled flow - is caused by the spread of the transmission coefficients of individual single-channel scintillation detectors and individual single-channel photoelectronic converters both in nominal values and in the values of time and temperature drifts. This scatter leads to uncontrolled differences between the amplitudes of the signals at the output of both individual single-channel scintillation detectors and individual single-channel photoelectronic converters of the known analyzer and creates an unrecoverable additional instrumental measurement error.

The objective of the invention and its technical result is to increase the accuracy and reliability of measuring the parameters of the gas-liquid flow, including the mass content of the components of the stream and the speed of homogeneous flows.

To solve this problem, the design and composition of the elements of the X-ray fluorescence analyzer of the component composition and component-wise flow of the gas-liquid flow were changed.

The analyzer includes a housing, in the wall of which the second and first X-ray transparent inserts, an X-ray tube with a power source, the first and second primary collimators with several collimating holes in each, the first and second secondary collimators with several collimating holes in each, are installed successively in the flow direction first and second detectors, first and second photoelectronic converters and an electronic unit. The electronic unit includes a calculator, a first and second processing module, and a control module, each of the first detectors being optically connected to a corresponding first photoelectronic converter, each of the second detectors being optically connected to a corresponding second photoelectric converter, and the computer is connected to an input of a control module connected to the power source.

In the claimed device, new with respect to the prototype, is that according to the invention, the first and second x-ray mirrors, the third x-ray transparent insert installed in the housing wall after the first x-ray transparent insert in the direction of flow, the third primary and third secondary collimators with several collimators are additionally introduced into its composition holes in each, third detectors, first, second, third and fourth multichannel fibers, control detectors and secondary emitters, fourth detectors ry and orthogonal collimators.

Orthogonal collimators are installed at right angles to the axis of radiation of the x-ray tube, and control detectors are installed so that the straight line connecting the center of each of them with the center of radiation of the x-ray tube does not intersect the body.

In addition, a pressure sensor, a temperature sensor and a measuring transducer, a flow rectifier and a normalizer, a mode controller, as well as the first and second timers are included in the analyzer. In this case, the first detectors are combined into a first multichannel detector, and the first and second multichannel photoelectronic converters are used as the first and second photoelectronic converters. The calculator is additionally equipped with two multi-channel inputs, the first processing module is equipped with an additional output, the first and second processing modules are equipped with each additional input, a respective secondary emitter is installed in front of each of the detectors of the first multi-channel detector, and a corresponding orthogonal collimator is installed in front of each fourth detector. The flow straightener and the normalizer are installed inside the housing sequentially in the direction of flow in front of the second radiolucent insert, a pressure sensor and a temperature sensor are installed in the wall of the housing. The output of each of the detectors of the first multichannel detector and the output of each of the control detectors are connected to the corresponding channel of the first multichannel fiber, the output of each of the second and the output of each of the third detectors is connected respectively to the corresponding channel of the second and the corresponding channel of the third multichannel fiber, the output of each of the fourth detectors is connected with the corresponding channel of the fourth multichannel fiber. The outputs of the first and outputs of the fourth multichannel optical fibers are each connected to the corresponding inputs of the first multichannel photoelectronic converter, connected by their outputs to the corresponding inputs of the first processing module using multichannel information communication, the outputs of the second and the outputs of the third multichannel optical fiber are each connected to the corresponding inputs of the second multichannel photoelectric converter its outputs to the corresponding inputs of the second module and with a multichannel data communication. In this case, the mode controller and the measuring transducer are each connected to the corresponding multichannel input of the calculator using the corresponding multichannel information connection. An additional output of the first processing module is connected to the input of the mode controller, an additional input of the first processing module is connected to the output of the first timer, and an additional input of the second processing module is connected to the output of the second timer, each temperature sensor and pressure sensor are connected to the corresponding input of the measuring transducer. In this case, the input of the first and the input of the second timers are designed to be connected to external systems, the multi-channel input-output of which is designed to exchange information with the computer via two-way information communication. The orthogonal collimator contains collimating holes, the depth of each of which is significantly greater than the diameter, and the axes are parallel to each other and orthogonal to the axis of radiation of the x-ray tube; the secondary emitter is a tube made of heavy metal, for example gadolinium, installed in the hole of the first secondary collimator.

The device and operation of the proposed analyzer are illustrated by drawings. Figure 1 presents a functional diagram of the analyzer, Figure 2 is a cross section of the housing in a plane containing the axis of radiation of the x-ray tube, Figure 3 is a functional diagram explaining the operation of the analyzer when measuring speed, Figure 4 is a graphical dependence of the attenuation coefficients x-ray radiation energy, figure 5 is a temporal sequence of optical pulses caused by x-ray photons with different energies, figure 6 is a graphical dependence of the flux density of x-ray photons energy at several values of the supply voltage of the x-ray tube.

The following notation is introduced in the drawings: 1 - case, 2, 3 and 4 - first, second and third radiolucent inserts, respectively, 5 - x-ray tube, 6 and 7 - first and second mirrors, respectively, 8, 9 and 10 - first, second and the third primary collimators, respectively, in each of which collimating holes are made, 11 - the first multichannel detector, 12 and 13 - the second and third scintillation detectors, respectively, 14, 15 and 16 - the first, second and third secondary collimators, respectively, in each of which collimating rstiya, 17 - fourth scintillation detectors, 18 - orthogonal collimators, 19, 20, 21 and 22 - first, second, third and fourth optical fibers, respectively, 23 - control scintillation detectors, 24 - secondary emitters, 25 - first photoelectric converter, 26 - the first processing module, 27 - the second photoelectronic converter, 28 - the second processing module, 29 - the calculator, 30 - the control module, 31 - the electronic unit, 32 - mode controller, 33 - power supply, 34 - external systems, 35 - pressure sensor, 36 - temperature sensor, 37 - measuring converter, 38 - first timer, 39 - second timer, 40 - jet straightener, 41 - normalizer.

The proposed analyzer contains a housing 1, which is a segment of the pipeline with flanges at its ends, designed to connect the housing 1 to the external highway.

X-ray transparent inserts are installed in the wall of the housing 1: the first, second and third inserts 2, 3, and 4, for example, ring-shaped, made of beryllium.

The low-energy X-ray tube 5 is mounted in such a way that its radiation axis is directed toward the first insert 2 along its diameter. Opposite the second and opposite the third inserts 3 and 4 are respectively the second and first mirrors 7 and 6, each of which is installed in relation to the plane of the cross section of the housing at an angle.

At the output of the x-ray tube 5, the first, second, and third primary collimators 8, 9, and 10 are installed, respectively, with several fan-shaped diverging collimating holes in each. In this case, the second primary collimator 9 and the third primary collimator 10 are located in front of the first and in front of the second mirrors 6 and 7, respectively. The collimating holes in each of the collimators 9, 10 are made in such a way that the axes of each of them are directed relative to the plane of the cross section of the housing at a certain angle. The orientation angle of the mirrors 6 and 7 and the orientation angle of the collimating holes of the collimators 9 and 10 are chosen so that the x-ray beams reflected by the mirrors intersect the body in the planes of the inserts 3 and 4, respectively.

The analyzer also includes a first multichannel detector 11 and second and third detectors 12 and 13, respectively, at the input of each of which there are corresponding first, second and third secondary collimators 14, 15 and 16, respectively, each of which contains several collimating holes, the axis each of which is directed from the center of radiation of the x-ray tube 5 to the center of the corresponding detector, while the number of said holes is equal to the number of corresponding detectors. In addition, the analyzer includes two fourth detectors 17, two orthogonal collimators 18, each of which is installed in front of one of the fourth detectors 17, as well as the first, second, third and fourth optical fibers 19, 20, 21 and 22, respectively. In the installation plane of the first multichannel detector 11, control detectors 23 are also located, and in each, except for two extreme openings of the first secondary collimator 14, one of the secondary emitters 24 is installed, which is a collimating tube made of heavy metal, the characteristic line of which is located in the low-energy part hard X-ray range, for example, from gadolinium or gold.

Each control detector 23 is mounted so that a straight line connecting its center with the center of radiation of the x-ray tube 5 does not intersect the first insert 2, i.e. passed outside the housing 1, and each of the orthogonal collimators 18 is located in the plane of installation of the detectors of the first multichannel detector 11 so that the axis of its collimating holes are at right angles to the axis of radiation of the x-ray tube 5.

The output of each of the detectors of the first multichannel detector 11, the output of each of the control detectors 23 and the output of each of the fourth detectors 17 are connected to the corresponding channel of the first fiber 19, the output of each of the second detectors 12 is connected to the corresponding channel of the second fiber 20, and the output of each of the third detectors 13 is connected to the corresponding channel of the third fiber 21.

The first optical fiber 19 and the fourth optical fiber 22 are each connected with their outputs to the corresponding inputs of the first photoelectric converter 25, the output of which is connected by multi-channel information communication with the input of the first processing module 26, and the second and third optical fibers 20 and 21, respectively, are connected by their outputs to the corresponding inputs of the second photoelectronic a converter 27, the output of which is connected by multi-channel information communication with the input of the second processing module 28.

The output of the first and the output of the second processing modules 26 and 28 are respectively connected each to a corresponding input of the calculator 29, the output of which is connected to the control module 30. The calculator 29, the first and second processing modules 26 and 28, respectively, and the control module 30 are part of the electronic unit 31.

The proposed analyzer also contains a mode controller 32, the output of which is connected via multichannel information communication to the corresponding multichannel input of the calculator 29, and the input is connected to an additional output of the first processing module 26, and the power supply 33 of the x-ray tube 5, the input of which is connected to the output of the control module 30 .

The computer 29 contains an output connected to the input of the control module 30, and can be equipped with two-way information communication for exchanging information with external systems 34.

A pressure sensor 36 and a temperature sensor 37 are installed in the wall of the housing 1, each connected to the corresponding input of the measuring transducer 38 connected to the corresponding multichannel input of the calculator 29 using multichannel information communication.

The analyzer also includes a first timer 38, the output of which is connected to an additional input of the first processing module 26, and a second timer 39, the output of which is connected to an additional input of the second processing module 28; the input of the first timer 38 and the input of the second timer 39 are each intended to be connected to external systems 34.

Inside the housing 1, a straightener 40 and a normalizer 41 of the gas-liquid flow structure are sequentially installed in the direction of flow.

The proposed x-ray fluorescence analyzer of the component composition and component-wise flow rate of a gas-liquid flow works as follows.

The flow of the controlled medium moving along the housing 1 at a speed W is subjected to preliminary processing in the jet straightener 40 and normalizer 41. In the straightener 40 the gas-liquid stream is mixed in order to increase its structural uniformity and, above all, to eliminate local vortices and large single bubbles of associated gas . In the normalizer 41, partial laminarization and equalization of the flow rate are performed.

When a start signal is supplied to the calculator 29, for example, from external systems 34 via a two-way information communication, the command to turn on the power supply 33 is received from the output of the calculator 29 to the input of the control module 30, which turns on and energizes the x-ray tube 5 with a voltage corresponding to the nominal power mode specified control module 30. As a result, at the output of the x-ray tube 5, low-energy x-ray radiation, the beams of which are shaped, is excited and crosses the controlled medium located in the housing 1 ruyutsya each collimating apertures first, second and third primary collimators 8, 9 and 10, respectively.

The mentioned primary collimators form three groups of x-ray beams, fan-shaped diverging from the center of radiation of the x-ray tube 5 in directions to the corresponding holes of the corresponding secondary collimator.

The first group of fan-shaped diverging beams is formed by the first primary collimator 8 and lies in the plane of the cross-section BB of the housing 1, containing the first insert 2 and the radiation axis of the x-ray tube 5; the main part of the bundles of this group, with the exception of the two extreme bundles, crosses the housing 1 through the first insert 2, and the extreme bundles do not cross the housing 1 and pass through the air at opposite sides of the housing 1 (see Figure 2).

The second group of fan-shaped diverging beams is formed by the second primary collimator 9 and is directed towards the mirror 7. The beams reflected by the mirror 7 intersect the housing 1 in section AA containing the second insert 3.

The third group of fan-shaped diverging beams is formed by the third primary collimator 10 and is directed towards the mirror 6. The beams reflected by the mirror 6 intersect the housing 1 in section CC containing the third insert 4 (see Figure 3).

Each of the two extreme x-ray beams of the first group formed in the extreme collimating holes of the first primary collimator 8 in the section BB of case 1, without crossing the case 1, enters one of the extreme holes of the first secondary collimator 14 and after formation in this hole falls on the corresponding control detector 23. Each of the 8 x-ray beams formed by the first primary collimator lying in the BB section of the housing 1, except for the two extreme beams, intersects the first insert 2 and the controlled medium, the filling housing 1 reaches the corresponding secondary emitter 24 installed in the hole of the first secondary collimator 14, and after the formation of this emitter in the collimating hole, it falls onto one of the detectors of the multi-channel first detector 11.

In each of the control detectors 23 and in each of the detectors of the multi-channel first detector 11, an optical signal is generated corresponding to the intensity of the received x-ray radiation. Each of the generated optical signals is fed into the corresponding channel of the first fiber 19 and from the corresponding output of the last goes to the corresponding input of the first photoelectric converter 25.

Simultaneous transmission through the channels of the first fiber 19 of several optical signals generated by several control detectors 23 and several detectors of the multichannel first detector 11 makes it possible to use a single multichannel photoelectric converter — the first photoelectric converter 25 — for photoelectric conversion of these signals.

Such a technical solution allows to minimize the spread of conversion coefficients and the values of temperature and time drifts of several individual detectors and several individual photoelectronic converters and thereby minimize the corresponding instrumental error.

Each of the x-ray beams crossing the controlled medium in the plane of the location of the first insert 2 is partially absorbed and scattered by this medium, which leads to a decrease in the flux density of x-ray photons incident on each of the detectors of the first multichannel detector 11 and makes it possible to evaluate the component composition of the absorbing medium along lines of intersection in the degree of reduction of the photon flux density in comparison with the initial density of this flux.

To obtain more detailed data on the volumetric component composition, it is necessary to sequentially irradiate the controlled medium with low-energy X-ray beams that differ in energy level, while each energy level of the X-ray radiation is set by the corresponding voltage of the X-ray tube 5. If, for example, it is necessary to obtain how shown in Fig.6, three levels of x-ray energy, you should use three values of the supply voltage U ₁ , U ₂ and U ₃ , providing energy levels E ₁ (I _max1 ), E ₂ (I _max2 ) and E ₃ (I _max3 ), respectively, corresponding to the maximum values of the photon flux densities Imax ₁ , Imax ₂ and Imax ₃ at the output of the X-ray tube 5. For this, the X-ray tube 5 sequentially powered by voltages U ₁ , U ₂ and U ₃ from the power source 33 in accordance with the switching signals supplied to the input of this source from the control module 30 upon receipt of the corresponding commands from the calculator 29.

When a controlled medium is irradiated with X-rays of various energies in the hard X-ray range of 30-100 KeV, the nature of the absorption of X-ray photons by each of the components of the controlled medium changes.

This is because the degree of attenuation of x-ray radiation by a component of the controlled medium depends not only on the composition of this component, but also on the radiation energy, that is, it is a function of the energy of x-ray photons generated by x-ray tube 5 (see Figure 4):

µ is the linear attenuation coefficient of a component of the controlled X-ray medium with energy E;

E is the energy of x-ray radiation.

In the case of a fixed level of x-ray energy, the linear attenuation coefficient of the incident beam by a particular component of the controlled medium is a constant. So, for example, if you select a specific component and fix a certain level of radiation energy, then the value of the linear attenuation coefficient μ will be constant.

Thus, the dependence of the degree of attenuation of the photon flux density of a given energy by a specific component is determined by the effective linear size of this component along the direction of the corresponding x-ray beam (hereinafter, the effective thickness of the component):

Y (x) is the photon flux density at the input of the detector of the multichannel first detector 11 when filling the housing 1 with a one-component controlled medium;

I is the photon flux density at the input of the detector of the multi-channel first detector 11 in the absence of a controlled medium in the housing 1;

e is the base of the natural logarithms;

µ is the linear attenuation coefficient of x-ray radiation controlled environment;

x is the effective thickness of the controlled medium.

Denote the components of the controlled environment as follows: K ₁ - oil, K ₂ - water and K ₃ - gas.

If there are all three components — oil, water, and gas — on the path of the incident x-ray beam, expression (2) takes the form of a functional equation

Y _m1 (t) is the current value of the photon flux density at the input of the detector with serial number m of the first multichannel detector 11 at a voltage U ₁ of the X-ray tube 5 and in the presence of a three-component controlled medium in the housing 1;

x ₁ , x ₂ and x ₃ are the effective thicknesses of the components K ₁ , K ₂ and K _{3 of the} controlled medium, respectively;

μ ₁ (E _q ), μ ₂ (E _q ) and μ ₃ (E _q ) are the linear attenuation coefficients of x-rays with a fixed energy E _{q by} each of the components K ₁ , K ₂ and K ₃ ,

I _m1 (t) is the current value of the photon flux density at the input of the detector with serial number m, which is part of the first multichannel detector 11, at a voltage U ₁ of the X-ray tube 5 and in the absence of a controlled medium in the housing 1;

t is the current time.

Subsequently substituting into equation (3) the values of linear attenuation coefficients corresponding to several, for example, three, values of the radiation energy E _q = E ₁ , E _q = E ₂ , E _q = E ₃ , namely, the values of μ _i (E ₁ ) , µ _i (Е ₂ ) and µ _i (Е ₃ ), where i = 1, 2, 3, we obtain for each x-ray beam lying in the plane of the first insert 2, three systems of functional equations of the form (3) with three numerical unknowns x ₁ , x ₂ , x ₃ and three functional unknowns µ ₁ (E _q ), µ ₂ (E _q ), µ ₃ (E _q ).

In the case when the current value of the parameter I _m1 (t) is known, that is, when it is continuously measured, when the specific value of the radiation energy E _q = E ₁ , E _q = E ₂ , E _q = E _{3 is} fixed, and also when 26 experimental dependences of linear attenuation coefficients on the radiation energy μ ₁ (E _q ), μ ₂ (E _q ), μ ₃ (E _q ) are stored in the memory of the first processing module; solving systems of functional equations of the form (3) in calculator 29 allows one to obtain values effective thicknesses x ₁ , x ₂ and

x _{3 of} each of the components K ₁ , K ₂ and K _3, respectively, along the line of intersection of the controlled medium by one of the incident x-ray beams and thereby determine the volume fraction of each of these components in the cross section of the controlled flow along the direction of the beam. After determining the effective thicknesses x ₁ , x ₂ and x _{3 of} oil, water and gas, respectively, along each of the x-ray beams incident on one of the m detectors of the first multichannel detector 11, in the calculator 29, the validity of the obtained effective thickness values is checked, for which control condition:

l is the length of the chord, tightening the arc of a circle of radius R along the corresponding x-ray beam;

R is the inner radius of the housing 1.

For the central x-ray beam directed along the radiation axis of the x-ray tube 5, the length l of the said chord is l = 2R, for all other beams it is less than the specified value: l <2R.

The operations of solving the system of functional equations of the form (3) with respect to the desired quantities x ₁ , x ₂ and x ₃ are performed in the calculator 29.

The parameter I _m1 (t) of the mentioned functional equations characterizes the current value of the photon flux density at the input of the corresponding detector of the first multichannel detector 11 in the absence of a controlled medium in the housing 1.

Since during the operation of the proposed analyzer the controlled environment always fills the housing 1, it is very difficult to ensure the state “in the absence of a controlled environment”. At the same time, during operation of the proposed analyzer, the current value of the parameter I _m1 (t) can significantly change in magnitude relative to its nominal value, measured and entered into the memory of the first processing module 26 when adjusting the proposed analyzer.

A change in the current value of the parameter I _m1 (t) can occur, for example, due to wear of the cathode of the x-ray tube 5, a change in its supply voltage, a displacement of the spatial position of the x-ray tube 5 relative to the initial position, etc. In order to reduce the influence of these factors on the accuracy of measuring the component composition, determining the current value of the parameter I _m1 (t) during operation is not a direct method - according to the information generated by the detectors of the first multichannel detector 11, but indirectly - on the basis of the information generated by the control detectors 23. In this case, it is taken into account that the transmission coefficients of the individual detectors included in the first multichannel detector 11 and the transmission coefficients of the control detector about 23 in the case when their spinning crystals belong to the same batch of manufacture, they practically do not differ in size and equally change both in time and under the influence of external destabilizing factors.

In this case

, откуда

from where

I _m1 (t) is the current value of the signal at the output of the detector with serial number m, which is part of the first multichannel detector 11, when the voltage U ₁ of the x-ray tube 5 is proportional to the current value of the photon flux density at the input of this detector in the absence of a controlled environment;

I _m1 is the initial value of said signal;

I _n1 (t) is the current value of the signal at the output of one of the two control detectors 23 at a voltage U ₁ of the X-ray tube 5, which is proportional to the current value of the photon flux density at the input of this detector;

I _n1 is the initial value of said signal;

t is the current time.

The numerical value of each of the signals I _n1 (t) and I _n1 in expression (5) is determined in the first processing unit 26 as the arithmetic mean of two optical signals, each of which is generated by one of the control detectors 23, is transmitted through the corresponding channel of the fiber 19 to the input of the first photoelectronic Converter 25 and after optoelectronic conversion in this Converter is supplied in electronic form via multi-channel information communication to the input of the first processing module 26.

Since the x-ray radiation incident on each of the control detectors 23 crosses only the air medium, in which absorption and scattering can be neglected at radiation energies of more than 30 keV, the optical signals generated by these detectors do not depend on the composition of the transmission medium and are determined only by the characteristics of the x-ray radiation tube 5 and can be used as control signals I _n1 and I _n1 (t).

The initial value I _{n1 of the} control signal is measured during the adjustment of the proposed analyzer and is stored in the memory of the first processing module 26. In addition, during the adjustment, the initial values of the signals I ₁₁ , I ₂₁ , ... I _m1 are measured and stored in the memory of the first processing module 26, m = 1, 2 ..., 5, each of which corresponds to one of the detectors of the first multichannel detector 11 at a voltage U _{1 of the} supply of the x-ray tube 5. The values of the signals I ₁₂ , I ₂₂ , ..., I _m2 and I ₁₃ are also stored in the memory of this module , I ₂₃ , ..., I _m3 , corresponding the supply voltages U ₂ and U _{3 of the} X-ray tube 5. During operation of the analyzer, information about the current value is continuously supplied to the first processing module 26

I _n1 (t) of the control signal at the output of each of the control detectors 23.

Based on this information, using the data stored in the memory of the first processing module 26, the values of I _n1 and I _{m1 are} calculated in accordance with expression (5) and the current value of the parameter I _m1 (t) is transmitted to the calculator 29.

From (3) and (5) we have:

each of the designations corresponds to the designations adopted in expressions (3) and (5).

The parameters μ ₁ (E _q ), μ ₂ (E _q ) and μ ₃ (E _q ) of equation (6) are functional unknowns whose values are determined in the first processing module 26 based on the experimental data on the relationship between the linear attenuation coefficient µ of X-ray radiation with an energy E _q scaled by a reference energy value. The experimentally obtained graphical dependences of the linear attenuation coefficients of x-ray radiation μ ₁ , μ ₂ and μ _{3 by} each of the components of the controlled medium K ₁ , K ₂ and K ₃ - oil, water and gas, respectively, on the energy E of the x-ray radiation are presented in Figure 4. As can be seen from these graphs, the above dependences are essentially nonlinear, therefore, for the correct solution of functional equation (6), it is necessary to take into account not only the integral characteristic of X-ray radiation - the flux density of its photons I, but also the differential characteristic - the distribution of X-ray photons by energy E.

The time distribution diagram of x-ray photons with different energies received by one of the detectors of the first multichannel detector 11 for a certain fixed period of time Δt = t ₂ -t ₁ is shown in Fig.5.

This diagram is a time sequence of non-amplitude-amplified optical pulses of various intensities J, each of which is formed by one of the detectors of the first multichannel detector 11 when a corresponding x-ray photon is incident on its input; the intensity J of such a pulse is proportional to the energy of the corresponding photon in the hard range of x-ray radiation.

With a sufficiently large number S of pulses generated by each of the detectors of the first multichannel detector 11 over a period of time Δt = t ₂ -t ₁ , in the first processing module 26, the differential characteristic of x-ray radiation shown in Fig. 6 is simulated — the dependence of the photon flux density I on the photon energy E for each of the supply voltages U ₁ , U _2, and U _{3 of the} X-ray tube 5. The time interval Δt during which the number S of said pulses is generated is usually called the exposure time.

For quantitative scaling of the qualitative dependences presented in FIGS. 5 and 6, it is necessary to generate a reference energy value using reliably determined parameters of x-ray photons. The reference value of energy in the proposed analyzer is formed using secondary emitters 24.

Each secondary emitter 24 is a collimating tube mounted in the hole of the first secondary collimator 14, made of heavy metal with a pronounced characteristic line of the emission spectrum lying in the energy range 30-100 KeV, for example, gadolinium or platinum.

When an x-ray beam passes through the aforementioned tube, the photons of the beam can excite the fluorescence of gadolinium atoms located in the surface layer of the collimating hole of the tube, accompanied by the appearance of secondary characteristic radiation. Fluorescence excitation occurs only when the energies ħω of the exciting photons coincide with or exceed the energy of characteristic radiation:

ħ - Planck's constant;

ω is the circular frequency of exciting photons;

E _o is the energy of characteristic radiation.

The spectrum of characteristic radiation is ruled; the gadolinium characteristic line in this spectrum corresponds to the radiation energy

E _Gd = 42.996 keV.

If the energy of exciting photons significantly exceeds the energy of characteristic excitation of gadolinium atoms:

then the flux density of characteristic photons with an energy level E _о significantly exceeds the flux density of photons with other energy values.

Therefore, when applying to the radiation of the x-ray tube 5, characterized by a continuous spectrum, of characteristic radiation having a linear spectrum, the character of the distribution I (E) of the flux density of x-ray photons by the energies at the input of each of the detectors of the first multichannel detector 11 changes significantly (see FIG. 6) .

In the absence of characteristic radiation, the distribution of I (E) is a decreasing curve in the hard X-ray range, shown in Fig. 6 by a solid line.

In the presence of characteristic radiation with photon energy E = E _Gd in the above distribution, a local maximum of the photon flux density I _Gd = I (E _Gd ), shown in FIG. 6, appears, where E _Gd is the excitation energy of gadolinium atoms. The level of this maximum significantly exceeds the highest level of photon flux density I _max1 at all other energy values that differ from the value of E _о :

I _Gd > I _max1 .

The occurrence of a local maximum of the photon flux density I _Gd at a characteristic value of E _о energy is explained by the fact that a significant number of primary X-ray photons distributed over a wide energy range from E _о to E _max are absorbed by gadolinium atoms, which generate a flux of the same number of secondary fluorescent photons concentrated in a very narrow energy region near the characteristic energy value E _о = E _Gd . Since all secondary photons cross only the air medium, in which absorption and scattering can be neglected, almost all of them reach the detectors of the first multichannel detector 11 and provide at their inputs a high local photon flux density with a characteristic energy value E _Gd .

Each photon with energy E _Gd absorbed by the detector of the first multichannel detector 11 corresponds to a light pulse generated by the output of this detector of intensity J _Gd (see Figure 5), transmitted through the corresponding channel of the first fiber 19 to the input of the first converter 25, where it is converted into an electric pulse arriving via multi-channel information communication in the first processing module 26.

Since the intensity of the optical pulse and, accordingly, the amplitude of the corresponding electric pulse are proportional to the energy of the absorbed photon, it becomes possible to detect in the first processing module 26 the presence of photons with a characteristic value of energy E _Gd by the frequency of occurrence of electric pulses of the same amplitude. The method for detecting said photons is illustrated by the time sequence J (t) of the optical pulses shown in FIG. 5.

Analysis of this time sequence shows that most often, in comparison with others, there are pulses of intensity J _Gd shaded in FIG. 5. These pulses correspond to characteristic photons with energy E _Gd and create on the curve I (E) (Fig.6) a local maximum of the photon flux density Gd at the point E = E _Gd .

The presence of a local maximum I _Gd allows you to objectively select from the total number of photons of different energies a group of photons with energy E _Gd and thereby designate on the axis of the energies E of the graph I (E), Fig. 6 an exact scale mark E _Gd = 42,996 KeV, which allows to reliably scale the whole graph I (E) by energy values.

Based on the above, for solving in calculator 29, equations (6) are preliminarily calculated in the first processing module 26, the numerical values of each of the parameters μ ₁ (E _q ), μ ₂ (E _q ) and μ ₃ (E _q ) for several fixed values of energy E = E ₁ , E ₂ , ..., E _q , ..., each of which corresponds to a narrow energy band with a width of 2ΔE containing at least s photons, namely numerical values

µ ₁ , µ ₂ and µ ₃ - linear attenuation coefficients of radiation, respectively, oil, water and gas;

E _q is a fixed value of the radiation energy;

ΔЕ is the difference of two consecutive fixed values of the radiation energy.

Quantitative values of the parameters μ (E _q ) are calculated in the first processing module 26 on the basis of numerical data stored in its memory corresponding to the experimental dependences of each of the coefficients μ ₁ , μ ₂ and μ ₃ shown in Fig. 4 for the radiation energy E. Moreover, for to reduce the calculation error when choosing numerical data, as narrow as possible energy bands with a width of 2ΔE are selected.

For reliable formation of each photon flux density averaged over an energy strip with a width of 2ΔE, it is necessary to obtain at least the number s = 100 photons during the exposure time Δt.

The numerical value of the exposure time Δt is selected and entered into the memory of the first timer 49 based on two conflicting conditions.

First, it should be as large as possible in order to ensure that each detector of the multichannel detector 11 absorbs a sufficiently large number S of X-ray photons, which is necessary for reliable calculation in the first processing module 26 of the average values of the photon flux density in each of the energy bands E _q ± ΔЕ in the energy range from 30 to 100 KeV.

Secondly, it should be as small as possible, so that the component composition of the controlled environment, continuously flowing through the controlled area of the housing 1, does not have time to change significantly during the exposure.

In accordance with the specified conditions, the exposure time value is set based on the maximum speed of the controlled flow and the effective size of the controlled area:

Δt is the exposure time;

a is the effective size of the control area, equal to the size of the first insert 2 in the direction of the controlled flow;

W _m - the largest value of the longitudinal component of the speed of the controlled flow.

To ensure the required accuracy of measuring the parameters of the controlled flow, it is necessary to determine the minimum possible exposure time sufficient to obtain reliable information about the component composition of the controlled flow. In turn, this time depends on the number S of X-ray photons with energies from 30 to 100 KeV received by each of the detectors of the first multichannel detector 11. Since, in accordance with (9), the numerical values of the coefficients are μ ₁ (E _q ), μ ₂ (E _q ) and μ ₃ (E _q ) characterizing the component composition of the flow are calculated in narrow energy bands with a width of 2ΔЕ, the number S is defined as the sum of the numbers s of X-ray photons with energies from (E _q -ΔЕ) to (E _q + ΔЕ) accepted by each of the detectors of the first multichannel detector 11 for the minimum possible exposure time and, ie .:

S is the number of x-ray photons incident on each detector of the first multichannel detector 11 during the exposure time Δt;

q = 1, 2, 3, ... is a natural number equal to the ordinal number of the energy band;

s is the number of photons whose energies are in an energy band 2ΔE _q wide.

In practice, given the number s = 100,

The number S of X-ray photons specified in condition (12) must be received by each detector of the first multichannel detector 11 during the exposure time Δt, the smallest numerical value of which at the speed of the controlled medium is Wm≤10 m / s and the longitudinal size of the first insert is a≤5 mm, in accordance with (10) is given by the condition

Δt _min - the minimum possible exposure time, ensuring each detector of the first multichannel detector 11 receives the number S≥5 · 10 ⁵ X-ray photons. The numerical values of the parameters S and Δt _min given in inequalities (12) and (13), along with the number m of detectors of the first multichannel detector 11, completely determine the generation parameters of the x-ray tube 5, and, in addition, characterize the required information performance of the processors included the first processing module 26 and the calculator 29.

When determining the composition of the controlled medium with a high gas content in the calculator 29, it is necessary to take into account the current values P (t) of pressure and T (t) of temperature, since the dependence on these parameters of the linear coefficient μ _{3 of} attenuation of x-ray radiation by gas at high pressures in the housing 1 is very significant (see Fig. 4). So, for example, if under normal climatic conditions: P ₀ = 1 at, T ₀ = 20 ° C, the linear coefficient µ ₃ for gas is significantly less than the linear coefficients µ ₁ and µ ₂ for oil and water, respectively, then at pressure values P (t) = 10-100 atm, the coefficient µ ₃ becomes comparable with the values of the coefficients µ ₁ and µ ₂ .

Therefore, at pressures P (t)> 10 atm in expression (6), instead of the coefficient μ ₃ (E _q ) corresponding to normal climatic conditions, the coefficient μ ₃ (E _q , P, T) corresponding to the actual values of pressure and temperature media in housing 1:

all designations except µ ₃ (E _q , P, T) correspond to the designations used in expression (6);

µ ₃ (E _q , P, T) is the linear attenuation coefficient of X-ray radiation by component K ₃ (gas) at radiation energy E _q , pressure of the controlled medium P and temperature of the controlled medium T.

The values of the linear coefficient μ ₃ (E _q , P, T) are calculated in the calculator 29 for the time interval Δt _min = t ₂ -t ₁ , and the signals about the time t _{1 of the} beginning of the calculations and the time t _{2 of the} end of the calculations are fed to the additional input of the first the processing module 26 from the output of the first timer 38, into the memory of which from the external systems 34 the numerical value of the parameter Δt _{min is} entered, which corresponds to inequality (13), and are transferred to the calculator 29 from the output of the first processing module 26. For these calculations, the memory 29 from externally x 34 systems experimentally obtained numerical data on the dependence of the linear coefficient μ ₃ of radiation energy E _q at several fixed values of pressure P and temperature T (see FIG. 4), reference data on the values of the compressibility factor β ₃ and the thermal expansion coefficient α ₃ associated gas, as well as measuring information about the current values of pressure P (t) and temperature T (t) of the controlled medium, generated by the pressure sensor 35 and the temperature sensor 36, digitized in the measuring transducer 37 and transmitted to the calculator 29 via multichannel information communication from the output of said measuring transducer.

The solution of functional equation (14) for each of the three values U ₁ , U ₂ , U _{3 of the} supply voltage of the X-ray tube 5 and for each of m = 1, 2, ... 5 X-ray beams received by the detectors of the first multichannel detector 11 is performed in the calculator 29 during the exposure time, Δt _min , corresponding to inequality (13).

The set of solutions of functional equations (14) for various voltage values U = U ₁ , U ₂ , U _{3 of the} power supply of the x-ray tube 5 for each of m = 1, 2, ... 5 x-ray beams allows you to get in the computer 29 and transmit through the corresponding two-way multi-channel information communication to external systems 34 detailed quantitative information about the relative content in volume units of each of the three components of the controlled medium: oil, water and gas over the entire cross-section of the controlled stream:

V ₁ (t) is the current value of the volume fraction of the component K ₁ (oil);

V ₂ (t) is the current value of the volume fraction of the component K ₂ (water);

V ₃ (t) is the current value of the volume fraction of the component K ₃ (gas);

t is the current time.

To obtain data on the component composition of the controlled medium in mass units, it is necessary to use additional information that is generated by the fourth detectors 17.

Optical signals taken from the outputs of the fourth detectors 17 are generated by these detectors under the influence of scattered x-ray radiation, which is secondary radiation resulting from the elastic scattering of the primary radiation of the x-ray tube by a controlled medium 5. The scattered x-ray radiation is directed mainly at large angles to the direction primary radiation, close to right angles. Therefore, mainly scattered radiation is incident on each of the fourth detectors 17 mounted in the plane of the location of the first insert 2 on a line normal to the radiation axis of the x-ray tube 5. To completely exclude the possibility of the input of the fourth detectors 17 of the primary radiation of the X-ray tube 5, an orthogonal collimator 18 is installed in front of each of them, containing several collimating holes, the axes of which are parallel to each other and directed at right angles to the axis of radiation of the X-ray tube 5, and the depth of each hole significantly exceeds its diameter:

b / d >> 1, where

b is the depth of the collimating hole;

d is the diameter of the collimating hole.

Since the intensity of the scattered radiation in the hard X-ray energy range up to 100 keV is determined mainly by the density of the scattering medium and weakly depends on the intensity of the primary radiation of the X-ray tube 5, the optical signal generated by each of the two fourth detectors 17 is proportional to the current average density ρ (t ) controlled environment.

After conversion to an electric digital code, the signal is sent to a computer 29, where, based on the received information about the current value of the average density ρ (t) of the controlled medium and the previously calculated data (15) on the current values of the volume fractions of each of its components, the current values of the relative the content of each of the components of the gas-liquid flow in units of mass:

M ₁ (t) is the current value of the mass fraction of the component K ₁ (oil);

M ₂ (t) is the current value of the mass fraction of the component K ₂ (water);

M ₃ (t) is the current value of the mass fraction of the component K ₃ (gas);

t is the current time.

The current values (16) of the mass content of the components are necessary for determining in the calculator 29 the current values of the component-by-mass flow rate Q _M1 (t), Q _M2 (t) and Q _M3 (t) of each of the three components of the gas-liquid flow - oil, water and gas, respectively.

Since, in addition to the current value of the mass fraction of oil M ₁ (t), it is traditionally customary to estimate the oil production rate also in volume units (barrels), the nominal volume fraction of oil is determined in calculator 29, i.e. volume fraction reduced to normal climatic conditions.

To calculate the current value of the nominal oil volume fraction in the calculator 29, additional information on the current values of the pressure P (t) and temperature T (t) of the controlled medium, generated by the pressure sensor 35 and the temperature sensor 36, transmitted from the output of each of these sensors to the corresponding inputs, is used the measuring transducer 38 and from its output via multi-channel information communication to the corresponding multi-channel input of the computer 29.

In the calculator 29, based on the received signals about the current values of P (t) and T (t), the previously calculated oil volume fraction V ₁ (t) is brought to normal climatic conditions: pressure P ₀ = 1 at and temperature T ₀ = 20 ° C taking into account the reference data stored in the calculator 29 memory on the values of the compressibility coefficient β _{1 of} oil and the coefficient of thermal expansion α _{1 of} oil. As a result of this operation, the calculator 29 determines the current value of the nominal volume fraction of oil:

V ₀₁ (t) - the current value of the volume fraction of the component K ₁ (oil), reduced to normal climatic conditions;

t is the current time.

To measure the velocity W of the gas-liquid flow in the proposed analyzer, the autocorrelation method is selected. Moreover, depending on the mode of the controlled flow determined by the mode controller 32, either information on the motion of the local inhomogeneity of the velocity field of the controlled flow or information on the motion of the local inhomogeneity of the component composition of the controlled medium is used to measure the speed.

The mentioned local inhomogeneities are detected in the second processing module 28 by processing the electrical signals received at its input via multichannel information communication from the output of the second photoelectronic converter 27, to the corresponding input of which optical signals generated by the second detectors 12 are transmitted through the channels of the second fiber 20; the other input, through the channels of the third fiber 21, is the optical signals generated by the third detectors 13 (see Figure 3). The mentioned optical signals are formed as a result of the radiation of the X-ray tube 5, the beams of which, formed by the second primary collimator 9 and the third primary collimator 10 and reflected respectively by the first mirror 6 and the second mirror 7, intersect the controlled medium located in the housing 1 in the planes of the second and the third inserts 3 and 4, respectively, after which they are additionally formed by the second and third secondary collimators 15 and 16, respectively, and are received by the second and third detectors 12 and 13, respectively.

Since when passing through the controlled medium located in the housing 1, each of the mentioned X-ray beams, interacting with this medium, is partially absorbed and scattered by it, it carries information about the presence or absence of local inhomogeneities of the controlled flow.

As informative parameters characterizing the presence of a local inhomogeneity of the velocity field or component content, for example, conditionally, component K ₁ , the proposed analyzer uses photon flux densities of a given energy at the inputs of the second and third detectors 12 and 13, respectively:

,

,

Y ₂₁ (t), Y ₃₁ (t) - the current values of the photon flux density at the inputs of the second and third detectors 12 and 13, respectively, if there is a single-component controlled medium in the housing 1;

I ₂ , I ₃ - photon flux density at the inputs of the second and third detectors 12 and 13, respectively, in the absence of a controlled environment in the housing 1;

e - the basis of natural logarithms;

µ ₁ - linear attenuation coefficient of x-ray radiation by component K _{1 of the} controlled medium at a fixed value of the radiation energy;

x ₁ is the effective thickness of the component K _{1 of the} controlled environment;

t is the current time.

When crossing a moving local heterogeneity of the velocity field or the content of the component at time τ _{1 of} section AA of the housing 1 (see Figure 1), each of the second detectors 12 detects the presence of significant changes in the value of parameter Y ₂₁ (t) in time and forms the first time the sequence of changes to this value.

With further movement of the local heterogeneity by the distance L _o between the second insert 3 and the third insert 4, the said heterogeneity at time τ ₂ reaches the cross section CC of the housing 1 (see FIG. 1) and initiates significant changes in the current in each of the third detectors 13 the flux density of the x-ray photons Y ₃₁ (t) received by him, forming a second time sequence of these changes, correlating with the aforementioned first time sequence.

When a three-component controlled medium flows along case 1, the second and third detectors 12 and 13, respectively, continuously generate the first and second time sequences of informative signals Y ₂₁ (t), Y ₂₂ (t), Y ₂₃ (t) and Y ₃₁ (t), Y ₃₂ (t), Y ₃₃ (t), respectively, the current values of the amplitudes of which depend on the effective thicknesses x ₁ , x ₂ and x _{3 of} oil, water and gas, respectively. The first time sequences come from the outputs of the second detectors 12 through the corresponding channels of the second optical fibers 20 to one of the inputs of the second photoelectric converter 27, the second time sequences arrive from the outputs of the third detectors 13 through the corresponding channels of the third optical fibers 21 to another input of this converter, where they are converted from the optical form into an electric one and transmitted via multichannel information communication to the input of the second processing module 28, and from its output to the computer 29. The algorithm the formation of the signals received by the calculator 29 depends on the mode of the monitored stream. The flow mode is determined in the mode controller 32 based on the measurement information supplied to its input from the additional output of the first processing module 26, where it is generated on the basis of optical signals generated by the detectors of the first multichannel detector 11 and transmitted from their outputs through the channels of the first fiber 19 to the corresponding the input of the first converter 25. In the first photoelectric converter 25, said signals are converted into electrical form and fed to the input of the first processing module 26 okanalnoy data communication.

In the first processing module 26, the incoming values of the photon flux densities are compared with the values of these densities previously accepted and stored in the memory of the mentioned module and, in the absence of significant discrepancies in the compared values, a signal is generated about an almost uniform flow regime, and if they exist, a signal about a substantially unsteady gas-liquid flow regime flow.

Formed in the mode controller 32, the signal about the flow mode is transmitted from its output via multi-channel information communication to the corresponding multi-channel input of the computer 29, in which the conversion algorithm corresponding to the received signal is selected.

When the flow mode is determined by the mode controller 32 as a substantially unsteady flow mode, and the measuring information conversion algorithm corresponding to this mode is selected in the calculator 29, the first and second time sequences of informative signals previously described in the calculator 29 are continuously recorded in the memory from the output of the second processing module 28 the calculator 29 in the form of the first and second temporary implementations, and the first temporary implementations correspond to the cross section AA of the housing 1, and the second temporary ealizatsii - section C-C of the housing 1 (see Figure 1.).

Taking into account the mode of essentially unsteady movement defined by the mode controller 32, in the calculator 29 from the group of algorithms “Speed Calculation” an algorithm is selected that corresponds to the code of this mode, and in accordance with this algorithm, the aforementioned first and second time realizations are processed for a period of time Δτ _min , minimum necessary to determine the presence of correlation. The numerical value of the time interval Δτ _min is entered into the memory of the second timer 39 from external systems 34, transmitted from the output of this timer to the additional input of the second processing module 28 and from the output of the latter to the input of the calculator 29. The time interval Δτ _min should be sufficient for reception by the second detectors 12 and third detectors 13 of the experimentally determined number of x-ray photons

S _k ≥10 ⁴ , where

S _k - the number of photons necessary for the correct determination of the presence of local heterogeneity of the composition of the controlled medium in sections AA and CC of the housing 1 (see Figure 1). Since the number S _k can be chosen substantially smaller than the number S of photons taken for the minimum possible exposure time Δt _min , the time for determining the presence of correlation Δτ _min is also significantly less than the minimum possible exposure time Δt _min in expression (13):

Δτ _min << Δt _min .

After processing for the time interval Δτ _{min of the} first and second time realizations corresponding to time instants τ ₁ and τ _2, respectively, in the calculator 29 their mutual correlation function is determined and the second implementation is offset from the first in time τ until the maximum of the mutual correlation function is obtained.

When the maximum of the mutual correlation function is obtained in the calculator 29, the time interval of the correlation shift Δτ _k = τ ₂ -τ _{1 is} determined, and since this period is equal to the travel time Δτ by the natural flow mark - its stable fluctuation - of some length L _{o of the} housing 1, taken as the base length :

Δτ _k = Δτ,

the speed W of the controlled flow is calculated in accordance with the expression

W is the flow velocity along the longitudinal axis of the housing 1;

L _o - the base length equal to the axial distance between the geometric centers of the second and third inserts 3 and 4, respectively;

Δτ is the running time of the natural mark of the base length stream.

Based on the obtained value of the velocity W in the calculator 29 using the previously found values of V ₁ (t), V ₂ (1) and V ₃ (t) volume fractions of each of the components of the controlled medium corresponding to expression (15), instantaneous values of the component volume costs Q ₁ (t), Q ₂ (t) and Q ₃ (t) of each of the three components of the gas-liquid flow: oil, water and gas, respectively. In addition, in the calculator 29 using the previously found values of M ₁ (t), M ₂ (t) and M ₃ (t) mass fractions of each of the components of the controlled medium corresponding to expression (16), instantaneous values of the component-by-mass mass flow rates Q _M1 are calculated (t), Q _M2 (t) and Q _M3 (t) of each of the three components of the gas-liquid flow: oil, water and gas, respectively.

Thus, in the proposed analyzer, the accuracy of measuring the mass content of components, the speed and flow rate of the controlled flow is significantly increased, the instrumental measurement error caused by the spread in magnitude and time drift of the parameters of single-channel scintillation detectors and single-channel photoelectric converters is reduced.

Claims (1)

An X-ray fluorescence analyzer of the component composition and component flow rate of a gas-liquid stream, comprising a housing in the wall of which a second and first X-ray transparent inserts are installed in the wall, an X-ray tube with a power source, the first and second primary collimators with several collimating holes in each, the first and second secondary collimators with several collimating holes in each, the first and second detectors, the first and second photoelectric converters an electronic unit comprising a calculator, a first and second processing module and a control module, each of the first detectors being optically connected to a corresponding first photoelectric converter, each of the second detectors being optically connected to a corresponding second photoelectric converter, and the computer is connected to an input of a control module connected to a power source, characterized in that the first and second x-ray mirrors, the third x-ray transparent a third insert installed in the housing wall after the first radiolucent insert in the direction of flow, a third primary and third secondary collimators with several collimating holes in each, third detectors, first, second, third and fourth multichannel fibers, control detectors and secondary emitters, fourth detectors and orthogonal collimators, a pressure sensor, a temperature sensor and a measuring transducer, a rectifier and a normalizer, a mode controller, as well as the first and second timers, The first detectors are combined into the first multichannel detector, the first and second multichannel photoelectronic converters are used respectively as the first and second photoelectronic converters, while the control detectors are installed in such a way that a straight line connecting the center of each of them with the center of radiation of the x-ray tube passes outside the case, the computer is additionally equipped with two multi-channel inputs, the first and second processing modules are equipped with each additional input, etc. why the first processing module is also equipped with an additional output, in front of each of the detectors of the first multichannel detector, a corresponding secondary emitter is installed, in front of each fourth detector, a corresponding orthogonal collimator is installed; the jet straightener and the normalizer are installed in the housing sequentially in the direction of flow in front of the second radiolucent insert, the pressure sensor and the temperature sensor are installed in the wall of the housing, the output of each of the detectors of the first multichannel detector and the output of each of the control detectors are connected to the corresponding channel of the first multichannel fiber, the output of each of the second and the output of each of the third detectors are connected respectively to the corresponding channel of the second and the corresponding channel of t of its multi-channel optical fibers, the output of each of the fourth detectors is connected to the corresponding channel of the fourth multi-channel optical fiber, the outputs of the first and outputs of the fourth multi-channel optical fibers are each connected to the corresponding inputs of the first multi-channel photoelectronic converter, connected by its outputs to the corresponding inputs of the first processing module using multi-channel information communication, the outputs the second and the outputs of the third multi-channel fibers are each connected to the corresponding odes of the second multichannel photoelectronic converter connected by its outputs to the corresponding inputs of the second processing module using multichannel information communication, while the mode controller and the measuring transducer are each connected to the corresponding multichannel input of the computer using the corresponding multichannel information communication, an additional output of the first processing module is connected to the input mode controller, an additional input of the first processing module - with output per of the second timer, and the additional input of the second processing module - with the output of the second timer, a temperature sensor and a pressure sensor are each connected to the corresponding input of the measuring transducer, the input of the first and the input of the second timers are designed to connect to external systems, the multi-channel input-output of which is intended for information exchange with a computer for two-way information communication, while the orthogonal collimator contains collimating holes, the depth of each of which is significantly greater than the diameter and the axes are parallel to each other and orthogonal to the axis of radiation of the x-ray tube, while the secondary emitter is made of heavy metal, for example gadolinium, a tube installed in the hole of the first secondary collimator.

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