System and method for position monitoring using ultrasonic sensor

• Main Authors: Reyes, III Salvador, Augenstein Donald, Gottlieb Emanuel, Coonrod Donald
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 31.10.2017
• Subjects: EARTH DRILLING; EARTH DRILLING, e.g. DEEP DRILLING; FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS; INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIRCHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES; MEASURING; MEASURING FORCE, STRESS, TORQUE, WORK, MECHANICAL POWER,MECHANICAL EFFICIENCY, OR FLUID PRESSURE; MINING; OBTAINING OIL, GAS, WATER, SOLUBLE OR MELTABLE MATERIALS OR ASLURRY OF MINERALS FROM WELLS; PHYSICS; TESTING

A system for determining the position of a piston in a subsea accumulator, comprising: a sensor module comprising: a housing; an ultrasonic transducer facing the piston and configured to transmit an ultrasonic pulse through a fluid medium toward a surface of the piston; a pressure sensor configured to; and a temperature sensor; a control connector coupled to the sensor module capable of providing hardware and software functions to measure transit time of the ultrasonic signal from the ultrasonic transducer to the surface of the piston, comprising electronics for controlling the ultrasonic transducer, pressure sensor and temperature sensor; wherein the transit times of the ultrasonic signals across the fluid medium are measured and combined with a computed velocity of sound as a function of temperature/pressure to determine the distance between the ultrasonic transducer and the surface of the piston.