Real-Time ESP Optimization via Digital Twin Control
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
In subterranean hydrocarbon reservoirs, inadequate pressure often hinders the natural flow of fluids to the surface, necessitating artificial lift technologies like ESPs, but existing systems lack real-time optimization methods to maximize efficiency and minimize power consumption.
Innovation Solution
A system and method utilizing a digital twin model and real-time data integration to optimize ESP performance by adjusting pump frequency and surface choke settings, based on well models and operational data, to achieve target production rates while reducing energy waste.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If ESP operates at high power to maintain target production rate, then productivity is improved, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts ESP operating parameters (speed, choke settings) in real-time based on changing well conditions, reservoir pressure, and production requirements. This allows the system to optimize the balance between maintaining target production rates and minimizing power consumption by adapting to varying operational conditions rather than operating at fixed high power settings
Solution Approach 2:
The system modifies multiple operational parameters simultaneously including motor speed, choke valve settings, and pump operating conditions to achieve optimal performance. By changing these parameters dynamically based on real-time data from sensors and digital twin models, the system optimizes the trade-off between productivity and energy consumption
2Reliability
If real-time optimization system is implemented, then efficiency is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates a digital twin - a virtual copy of the ESP well system that replicates its behavior, performance characteristics, and response to operational changes. This digital model allows complex optimization calculations to be performed virtually without adding physical complexity to the actual well equipment, enabling real-time optimization through software-based modeling rather than hardware modifications
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces complex mechanical optimization adjustments with automated control systems that use sensors, processors, and actuators. Instead of manually adjusting multiple mechanical parameters, the system uses electronic sensors to monitor conditions and automated controllers to adjust parameters, reducing operational complexity while improving optimization efficiency
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for controlling an electrical submersible pump (ESP) of a well, including a processor and a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform operations. The operations include obtaining a well model corresponding to the well, obtaining a target well rate for the well, then receiving, from one or more data sources associated with one or more components of the well, operational data associated with the ESP operating at the target well rate within the well, determining a target efficiency of the ESP at the target well rate based on the well model, and then modifying, based on the operational data and the target efficiency an operating characteristic of the ESP.