Compact Hydrocyclone with Adjustable Outlet for High Oil Content Separation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional gravity separators are inefficient and unsuitable for high oil content fluids, requiring large dimensions and being impractical for oceanic petroleum exploration due to space constraints and weight issues, while traditional hydrocyclones are limited by their design dependence on fluid composition and prone to turbulence.
Innovation Solution
A compact hydrocyclone design with a cylindrical feed section, tangential inlet, and interchangeable light phase outlet control device, featuring a conical and cylindrical structure to minimize pressure losses and adapt to varying oil content levels, allowing for efficient separation of high, medium, and low oil content fluids.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If conventional gravity separators are used for high oil content fluids, then separation can be achieved, but the equipment requires large dimensions occupying great areas
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the conventional gravity-based separation mechanism with a hydrocyclone system that utilizes centrifugal force generated by rotational flow. This substitution allows for compact equipment design while maintaining separation capability for high oil content fluids, directly resolving the contradiction between processing capacity and equipment footprint.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the operating parameters by introducing rotational velocity and centrifugal acceleration as the primary separation mechanism instead of relying solely on gravitational settling. This parameter change enables much smaller equipment dimensions for the same oil content processing capacity.
2Quantity of substance
If gravity separators are used for oceanic petroleum exploration, then separation processing is achieved, but the equipment weight becomes excessive for deck installation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces heavy gravitational separation machinery with a hydrocyclone system that achieves separation through fluid dynamics and centrifugal force. This substitution dramatically reduces equipment weight while maintaining fluid processing capacity, making the system suitable for installation on floating production unit decks.
3Volume of moving object
If traditional hydrocyclones are used for separation, then compact design is achieved, but turbulence and phase dispersion occur due to tangential feed jetting
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and removes the harmful tangential jetting action from the feed system. Instead of projecting fluid against the wall at high speed, the design introduces fluid through a central feed channel that directs flow axially into the cyclone, eliminating the turbulence-generating jet impingement while maintaining compact dimensions.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention inverts the traditional feed approach by using axial rather than tangential feed introduction. This reversal of the feed mechanism eliminates the harmful jetting effect against the cyclone wall, reducing turbulence and phase dispersion while preserving the compact hydrocyclone design.
4Productivity
If hydrocyclones are designed for high oil content separation, then processing capacity is improved, but adaptability to varying oil content levels decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces adjustable flow control valves at both the overflow and underflow outlets, enabling dynamic adjustment of the separation characteristics. This allows the hydrocyclone to adapt to varying oil content levels in the feed stream while maintaining high processing capacity, resolving the contradiction between productivity and versatility.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention designs the hydrocyclone system with adjustable flow control mechanisms that enable it to handle multiple operating conditions and oil content levels. This multi-functionality allows a single device to serve both high oil content separation and variable composition processing, achieving both high productivity and broad adaptability.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The hydrocyclone achieves efficient separation with reduced turbulence and increased processing capacity, suitable for both onshore and subsea applications, by optimizing fluid acceleration and vortex formation, and allowing for adjustable outlet orifices to handle different fluid compositions.
Implementation Method 1
The general operating principle of a hydrocyclone is the application of high speed to the two mixed substances such as to separate them by virtue of the difference in value between their specific gravities
Implementation Method 2
separate them by virtue of the difference in value between their specific gravities
Implementation Method 3
The substantially conical profile and tangential feed to the wall are responsible for providing the velocities required for separation
Implementation Method 4
It is the conversion of the feed pressure into rotational kinetic energy which governs the efficiency of a hydrocyclone
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2A~2B
Figure 3
AI summary
There is disclosed in the present invention a hydrocyclone type separator having small dimensions and possessing high capacity for fluid processing by virtue of structural characteristics introduced into the feed, into the upper outlet orifice (overflow) and into the lower outlet orifice (underflow). The feed presents a configuration comprising two equal channels (18), diametrically opposed and curved, wherein the transverse cross sectional area gradually diminishes serving to accelerate the two phase fluid stream in a moderate manner. The possibility of the connection of interchangeable parts (2, 6) to the upper outlet orifice (13) permits changing the diameter of said outlet orifice and, in this manner, altering the hydrodynamic characteristics of the equipment and increasing the capacity of the same equipment to achieve operational bands suitable for fluid flows having high oil content, medium oil content and low oil content. The presence of a continuously adjustable valve (7) in the area of the lower outlet permits increasing the operational band of the hydrocyclone, even under conditions of high pressure loss and counter pressure in the upper outlet, where there would be a tendency to reflux at said outlet.