Modular Sample System Flexible Housing Mounting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing sampling systems for pressurized process fluids, particularly natural gas, face challenges with limited electrical power availability, inflexible configurations, and the need for frequent pipeline shutdowns for maintenance, as well as a lack of standards for obtaining representative samples of 'wet' gas with entrained liquids.
Innovation Solution
A modular sample system with a flexible, insulative housing and a substrate coupling that allows for easy installation and maintenance, independent of the probe or pump, enabling 100% access to components without disassembly, and utilizing an existing heat trace instead of a heater block, facilitating customizable configurations and reduced costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If a rigid enclosure housing is used to protect sampling components, then environmental protection is improved, but mounting and removal in tight installations becomes difficult and access for maintenance requires disassembly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces rigid enclosure housings with flexible insulative material that provides environmental protection while allowing easy mounting and removal in tight installations. The flexible material can be stretched over components and secured without requiring complex assembly or disassembly procedures.
Solution Approach 2:
The sampling system is divided into modular components (substrate coupling, bracket, housing, components) that can be independently mounted and removed. This segmentation allows the flexible housing to be installed separately over the already-mounted sampling components, providing protection without complicating installation or maintenance access.
2Stability of the object's composition
If sampling components are integrated into a fixed enclosure, then structural stability is improved, but access to components for maintenance and visibility requires disassembly or opening the enclosure
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible insulative housing provides structural stability while allowing components to protrude through it for external access. The housing maintains its protective function while enabling visibility and manual access to sampling components without requiring disassembly or opening the enclosure.
Solution Approach 2:
The sampling components are nested within the flexible housing structure, with portions extending outward. This nested arrangement allows the components to be protected by the housing while remaining accessible from the outside, eliminating the need to open or disassemble the enclosure for maintenance or monitoring.
3Reliability
If expensive insertable probes with heater blocks are used to sample wet gas, then sampling capability is improved, but system cost and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the heater block from the probe assembly and replaces it with an existing heat trace on the pipeline. This separation eliminates the need for expensive insertable probes with integrated heating elements, as the heat trace provides the necessary thermal protection for sampling wet gas.
Solution Approach 2:
The system utilizes the existing heat trace on the pipeline to provide heating functionality, eliminating the need for separate heater blocks or additional heating components. This self-service approach leverages already-present infrastructure to reduce system complexity and cost while maintaining sampling capability for wet gas.
4Object-affected harmful factors
If a unified enclosure housing is used to protect all sampling components, then environmental protection is improved, but flexibility in configuration and adaptability to various flow configurations is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible insulative housing can be configured to accommodate various sampling component arrangements and flow configurations. Its flexibility allows it to adapt to different installation geometries while providing continuous environmental protection, unlike rigid enclosures that require custom fabrication for each configuration.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible housing serves multiple functions: environmental protection, structural support, and adaptability to various configurations. A single flexible housing design can accommodate different sampling component arrangements and flow configurations without requiring custom enclosures, providing universal applicability across different installation scenarios.
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 modular system allows for efficient sampling and maintenance without shutting down the process, provides complete access to components, and reduces costs by eliminating the need for expensive probes and complex enclosures, while maintaining system rigidity and environmental protection.
Implementation Method 1
A modular sample system with a flexible, insulative housing
Implementation Method 2
utilizing an existing heat trace instead of a heater block
Data Source
AI summary
A modular sample conditioning system formed for in-situ sampling installation, referenced herein as “source mounted”. The present invention relates to a docking platform or substrate configured to receive multiple, diverse sampling components in various flow configurations, coupled with a unique housing/enclosure formed to engage the docking platform so as to further strengthen and stabilize the mount, the enclosure (in rigid and non-rigid, flexible forms) also formed to engage one or more of the mounted sampling components, so as to provide access outside of the enclosure for visibility and/or manual access of same, providing an easily installed and maintained, user-accessible, on-site modular sampling conditioning/monitoring system.