Snorkel Float Apparatus for Settling Tank Drainage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Petroleum production faces challenges in efficiently separating oil from production brine and sediments, particularly in preventing the entrainment of water with oil and sediments, and ensuring safe access to tank contents due to volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
Innovation Solution
A compacted snorkel float system is deployed to lift a snorkel head for draining settling tanks, featuring a snorkel line that traverses through a port near the tank bottom, passing through the murky interface layer, with a buoyancy system to maintain the snorkel head's altitude and prevent gas ingestion, allowing for separate extraction of oil and sediments while minimizing mixing and exposure to hazardous gases.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a snorkel head system is inserted through a manway for draining a settling tank, then access to tank contents is achieved, but exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and safety hazards increases
Solution Approach 1:
The snorkel system is extracted from the manway access route and repositioned to enter through the bottom port of the tank. This removes the harmful exposure scenario by taking the operator out of the hazardous environment while still achieving the function of accessing tank contents for draining operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The snorkel system acts as an intermediary device that allows remote access to tank contents. By using this intermediate tool, operators can perform draining operations without directly entering the hazardous atmosphere through the manway, thus mediating between the need for access and the need for safety.
2Productivity
If oil is withdrawn from the settling tank, then oil extraction is achieved, but entrainment of water and sediments occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary separation by allowing the settling tank to naturally stratify fluids into distinct layers before extraction begins. The snorkel head is positioned to draw from the oil layer after settling has occurred, ensuring that separation happens before the withdrawal action, thus preventing entrainment of water and sediments.
Solution Approach 2:
The snorkel head is designed with specific local qualities including strategically positioned inlets and outlets that target only the oil layer. The device has different functional zones: upper inlets for oil withdrawal, lower outlets for water and sediment discharge, ensuring that each part of the system handles only its designated fluid type to maintain separation precision.
3Productivity
If water is drained from the settling tank, then water removal is achieved, but entrainment of tank bottoms and sediments occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The system allows preliminary settling of sediments to the tank bottom before water drainage begins. By waiting for complete stratification and then carefully controlling the drainage process, sediments have time to settle and form a stable layer that can be left behind while water is removed, preventing sediment loss.
Solution Approach 2:
The snorkel head has specialized local qualities for water drainage including lower outlets positioned to draw from the water layer while leaving the sediment layer undisturbed. The design includes features that promote gentle flow patterns to prevent resuspension of settled sediments, ensuring that water removal does not result in sediment loss.
4Object-affected harmful factors
If a compacted snorkel float system is deployed, then safe access without VOC exposure is achieved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges multiple functions into a single integrated snorkel float device: flotation, snorkel head positioning, fluid sampling, and drainage control are all combined in one compacted unit. This consolidation achieves safe access without VOC exposure while managing device complexity by integrating rather than multiplying separate components.
Solution Approach 2:
The snorkel float system employs a nested structure where the snorkel head is contained within or attached to the float body, and internal components are nested within each other to achieve a compacted form. This nesting allows the complex multi-functional system to be deployed through limited access points and operated as a unified device, reducing the practical complexity despite the multiple functions performed.
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 system enables efficient and safe separation of oil and sediments by preventing re-mixing and exposure to VOCs, allowing for high-quality oil extraction and safe access to tank contents, reducing the risk of contamination and operational hazards.
Implementation Method 1
means for a levitation or buoyancy is passed through a bottom port of the tank ahead of the snorkel and line
Data Source
AI summary
A tank system may be conventional and fixed, or mobile, such as a fracking fluid or other tank trailer. A drain port thereof is fitted with an adapter connecting a snorkel system to drain liquids from near the top of the liquid level in the tank. A snorkel head at the extreme distal end of a tube near the longitudinal center of the tank is suspended by a system of buoys. A flow field controller resists formation of vortices near the snorkel head, so it can operate as near the surface as possible, withdrawing the highest grade oil efficiently without entrainment of overlying gases and vapors, nor the second liquid layered therebelow. All are configured to fit into the tank without requiring any personnel to enter the tank. Oil, water, and sludge may drain through the system to exit the tank.