U.S. patent number 3,697,952 [Application Number 05/044,075] was granted by the patent office on 1972-10-10 for remote actuated pollution and oil flow control system.
Invention is credited to Harbhajan Singh Hayre.
United States Patent |
3,697,952 |
Hayre |
October 10, 1972 |
REMOTE ACTUATED POLLUTION AND OIL FLOW CONTROL SYSTEM
Abstract
The position of a high-low valve on oil wells is remotely
controlled and monitored from a distant control station in order to
either shut the said valve or other associated valves and controls
in case of severe environmental oil pollution/emergency conditions,
or to open it during otherwise inaccessible periods or to remote
control it at all times in order to conserve manpower. Such cases
cover possibilities of oil leakage at a well, and failure of the
usually provided shutoff valves at the well head.
Inventors: |
Hayre; Harbhajan Singh
(Houston, TX) |
Family
ID: |
21930398 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/044,075 |
Filed: |
June 8, 1970 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
340/853.1;
340/6.11; 340/517; 340/3.7 |
Current CPC
Class: |
E21B
43/017 (20130101); E21B 47/001 (20200501); E21B
47/13 (20200501); E21B 34/16 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
E21B
47/12 (20060101); E21B 47/00 (20060101); E21B
34/00 (20060101); E21B 34/16 (20060101); E21B
43/017 (20060101); E21B 43/00 (20060101); H04q
007/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;343/225,228
;340/163,147 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Pitts; Harold I.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A system for monitoring and controlling the position of a valve
in an oil well to prevent leakage and spillage of fluids from the
well, comprising:
a. a central station for controlling and motoring conditions at a
remote station, comprising:
1. transmitter means for sending command signals to the remote
station to control and determine the position of the valve, said
central station transmitter means comprising:
i. means for generating a command signal to determine the position
of a valve in the well;
ii. means for encoding the command signal to maintain the signal
secure from interference;
iii. means for transmitting the encoded signal; and
iv. means for activating a receiver section at the central station
subsequent to transmission of the encoded command signal; and
2. receiver section means at the central station for receiving and
monitoring signals indicating the position of the valve from the
remote station, said central station receiver section means for
receiving comprising:
i. means for decoding an incoming received signal to determine the
identity of the sending station of such signal;
ii. means for decoding the incoming received signal to determine
the message in such signal; and
iii. means for displaying the message of the incoming signal;
and
b. at least one remote station having an oil well associated
therewith, comprising:
1. a valve with the oil well having open and closed positions;
2. means for receiving the command signals from said central
station, said means for receiving changing the position of said
valve in accordance with the command signals, said remote station
means for receiving comprising:
i. means for receiving an incoming command signal;
ii. means for checking the incoming command signal to determine if
such signal is from the proper central station, said means for
checking providing an output signal in response to a signal from
the proper central station;
iii. means for decoding the received command signal to determine
the message of such command signal;
iv. means responsive to the decoded signal for providing a command
signal to operate said valve;
v. means for generating a signal indicative of the position of said
valve; and
vi. means for comparing the signal indicative of the position of
said valve with the command signal, said means for comparing
forming an output signal indicative of the coincidence of the
compared signals and of the position of said valve; and
3. means for transmitting signals indicating the position of said
valve to said central station, comprising:
i. means for encoding the signal indicative of the position of said
valve; and
ii. means for transmitting the encoded signal.
2. The structure of claim 1, wherein said remote station receiver
section comprises:
electrically actuated means for changing the position of the said
valve to correspond to the position indicated by the output signal
of said means for comparing.
3. The structure of claim 1, wherein said control station receiver
section comprises:
means for recording the message of the incoming signal.
4. The structure of claim 1, further including:
timing circuit means for activating said remote station means for
receiving after transmission of the output signal by said remote
station transmitter section.
5. A method of monitoring and controlling the position of a valve
in an oil well to prevent leakage an spillage of fluids from the
well, comprising the steps of:
a. encoding a command signal;
b. sending the command signal in the frequency range of from 5 to
20 megahertz from a central station to a remote station having an
oil well associated therewith;
c. receiving the command signal from the central station at the
remote station;
d. decoding the received command signal to determine the identity
of the sending central station;
e. changing the position of the valve in accordance with the
command signal;
f. forming a signal indicative of the position of the valve;
g. comparing the signal indicative of the position of the valve
with the received command signal;
h. forming a command signal when the signals compared during said
step of comparing do not coincide;
i. changing the position of the valve to correspond to the position
dictated by the command signal;
j. transmitting the position signal from the remote station
indicating the position of the valve;
k. receiving at the central station the position signal transmitted
from the remote station; and
l. monitoring the position signal received at the central station.
Description
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
The present invention relates to remotely controlling and
monitoring the position of a valve in an oil well to prevent
leakage and spillage of fluids from the well.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
The position of a high-low valve on oil wells is remotely
controlled and monitored from a distant control station in order to
either shut the said valve or other associated valves and controls
in case of severe environmental oil pollution/emergency conditions,
or to open it during otherwise inaccessible periods or to remote
control it at all times in order to conserve manpower. Such cases
cover possibilities of oil leakage at a well, and failure of the
usually provided shutoff valves at the well head.
The system utilizes secret code for sets of wells to distinguish a
set of wells belonging to one owner from those of another owner
using similar equipment. Furthermore, each well in a set has an
identity-coded signal in order for it to be controlled as opposed
to any other well in the same set. The remote-actuated pollution
and oil control system (RAPOCS) operates at the particular radio
frequency in the HF range of 3-30 megahertz, in general at the
lower end of this range when utilized in urban areas as opposed to
telemetry and other very-high frequencies (VHF) (30-300 megahertz)
or ultra-high frequencies (UHF) (300-3000 megahertz). The RAPOCS is
designed to operate at the only control frequency corresponding to
range and environmental requirements. Among numerous other uses of
RAPOCS are, for example, remote metering applications in the field
of public utilities or other such public and commercial
services.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
The system includes one central platform/station, which may be
either mobile or stationary, and one or more satellite
well/stations. Block diagrams for each of the two types of stations
are shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a preferred satellite well/station of
the system of the invention; and
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a preferred central platform/station
of the system of the invention.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
In FIG. 1, a typical satellite well/station (RAPOCS) is shown. An
antenna 6, which is designed to be very highly directional in the
case of the present pollution and oil control application, receives
the signal from a central platform/station shown in FIG. 2. A
receiver section of the satellite well/station including an
identity coded receiver 7, being set in on the on- or ready-
condition, in a manner to be set forth hereinbelow, receives the
signal after such signal passes through the transmit-receive switch
5.
A set of wells belonging to a particular owner are identified as
comprising one system of wells by a portion of a secret address
code, with the remaining portion of the address code being used to
identity-code each well in a set and permit such well to be
controlled by a command signal of the code signal, as will be more
evident below, without causing operation of other wells in the same
set. An end of message code is added at the end of the code signal
for reasons to be more evident hereinbelow. The secret address code
may be a digital code or a frequency code or other conventional
suitable coding techniques may be used if desired.
The identify coded receiver 7 in the satellite well/station
receives the code signal from the switch 5 and amplifies it. An
identity code check stage of the identity-coded receiver 7 checks
the code of the signal and produces an output signal only if the
received signal is the correct secret address code which belongs to
its system. The signal must also be identity coded for the
particular satellite station in a particular system in order that
such satellite station can be controlled as opposed to other wells
in the same set or system. Unless the proper digital address code
for the station and system is received, the output of the receiver
7 is zero and the system does not receive the command signal from
the central platform station of FIG. 2, and accordingly does not
respond.
An output signal, present at the output terminals of the identity
coded receiver 7 in response to the receipt of the proper address
coded signal, contains command information of the command signal in
coded format, preferably binary, indicative of the command
requested by the central platform station of the satellite well
station. A decoder 8 decodes this signal to determine the message
of the command signal. A command signal converter 9 receives the
signal from the decoder 8 and produces an appropriate command
signal compatible with the equipment controlled at the particular
satellite subsystem. The command signal converter 9 further
provides a signal to a timing circuit 13 in response to an end of
message signal reception as indicated by the end of message code,
for reasons to be more evident hereinbelow.
The command signal from the converter 9 is further furnished to a
comparator 10. A second input of the comparator 10 is an off-on
position signal formed in a position indicating signal converter 12
and indicating the position of the equipment controlled, in this
embodiment a high-low valve 11.
The output of the comparator 10 is zero when the command signal
from the converter 9 coincides with the position signal output of
the converter 12. The output of the comparator 10 is a positive
direct current (dc) level when the output signals from the
comparators 10 and 12 do not coincide. The output of the comparator
10, which may be either zero or positive dc in level, as has been
set forth hereinabove, is fed into an electrically actuated
mechanism to change the position of the high-low valve 11 to that
desired by the command signal as well as to correspond to the
output of the comparator 10.
The final position of the high-low valve 11, as indicated by the
position signal indicator 12, is furnished to a multiplexer 1. The
multiplexer 1 may receive many other sensor outputs which may be
time or frequency multiplexed, as desired. The multiplexed signals
are then furnished to a signal conditioner 2 for appropriate signal
conditioning and furnished to an encoded 3 for encoding in a signal
encoder portion, to encode the position signal indicating the
position of the valve 11, and a satellite identity encoder portion
of the encoder 3 which adds an identity-coded signal in order to
indicate the particular satellite well/station and the set or
system to which the particular satellite well/station belongs. The
coded output of the encoder 3 is then transmitted by a transmitter
4 after passing through the transmit-receive switch 5 via the
antenna 6.
The timing circuit 13 receives the on-command output from the
on-off command signal converter 9, as has been previously set
forth, and furnishes an on-command signal to the multiplexer 1, as
is evident from FIG. 1, and further activates the receiver 7 after
a transmission from the satellite well station is completed in
order that the next subsequent signal from a central platform
station may be received.
In FIG. 2, a typical central platform station is shown. The central
platform station has a clock interval generator 1 which operates in
an automatic mode (with provision for a manual override as is
evident from the drawings), and generates a timing sequence: for
turning on a transmitter section including a command generator 2,
an encoder 3, and a sequential transmitter 4; and for turning the
transmitter section off after completion of the transmission. After
completion of the transmission, the clock interval generator then
turns on a receiving portion including an identity coded receiver
7, a decoder 8, a signal conditioner 9, and a demultiplexer 10.
Upon receipt of the turn-on signal from the clock interval
generator 1, the command generator 2 generates the necessary
digital command signal, either to open the high-low valve, or to
shut the high-low valve at the satellite well. Additional commands
which might be generated include commands to report the current
position of the high-low valve or other sensors at the
satellite/well station.
The command signal from the command generator 2 is then encoded and
the address of the particular satellite station receiving the
signal is identity encoded to identify the particular well in the
set to be controlled and distinguished from other wells in the same
set in an identity encoding portion of the encoder 3. The command
signal is further secret address-coded, using the secret code for
the set of wells to which the satellite/well station belongs, in
order to permit control of such particular satellite/well.
The secret and identity encoding in the encoder 3 further insures
that the transmission from the central platform station is secured
in the presence of any other interfering signals for other sets of
wells using similar equipment. As has been set forth with respect
to the satellite well, an end of message signal is added in the
encoder 3 to indicate that the message is completed.
The coded signal from the encoder 3 is now made ready for
sequential transmission from the transmitter 4 through the
transmit-receive switch 5 in an antenna 6. Each satellite identity
coded transmission so formed and transitted is followed by turning
off the transmitter section and turning on the receiver section by
the clock interval generator 1, as has been previously set forth.
Thus, the transmitter-on and receiver-on sequence is repeated for
subsequent satellite well/stations until transmission to each
desired one of the satellite well/stations within the
transmit-receive sequence is completed.
During receiver-on operations in the receiver portion of the
central platform station, the secret signal, having the information
signal, an identity coded signal for the satellite well/station,
and a secret address code for the particular set of wells formed in
the manner set forth hereinabove, is received through the antenna 6
and the transmit-receive circuit 5 and passed to the identity coded
receiver 7. If the signal is from a satellite station within the
set or system, such signal is identity decoded in the receiver 7
and passed to an information decoder 8 which decodes the
information signal indicating the position of the valve at the
satellite station and furnishes such signal to a signal conditioner
9. The output of the signal conditioner 9 is furnished to a
demultiplexer 10 and the output information from the demultiplexer
10 may be displayed on a meter 11, a tape-recorder 12, or remote
transmitted to another system 13, as desired.
Each of the blocks set forth in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings is a
typical, commercially available off-the-shelf item. Further, each
of the transmission and receiving portions thereof may be adapted
to the particular frequency of operation desired. The particular
codes used in secret coding and identity coding of the set and
satellite signals, respectively, are formed for each individual
satellite and set in suitable distinctive codes of the type
previously set forth.
The following chart lists suitable equipment for use in the
preferred embodiment of the invention, although it should be
understood that other units may be used.
SPECIFIC EQUIPMENT FOR FIGS. 1 & 2
Remote Actuated Pollution and Oil Control System
Block Number Description FIG. 1 FIG. 2 2,3 1,2,3 Motorola No.
AR-81-MAR-Y--Multi Input Encoder (6 sensors/unit) 4 4 Johnston
Transmitter Viking-2(for AM and continuous wave)--Hewlett Packard
No. 606A, 8403, 8730 (for CW, AM, or FM) 5 5 Reference Data for
Radio Engineers, Fourth Edition, 1956, page 427 6 6 Vertical
Monopole with Matching Coil for Appropriate Frequency--25 ft. 7,8.9
7,8,9 a. Collins Receiver Model 51 S-1 (CW or AM) 10,11 b. Motorola
C-1010--Digital Decoder and Printer 12,13 10 Multiple Contact
Relay--Potter and Brumfield No. MH6PDT 11 Solenoid Operated Valve
ASCO No. 8223A4 12 Position Controlled Contact--Potter and
Brumfield No. MG11D 1 13 Data Pulse No. 106A
the foregoing disclosure and description of the invention are
illustrative and explanatory thereof, and various changes in the
size, shape, materials, components, circuit elements, wiring
connections and contacts as well as in the details of the
illustrated circuitry and construction may be made without
departing from the spirit of the invention.
* * * * *