Noninvasive Multiphase Pipeline Flow Monitoring
Official patent title
System and method for monitoring multiphase fluid flow
Arabic title: نظام وطريقة لمراقبة تدفق الموائع متعددة الأطوار
Invention
Invention
Problem
Conventional electrical-capacitance tomography can require computationally intensive image reconstruction, perform poorly with fast or low-dielectric-contrast flows, and add complexity when only constituent proportions are needed.
Why it matters
Faster, exterior-mounted composition sensing could improve industrial process visibility without reconstructing full tomographic images, but accuracy, calibration stability, fluid-specific response, environmental robustness, electromagnetic compatibility, and real-time performance require independent verification.
Approach
The system places transmitting and receiving patch-antenna pairs around a pipe, measures electromagnetic phase shifts through the flowing mixture, and calculates relative constituent proportions using stored reference measurements.
Who may benefit
Potential beneficiaries include process-instrumentation companies, oil and gas operators, chemical plants, energy facilities, flow-assurance teams, and researchers studying non-invasive multiphase measurement.
Potential value
The disclosure focuses directly on constituent ratios through phase-sensitive RF measurements, using exterior antennas and calibration data instead of full cross-sectional image reconstruction.
Background
Background
Electrical capacitance tomography estimates material distributions by measuring permittivity changes around a pipe and reconstructing cross-sectional images. It can monitor gas-liquid interfaces, solids concentration, and flow regimes, but reconstruction algorithms can be slow and computationally demanding. Fast-moving fluids, low-density flows, electrostatic noise, and constituents with similar dielectric constants can reduce measurement quality. Some applications need only the ratio of constituents rather than an image, motivating a simpler radio-frequency approach that measures phase changes directly across the flowing mixture.
Technology overview
Technology overview
The claimed system integrates pairs of transmitting and receiving patch antennas on the exterior of a pipe section. An electromagnetic-wave generator drives the antennas, a phase detector compares transmitted and received signals, and a processor correlates measured shifts with reference data stored by a calibration module. Antenna pairs can be activated sequentially around the circumference. Dependent claims cover flexible printed substrates, mechanical scanning, two-frequency operation, dielectric-property calculation, segmented path analysis, and flow adjustment based on the measurement.
Potential applications
Potential applications
- Potential real-time estimation of gas and liquid proportions in pipelines.
- Process monitoring in chemical and petrochemical flow systems.
- Flow-assurance research for fast-moving multiphase streams.
- Retrofit sensing studies using flexible exterior antenna arrays.
Evidence-supported advantages
Evidence-supported advantages
- Uses non-invasive antennas mounted on the pipe exterior.
- Targets constituent ratios without requiring full image reconstruction.
- Supports sequential circumferential measurements and stored calibration references.
- Offers flexible-substrate, mechanical-scanning, and dual-frequency configurations.
Development stage
Development stage
Patent publication; development stage not independently verified.
Commercial opportunity
Commercial opportunity
The architecture could support pipeline sensor modules, retrofit monitoring wraps, or licensed signal-processing systems. Commercial validation should cover representative phase combinations, flow regimes, velocity, pressure, temperature, pipe materials, fouling, calibration drift, electromagnetic interference, response time, installation safety, cybersecurity, and comparison with reference meters.
Patent classifications
Patent classifications
WIPO IPC
- G01F1/663Measuring volume, volume flow, mass flow or liquid level; metering by volume
- G01F1/74Measuring volume, volume flow, mass flow or liquid level; metering by volume
CPC
- G01F1/663Measuring volume, volume flow, mass flow or liquid level; metering by volume
- G01F1/66Measuring volume, volume flow, mass flow or liquid level; metering by volume
- G01F1/74Measuring volume, volume flow, mass flow or liquid level; metering by volume
Inventors
Inventors
- First inventorMohamed Yehia Mohamed Shalaby
- InventorAbdulrahman M. Shalaby
Keywords
Keywords
- multiphase flow
- patch antenna
- phase shift
- RF sensing
- pipeline monitoring
- dielectric measurement
- flow composition
- calibration
Patent document and drawings
Patent document and drawings
The patent publication is mapped to this record. Patent drawings remain within that publication; no separately cleared public media package has been supplied.