Study on the response of the full-bore conductance sensor for water cut measurement

This paper has proposed a new structure of full-bore conductance sensor, which is designed for measuring water cut of the oil-water two-phase flow. The structure of the full-bore conductance sensor and the measurement principle are introduced in the paper. The mental ring-shaped electrode is mounted on the outside wall of the cylindrical insulation body. When the electrode is provided with constant current, according to the electrical theory, the electrode generates a voltage, the value of which is inversely proportional to the conductivity of fluid flowing between the sensor and the casing. The electrostatic field simulations of the sensor are accomplished by using ANSYS software. The results of the potential distribution simulation show that the potential decays quickly from the electrode along r direction (radial) and z direction (axial)to both sides, and the potential only distributes in a very narrow area near the electrode. A series of static experiments on the sensor are carried out in laboratory. The experiment results agree with the simulation results. In radial direction, the closer the rod is to the sensor, the more sensitive the sensor becomes and the greater the relative response becomes. In axial direction, the electrode only responds in a certain region on both sides of the electrode and decays rapidly from the electrode to both sides. And the salinity experiment is conducted in salt solution (3000 ppm), which shows that within the allowable range of experiment error, there is no effect of salinity on the sensor response. response.