Dynamic characterization of a low cost microwave water-cut sensor in a flow loop

Inline precise measurement of water fraction in oil (i.e. water-cut [WC]) finds numerous applications in oil and gas industry. This paper presents the characterization of an extremely low cost, completely non-intrusive and full range microwave water-cut sensor based upon pipe conformable microwave T-resonator. A 10″ microwave stub based T-resonator has been implemented directly on the pipe surface whose resonance frequency changes in the frequency band of 90 MHz-190 MHz (111%) with changing water fraction in oil. The designed sensor is capable of detecting even small changes in WC with a resolution of 0.07% at low WC and 0.5% WC at high WC. The performance of the microwave WC sensor has been tested in an in-house flow loop. The proposed WC sensor has been characterized over full water-cut range (0%-100%) not only in vertical but also in horizontal orientation. The sensor has shown predictable response in both orientations with huge frequency shift. Moreover, flow rate effect has also been investigated on the proposed WC sensor's performance and it has been found that the sensor's repeatability is within 2.5% WC for variable flow rates.