Application of numerical and physical modeling in designing of an X-ray luminescence separator intended for separation of ores containing luminescent minerals

The paper demonstrates the application of numerical and physical modeling to justify the design of the X-ray fluorescence separator’s material handling system. The Rocky DEM software package is a numerical modeling tool that uses the discrete element method as a mathematical apparatus. In order to increase the efficiency of the X-ray luminescence separation, the authors suggest including an additional element in the separator’s material handling system, i.e., a drum spreader that combines a handling device and an actuating mechanism. It was found out that the best loading of the drum spreader cells, in which the number of several pieces in one cell is reduced by at least 15%, is provided by a Vibrating feeder conveyor with a triangular cross-section of the profiled part of the tray compared with the tray of parabolic cross-section. In addition, the triangular section provides a double decrease in the number of pieces with rotational movement around their axes and, accordingly, an increase of at least 5% in the average velocity of the ore flow movement along the tray. The simulation of the material handling system has shown the need to reduce the height of the end partition of the drum spreader between the cells to 45 mm, which eliminates the collision of ore pieces with the partition and subsequently, their movement in the direction of rotation of the drum spreader on its outer surface, as well as the unpredictable escape of the ore pieces beyond the working space of the separator.

Unlocking ESP Potential in High Gas/Liquid Ratio Wells Using Gas Lock Prevention Control in West Java Field, Indonesia

West Java field operated 60 electric submersible pumps (ESPs) as a lifting method with 2.850 BOPD production contribution. These ESP wells produce from a mature structure. At one point, 48% of ESP operation were shut down due to ESP non-optimum operation. The challenges in ESP operations in the asset are high gas-liquid ratio (GLR), impurities, sand and scale buildup, and well integrity where high GLR was deemed as the major problem that deteriorated the ESP's performance. Conventional ESPs gas separator were installed in the field, but the gas-handling device could not handle more than 45% free gas while some wells have more than 50% free gas. Three wells in particular were assessed, Well A, Well B, and Well C, which have 585, 1196, and 1690 average GLR respectively. These wells had problem with reduced pump efficiency and very low run life due to frequent ESP trips which were caused by the gas lock problem. A solution to maintaining oil production was by changing the production zone to zone that producing less gas and by installing more advanced gas-handling device. However, the probability of experiencing high gas production from new zones can't be ruled out therefore other mitigation plan had to be found. Gas lock protection control is an algorithm that manipulates ESP real-time rotational speed to prevent gas interference inside pump. The algorithm was introduced as a mitigation measure and commissioned in July 2020 at Well A where it directly optimized production by 16%. To prove the robustness of the gas lock prevention control, the project was then extended to Well B and Well C which began to implement gas lock prevention control in August 2020 to handle the increase of their gas production. Thanks to this gas lock prevention control, the wells have been able to maintain production without spending either time or money to change production zone or to change the ESP completion. Going forward, gas lock protection control will be set as an option on ESP devices. Thus, unplanned gas interference effects may be reduced in other wells that being produced by ESP thereby helping to maintain production at an optimum level.

A sensor data fusion-based locating method for large-scale metrology

<p class="Abstract">The measurement of geometric and dimensional variations in the context of large-sized products is a complex operation. One of the most efficient ways to identify deviations is by comparing the nominal object with a digitalisation of the real object through a reverse engineering process. The accurate digitalisation of large geometric models usually requires multiple acquisitions from different acquiring locations; the acquired point clouds must then be correctly aligned in the 3D digital environment. The identification of the exact scanning location is crucial to correctly realign point clouds and generate an accurate 3D CAD model.</p>To achieve this, an acquisition method based on the use of a handling device is proposed that enhances reverse engineering scanning systems and is able to self-locate. The present paper tackles the device’s locating problem by using sensor data fusion based on a Kalman filter. The method was first simulated in a MatLAB environment; a prototype was then designed and developed using low-cost hardware. Tests on the sensor data fusion have shown a locating accuracy better than that of each individual sensor. Despite the low-cost hardware, the results are encouraging and open to future improvements