No description available.

No description available.

The UPL-300 is a fully electric wheelchair lift for trains. Many wheelchair lifts for trains exist on the market but the vast majority are driven by hydraulics. Electric drive prevents potential hydraulic fluid spills and negates the need for special disposal of the fluid. The aim of this project was to improve this lift because it struggled to compete on that market and no longer met industry standards. This project first identified which areas of the UPL-300 needed improving and then worked on two of these areas, the linear drive unit (LDU) which enables the lift to go up and down and the wall brace which connects the linear drive unit to the wall of a train car. The results were a design document for the wall brace and a new design for the LDU. The wall brace design document aimed to simplify and expedite the design process of the customer specific wall brace. The new LDU cut the cost for the lift significantly and fulfilled the requirements of modern standards. The design of the new LDU is easily scalable and has the potential to be used as a linear actuator in other products. The improvement analysis, together with the other work done in this project, laid a strong foundation for future work to improve the UPL-300 fully electric wheelchair lift for trains.

During the reservoir production life reservoir pressure will decline. Also after water breakthrough the fluid column weight will increase as hydrostatic pressure will increase because of increased water and oil mixture density. In this case, reservoir pressure may not be enough to lift up the fluid from bottom to the surface. These reasons decrease or even may cause to stop flowing of fluids from the well. Some techniques must be applied to prevent the production decline. Artificial lift techniques are applied to add energy to the produced fluids. It increases production rate by reducing down-hole pressure and so that by increasing the drawdown. Artificial lift techniques increase production either by pumping the produced fluid from the bottom to the surface or reduce bottom-hole pressure by reducing the fluid column weight as a result of decreased fluid mixture density. Artificial lift is used worldwide in approximately 85% of the wells, thus its impact in overall efficiency and profitability of production operations cannot be overemphasized. The most important problem is how to select optimum artificial lift techniques by taking into consideration the reservoir, well, environmental conditions. Selection of poor technique could cause decrease in efficiency and low profitability. As a result, it will lead to high operating expenses. Several techniques have been developed for selection of optimum artificial lift techniques. Expert Systems (ES) is the most suitable technique used in these selection techniques. Because the use and availability of required parameters is easy. Also in this selection method most of the artificial lift techniques are analyzed rather than other selection techniques. Expert Systems program mainly consist of three modules: (1) Expert Module, (2) Design Module, and (3) Economic Module. By entering required data to the system, program automatically suggests the feasible artificial lift techniques those might be used referring to given data. In this thesis work the artificial lift selection criteria and Expert Systems available in the literature have been studied. A Microsoft Windows based program has been developed to predict suitability of artificial lift methods for a given set of wells and produced fluid parameters. For the selected artificial lift method (i.e. sucker rod pump, ESP, gas lift, hydraulic pump, PCP) the program is able to perform basic calculations for the given data. Different case studies have been performed by running the program with actual data from fields. Well data of Venezuela, Azerbaijan and Iranian oil fields has been used in case studies. The results have been compared with previous studies those have been done on these fields with other selection techniques and current artificial lift techniques are being applied in selected wells. The obtained program results have been overlap with current real field application and previous studies.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:55:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DiegoAMF_DISSERT.pdf: 1096063 bytes, checksum: 5fc2d5a69c06dbd0861b8cfebf12e262 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-10-10 / Petr?leo Brasileiro SA - PETROBRAS / This document proposes to describe a pilot plant for oil wells equipped with plunger lift. In addition to a small size (21,5 meters) and be on the surface, the plant s well has part of its structure in transparent acrylic, allowing easy visualization of phenomena inherent to the method. The rock formation where the well draws its pilot plant fluids (water and air) is simulated by a machine room where they are located the compressor and water pump for the production of air and water. To keep the flow of air and water with known and controlled values the lines that connect the machine room to the wellhole are equipped with flow sensors and valves. It s developed a supervisory system that allows the user a real-time monitoring of pressures and flow rates involved. From the supervisor is still allowed the user can choose how they will be controlled cycles of the process, whether by time, pressure or manually, and set the values of air flow to the water used in cycles. These values can be defined from a set point or from the percentage of valve opening. Results from tests performed on the plant using the most common forms of control by time and pressure in the coating are showed. Finally, they are confronted with results generated by a simulator configured with the the pilot plant s feature / Este trabalho se prop?e a descrever uma Planta Piloto para po?os de petr?leo equipados com eleva??o artificial do tipo plunger lift. Al?m de um tamanho reduzido (21,5 metros) e estar sobre a superf?cie, o po?o da planta possui parte de sua estrutura em acr?lico transparente, permitindo a f?cil visualiza??o de fen?menos inerentes ao m?todo. A forma??o rochosa donde o po?o da Planta Piloto extrai seus fluidos (?gua e ar) ? simulada por uma casa de m?quinas onde est?o localizados o compressor e a bomba centr?fuga respons?veis pela produ??o de ar e ?gua. Para manter as vaz?es desses fluidos com valores conhecidos e controlados as linhas que conectam a casa de m?quina ao fundo do po?o s?o equipadas com sensores de vaz?o e v?lvulas. ? desenvolvido um sistema supervis?rio que permite ao usu?rio uma monitora??o em tempo real das press?es e vaz?es envolvidas no processo. A partir do supervis?rio ? poss?vel ainda o usu?rio escolher a forma como ser?o controlados os ciclos do processo, se por tempo, por press?o ou manualmente, e definir os valores de vaz?o de ar a ?gua utilizados durantes os ciclos. Esses valores podem ser definidos a partir de um set point ou a partir da porcentagem de abertura das v?lvulas. S?o apresentados resultados de testes realizados na planta utilizando as formas de controle mais usuais: por tempo e por press?o no revestimento. Por fim, estes ser?o confrontados com resultdos gerados por um simulador configurados com as caracter?sticas da Planta Piloto

[pt] O gas-lift na base do riser é um dos vários métodos que se provaram eficientes para aumento de produção. Em alguns casos, ele também pode ser utilizado para aumentar a viabilidade do blowdown para prevenção de hidratos. Além disto, o gas-lift pode ser utilizado como um método efetiv para suprimir o fenômeno de golfada severa, que ocorre geralmente em linhas descendentes. Este método tem, então, um grande potencial de viabilizar arquiteturas submarinas mais enxutas, como anel de coleta, aumentando a economicidade de projetos, sem reduzir funcionalidades. A necessidade da aplicação do gas-lift nem sempre é óbvia, pois sua efetividade depende da performance do reservatório, propriedades de fluido, relevo do solo marinho, arquitetura submarina, além de características da flowline e riser. Em muitos casos, o gas-lift para aumento de produção só traz ganhos no fim da vida produtiva, quando o watercut é mais alto. A aplicabilidade do gas-lift como método de elevação artificial e o local ideal de injeção do gás é uma análise direta e objetiva. Por outro lado, sua aplicabilidade no contexto de garantia de escoamento é mais subjetiva, tendo influência forte da filosofia operacional e tolerância ao risco. Baseado em uma envoltória típica do présal brasileiro, no que tange a características de reservatório, fluido e sistema de produção, foi realizado um conjunto de simulações para avaliação da aplicação do gas-lift na base do riser como uma solução multi propósito. Isto inclui quando o gas-lift é benéfico para aumento de produção e para garantia de escoamento, em especial as operações de remediação e prevenção de hidratos. Os resultados da aplicação do gas-lift na base do riser como método de auxílio ao blowdown são muito promissores. É possível realizar as operações de remediação com sucesso, mesmo para vazões baixas de injeção de gás. Nas operações de prevenção, foi possível observar redução da pressão residual em todas as combinações de características de fluido e geométricas, em especial para geometrias descendentes. Para poços de alta produtividade, o gas-lift na base do riser só apresenta desvantagens em relação ao gas-lift downhole, do ponto de vista de aumento de produção, quando o watercut é da ordem de 60 a 70 por cento. / [en] Riser base gas-lift is one of several methods that have been proven to work in subsea developments for production enhancement. In some cases, gas-lift can be used to increase feasibility of blowdown for hydrate prevention. In addition, gas-lift can be used as an effective method to supress severe slugging that usually occurs with downhill inclination. Hence, this method has great potential to enable more compact subsea architectures, such as production loops, enhancing project economics, without reducing functionalities. Meanwhile, the necessity of gas-lift application is not always obvious because its effectiveness depends on reservoir performance, fluid properties, seabed terrain, subsea architecture, and flowline and riser specifications. In many cases, gas-lift for production enhancement is only advantageous at late life production, when oil production rates are low and water rates might be high enough. Whether gas-lift is suitable as an artificial lift method and where the lift-gas should be injected is a direct and objective analysis. On the other hand, its application in a flow assurance context is more subjective, being strongly influenced by operational philosophy and risk tolerance. Based on a typical envoltory from Brazilian pre-salt, concerning reservoir characteristics, fluid and production system, a set of simulations has been performed to evaluate the application of riser base gas-lift as a multi purpose solution. These include when gas-lift is beneficial for production enhancement and for flow assurance. The results of the application of riser base gas-lift as a blowdown method are very promising. It is possible to complete remediation operations successfully, even for low gas injection rates. In prevention operations, it is possible to observe a reduction in residual pressure for all combinations of fluid and geometrical characteristics, specially in downward flow. For high productivity wells, riser base gas-lift is only disadvantageous in comparison with downhole gas-lift, from production enhancement point of view, when watercut is around 60 to 70 per cent.

No description available.

CAI combustion and the factors affecting it were intensively investigated in a single cylinder, air-assisted gasoline direct injection engine. CAI was achieved by means of residual gas trapping by utilising low-lift short duration camshafts and early closing of the exhaust valves. The effects of EVC (Exhaust Valve Closure) and IVO (Inlet Valve opening) timings, spark timing, single and split injection timings, coolant temperature, compression ratio, cam lift and duration on exhaust emissions and CAI operation were investigated experimentally. Engine speed throughout the course of the experiments, was varied from 1200rpm to 2400rpm and the air/fuel ratio was altered from stoichiometric to the misfire limit. The results show that the EVC timing, compression ratio, cam lift and duration had significant influences on CAI combustion and emissions. Early EVC when combined with higher compression ratio and higher cam lift, enhance CAI combustion operation and stability. IVO timing had minor effect on CAI combustion while spark timing hardly affects CAI operation as soon as fully-developed CAI conditions were established. Coolant temperature was revealed to have substantial impact on CAI combustion when the coolant temperature was below 65C. The results also show the importance of injection timing. Early injection gave faster and more stable combustion, less HC and CO emissions, but more prone to knocking combustion and higher NOx emissions. Furthermore, CAI operation range could considerably be extended with injection during the recompression process. Late injection led to slower and unstable combustion, higher HC and CO emissions but lower combustion noise and NOx emissions. Split injection gave even further extension of CAI range in both stoichiometric and lean mixture operations. All the above clearly suggest, that optimising injection timing and using split injection is an effective way to control and extend CAI operation in a direct injection gasoline engine.

The generation of electricity from tidal currents is an emerging industry with the potential to contribute to the UK energy supply in a predictable and sustainable way. The development of the technology requires the cost effective subsea installation of energy conversion systems in an energetic and challenging marine environment. One concept developed for the fastening of tidal energy converters to the seabed is the Active Gravity Base (AGB), which offers potential reductions in installation cost and time, relative to existing fastening methods. The performance of this concept in response to unsteady flow conditions is explored within this thesis. The dynamic behaviour of a tidal current is driven by a range of factors from gravitational forces of celestial bodies to high-frequency fluctuations of turbulent eddies. The response of the AGB concept to the unsteadiness of tidal currents is herein considered under the two broad time-scales; the directionality of the mean semi-diurnal cycle and the high frequency variations from a given mean flow velocity. The correlation between the direction and velocity of the tidal flow was assessed using hourly averaged data provided by the Admiralty Charts in the northern UK waters. The resulting directionality model was used to predict the performance of the AGB under a range of quasi-steady flow conditions. High frequency velocity measurements of a potential tidal energy site were obtained through collaboration with the University of Washington and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. This data was used to estimate the maximum perturbation from the mean velocity that can be expected on an annual basis. An experimental facility was developed within the re-circulating water flume at the University of Edinburgh to examine the dynamic loads generated by controllable two-dimensional flow perturbations. This was successfully achieved using a configuration of twin pitching foils with independent motion control. A relationship between the foil pitch angle and velocity perturbation time series was predicted using a vortex model of the foil wakes. This configuration was shown to be able to generate significant flow fluctuations within the range of reduced frequencies 0:06 ≤ k ≤ 1:9, with a peak gust intensity of Ig = 0:5. The numerical solution was validated against experimental results.

Tese de Mestrado Integrado. Engenharia Química. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 2012