Cloud-Based Monitoring System for Foam Content at the Wellhead of Foam Drainage Gas Production

To achieve automatic online monitoring of foam content in wellhead pipelines during the foam drainage gas production of shale gas, a cloud-based monitoring system for the foam content at the wellhead of foam drainage gas production is proposed. The system mainly comprises a terminal foam content detection sensor and a cloud platform, which relies on a wireless network for data communication. In this system, the foam content detection sensor uses the absorption of infrared light by the foam in the pipeline as a basic detection principle. Furthermore, the sensor uses signal-processing circuits to convert infrared light of different intensities into model voltage signals of different sizes and uses long range radio (LoRa) wireless networks to transfer the measurement data to a server for storage in a time-series database while displaying real-time foam content data on a web page. The monitoring system was tested in a field, and the relationship model between the foam content and the detection voltage signal was fit based on the test data. Based on this model, and then tested and compared with the manual sampling results, the results of the 40 data samples tested showed that the monitoring system was effective and met the field working conditions. The foam content calculated by the fit model compared with the manually measured foam content showed an error range of 0.11%–15.37%. The test results show that the system has functional requirements to monitor foam content in the field, contributing to the automation, networking, and cloud-based monitoring of the foam content at the wellhead.