Integrated "One Pump" Control of Pumping Equipment

Abstract

Methods and systems for improving the efficiency of a pumping process by controlling the operation of the pumps involved based on certain parameters characterizing the pump. A pump unit is coupled to a pump controller which is in turn, coupled to a pump modulator. A master controller drives the pump modulator based on a desired output parameter for the system. The pump modulator then drives each pump unit through its corresponding pump controller in a manner for the system to achieve optimal performance.

1 . A pumping apparatus comprising:
 a pump unit;   a pump controller coupled to the pump unit;   a pump modulator coupled to the pump controller; and   a master controller coupled to the pump modulator;   wherein a value of an output parameter from the pump unit is fed back to the pump controller which generates a driving signal to the pump unit to drive the value of the output parameter closer to a first desired value received from the pump modulator;   wherein a value of an output parameter from the pump unit is fed back to the pump modulator which generates a driving signal to the pump controller representing the first desired value to drive the value of the output parameter closer to a second desired value;   wherein the master controller compares a first input and a second input and generates a driving signal to the pump modulator representing the second desired value.   
   
   
       2 . The pumping apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the output parameter of the pump unit comprises one of a flow rate, a pressure or an efficiency. 
   
   
       3 . The pumping apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein the pump controller determines the efficiency of the pump unit. 
   
   
       4 . The pumping apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein the flow rate is measured with a flow meter. 
   
   
       5 . The pumping apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein the pressure is measured with a pressure transducer. 
   
   
       6 . The pumping apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the master controller is one of a Proportional-Integral-Derivative Controller, a Proportional-Integral controller or a Proportional controller. 
   
   
       7 . The pumping apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the first input of the master controller is a desired output parameter and the second input of the master controller is a measured output parameter. 
   
   
       8 . The pumping apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein the desired output parameter and the measured output parameter include one of an output flow rate or an output pressure. 
   
   
       9 . The pumping apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the first input of the master controller is a desired output parameter and the second input of the master controller is an estimated output parameter. 
   
   
       10 . The pumping apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein the estimated output parameter is obtained from a manifold observer comprising:
 a system model generating an estimated value for a first parameter and an estimated value for a second parameter;   a feed back loop coupling the estimated value for the second parameter with a measured value for the second parameter;   a controller;   wherein an input of the controller comprises a difference between the estimated value for the second parameter and the measured value for the second parameter;   wherein the output of the controller comprises a disturbance signal corresponding to the first parameter; and   wherein an input of the system model comprises a sum of a desired value for the first parameter and the disturbance signal corresponding to the first parameter.   
   
   
       11 . The pumping apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein the controller is one of a Proportional-Integral-Derivative Controller, a Proportional-Integral controller or a Proportional controller. 
   
   
       12 . The pumping apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein an operator is notified if the disturbance signal is above a threshold value. 
   
   
       13 . The pumping apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the pump modulator includes a model for operation of the pump unit. 
   
   
       14 . The pumping apparatus of  claim 13 , wherein the model includes a pump curve. 
   
   
       15 . The pumping apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the pump modulator includes information about a characteristic of the pump unit. 
   
   
       16 . The pumping apparatus of  claim 15 , wherein the characteristic includes one of a power of the pump unit or an efficiency of the pump unit. 
   
   
       17 . The pumping apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the pump controller is a software program. 
   
   
       18 . A method for driving a plurality of pump units comprising:
 generating a plurality of first drive signals from each of a plurality of pump controllers to a corresponding pump unit;   generating a plurality of second drive signal from a pump modulator to each of the plurality of pump controllers;   generating a third drive signal from a master controller to the pump modulator; and   driving the master controller with a signal representing an actual value of an output parameter and a desired value of the output parameter.   
   
   
       19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein a value of a first drive signal depends on a value of a corresponding second drive signal and a value of an output parameter of the corresponding pump unit. 
   
   
       20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the value of a first drive signal from a first pump controller depends on a value of a first output parameter and the value of a first drive signal from a second pump controller depends on a value of a second output parameter. 
   
   
       21 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the output parameter is one of an output flow rate, an output pressure or an output efficiency. 
   
   
       22 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein a value of a second drive signal depends on a value of a corresponding third drive signal and a value of an output parameter of the corresponding pump unit. 
   
   
       23 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the output parameter is one of an output flow rate, an output pressure or an output efficiency. 
   
   
       24 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the value of a second drive signal depends on a characteristic of a corresponding pump unit. 
   
   
       25 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the characteristic of the corresponding pump unit includes one of horse power or efficiency. 
   
   
       26 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the signal representing the actual value of the output parameter is a measured value of the output parameter. 
   
   
       27 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the signal representing the actual value of the output parameter is an estimate of the actual value of the output parameter. 
   
   
       28 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the output parameter comprises one of an output pressure or an output flow rate. 
   
   
       29 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the pump modulator distributes a work load among the plurality of the pump controllers. 
   
   
       30 . The method of  claim 29 , wherein the pump modulator distributes the work load among the plurality of the pump controllers based on a characteristic of the corresponding pump unit. 
   
   
       31 . The method of  claim 30 , wherein the characteristic of the corresponding pump unit includes one of efficiency or horse power. 
   
   
       32 . The method of  claim 29 , wherein upon a pump unit failure the pump modulator terminates the second driving signal to a pump controller corresponding to the pump unit. 
   
   
       33 . The method of  claim 32 , wherein the pump modulator distributes the terminated signal among the plurality of pump controllers corresponding to an operational pump unit. 
   
   
       34 . A method for estimating an output parameter of a pump comprising:
 generating an estimated value of a first parameter and an estimated value of a second parameter using a system model;   calculating a difference between the estimated value of the second parameter and a measured value of the second parameter;   feeding the difference between the estimated value of the second parameter and the measured value of the second parameter to a controller;   generating a disturbance signal corresponding to the first parameter; and   feeding a sum of the disturbance signal corresponding to the first parameter and a desired value of the first parameter to the system model.   
   
   
       35 . The method of  claim 34  further comprising notifying an operator if the correction signal is above a threshold value. 
   
   
       36 . The method of  claim 34 , wherein the system model comprises one of: a fluid dynamic equation; a fluid characteristic information; or a manifold characteristic information. 
   
   
       37 . The method of  claim 34 , wherein the controller is one of a Proportional-Integral-Derivative Controller, a Proportional-Integral controller or a Proportional controller. 
   
   
       38 . The method of  claim 34 , wherein the first parameter is a flow rate and the second parameter is a pressure. 
   
   
       39 . The method of  claim 34 , wherein the first parameter is a pressure and the second parameter is a flow rate. 
   
   
       40 . The method of  claim 34 , further comprising:
 feeding the estimated value of the first parameter to a master controller;   feeding a desired value of the first parameter to the master controller;   generating a first driving signal from the master controller to a pump modulator;   generating a second driving signal from the pump modulator to a pump controller; and   generating a third driving signal from the pump controller to a pump unit.   
   
   
       41 . The method of  claim 40 , wherein a value of the first driving signal depends on a difference between the estimated value of the first parameter and the desired value of the first parameter. 
   
   
       42 . The method of  claim 40 , wherein a value of the second driving signal depends on a value of the first driving signal and a value of an output parameter of the pump unit. 
   
   
       43 . The method of  claim 42 , wherein the output parameter comprises one of a flow rate or a pressure. 
   
   
       44 . The method of  claim 40 , wherein a value of the third driving signal depends on a value of the second driving signal and a value of an output parameter of the pump unit. 
   
   
       45 . The method of  claim 44 , wherein the output parameter comprises one of a flow rate or a pressure.