HIGH-FREQUENCY METHOD OF REMOVAL OF PARAFFIN PLUGS IN THE EQUIPMENT OF OIL WELLS AND OIL PIPELINES
V. A. Balakirev,a G. V. Sotnikov,a Yu. V. Tkach,b and T. Yu. Yatsenkob UDC 532.546:536:421:537:868 The processes of heating and melting of paraffin plugs in the shafts of oil wells and in oil pipelines by high-frequency electromagnetic radiation have been investigated. The evolution of the temperature fields in the volume of the plugs has been investigated for various physical conditions and various geometries of the plugs. The times of melting of a through channel in a plug and the times of its complete liquidation have been determined. Unlike the works carried out earlier, elimination of paraffin plugs was investigated with regard for the nonuniformity of the distribution of high-frequency power over the cross section of a plug and the absorption of a high-frequency wave in the metallic walls of a well or a pipeline. aNational Scientific Center "Kharkov Physical-Technical Institute," Kharkov, Ukraine; bInstitute of Electromagnetic Research, Kharkov, Ukraine; email: sotnikov@kipt.kharkov.ua. Translated from Inzhenerno-Fizicheskii Zhurnal, Vol. 75, No. 5, pp. 138-145, September-October, 2002. Original article submitted February 28, 2001; revision submitted March 6, 2002. JEPTER74920200218 JEPTER7492018