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