As you may know, about 20 years ago, old methods like 'chart recorders', manual tank measurement with tape measures, and hand-set timer clocks, were the normal tools for oiil and gas production operaitons. However, since 2008, manynew wells in the US and Canada were automated with electronic controls. One case is to use artificial lift, including plunger lift.
For the real case, when a well is blocked by fluids (it is not uncommon when the gas pressure of the well is unable to overcome the weight of the fluid trapped in side the tubing)or bores , the common practice is to use a plunger to improve downhole pressure, whose objective is to build enough downhole pressure to lift the gas.
Although using the plunger is quite effective, however, it also brings potential risk. If using the plunger incorrectly, such as allowing excessive plunger travel speed, damage is likely to happen to at least the plunger equipment and perhaps to other valuable assets.
With substantial development efforts on this, the controller, or Electornic Flow Meter (EFM), is commonly used to lean and adapt to changes in well pressure. The alglorithms embedded in the device use a collection of data points that include plunger arrival times (time), fluid load (tubing and casing pressure) and flow (volume and time) to make decisions. Base on these data, along with high and low points set by the operator, the Remote Terminal Unit (RTU), Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) or EFM can automatically sef-adjust and determine when to produce (open the production valve) and when to shut in (close the production valve) and , therefore, optimize the overall process for lifting heavy fluid loads.