Abstract: Analyzing solid components in the return line of a borehole can be accomplished by implementing a bar or disc in the return line. As solid components pass by, they will generate an acoustic wave on impact. In another aspect, solid components can be directed to a shaker system where the solid components will impact a soundboard. The acoustic waves can be captured, such as by a microphone or transducer. The acoustic waves can be processed and transformed into acoustic data. A machine learning system can use previously trained models to determine the solid component parameters using the acoustic data. The parameters can include the size, shape, composition, density, softness, wettability, and other parameters of the solid components. These parameters can then be used as inputs to users or other borehole systems, such as a well site controller to improve drilling operations or to identify the need to implement corrective actions.

Abstract: A method for self-calibrating a sound pickup process that uses a microphone array in a wearable device that also includes a loudspeaker, where the microphone array being in a physical arrangement with respect to the loudspeaker. The method obtains, for each of several microphones of the microphone array, one or more transfer functions that each represent a response of the microphone to sound from a position in an acoustic space. The method determines whether a physical arrangement of the microphone array with respect to the loudspeaker has changed and adjusts the transfer function, for at least one of the microphones of the several microphones, in response to determining that the current physical arrangement of the microphone array with respect to the loudspeaker has changed.