Patents by Inventor Michel Joseph LeBlanc

Michel Joseph LeBlanc has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20210040845
    Abstract: A device including a sample cell configured to interact a fluid sample with an ion selective substrate to modify an optical characteristic of the ion selective substrate according to an ion concentration of the fluid sample is provided. The sample cell is configured to optically interact an illumination light with the ion selective substrate to generate a sample light. The device includes an integrated computational element configured to interact with the sample light to provide a modified light that has a property indicative of the ion concentration in the fluid sample; and a detector that receives the modified light and provides an electrical signal proportional to an intensity of the modified light.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 27, 2018
    Publication date: February 11, 2021
    Inventors: Michel Joseph LeBlanc, Bin Dai, James M. Price
  • Publication number: 20210003003
    Abstract: Systems and techniques for determining properties of a formation comprising are disclosed. A test tool attached to test string comprising a fluid conduit is deployed to a test position within a wellbore. The deployment includes hydraulically isolating a portion of the wellbore proximate the test tool to form an isolation zone containing the test position. A fluid inflow test is performed within the isolation zone and an initial formation property and a fluid property are determined based on the fluid inflow test. A fluid injection test is performed within the isolation zone including applying an injection fluid through the test string into the isolation zone, wherein the flow rate or pressure of the injection fluid application is determined based, at least in part, on the at least one of the formation property and fluid property, The fluid injection test further includes measuring pressure within the isolation zone to determine a pressure transient associated with the injection of the injection fluid.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 3, 2020
    Publication date: January 7, 2021
    Inventors: Mark Anton Proett, Christopher Michael Jones, Michel Joseph LeBlanc, Anthony Herman van Zuilekom, Mehdi Alipour Kallehbasti
  • Publication number: 20200362692
    Abstract: A distributed acoustic system (DAS) with an interrogator, an umbilical line attached at one end to the interrogator, and a downhole fiber attached to the umbilical line at the end opposite the interrogator. A method for optimizing a sampling frequency may begin with identifying a length of a fiber optic cable connected to an interrogator, identifying one or more regions on the fiber optic cable in which a backscatter is received, and optimizing a sampling frequency of a distributed acoustic system (DAS) by identifying a minimum time interval that is between an emission of a light pulse such that at no point in time the backscatter arrives back at the interrogator that corresponds to more than one spatial location along a sensing portion of the fiber optic cable.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 27, 2019
    Publication date: November 19, 2020
    Applicant: Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.
    Inventors: Andreas Ellmauthaler, John L. Maida, JR., Ira Jeffrey Bush, Michel Joseph LeBlanc, Glenn Andrew Wilson
  • Patent number: 10801865
    Abstract: A device for fluid analysis including an integrated computational element (ICE), a sample cell that optically interacts the ICE with a sample to generate a computation light associated with a characteristic of the sample, and a fiber sensor that receives the computation light and converts the computation light into a heat, is provided. The fiber sensor is coupled with a detector through an optical link, and is configured to return a portion of probe light through the optical link to the detector based on the heat converted. A method for using the device for performing fluid analysis is provided. A system for fluid analysis including at least one device as above is also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2020
    Assignee: Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.
    Inventors: Michel Joseph Leblanc, David L. Perkins, Xinwei Lan
  • Publication number: 20200284128
    Abstract: A valve body includes a mixing chamber within the valve body, a plurality of passages through the valve body into the mixing chamber, and a sensor located within the valve body. The sensor has a sensor output representing a property of a fluid within the valve body. A processor is coupled to the sensor output. The processor is programmed to use the sensor output, a density of oil and a density of a subject fluid to determine a fraction of the subject fluid in a fluid flowing through one of the plurality of passages.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 27, 2017
    Publication date: September 10, 2020
    Applicant: Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.
    Inventors: Xinwei Lan, Li Gao, Daniel Stark, Yenny Natali Martinez, Michel Joseph LeBlanc, Gireesh K Bhat
  • Publication number: 20200240889
    Abstract: A production tubing carries fluids from a producing zone to a surface. A resonant tube densitometer measures the density of the fluids carried by the production tubing. The resonant tube densitometer has a tube. A longitudinal section of the production tubing is the tube of the resonant tube densitometer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 27, 2017
    Publication date: July 30, 2020
    Applicant: Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.
    Inventors: Xinwei Lan, Li Gao, Daniel Stark, Yenny Natali Martinez, Michel Joseph LeBlanc, Gireesh K Bhat
  • Publication number: 20200131900
    Abstract: The subject technology relates to an in-line amplifier assembly for distributed sensing system. The subject technology includes deploying a distributed sensing tool into a wellbore, and logging the wellbore using the distributed sensing tool. The distributed sensing tool includes a first optical amplifier and a first optical filter coupled to a first single-mode optical fiber. The first optical amplifier is coupled to a first single-mode circulator for amplifying a single-mode optical signal, and the first optical filter is coupled to the first optical amplifier for filtering the amplified single-mode optical signal. The first single-mode circulator is coupleable to an interrogator for routing the single-mode optical signal to a second single-mode optical fiber and routing a reflective optical signal from a second single-mode optical fiber to the interrogator. The reflective optical signal may traverse a second optical amplifier and a second optical fiber between the first and second single-mode circulators.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 31, 2018
    Publication date: April 30, 2020
    Applicant: Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.
    Inventors: Michel Joseph Leblanc, Jason Edward Therrien, Andreas Ellmauthaler
  • Publication number: 20200110235
    Abstract: A hybrid EO wireline cable includes optical fibers strategically placed within to allow acoustic sensing methods as well as provide power and electrical telemetry. The hybrid EO wireline cable contains optical fibers in the interstices among symmetrically arranged electrical wire bundles to allow a hybrid EO cable to be concurrently used for electrical telemetry and optical fiber sensing without interference in a wellbore environment. This hybrid EO cable maintains electric and magnetic field symmetry which allows an optimal electrical signaling rate through orthogonal propagation modes. By placing optical fibers symmetrically inside the interstitial spaces between electrical wire bundles, the cable maintains its optimal signaling rate and avoids the mechanical and electrical limitations that would be introduced when combining electrical wires and optical fibers in a wireline cable.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 27, 2019
    Publication date: April 9, 2020
    Inventors: John Laureto Maida, Sudhir Kumar Gupta, Michel Joseph LeBlanc, Arabinda Misra
  • Publication number: 20200088894
    Abstract: Disclosed are methods and apparatus for using an audible signal to monitor conditions at a downhole location in a well through use of a well cable containing a fiber optic, which may be either a slickline or a wireline fiber-optic cable, and providing an audible signal which varies in response to the monitored condition. The condition monitored can be strain in the fiber optic well cable, which can be sensed in one or more locations in the fiber optic well cable, in many examples through use of a sensor such as a Bragg grating associated with or formed in an optical fiber within the well cable. In some examples, a temperature measurement may be used to compensate for temperature effects impacting the strain measurement.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 12, 2016
    Publication date: March 19, 2020
    Inventors: Michel Joseph LeBlanc, Daniel Joshua Stark, Sean Gregory Thomas
  • Patent number: 10591631
    Abstract: Gravity surveys of subterranean formations may be based on the simultaneous measurement of gravity and its derivatives to produce a higher resolution formation map or wellbore log.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2020
    Assignee: HALLIBURTON ENERGY SERVICES, INC.
    Inventors: Satyan Gopal Bhongale, Michel Joseph Leblanc
  • Publication number: 20200032645
    Abstract: The subject technology relates to distributed sensing interrogation using single-mode fiber for multi-mode fiber interrogation. The subject technology includes deploying a distributed sensing tool into a wellbore, and logging the wellbore using the distributed sensing tool. The distributed sensing tool includes an optical amplifier and an optical filter coupled to a single-mode optical fiber and a multi-mode optical fiber. The optical amplifier is coupled to a single-mode circulator for amplifying a single-mode optical signal, and the optical filter is coupled to the optical amplifier for filtering the amplified single-mode optical signal. The single-mode circulator is coupleable to an interrogator for routing the single-mode optical signal to the multi-mode optical fiber and routing a reflective optical signal from the multi-mode optical fiber to the interrogator.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 31, 2018
    Publication date: January 30, 2020
    Applicant: Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.
    Inventors: Michel Joseph LeBlanc, Jason Edward Therrien, Andreas Ellmauthaler
  • Patent number: 10495779
    Abstract: A sensing system may comprise a deployment device having an optical fiber cable with a predetermined curvature or an intrinsic curvature. The sensing system may be deployed into a location that is remote or difficult to navigate, for example, a large vessel or a borehole of a well. A deployment device may deploy the optical fiber cable and a tension control tool may maintain the deployment device along with the optical fiber cable in a straight or non-curved shape until the optical fiber cable has reached a predetermined location or position. A force may then be applied to the optical fiber cable to cause a portion of the optical fiber cable to contact an interior wall of the area or location, for example, a borehole or the deployment device. Measurements may be retrieved from the optical fiber cable, for example, measurements used in distributed acoustic sensing in vertical seismic profiling.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2019
    Assignee: Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.
    Inventors: Michel Joseph LeBlanc, Mark Elliott Willis
  • Publication number: 20190227029
    Abstract: Systems and methods for a treatment of chemical sensors placed in a wellbore. A method may comprise providing a chemical sensor disposed in a sensing chamber, wherein the chemical sensor is on an optical fiber installed in a wellbore; optically interrogating the chemical sensor with the optical fiber; and pumping a treatment fluid through a fluid supply line and into the sensing chamber.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 14, 2016
    Publication date: July 25, 2019
    Applicant: Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.
    Inventors: John Laureto Maida, JR., Michel Joseph Leblanc, Neal Gregory Skinner
  • Publication number: 20190226335
    Abstract: A property of a downhole fluid, for example, a chemical species or ion concentration, may be accurately determined and logged based on measurements received from an optical detector where the optical detector is fed information or signals from an optical system coupled to one or more electrochemical probes calibrated for one or more properties of a fluid. The one or more electrochemical probes provide a potential to the optical system based, at least in part, on exposure to the downhole fluid. The optical system receives an optical signal from a light source that is transmitted via a transmission line, such as a fiber optic cable. Downhole information from the optical system is transmitted to the surface via the same or another transmission line. Thus, the signals are in the optical domain rather than the electrical domain. Multiple properties may be measured simultaneously using the same transmission line.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 3, 2016
    Publication date: July 25, 2019
    Inventors: Xinwei Lan, Yenny Natali Martinez, Michel Joseph LeBlanc, Neal Gregory Skinner, John L. Maida
  • Publication number: 20190212468
    Abstract: A system, method, and device for determining volume concentration with diffraction of electromagnetic radiation. A device for determining a volume concentration of a fluid in a sample comprises a transducer, a transmitter, a detector, and a processor. The transducer generates a standing acoustic wave through the sample. The transmitter emits electromagnetic (EM) radiation into the sample such that the EM radiation is diffracted by the sample. The detector is responsive to the diffracted EM radiation and generates a signal indicative of a wavelength of an acoustic wave corresponding to the standing acoustic wave. The processor analyzes the signal to determine the volume concentration of the fluid in the sample.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 27, 2016
    Publication date: July 11, 2019
    Applicant: Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.
    Inventors: Satyan Gopal BHONGALE, Wolfgang Hartmut NITSCHE, John Laureto MAIDA, Michel Joseph LEBLANC
  • Publication number: 20190195663
    Abstract: A device for fluid analysis including an integrated computational element (ICE), a sample cell that optically interacts the ICE with a sample to generate a computation light associated with a characteristic of the sample, and a fiber sensor that receives the computation light and converts the computation light into a heat, is provided. The fiber sensor is coupled with a detector through an optical link, and is configured to return a portion of probe light through the optical link to the detector based on the heat converted. A method for using the device for performing fluid analysis is provided. A system for fluid analysis including at least one device as above is also provided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 2, 2016
    Publication date: June 27, 2019
    Inventors: Michel Joseph LEBLANC, David L. PERKINS, Xinwei LAN
  • Publication number: 20180328843
    Abstract: A device including an ion-selective membrane arranged within an optical path of the device and coupled to a sample cell to interact with a fluid sample and thereby modify an optical response of the ion-selective membrane according to an ion con-centration in the fluid sample, is provided. The device also includes an integrated computational element (ICE) arranged within the optical path, so that the illumination light optically interacts with the ICE and with the ion-selective membrane to provide a modified light that has a property indicative of the ion concentration in the fluid sample. A detector that receives the modified light provides an electrical signal proportional to the property of the modified light. A method and a system for using the above device are also provided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 27, 2016
    Publication date: November 15, 2018
    Inventors: Neal G. SKINNER, Michel Joseph LEBLANC, Kenneth G. DIXSON
  • Publication number: 20180299423
    Abstract: The water cut of a fluid used or produced in conjunction with wellbore operations may be measured or otherwise estimated using an ion selective fiber sensor. For example, a method may include flowing a fluid comprising an aqueous phase and an oleaginous phase through a sensor; contacting an ion selective fiber positioned in the sensor with the fluid, wherein the ion selective fiber has an intrinsic time constant (?0) associated with an intrinsic color change of the ion selective fiber in response to contact with the aqueous phase; measuring a color change of the ion selective fiber in response to contact with the fluid as a function of time; deriving an effective time constant (?eff) for the color change of the ion selective fiber in response to contact with the fluid; and calculating a water cut (Y) in the fluid based on Y= Y = ? 0 ? eff .
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 2, 2016
    Publication date: October 18, 2018
    Inventor: Michel Joseph LEBLANC
  • Publication number: 20180292569
    Abstract: A sensing system may comprise a deployment device having an optical fiber cable with a predetermined curvature or an intrinsic curvature. The sensing system may be deployed into a location that is remote or difficult to navigate, for example, a large vessel or a borehole of a well. A deployment device may deploy the optical fiber cable and a tension control tool may maintain the deployment device along with the optical fiber cable in a straight or non-curved shape until the optical fiber cable has reached a predetermined location or position. A force may then be applied to the optical fiber cable to cause a portion of the optical fiber cable to contact an interior wall of the area or location, for example, a borehole or the deployment device. Measurements may be retrieved from the optical fiber cable, for example, measurements used in distributed acoustic sensing in vertical seismic profiling.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 21, 2016
    Publication date: October 11, 2018
    Inventors: Michel Joseph LeBlanc, Mark Elliott Willis
  • Publication number: 20180202281
    Abstract: A drilling system includes a string of drill pipe extending into a wellbore from a drilling platform. A Y-block junction is coupled to the string of drill pipe at the drilling platform and provides a pressure housing that defines a first conduit and a second conduit that converges with the first conduit. The pressure housing further defines an outlet configured to be coupled to the string of drill pipe extending into the wellbore. A lubricator is operatively coupled to the Y-block junction at the second conduit, and a cable having one or more optical fibers embedded therein is conveyed into the wellbore within the string of drill pipe via the lubricator and the Y-block junction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 12, 2015
    Publication date: July 19, 2018
    Applicant: Halliburton Energy Services Inc.
    Inventors: Michel Joseph LEBLANC, Neal Gregory SKINNER, James Randolph LOVORN