SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR POSITIONING EQUIPMENT FOR WELL LOGGING
A system and method for positioning equipment on a track system where the equipment may descend a wireline or a cable into a borehole for well logging. The equipment may be a drum unit for storing, deploying and retracting the cable, a winch, a dancer unit and an auxiliary power supply. The equipment may be positioned with the track system for either operations or transport. The cable may be threaded through the equipment to descend into the borehole for well logging purposes.
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The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/738,840 filed Dec. 18, 2012, the entirety of which is incorporated by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONAspects generally relate to a lightweight portable well logging unit made up of assorted pieces of cable conveyance equipment and a system and a method for using the lightweight portable well logging unit. Further, aspects relate to a system and a method for selecting, placing and for using various pieces of modular equipment.
BACKGROUND INFORMATIONWell logging, also referred to as wireline or borehole logging, is the practice of creating a detailed record, i.e. a well log of various geologic formations upon penetration into a well or borehole. The well log may be based on visual samples brought to the surface or on physical measurements made by instruments lowered into the well. Well logging can be undertaken during drilling, completing, producing and abandoning the well or at any other time. The well log provides information for various geotechnical studies involving oil, gas, groundwater and minerals.
The United States onshore oilfield service industry includes two distinct markets: shallow wells with depths up to 8,000 feet and intermediate wells with depths up to 25,000 feet. These markets are traditionally serviced by the same size of wireline logging units. However, using a single size of wireline logging unit for various well depths presents operational problems. For instance, full sized wireline logging units are not well suited for the shallow well market. Thus, shallow well operations are often performed at break even costs or at a loss.
Many service companies have developed additional logging units designed for the shallow well market. Although shallow well operations may be conducted more efficiently, the addition of another small size well logging unit to the fleet has led to higher costs associated with maintenance, replacement parts, general operations and personnel. Further, the small size units only address shallow well markets. Additional research and development is required for units used in the intermediate depth well market.
The design of current wireline units occurred before the development of linear traction winches and advanced hydraulic systems. As a result, the winches used in current wireline logging units and drum type traction winches can only sustain limited loads. Typically, the load handling capability of a drum type winch can only be increased by increasing the size and thus the weight of the winch. More importantly, and unlike a linear traction winch, a drum type traction winch cannot dissipate its load as needed to service deeper wells. Also, higher load weights tax the cables intended to be deployed by the drum type winch.
Current wireline units cannot meet the demands of modern well logging. For example, the units have reached their maximum weight limits and thus cannot hold even heavier pieces of equipment needed to service deep wells. Further, the weight of the units often exceeds the overall axle weight rating of roads leading to well locations. Thus, the units cannot access remote well locations accessible only by those roads.
Configuring known wireline units to carry higher weights results in higher operational costs. Naturally, reducing the amount of equipment on each well logging unit may help control operational costs. However, fewer pieces of equipment per vehicle require additional vehicles to transport items to the well site. As a result, the additional vehicles also have associated procurement and maintenance costs and thus increase overall operational costs. Also, additional vehicles increase potential safety hazards associated with job completion.
Accordingly, a need exists for a well logging unit that can carry only the equipment necessary to service either a shallow well and/or an intermediate well market. The desired well logging unit limits equipment size and weight to help control associated operational costs. Further, the desired well logging unit does not require supplemental pieces of well logging equipment placed on extra vehicles. Accordingly, the limitation of extraneous pieces of well logging equipment may, in turn, limit the exposure of operational personnel to possible safety hazards.
In the following description, numerous details are set forth to provide an understanding of the present disclosure. However, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the aspects may be practiced without these details and that numerous variations or modifications from the described embodiments may be possible.
Referring to
The control cabin 210 is designed to accommodate three persons and has a control console for the winchman, a work area for the logging engineer and a client workspace. The control cabin 210 may be air conditioned and has an acquisition system which is mounted under the control console to conserve space in the control cabin 210. A pump driven water fin radiator system, similar to that used in the automotive industry, removes heat from the acquisition system. Further, the control cabin 210 is slightly elevated above the platform 20 to allow a large viewing window and to provide an unobstructed view of a winch deck 350 and a rig 360.
Referring to
For operations, activation of the linear traction winch 50 pulls the cable 40 from the drum unit 30. Thus, the spool 100 rotates in the direction of movement of the cable 40. The linear traction winch 50 can at least pull or hold the cable 40 under the tension range generally associated with a shallow well market. Further, the drum unit 30 can hold a high tensile load at its core because of its bonded metal composite material construction.
Referring to
For operations, the winch 50 is configured horizontally and has a gripping mechanism in line with the center of the drum unit 30. This configuration either simplifies or may eliminate the spooling mechanism otherwise required to store the cable 40 on the drum unit 30. The winch 50 is mounted on a small super structure 280 designed to absorb the tensile load. This feature eliminates reinforcement of the winch deck 350 which is common on known wireline units. The cable 40 enters the winch 50 and is held against slippage by a series of conformal gripping blocks composed of an upper gripping block 150 and a lower gripping block 160. As shown in
During operation, tension of the cable 40 is relieved on the output side of the winch 50 before the cable 40 is routed to the drum unit 30. Upon activation of the winch 50, the endless high strength belts of the winch 50 rotate to allow the upper gripping block 150 and the lower gripping block 160 to either deploy or retract the cable 40. Further, the winch 50 can be operated individually or in conjunction with the dancer unit 60. In the event that the winch 50 becomes disabled and has to be removed from the system, the other components, namely the drum unit 30 and the dancer unit 60, depending on the cable tension, have the capacity to assume winch system master status and to deploy or to recover the cable 40 from a well.
Each of the components of the winch 50 has a specific role. Accordingly, the drive system of each component is designed for a specific use to simplify associated hydraulic circuitry. Known winch systems often require stoppage of the winch to change drive speed. In contrast, the winch 50 is designed for a smaller overall range of operation and does not require stoppage to change drive speed. The winch 50 incorporates an automatic type of hydraulic drive system allowing it to be more efficient. The winch 50 replaces a continuously variable hydraulic motor for the dual fixed displacement motor when used with a gearbox. Alternatively, the winch 50 may use a direct drive hydraulic motor that does not require a gearbox. With a direct drive hydraulic motor, the response of the winch 50 operating in a tension limiting mode is greatly enhanced. The elimination of the gearbox allows the winch 50 to respond faster to changes in tension and direction without tension spikes.
Further, by using flow control valves between the pump 330 of the winch 50 and the motor 140 of the winch 50, the pump 330 can operate at a higher and more stable displacement without affecting how the motor 140 receives minimal flow for slow winch speeds. With a tailored hydraulic system and the use of a proportional, integral and derivative (“PID”) controlled proportional valve, the response of the winch 50 can be optimized as needed for various operational conditions.
The control cabin 210 also has an electronic control module 310 that has engine data stored on a controller area network bus (“CANbus”) 320. The CANbus 320 is a specialized internal communications network standard designed for microcontrollers and devices to communicate with each other inside a vehicle without a host computer. Module output data can be captured in a file and stored for performance monitoring of the well logging unit. Performance monitoring can lead to predictive failure of components which can be replaced before lost time occurs on a job. The engine data can also be used to analyze failure in lost time incident to the unit. Also, an Ethernet gateway can be used to pull unit data from the CANbus and send the unit data in real time as needed.
Referring to
Referring to
In normal operating conditions, the winch 50 outputs the cable 40 to the dancer unit 60. In comparison to other types of oilfield equipment, the dancer unit 60 may be a variable capstan that rotates at variable speeds in the horizontal plane for winding in ropes and cables etc. The dancer unit 60 inputs the cable 40 to relax the tension in the cable 40 to a much lower, i.e. non zero, value. The dancer unit 60 then outputs the cable 40 at a relaxed tension into the borehole.
The dancer unit 60 employs an upper driven sheave 70 and a lower driven sheave 80. The cable 40 travels from the winch 50 into either the upper driven sheave 70 or the lower driven sheave 80, depending on the configuration. Both the upper driven sheave 70 and the lower driven sheave 80 may be adjusted in the vertical direction via compression or expansion of hydraulic shocks 180 illustrated in
The speed at which the dancer unit 60 responds to tension increases in the cable 40 depends largely on the speed, depth and quantity of the cable 40 on the drum unit 30. At higher speeds and shallow depths, a shutdown circuit may not react fast enough for the winch 50 to safely shutdown before either a downhole tool is pulled loose from the cable 40 or the cable 40 itself is severed. The dancer unit 60 also deploys an additional amount of the cable 40 as tension in the cable 40 increases to prevent breakage of the cable 40 resulting from the increase in tension. This feature allows faster operating speeds near the surface while maintaining a high level of safety.
An encoder device to measure cable footage deployed or rewound is incorporated into the downhole output sheave. The downhole output sheave may be either the upper driven sheave 70 or the lower driven sheave 80 depending on configuration. The axle of the downhole output sheave incorporates a strain device for measuring the cable tension.
The dancer unit 60 is designed to cover an optimal range of cable tensions anticipated for depths of the wells where the dancer unit 60 is used rather than the absolute maximum expected tension. As a result, the dancer unit 60 can have a more compact and lightweight design.
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
During operations of the logging truck 10, the auxiliary power unit 90 is removed from the platform 20 of the logging truck 10 and positioned onto the ground.
Equipment necessary for a job may be selected and/or loaded for taking to the job site. Also, the portable well logging unit is based on a standard platform that can be mounted onto a variety of commercially available truck chassis. The well logging unit has a smaller footprint than known well logging units. Further, the well logging unit has equipment that relieves tensile energy as needed to service the range of tension often associated with deep wells.
In one embodiment a method for positioning equipment on a platform for placement on a vehicle is disclosed, comprising: placing a track system on the platform to move the equipment, mounting the equipment on the track system wherein the equipment enables deployment of the cable and moving the equipment on the track system to a position to descend a cable through a borehole.
Although exemplary systems and methods are described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described. Rather, the specific features and acts are disclosed as exemplary forms of implementing the claimed systems, methods and structures.
Claims
1. A method for positioning equipment on a platform for placement on a vehicle, comprising:
- placing a track system on the platform to move the equipment;
- mounting the equipment on the track system wherein the equipment enables deployment of the cable; and
- moving the equipment on the track system to a position to descend a cable through a borehole.
2. The method of claim 1, comprising:
- securing a drum unit on a winch frame.
3. The method of claim 1, comprising:
- adhering a gripping block onto a winch to abut against the cable.
4. The method of claim 1, comprising:
- deploying the cable through a dancer unit to control a tension in the cable.
5. The method of claim 1, comprising:
- powering the track system with a hydraulic power supply.
6. The method of claim 1, comprising:
- controlling the equipment from an electronic control module.
7. A method for deploying a cable into a borehole, comprising:
- situating equipment on the track system to deploy the cable into the borehole;
- threading the cable through the equipment;
- sending a signal from an electronic control module to control the equipment; and
- descending the cable wherein the cable travels through the equipment into the borehole to obtain well logging data.
8. The method of claim 7, comprising:
- reducing an increase in a tension in the cable through a compression of a shock absorber on a dancer unit.
9. The method of claim 7, comprising:
- preventing slippage of the cable by mounting a gripping block on a winch to abut against the cable.
10. The method of claim 7, comprising:
- deploying the cable from a dancer unit in response to an increase in tension in the cable.
11. The method of claim 7, comprising:
- maneuvering the cable through a driven sheave in a dancer unit.
12. The method of claim 7, comprising:
- measuring footage of the cable.
13. The method of claim 7, comprising:
- measuring tension in the cable on a driven sheave.
14. The method of claim 7, comprising:
- monitoring equipment performance during cable deployment.
15. A system for positioning equipment on a track system mounted on a platform, comprising:
- a drum unit;
- a winch;
- a dancer unit that deploys cable to control an increase in a tension in the cable;
- a cable threaded through the drum unit, the winch, and the dancer unit to descend into a borehole; and
- a power supply that provides power to the equipment.
16. The system of claim 15, wherein the cable being encapsulated by a carbon fiber polymer jacket.
17. The system of claim 15, wherein the drum unit maneuvers the cable.
18. The system of claim 15, wherein the winch rotates to pull the cable from the drum unit.
19. The system of claim 15, comprising:
- a shock absorber on the dancer unit that compresses to reduce tension in the cable.
20. The system of claim 15, comprising:
- an electronic control module that sends a signal to control the drum unit, the winch and the dancer unit.
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 13, 2013
Publication Date: Jun 19, 2014
Applicant: Schlumberger Technology Corporation (Sugar Land, TX)
Inventors: Joseph Varkey (Sugar Land, TX), Barry Lee Schuler (Katy, TX), Jeffrey Joseph Kamps (Katy, TX)
Application Number: 13/801,698
International Classification: E21B 19/08 (20060101); E21B 47/00 (20060101);