Monitoring sensor and actuator health in a mud circulation system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10527468-B2
Application number	US-201615324135-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 13, 2016
Priority date	Jul 13, 2015
Publication date	Jan 7, 2020
Grant date	Jan 7, 2020

Abstract

Two control strategies may be implemented to optimize mud circulation in a drilling mud circulation system. In a networked control strategy, the mud circulation system does not involve any centralized controller yet all the local controllers can exchange information in real-time via a central data storage. The master-slave control strategy involves a centralized optimizer, and the subsystems are treated as slave systems and are driven by a visual master control system.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
measuring or estimating at least one property of a drilling fluid circulating through a mud circulation system at a plurality of locations along the mud circulation system with one or more sensors, respectively, at more than one of the plurality of locations, thereby providing more than one location-specific properties;
calculating an uncertainty for each of the more than one location-specific properties;
calculating an uncertainty bound based on the uncertainty for each of the more than one location-specific properties; and
identifying the sensor corresponding to more than one location-specific properties that falls outside the uncertainty bound.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more sensors comprise one or more virtual sensors.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the at least one property comprises density of the drilling fluid, wherein one of the virtual sensors at a first location of the plurality of locations estimates the density at the first location using a fluid dynamics model based on the density at a second location of the plurality of locations.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the first location is a downhole location within the mud circulation system and the second location is a surface location within the mud circulation system.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the first location is at a mud pump or a centrifuge of the mud circulation system and the second location is at the mud tank of the mud circulation system.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the at least one property comprises viscosity of the drilling fluid, wherein one of the virtual sensors at a first location of the plurality of locations estimates the viscosity at the first location using a fluid dynamics model based on the viscosity at a second location of the plurality of locations.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the first location is a downhole location within the mud circulation system and the second location is a surface location within the mud circulation system.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the first location is at a mud pump or a centrifuge of the mud circulation system and the second location is at the mud tank of the mud circulation system.

9. The method of claim 1 or 2 further comprising: replacing or repairing the sensor that falls outside the uncertainty bound.

10. A system comprising:
a mud circulation system having a drilling fluid circulating therethrough and having one or more sensors at each of a plurality of locations along the mud circulation system that measure more than one location-specific properties;
a non-transitory computer-readable medium communicably coupled to the one or more sensors at more than one of the plurality of locations to receive the more than one location-specific properties therefrom and encoded with instructions that, when executed, cause the system to perform a method comprising:
calculating an uncertainty for each of the more than one location-specific properties;
calculating an uncertainty bound based on the uncertainty for each of the more than one location-specific properties; and
identifying the sensor corresponding to each of the location-specific properties that falls outside the uncertainty bound.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the one or more sensors comprises one or more virtual sensors.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the at least one property comprises density of the drilling fluid, wherein one of the virtual sensors at a first location of the plurality of locations estimates the density at the first location using a fluid dynamics model based on the density at a second location of the plurality of locations.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the first location is a downhole location within the mud circulation system and the second location is a surface location within the mud circulation system.

14. The system of claim 12 , wherein the first location is at a mud pump or a centrifuge of the mud circulation system and the second location is at the mud tank of the mud circulation system.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the at least one property comprises viscosity of the drilling fluid, wherein one of the virtual sensors at a first location of the plurality of locations estimates the viscosity at the first location using a fluid dynamics model based on the viscosity at a second location of the plurality of locations.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the first location is a downhole location within the mud circulation system and the second location is a surface location within the mud circulation system.

17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the first location is at a mud pump or a centrifuge of the mud circulation system and the second location is at the mud tank of the mud circulation system.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with instructions that, when executed, cause a mud circulation system to perform a method comprising:
receiving a measurement of at least one property of a drilling fluid circulating through the mud circulation system from one or more sensors at a plurality of locations along the mud circulation system, thereby providing more than one location-specific properties;
calculating an uncertainty for each of the more than one location-specific properties;
calculating an uncertainty bound based on the uncertainty for each of the more than one location-specific properties; and
identifying the sensor corresponding to each of the location-specific properties that falls outside the uncertainty bound.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the one or more sensors comprises one or more virtual sensors.

Assignees

• Halliburton Energy Services Inc

Inventors

• Dykstra Jason D
• Sun Zhijie
• Ge Xiaoqing

Classifications

• G01D18/00 Primary

  Testing or calibrating apparatus or arrangements provided for in groups G01D1/00 - G01D15/00 · CPC title

• G01V11/002

  Details, e.g. power supply systems for logging instruments, transmitting or recording data, specially adapted for well logging, also if the prospecting method is irrelevant (means for transmitting well survey signals E21B47/12; signal transmission systems in general G08C; transmission in general H04B) · CPC title

• E21B21/01

  Arrangements for handling drilling fluids or cuttings outside the borehole, e.g. mud boxes · CPC title

• E21B44/00 Primary

  Automatic control systems specially adapted for drilling operations, i.e. self-operating systems which function to carry out or modify a drilling operation without intervention of a human operator, e.g. computer-controlled drilling systems; Systems specially adapted for monitoring a plurality of drilling variables or conditions · CPC title

• E21B21/08

  Controlling or monitoring pressure or flow of drilling fluid, e.g. automatic filling of boreholes, automatic control of bottom pressure (valve arrangements therefor E21B21/10) · CPC title