Pressure pulse communication system and method during gas drilling

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11713674-B2
Application number	US-202217952351-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 26, 2022
Priority date	Sep 28, 2021
Publication date	Aug 1, 2023
Grant date	Aug 1, 2023

Abstract

A pressure pulse communication system and method during gas drilling are provided. The system includes a downhole solenoid valve module and a sensor module, where the downhole solenoid valve module includes a valve body, a gas inlet, a piston micro-hole, a moving piston, a piston return spring, a piston cylinder, a gas outlet, a piston pressure relief hole, a solenoid valve spring, a solenoid valve, a battery, a pressure balancer, and a rubber seal. The pressure pulse communication system and method generate pressure pulses by changing the internal pressure of a drill pipe, such that a surface pressure sensor continuously receives the pressure pulses, thereby achieving the purpose of acquiring downhole temperature, pressure, and well inclination angle data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A pressure pulse communication system during gas drilling comprising a downhole solenoid valve module and a sensor module, wherein the downhole solenoid valve module and the sensor module are arranged in a drill pipe of a surface drill rig; the sensor module is connected to a solenoid valve of the downhole solenoid valve module; and the downhole solenoid valve module comprises a valve body, a gas inlet, a piston micro-hole, a moving piston, a piston return spring, a piston cylinder, a gas outlet, a piston pressure relief hole, a solenoid valve spring, the solenoid valve, a battery, a pressure balancer, a rubber seal, a first gas passage, a second gas passage, and a gas passage in the valve body;
the piston return spring has one end fixed to an upper half of an inner wall of the valve body and the other end connected to the moving piston; the piston micro-hole is provided between an upper end surface of the moving piston and an inner wall surface of the valve body; the valve body is further provided therein with the piston cylinder for accommodating the piston return spring and the moving piston; the gas inlet is connected to the piston cylinder through the piston micro-hole; the gas outlet is provided between a side of the moving piston that is not connected to the piston return spring and the inner wall of the valve body; when the piston return spring is in a compressed state, the gas outlet communicates with the gas inlet; and when the piston return spring is in a reset state, the gas outlet and the gas inlet are isolated by the inner wall of the valve body, and the gas outlet communicates with the gas passage in the valve body; and
the solenoid valve is provided on a lower half of the inner wall of the valve body; the solenoid valve spring is provided on a top of the solenoid valve; a space in which the solenoid valve spring is provided is connected to the piston cylinder through the first gas passage on the left and is connected to the piston pressure relief hole through the second gas passage on the right; the piston pressure relief hole communicates with the gas passage in the valve body; the battery is provided below the solenoid valve, and is electrically connected to the solenoid valve; the pressure balancer is provided on the inner wall of the valve body below the battery; and the rubber seal is provided at a connection between the valve body and the drill pipe;
wherein the sensor module comprises a pressure sensor, a sensor chip set, a data storage, and a logic coding controller; the pressure sensor is provided on the inner wall of the valve body on two sides of the solenoid valve and is connected in communication with the logic coding controller; the sensor chip set, the data storage, and the logic coding controller are provided on the lower half of the inner wall of the valve body; and the logic coding controller is connected in communication with the sensor chip set and the data storage.

2. A pressure pulse communication method during gas drilling according to the pressure pulse communication system during gas drilling in claim 1 , comprising the following steps:
S1: acquiring, by the pressure sensor and the sensor chip set, pressure, temperature, and well inclination data when the surface drill rig is drilling normally; and generating downhole data through logic coding, and storing the downhole data in the data storage;
S2: setting a pressure threshold according to downhole data to be transmitted by the logic coding controller;
S3: when transmission of the downhole data is needed, controlling the surface drill rig to stop drilling without interrupting a gas circulation; and recording, by the pressure sensor, a current pressure value as an initial pressure value P 0 ;
S4: closing, by the moving piston, the gas outlet to increase a pressure in the piston cylinder when the pressure sensor detects that the pressure in the piston cylinder reaches the initial pressure value P 0 ;
S5: opening, by the moving piston, the gas outlet to reduce the pressure in the piston cylinder to the initial pressure value P 0 when the pressure sensor detects that the pressure in the piston cylinder reaches the pressure threshold; and obtaining a low-pressure pulse or a high-pressure pulse according to the pressure threshold;
S6: recording, by a surface pressure sensor, the low-pressure pulse or the high-pressure pulse, which are corresponding to “0” or “1” in a binary code of the downhole data, respectively; and
S7: repeating steps S2 to S6 according to the downhole data to be transmitted by the logic coding controller, and completing pressure pulse communication while drilling based on the downhole data characterized by the high-pressure pulse or the low-pressure pulse recorded by the surface pressure sensor.

3. The pressure pulse communication method during gas drilling according to claim 2 , wherein in step S1, the generating the downhole data through logic coding specifically comprises:
generating, by the logic coding controller, the binary downhole data through logic coding.

4. The pressure pulse communication method during gas drilling according to claim 2 , wherein in step S2, the setting the pressure threshold comprises:
setting the pressure threshold according to the downhole data to be transmitted by the logic coding controller; setting the pressure threshold to P 1 when the data to be transmitted by the logic coding controller is “0” in the binary code; and setting the pressure threshold to P 2 when the data to be transmitted by the logic coding controller is “1” in the binary code.

5. The pressure pulse communication method during gas drilling according to claim 4 , wherein step S5 specifically comprises:
S51: closing, by the logic coding controller, the solenoid valve when the pressure sensor detects that the pressure in the piston cylinder reaches the pressure threshold; and resetting the solenoid valve spring to move the solenoid valve for opening the piston pressure relief hole; and
S52: discharging the gas in the piston cylinder from the piston pressure relief hole to reduce the pressure in the piston cylinder, moving the moving piston to open the gas outlet for reducing the pressure in the piston cylinder to the initial pressure value P 0 , and obtaining the low-pressure pulse or the high-pressure pulse, wherein:
when the pressure threshold is a low-pulse pressure value, P 1 , the low-pressure pulse is obtained; and when the pressure threshold is a high-pulse pressure value, P 2 , the high-pressure pulse is obtained.

6. The pressure pulse communication method during gas drilling according to claim 2 , wherein step S4 comprises:
S41: opening, by the logic coding controller, the solenoid valve when the pressure sensor detects that the current pressure value reaches the initial pressure value P 0 , such that the solenoid valve moves against an elastic force of the solenoid valve spring to seal the piston pressure relief hole; and
S42: guiding a gas injected from the gas inlet to the piston cylinder through the piston micro-hole; and moving, by the piston return spring, the moving piston to close the gas outlet to increase the pressure in the piston cylinder.

Assignees

• Univ Southwest Petroleum
• Haohan Well Completion & Logging Science And Tech Limited Company

Inventors

• Chen Xingyu
• Meng Yingfeng
• Li Gao
• Chen Yijian
• Li Hongtao
• Zhang Lunping
• Wang Kejing

Classifications

• E21B47/18 Primary

  through the well fluid {, e.g. mud pressure pulse telemetry} · CPC title

• E21B34/066

  electrically actuated · CPC title

• E21B47/24 Primary

  by positive mud pulses using a flow restricting valve within the drill pipe · CPC title

• E21B47/26

  Storing data down-hole, e.g. in a memory or on a record carrier · CPC title

• E21B21/16

  using gaseous fluids (E21B21/14 takes precedence) · CPC title