Perforating panel unit and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12146392-B2
Application number	US-202117904224-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 14, 2021
Priority date	Feb 14, 2020
Publication date	Nov 19, 2024
Grant date	Nov 19, 2024

Abstract

A method and apparatus for controlling a perforating tool string using a perforating unit with a control board and shooting power supply.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A control system for controlling an initiator in a perforating gun string comprising:
a perforating unit further comprising a software driven power supply, a control board coupled to the power supply, wherein the power supply is programmed to automatically output a specified amount of voltage/current over a specified period within a specified depth window;
wherein an electronic switch software is programmed with user inputs for one or more downhole addressable switches, initiating device, shot depth, each initiating device depth correlation offset;
wherein the perforating unit queries the tool speed and depth, adjusting the tool speed to achieve a desired optimal speed;
wherein the perforating unit automatically calculates stop depth and ideal winch speed for retrieval during the automated perforating process;
wherein the perforating panel automatically communicates with the one or more downhole addressable switches, determines depth, matches shot depth, and applies appropriate power at correct shot depth; and
wherein the perforating unit queries whether all shots have been fired and then either notifies the user of completion or reverts to querying tool speed and depth to fire the next shot.

2. The control system of claim 1 further comprising a data acquisition system.

3. The control system of claim 2 , wherein the data acquisition system of the perforating unit acquires, processes and logs data representing one or more of the following data sets: line speed from a conveyance winch system, depth data from the conveyance winch system, surface tension from the conveyance winch system, pump rate from a surface pump unit, downhole tension from downhole tool sensor, casing collar locator data from downhole tool sensor, gamma ray data from downhole tool sensor, and tool orientation from the downhole tool orientation sensor.

4. The control system of claim 2 , wherein optimal tension is calculated by the data acquisition system of the perforating unit based on pre pump down operation user input, downhole tool pressure rating, min and max line speed, min and max surface tension and a maximum applicable tension.

5. The control system of claim 1 further comprising a winch controller.

6. The control system of claim 5 , wherein the winch controller automatically responds to data acquired and processed by the data acquisition system of the perforating unit.

7. The control system of claim 5 , wherein then winch controller monitors the depth, line speed, pump rate and tension data from the data acquisition system of the perforating unit to automatically adjust line speed of the winch system to maintain optimal tension and ideal pump rate.

8. The control system of claim 1 , wherein the output voltage and duration is pre-programmed based on a selection of common initiator types used in downhole completion tools.

9. The control system of claim 1 , wherein the perforating unit controls the conveyance unit's winch speed during the pump down process and the retrieval process.

10. The control system of claim 1 , wherein the perforating unit controls the pumping rate of a surface pumping unit used to flow fluids downhole under pressure in order to push the downhole wireline tool string laterally into the horizontal wellbore until desired measure depth is reached.

11. The control system of claim 1 , further comprising a pump controller.

12. The control system of claim 1 , wherein optimal tension and ideal pump rate are automatically adjusted by perforating unit according to depth as the tool string is pumped into a horizontal well.

13. The control system of claim 1 , wherein the perforating panel can detect when and at what depth the initiator is fired by monitoring the current response of the initiator as power from the shooting power supply output.

14. The control system of claim 1 , wherein the perforating panel can detect when and at what depth the initiator is fired and automatically record and log the depth at which the initiator firing event was detected.

15. A method for detonating a downhole tool comprising:
lowering the tool into a wellbore a first predetermined distance;
scanning the gun string;
inputting job parameters into perforating unit;
descending the tool to a second predetermined wellbore depth;
deactivating the pump at the second predetermined wellbore depth;
stopping the tool at the second predetermined wellbore depth;
ascending the tool to a first predetermined shot depth;
querying the tool speed and depth and adjusting the tool speed to achieve a desired optimal speed;
calculating stop depth and ideal winch speed for retrieval during the automated perforating process;
automatically communicating with one or more downhole addressable switches,
firing the tool at the first predetermined shot depth, wherein the perforating unit sends a command to a shooting power supply to initiate the tool without any physical action to the perforating unit required by the user when at the predetermined shot depth;
detecting the firing of the initiator and deactivating the shooting power supply;
determining if the firing at the first predetermined shot depth was successful; and
determining if all shots have been fired.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising descending the tool string downhole via a winch controller.

17. The method of claim 15 further comprising acquiring data from surface and downhole tool data sources.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein downhole tool data includes data from a casing collar locator.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein downhole tool data includes data from the orientation sensor.

20. The method of claim 17 wherein surface data includes tool depth.

21. The method of claim 17 wherein surface data includes surface tension.

22. The method of claim 17 further comprising calculating line speed using tool depth from surface data and time.

23. The method of claim 17 further comprising acquiring pump rate data.

24. The method of claim 15 further comprising adjusting the winch speed to match desired speed.

25. The method of claim 15 further comprising adjusting the pump via a pump controller and the winch via a winch controller to achieve a desired tension.

26. The method of claim 15 wherein stopping the tool at the second predetermined depth is performed by the winch controller.

27. The method of claim 15 further comprising detecting the firing of the initiator and automatically recording and logging the depth of the firing event.

Assignees

• Hunting Titan Inc

Inventors

• Dyess Adam
• Vriend Timothy
• Rajaram Sridhar
• Dobsky David
• Gucciardi Antonio

Classifications

• E21B47/09

  Locating or determining the position of objects in boreholes or wells {, e.g. the position of an extending arm}; Identifying the free or blocked portions of pipes · CPC title

• E21B47/04

  Measuring depth or liquid level · CPC title

• E21B23/06

  for setting packers · CPC title

• E21B41/00

  Equipment or details not covered by groups E21B15/00 - E21B40/00 · CPC title

• E21B43/1185

  Ignition systems · CPC title