Real-Time Optical Flow Imaging To Determine Particle Size Distribution

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017191919-A1
Application number	US-201415315041-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 8, 2014
Priority date	Jul 8, 2014
Publication date	Jul 6, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

An example well system including a drill string extending from a surface location into a wellbore and defining an annulus between the drill string and the wellbore, a fluid circuit extending through the drill string to a bottom of the wellbore and back to the surface location within the annulus, and further extending back to the drill string from the annulus, and one or more flow imaging devices in fluid communication with the fluid circuit to monitor the wellbore fluid and track a real-time particle size distribution (PSD) of one or more particulates suspended within the wellbore fluid.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A well system, comprising:
a drill string having an inlet and extending from a surface location into a wellbore and defining an annulus between the drill string and the wellbore; a fluid circuit that circulates a wellbore fluid, the fluid circuit extending from the inlet, through the drill string to a bottom of the wellbore, back to the surface location within the annulus, and back to the inlet; and one or more flow imaging devices arranged in the fluid circuit to monitor the wellbore fluid and track a real-time particle size distribution (PSD) of one or more particulates suspended within the wellbore fluid.

2 . The well system of claim 1 , wherein the wellbore fluid is selected from the group consisting of drilling fluid, drill-in fluid, completion fluid, fracturing fluid, work-over fluid, a pill, a spacer, a sweep, and any combination thereof.

3 . The well system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more particulates are selected from the group consisting of weighting agents, lost circulation materials, wellbore cuttings, wellbore fines, neutral density particles, lightweight particles, particles added for stress cage applications, and any combination thereof.

4 . The well system of claim 1 , wherein a first flow imaging device of the one or more flow imaging devices is in fluid communication with the fluid circuit and monitors the wellbore fluid as the wellbore fluid exits the wellbore.

5 . The well system of claim 4 , wherein a second flow imaging device of the one or more flow imaging devices is in fluid communication with the fluid circuit and monitors the wellbore fluid prior to being introduced into the wellbore.

6 . The well system of claim 5 , wherein the first flow imaging device generates a first output signal and the second flow imaging device generates a second output signal, the well system further comprising:
a signal processor communicably coupled to the first and second flow imaging devices to receive the first and second output signals and generate a resulting output signal, the resulting output signal being based on the first and second output signals and indicative of a difference in the PSD of the one or more particulates.

7 . The well system of claim 1 , further comprising:
solids control equipment arranged in the fluid circuit to receive the wellbore fluid exiting the wellbore, wherein a first flow imaging device of the one or more flow imaging devices is arranged in the fluid circuit prior to the solids control equipment and a second flow imaging device of the one or more flow imaging devices is arranged in the fluid circuit following the solids control equipment; and a signal processor communicably coupled to the first and second flow imaging devices to receive first and second output signals generated by the first and second flow imaging devices, respectively, and generate a resulting output signal, the resulting output signal being based on the first and second output signals and indicative of a difference in the PSD of the one or more particulates changed.

8 . The well system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more flow imaging devices comprise:
a flow chamber defining a capillary for conveying the wellbore fluid therethrough; a backlighting generator to provide light to the capillary; an image capturing system to capture images of the one or more particulates flowing through the capillary; and a computing device communicably coupled to the image capturing system and configured to receive captured images of the one or more particulates, the computing device including one or more library databases populated with image information relating to fluid components not of interest or to be accounted separately, wherein the computing device is programmed to query the one or more library databases and omit the fluid components that are not of interest or to be accounted separately in determining the PSD of the one or more particulates.

9 . The well system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more particulates comprise wellbore cuttings or fines and the PSD of the wellbore cuttings or fines in the wellbore fluid is indicative of cuttings disintegration in the wellbore fluid.

10 . A method, comprising:
circulating a wellbore fluid through a fluid circuit of a well system including a drill string having an inlet and extending from a surface location into a wellbore, the fluid circuit extending from the inlet through the drill string to a bottom of the wellbore and back to the surface location within an annulus defined between the drill string and the wellbore, the fluid circuit further extending back to the inlet from the annulus; monitoring the wellbore fluid with one or more flow imaging devices arranged in the fluid circuit; and determining a real-time particle size distribution (PSD) of one or more particulates suspended within the wellbore fluid with the one or more flow imaging devices.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein determining the real-time PSD of the one or more particulates comprises at least one of determining the real-time PSD of the one or more particulates within the wellbore fluid exiting the wellbore and determining the real-time PSD of the one or more particulates within the wellbore fluid entering the inlet of the drill string.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the well system further comprises solids control equipment arranged in the fluid circuit to receive the wellbore fluid exiting the wellbore, and wherein determining the real-time PSD of the one or more particulates comprises determining the real-time PSD of the one or more particulates within the wellbore fluid following the solids control equipment.

13 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising replenishing the wellbore fluid with at least one of lost circulation materials and weighting agents based on the real-time PSD of the one or more particulates suspended within the wellbore fluid.

14 . The method of claim 10 , wherein determining the real-time PSD of the one or more particulates comprises determining a concentration of the one or more particulates suspended within the wellbore fluid.

15 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the one or more particulates are wellbore cuttings or fines, the method further comprising reducing a concentration of the wellbore cuttings or fines in the wellbore fluid based on the real-time PSD of the one or more particulates.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein reducing a concentration of the wellbore cuttings or fines in the wellbore fluid comprises at least one of diluting the wellbore fluid with a base oil, adding a shale stabilizer to the wellbore fluid, and processing the wellbore fluid within solids control equipment.

17 . A method, comprising:
circulating a wellbore fluid through a fluid circuit of a well system including a drill string having an inlet and extending from a surface location into a wellbore, the fluid circuit extending from the inlet through the drill string to a bottom of the wellbore and back to the surface location within an annulus defined between the drill string and the wellbore, the fluid circuit further extending back to the inlet from the annulus; monitoring the wellbore fluid prior to introducing the wellbore fluid into the inlet with a first flow imaging device arranged in the fluid circuit; generating a first output signal with the first flow imaging device, the first output signal being indicative of an initial particle size distribution (PSD) of one or more particulates suspended within the wellbore fluid; monitoring the wellbore fluid exiting the well

Assignees

• Halliburton Energy Services Inc

Inventors

• Kulkarni Sandeep D
• Murphy Robert J

Classifications

• G01N15/0227 Primary

  using imaging; using holography · CPC title

• G01N21/85

  Investigating moving fluids or granular solids · CPC title

• G01V8/10

  Detecting, e.g. by using light barriers (by reflection from the object G01S17/00) · CPC title

• E21B21/065 Primary

  Separating solids from drilling fluids · CPC title

• E21B49/02

  by mechanically taking samples of the soil · CPC title