LWD in-situ sidewall rotary coring and analysis tool

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9359891-B2
Application number	US-201213676225-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 14, 2012
Priority date	Nov 14, 2012
Publication date	Jun 7, 2016
Grant date	Jun 7, 2016

Abstract

An apparatus for estimating a property of an earth formation includes a carrier configured to be conveyed through a borehole penetrating the formation and a single probe configured to be extended from the carrier and to seal with a wall of the borehole. The apparatus further includes a fluid analysis sensor disposed at the carrier and configured to sense a property of a formation fluid sample extracted from the formation by the probe. A coring device is disposed at the carrier and configured to extend into the probe, to drill into the wall of the borehole, and to extract a core sample. A core sample analysis sensor is disposed at the carrier and configured to sense a property of the core sample. A processor is configured to receive data from the fluid analysis sensor and the core sample analysis sensor and to estimate the property using the data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for estimating a property of an earth formation, the apparatus comprising:
a carrier configured to be conveyed through a borehole penetrating the formation;
a single probe configured to be extended from the carrier and to seal with a wall of the borehole;
a fluid analysis sensor disposed at the carrier and configured to sense a property of a formation fluid sample extracted from the formation by the single probe;
a coring device disposed at the carrier and configured to extend into the single probe, to drill into the wall of the borehole, and to extract a core sample;
a core sample analysis sensor disposed at the carrier and configured to sense a property of the core sample;
an isolation door disposed at the single probe and configured to isolate the single probe from the coring device when the formation fluid sample is being extracted; and
a processor configured to receive data from the fluid analysis sensor and the core sample analysis sensor and to estimate the property using the data.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a sealing pad disposed at the probe and configured to seal against the wall of the borehole.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising:
an actuator configured to apply pressure to the pad against the wall of the borehole;
a sealing sensor configured to sense a force of the pad exerted against the wall of the borehole; and
a controller configured to receive the sensed pad force and to output a control signal to the actuator in order to apply a pad force at or above a selected force setpoint.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising one or more sample chambers, each sample chamber being configured to contain a formation fluid sample extracted through the probe and to maintain the extracted formation fluid sample at downhole pressure and temperature.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising one or more core sample containers, each core sample container being configured to contain a core sample extracted through the probe and to maintain the extracted core sample at downhole pressure and temperature.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the coring device comprises a piston configured to eject the core sample from a coring bit in the coring device into the one or more sample chambers.

7. The apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the one or more core sample containers comprise a plurality of core sample containers forming a rotary cassette of core sample containers.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the fluid analysis sensor comprises at least one of a pressure sensor, a temperature sensor, a flow sensor, a reflective spectroscopy sensor, and a transmissive spectroscopy sensor.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a pump coupled to the probe and configured to extract the formation fluid sample through the probe.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the core sample analysis sensor comprises at least one of a nuclear magnetic resonance sensor, an acoustic sensor, a radiation detector, a neutron source, and an electrical resistivity sensor.

11. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a power operated isolation valve configured to isolate the fluid analysis sensor from the coring device when the core sample is being extracted.

12. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the coring device comprises a direct drive brushless electric motor configured to rotate a coring bit for drilling into the wall of the borehole.

13. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the coring device comprises a coring bit linear drive motor configured to urge a coring bit towards the wall of the borehole for drilling into the wall of the borehole.

14. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the coring device is configured to rotate from a drilling position in order to eject a core sample from a coring bit.

15. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising one or more downhole sensors disposed at the carrier and configured to sense one or more properties of the earth formation from the carrier.

16. The apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein the processor is further configured to receive data from the one or more downhole sensors and to determine a depth in the formation at which to obtain the formation fluid sample and the core sample.

17. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising telemetry to communicate between downhole components of the apparatus and a surface processor disposed at the surface of the earth.

18. A method for estimating a property of an earth formation, the method comprising:
conveying a carrier through a borehole penetrating the earth formation;
extending a single probe from the carrier to a wall of the borehole and sealing to the wall of the borehole;
extracting a formation fluid sample through the single probe, wherein an isolation door disposed at the probe isolates the probe from a coring device when the formation fluid sample is being extracted;
analyzing the fluid sample using a fluid analysis sensor disposed at the carrier;
extracting a core sample from the earth formation through the single probe using the coring device;
analyzing the core sample using a core sample analysis sensor disposed at the carrier; and
estimating the property using a processor that receives data from the fluid analysis sensor and the core sample analysis sensor.

19. The method according to claim 18 , further comprising sensing one or more properties of the earth formation using one or more downhole sensors disposed at the carrier and determining a depth in the formation at which to obtain the formation fluid sample and the core sample.

Assignees

• Galvan-Sanchez Francisco
• Adegbola Olufemi A
• Morgan Chris
• Zhang Gigi
• Meister Matthias
• Baker Hughes Inc

Inventors

• Galvan-Sanchez Francisco
• Adegbola Olufemi A
• Morgan Chris
• Zhang Gigi
• Meister Matthias

Classifications

• E21B49/10

  using side-wall fluid samplers or testers · CPC title

• E21B49/00 Primary

  Testing the nature of borehole walls; Formation testing; Methods or apparatus for obtaining samples of soil or well fluids, specially adapted to earth drilling or wells · CPC title

• G01N33/24

  Earth materials (G01N33/42 takes precedence) · CPC title

• E21B49/06 Primary

  using side-wall drilling tools {pressing} or scrapers · CPC title

• E21B49/02 Primary

  by mechanically taking samples of the soil · CPC title