Drum load monitoring

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9664029-B2
Application number	US-201514886514-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 19, 2015
Priority date	Jun 18, 2009
Publication date	May 30, 2017
Grant date	May 30, 2017

Abstract

An assembly for monitoring load on a drum during an operation in a well with a well access line deployed from the drum that includes multiple line detection mechanisms for acquiring real-time information relative to dynamic characteristics of the lone over the course of the operation. A processor is in communication with the multiple line detection mechanisms and configured to compute the real-time information in light of pre-stored information relative to physical characteristics of the line and the drum. As a result, real-time monitoring of a load on the drum may be achieved. Thus, the operation may be adjusted in real-time as necessary to avoid over-loading of the drum. Additionally, a drum load history may be recorded so as to better account for the true condition of the drum following successive operations.

First claim

We claim:

1. An assembly for monitoring a load on a drum, the assembly comprising:
a line length detection mechanism coupled to a line deployable from the drum to detect a length of the line relative to the drum;
a line tension detection mechanism coupled to the line to detect tension on the line;
a downhole equipment coupled to a downhole end of a well access line;
said line tension detection mechanism is incorporated into one of said line length detection mechanism and said downhole equipment; and
a processor wherein pre-loaded drum and line characteristic data are stored on the processor, and wherein the processor is coupled to said mechanisms to acquire information relative to line deployable from the drum and detected tension on the line, said processor configured to run a computation of the pre-loaded drum and line characteristic data and the acquired information for real-time monitoring of load on the drum.

2. The assembly of claim 1 wherein the drum characteristic data comprises one of drum material, drum architecture, drum dimensions, and drum history.

3. The assembly of claim 1 wherein the line characteristic data comprises at least one of an amount of the line on the drum, a tension profile of the line, a diameter of the line, a stretch profile of the line, and line history.

4. The assembly of claim 1 wherein said line tension detection mechanism comprises a strain gauge based detector.

5. The assembly of claim 1 wherein the drum comprises a core to accommodate the line coupled to a flange for retaining the line about the core.

6. The assembly of claim 5 wherein the load comprises one of vertical pressure directed at the core and horizontal pressure directed at the flange.

7. The assembly of claim 6 wherein the computation supports a dimensionally mapped representation of the pressures.

Assignees

• Schlumberger Technology Corp

Inventors

• Ives Sebastien
• Fitzgerald Peter

Classifications

• G01L5/10 Primary

  using electrical means · CPC title

• E21B47/00 Primary

  Survey of boreholes or wells (monitoring pressure or flow of drilling fluid E21B21/08) · CPC title

• E21B19/08

  Apparatus for feeding the rods or cables (E21B19/22 takes precedence; automatic feed E21B44/02); Apparatus for increasing or decreasing the pressure on the drilling tool; Apparatus for counterbalancing the weight of the rods · CPC title

• B66D1/58 Primary

  responsive to excess of load · CPC title

• G01L5/04

  for measuring tension in flexible members, e.g. ropes, cables, wires, threads, belts or bands {(G01L5/0004 takes precedence)} · CPC title