Electromagnetic telemetry device

• US 10,563,501 B2
• Filed: 06/19/2016
• Issued: 02/18/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: FastCAP Systems Corporation
• Original Assignee: FastCAP Systems Corporation
• Inventors: Cooley, John J., Signorelli, Riccardo, Green, Morris, Lane, Joseph K., Stiurca, Dan
• Primary Examiner(s): Kaplan, Hal
• Application Number:
  US15/186,531
• Publication Number:
  US 20180135408A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,339 Days
• Field of Search: 307 19
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 41/0085 Adaptations of electric power generating means for use in boreholes
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 47/13 by electromagnetic energy, e.g. radio frequency
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 11/002 Details, e.g. power supply systems for logging instruments, transmitting or recording data, specially adapted for well logging, also if the prospecting method is irrelevant means for transmitting well survey signals E21B47/12; signal transmission systems in general G08C; transmission in general H04B
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00 Circuit arrangements for charging or depolarising batteries or for supplying loads from batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/345 using capacitors as storage or buffering devices

Abstract

In one aspect, an electromagnetic (EM) telemetry device is disclosed including an EM telemetry circuit capable of transmitting a pulsed high power EM telemetry signal, wherein the high power EM telemetry signal has a peak or average pulse power of about 20 W to about 2000 W.

Claims

1. An electromagnetic (EM) telemetry system comprising an EM telemetry device and a receiver, the EM telemetry device capable of transmitting a pulsed high power EM telemetry signal that has a peak or average pulse power of about 20 W to about 2000 W;

the receiver comprising an antenna, a detector, and a decoder;

the antenna comprising a first electrode and a second electrode and configured to generate an antenna signal current and an antenna signal voltage in response to the EM telemetry signal;

the detector is configured to detect at least one of the antenna signal current and the antenna signal voltage; and

the decoder is configured to decode data encoded in the EM telemetry signal at a bit rate of at least one (1) bit per second (bps).

2. The EM telemetry system of claim 1, wherein the EM telemetry device further comprises an energy storage device comprising at least one battery, inductor, high temperature rechargeable energy storage device (HTRESD), or any combination thereof.

3. The EM telemetry system of claim 2, wherein the energy storage device comprises an HTRESD comprising at least one electrolytic capacitor, hybrid capacitor, ultracapacitor, or any combination thereof.

4. The EM telemetry system of claim 1, wherein the EM telemetry device is configured to connect to a toolstring power bus (TPB).

5. The EM telemetry system of claim 1, wherein the EM telemetry device is configured to receive input power from a downhole power source.

6. The EM telemetry system of claim 1, further comprising a power management circuit that comprises a switch mode power supply.

7. The EM telemetry system of claim 6, wherein the switch mode power supply is selected from the group consisting of buck, boost, buck-boost, boost-buck, Cuk, forward, flyback, inductorless converters, and any variants thereof.

8. The EM telemetry system of claim 6, wherein the power management circuit has an operational efficiency greater than 50%.

9. The EM telemetry system of claim 1, wherein the detector is configured to detect the antenna signal current when the antenna signal current has an amplitude of 0.1 mA or less.

10. The EM telemetry system of claim 1, wherein the detector is configured to detect the antenna signal current when the antenna signal current has an amplitude of 1 μ

A or less.

11. The EM telemetry system of claim 1, wherein the detector is configured to detect the antenna signal voltage when the antenna signal voltage has an amplitude of 1 mV or less.

12. The EM telemetry system of claim 1, wherein the detector is configured to detect the antenna signal current or the antenna signal voltage at frequencies in the range of about 0.5 Hz to about 50 Hz.

13. The EM telemetry system of claim 1, wherein the detector is configured to detect the antenna signal current or the antenna signal voltage in the presence of noise with a signal to noise amplitude ratio (SNR_A) of −

30 dB or less.

14. The EM telemetry system of claim 1, further comprising a dummy antenna configured to be substantially isolated from the EM telemetry signal;

wherein the detector is configured to detect a dummy signal from the dummy antenna and reduce noise in a detected signal from the antenna based on the dummy signal.

15. The EM telemetry system of claim 1, wherein the antenna is configured to generate multi-ended output and wherein the detector is configured as a fully differential detector.

16. The EM telemetry system of claim 1, wherein, during operation of the receiver, at least the first electrode is in electrical contact with a downhole tool associated with the EM telemetry device.

17. The EM telemetry system of claim 1, wherein the detector includes a lock-in amplifier for implementation of a synchronous detection technique.

18. The EM telemetry system of claim 1, wherein the decoder comprises a signal analyzer for identifying noise in the EM telemetry signal and enabling modification of the operation of the antenna to account for the noise.

19. An electromagnetic (EM) telemetry system comprising an EM telemetry device and a receiver:

the EM telemetry device capable of transmitting a pulsed EM telemetry signal that has a peak or average pulse power of between 20 W to 2000 W;

the receiver comprising an antenna, a detector and a decoder;

wherein the antenna is configured to generate a current and a voltage in response to the EM telemetry signal;

the detector is configured to detect at least one of the current and the voltage from the antenna and generate a corresponding detector signal; and

the decoder is configured to decode the corresponding detector signal at a bit rate of at least one (1) bit per second (bps).

20. A method for receiving data from downhole, the method comprising:

selecting an electromagnetic (EM) telemetry system comprising an EM telemetry device and a receiver, wherein the EM telemetry device has been disposed downhole; and

using the EM telemetry device, transmitting the data to the receiver;

wherein the EM telemetry device is capable of transmitting a pulsed EM telemetry signal that has a peak or average pulse power of between 20 W to 2000 W; and

wherein the receiver comprises an antenna, a detector, and a decoder; and

the antenna is configured to generate a current and a voltage in response to the EM telemetry signal; and

the detector is configured to detect at least one of the current and the voltage from the antenna and generate a corresponding detector signal; and

the decoder is configured to decode the corresponding detector signal at a bit rate of at least one (1) bit per second (bps).