ELECTROMAGNETIC IMAGING METHOD AND DEVICE

• US 20090195244A1
• Filed: 11/28/2006
• Published: 08/06/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Schlumberger Technology Corporation (SLB)
• Original Assignee: Schlumberger Technology Corporation (SLB)
• Inventors: Mouget, Pierre, Legendre, Emmanuel, Brill, Thilo
• Granted Patent: US 7,960,969 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 324/221
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 3/28 using induction coils

Abstract

An electromagnetic imaging method for electromagnetically measuring physical parameters of a pipe CJ, CC by means of a plurality of measuring arrangement ZMA, MCMA, MonMa, ImMA comprising a plurality of transmitter coil ZTX, LFTX, DTX and a plurality of receiver coil ZRX1, ZR2, MRX, MC, PRX1, PRX2, PRX3, PRX4, PRX5, PRX6, PRX7, PRX8, PRX9, PRX10, PRX11, PRX12, PRX13, PRX14, PRX15, PRX16, PRX17, PRX18, the transmitter coils and receiver coils being associated so as to form the plurality of measuring arrangement, the plurality of measuring arrangement being adapted to be positioned into the pipe and displaced through the pipe, the physical parameters being measured for a plurality of position along the pipe, the method comprising the steps of:

• a) determining a first value of an average ratio of magnetic permeability to electrical conductivity and a first value of an average inner diameter of the pipe Z-MES,
• b) determining an average electromagnetic thickness of the pipe MC-MES,
• c) determining a second value of the average ratio of magnetic permeability to electrical conductivity and a second value of the average inner diameter of the pipe Mon-MES according to excitation frequencies which are substantially lower than the excitation frequencies used to determine the first values Z-MES,
• d) determining a first image EMTIM of the pipe electromagnetic thickness and the pipe defects Im-MES,
• e) discriminating the defects at an inside perimeter of the pipe from the defects at an outside perimeter of the pipe Dis-MES, and
• f) forming a corrected first image IOFIM of the pipe taking into account a position of the defects.

Claims

1. An electromagnetic imaging method for electromagnetically measuring physical parameters of a pipe (CJ, CC) by means of a plurality of measuring arrangement (ZMA, MCMA, MonMa, ImMA) comprising a plurality of transmitter coil (ZTX, LFTX, DTX) and a plurality of receiver coil (ZRX1, ZR2, MRX, MC, PRX1, PRX2, PRX3, PRX4, PRX5, PRX6, PRX7, PRX8, PRX9, PRX10, PRX11, PRX12, PRX13, PRX14, PRX15, PRX16, PRX17, PRX18), the transmitter coils and receiver coils being associated so as to form the plurality of measuring arrangement, the plurality of measuring arrangement being adapted to be positioned into the pipe and displaced through the pipe, the physical parameters being measured for a plurality of position along the pipe, the method comprising the steps of:

a) determining a first value of an average ratio of magnetic permeability to electrical conductivity and a first value of an average inner diameter of the pipe (Z-MES),

b) determining an average electromagnetic thickness of the pipe (MC-MES),

c) determining a second value of the average ratio of magnetic permeability to electrical conductivity and a second value of the average inner diameter of the pipe (Mon-MES) according to excitation frequencies which are substantially lower than the excitation frequencies used to determine the first values (Z-MES),

d) determining a first image (EMTIM) of a local electromagnetic thickness of the pipe and the pipe local defects (Im-MES),

e) discriminating the local defects at an inside perimeter of the pipe from the local defects at an outside perimeter of the pipe (Dis-MES), and

f) forming a corrected first image (IOFIM) of the pipe taking into account a position of the local defects.

2. An electromagnetic imaging method according to claim 1, wherein the method comprising the steps of:

a) forming an average casing properties measuring arrangement (ZMA) by;

exciting a transmitter coil of the average casing properties measuring arrangement (ZMA) according to a first set of excitation frequency comprising at least two excitation frequencies,

determining at least a first transimpedance between the transmitter coil and a receiver coil of the average casing properties measuring arrangement (ZMA),

calculating an average ratio of magnetic permeability to electrical conductivity and an average inner diameter of the pipe,

b) forming an average electromagnetic thickness measuring arrangement (MCMA) by;

exciting a transmitter coil of the average electromagnetic thickness measuring arrangement (MCMA) according to a second excitation frequency,

determining a second transimpedance between the transmitter coil and a receiver coil of the average electromagnetic thickness measuring arrangement (MCMA),

calculating an average electromagnetic thickness of the pipe,

c) forming a monitoring measuring arrangement (MonMA) by;

exciting a transmitter coil of the monitoring measuring arrangement (MonMA) according to a third excitation frequency,

determining a third transimpedance between the transmitter coil and a receiver coil of the monitoring measuring arrangement (MonMA),

calculating another value of an average ratio of magnetic permeability to electrical conductivity of the pipe and another value of an average inner diameter of the pipe,

d) forming an imaging measuring arrangement (ImMA) by;

exciting a transmitter coil of the imaging measuring arrangement (ImMA) according to a fourth excitation frequency,

determining a plurality of transimpedance between the transmitter coil and a plurality of pad receiver coil of the imaging measuring arrangement (ImMA),

processing a first image (EMTIM) of the local electromagnetic thickness of the pipe and the local defects of the pipe,

e) forming a discriminating measuring arrangement (DisMA) by;

exciting a transmitter coil of the discriminating measuring arrangement (DisMA) according to a fifth excitation frequency,

determining a plurality of transimpedance between the transmitter coil and a plurality of pad receiver coil of the discriminating measuring arrangement (DisMA),

discriminating the local defects at an inside perimeter of the pipe from the local defects at an outside perimeter of the pipe,

processing a second image of the local ratio of magnetic permeability to electrical conductivity and a third image of the local radius of the pipe, and

processing a corrected first image (IOFIM) of the pipe electromagnetic thickness with a correction for local electromagnetic anomalies and the discriminated local defects of the pipe.

3. An electromagnetic imaging method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises the steps of determining a second image of a local ratio of magnetic permeability to electrical conductivity and a third image of a local radius of the pipe.

4. An electromagnetic imaging method according to claim 2, wherein the first set of excitation frequencies and the fifth excitation frequency are chosen in a first range of frequencies, the second, third and fourth excitation frequencies are chosen in a second range of frequencies, the first range of frequencies being substantially higher than the second range of frequencies.

5. An electromagnetic imaging method according to claim 1, wherein:

the first range of frequencies is bounded between a first minimum frequency and a first maximum frequency, the first minimum frequency corresponding to satisfying the joint condition of a ratio of the pipe thickness to the pipe skin depth of 5 and a parameter tau of 1 and the first maximum frequency corresponding to satisfying the joint condition of the ratio of the pipe thickness to the pipe skin depth of 200 and the parameter tau of 0.02,

the second, third and fourth excitation frequencies are chosen in a second range of frequencies bounded between a second minimum frequency and a second maximum frequency, the second minimum frequency corresponding to the ratio of the pipe thickness to the pipe skin depth of 0.2 and the second maximum frequency corresponding to the ratio of the pipe thickness to the pipe skin depth of 5.

6. An electromagnetic imaging method according to claim 1, wherein the second and third excitation frequencies are the same.

7. An electromagnetic imaging method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises the step of performing an air-calibration (ACS).

8. An electromagnetic imaging method according to claim 1, wherein a first spacing between the transmitter (LFTX) and the receiver (MC) of the average electromagnetic thickness measuring arrangement (MCMA), a second spacing between the transmitter (LFTX) and any of the pad receiver (PRXi) of the imaging measuring arrangement (ImMA) is chosen so that a low frequency remote field eddy current regime (LF-RFEC) occurs.

9. An electromagnetic imaging method according to claim 1, wherein a third spacing between the transmitter (LFTX) and the receiver (MRX) of the monitoring measuring arrangement (MonMA) is chosen so that a low frequency near field eddy current regime (LF-NFEC) occurs.

10. An electromagnetic imaging method according to claim 1, wherein a fourth spacing between the transmitter (ZTX) and the receiver (ZRX1, ZRX2) of the average casing properties measuring arrangement (ZMA) and a fifth spacing between the transmitter (LFTX) and any of the pad receiver (PRXi) of the discriminating measuring arrangement (DisMA) is chosen so that a high frequency near field eddy current regime (HF-NFEC) occurs.

11. An electromagnetic imaging method according to claim 1, wherein a spacing between the transmitter coil and the receiver coil is chosen so as to optimize the sensitivity to the pipe inner diameter.

12. A computer program product for an electromagnetic imaging device, the electromagnetic imaging device comprises a plurality of measuring arrangement, each measuring arrangement comprising a transmitter coil and at least one receiver coil, the measuring arrangement being adapted to be positioned into the pipe and displaced through the pipe, the receiver coil providing a receiver voltage when the transmitter coil is excited by means of a transmitter current according to at least one excitation frequencies, the computer program product comprising a set of instructions that, when loaded into a program memory of a main electronic arrangement coupled to the measuring arrangement, causes the main electronic arrangement to carry out the steps of the electromagnetic imaging method according to claim 1.

14. An electromagnetic imaging device according to claim 1, wherein the electromagnetic imaging device comprises:

a plurality of transmitter coil (ZTX, LFTX, DTX) and a plurality of receiver coil (ZRX1, ZRX2, MC) positioned on a body of the electromagnetic imaging device, and

a plurality of pad receiver coil (PRXi), each pad receiver coil being positioned on an arm of a centralizer deployable against a pipe wall.

13. An electromagnetic imaging device for electromagnetically measuring physical parameters of a pipe, the electromagnetic imaging device being adapted to be positioned into the pipe, displaced through the pipe and coupled to a surface equipment,

wherein the electromagnetic imaging device comprises an average electromagnetic thickness measuring arrangement (MCMA), an imaging measuring arrangement (ImMA), a monitoring measuring arrangement (MonMA), an average casing properties measuring arrangement (ZMA) and discriminating measuring arrangement (DisMA), each measuring arrangement comprising a transmitter coil and at least one receiver coil, each measuring arrangement being coupled to an electronic arrangement (ZEA, MCEA, MonEA, ImEA, DisEA) comprising a transmitter circuit for exciting the transmitter coil by means of a transmitter current according to a plurality of excitation frequencies, and a receiver circuit for measuring a receiver voltage at the receiver coil, wherein each electronic arrangement is further coupled to a calculating module (CALCMOD) for:

determining a first value of an average ratio of magnetic permeability to electrical conductivity and a first value of an average inner diameter of the pipe,

determining a value of an average electromagnetic thickness of the pipe,

determining a second value of the average ratio of magnetic permeability to electrical conductivity and a second value of the average inner diameter of the pipe according to excitation frequencies which are substantially lower than the excitation frequencies used to determine the first values,

determining a first image (EMTIM) of a local electromagnetic thickness of the pipe and the pipe local defects,

discriminating the local defects at an inside perimeter of the pipe from the local defects at an outside perimeter of the pipe, and

forming a corrected first image (IOFIM) of the pipe taking into account a position of the local defects.

15. An electromagnetic imaging device according to claim 13, wherein each transmitter coil (ZTX, LFTX, DTX) and receiver coil (ZRX1, ZRX2, MC) comprises a wire wound-up on a body (TLB), the wound-up wire defining empty spaces impregnated with an oil, the oil being held in place by an over-molding material, a protection sleeve being over-molded on the wind-up wire and the over-molding material.

16. An electromagnetic imaging device according to claim 13, wherein each pad receiver coil (PRXi) comprises a wire wound-up on an insert made of a high magnetic permeability material, the wound-up wire defining empty spaces impregnated with an oil, the oil being held in place by an over-molding material, a protection sleeve being over-molded on the wind-up wire and the over-molding material.

17. An electromagnetic imaging device according to claim 15, wherein the oil is a perfluoropolyether oil, the over-molding material is a mixture of perfluoropolyether with terminal silicon cross-linking groups, and the protection sleeve is made of semi-crystalline thermoplastic polyetheretherketone PEEK, or a plastic or a rubber material.

18. An electromagnetic imaging device according to claim 13, wherein the plurality of electronic arrangement (ZEA, MCEA, MonEA, ImEA, DisEA) are positioned within the body (TLB) of the electromagnetic imaging device, the transmitter or receiver coil being coupled to the electronic arrangement by a cable (CB) crossing the body via a feed-through connector, the cable being sealed to the feed-through connector by a crimped area.