BLOW OUT PREVENTER (BOP) CORROBORATOR

• US 20130153241A1
• Filed: 08/14/2012
• Published: 06/20/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Siemens AG
• Original Assignee: Siemens Corp. (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: O'Donnell, Thomas, Mallinson, Theodore James, Sotskiy, Sergey
• Application Number:
  US13/585,118
• Publication Number:
  US 20130153241A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 166/363
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 33/0355 Control systems, e.g. hydraulic, pneumatic, electric, acoustic, for submerged well heads
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 33/06 Blow-out preventers , i.e. apparatus closing around a drill pipe, e.g. annular blow-out preventers rotating blow-out preventers E21B33/085
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 33/061 Ram-type blow-out preventers, e.g. with pivoting rams
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 34/04 in underwater well heads
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 47/001 for underwater installation

Abstract

Systems and methods supplementing existing management methods to corroborate performance of a blow out preventer for a submerged well. The corroborator is located on the blow out preventer and includes a flow meter external to a pipe to measure flow inside the pipe, a pipe joint locator, a ram seal confirmation agent and a dedicated communication connection from the corroborator to a computer topside. Data from at least one sensor topside, which may represent a mud tank level, is also received. The computer calculates a probability that a malfunction related to the well occurs. The computer implements a Principal Component Analysis model of the well based on historical data, to assess a likelihood that a threshold value will be surpassed based on collected sensor data and to generate an alert.

Claims

1. A method to monitor a blow-out preventer (BOP) of a well submerged under a water surface including at least one pipe from the well to a location above the water surface, comprising:

generating a plurality of signals including a signal from a flow meter external to the at least one pipe to measure a flow inside the at least one pipe, and a ram seal confirmation agent signal from an acoustic sensor;

collecting and sending the plurality of signals by a BOP corroborator over a dedicated transmission connection to a monitoring computer device at the location above the water surface; and

the monitoring computer device enabled to decide based on the received plurality of signals to generate an alert related to an activation of the BOP.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the monitoring computer device receiving data from at least one sensor installed above the water surface.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one sensor measures a mud tank level.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one sensor measures a pressure.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the monitoring computer device applies a well model that calculates a probability of a well malfunction.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the probability is a likelihood of a malfunction that includes leakage of material into the water within a period of one hour.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the model is based on a Principal Component Analysis of sensor data.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

a sensor generating a joint signal related to a joint in the at least one pipe.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

determining a position of the joint in the at least one pipe.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

positioning shears of the BOP in such a manner that when activated the shears will not have to cut through the joint.

18. The corroborator of claim 7, wherein the model is based on a Principal Component Analysis of sensor data.

11. A corroborator to assist operation of a submerged well blow out preventer (BOP) attached to a pipe from the well to topside, the corroborator in communication with a mud tank or other surface facility data points, comprising:

a processor having an interface that provides a level of contents of the mud tank or other surface facility data and having a direct communication link to topside;

a flow meter attached external to the pipe to measure a flow inside the pipe that provides a signal representative of the flow to the processor;

a pipe joint locator to determine locations of a plurality of joints in the pipe which provides information regarding the locations to the processor; and

a ram seal confirmation agent, to detect vibrations from an interior of the pipe after the pipe has been sealed by a ram which provides a measure of the vibrations to the processor;

wherein the processor provides information related to the level or other surface facility data, the flow, the locations and the vibrations to topside over the communication link.

12. The corroborator of claim 11, wherein the corroborator is located on the blow out preventer.

13. The corroborator of claim 11, further comprising:

a dedicated transmission connection from the corroborator to a computer device topside to transmit a plurality of signals collected by the corroborator.

14. The corroborator of claim 13, wherein the computer device is enabled to decide based on the plurality of signals transmitted by the corroborator to generate an alert related to an activation of the blow out preventer.

15. The corroborator of claim 14, wherein the computer device receives a signal from at least one sensor installed topside.

16. The corroborator of claim 15, wherein the at least one sensor measures a mud tank level.

17. The corroborator of claim 14, wherein the computer device applies a well model that calculates a probability of a well malfunction.

19. The corroborator of claim 17, wherein the probability is a likelihood of a malfunction that includes leakage of material from the well within a period of one hour.

20. The corroborator of claim 11, wherein shears of the blow out preventer are positioned based on a signal generated by the pipe joint locator in such a manner that when activated the shears will not have to cut through the joint.