Systems and Methods for Spread Spectrum Distributed Acoustic Sensor Monitoring

• US 20160146662A1
• Filed: 08/12/2013
• Published: 05/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/12/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adelos, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Halliburton Energy Services Incorporated (Halliburton Company)
• Inventors: Stokely, Christopher, Skinner, Neal G., Nunes, Leonardo de Oliveira
• Granted Patent: US 9,733,120 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 47/135 using light waves, e.g. infrared or ultraviolet waves
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 5/35361 using elastic backscattering to detect the measured quantity, e.g. using Rayleigh backscattering
• CPC Class Codes: G01H 3/00 Measuring characteristics of vibrations by using a detector in a fluid G01H7/00, G01H9/00, G01H11/00 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01H 9/004 using fibre optic sensors light guides per se G02B6/00, acousto-optical devices specially adapted for gating or modulating in optical wave guides G02F1/125
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2201/088 Using a sensor fibre
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/14 using acoustic emission techniques echo of particles G01N29/046; measuring mechanical vibrations or acoustic waves in solids in general G01H1/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/2418 using optoacoustic interaction with the material, e.g. laser radiation, photoacoustics photoacoustic cells G01N21/1702; measuring characteristics of vibrations by using radiation-sensitive means G01H9/00; acousto-optical conversion techniques for short-range imaging G01S15/8965; sound-producing devices using laser bundle G10K15/046

Abstract

A method and device for monitoring oil field operations with a fiber optic distributed acoustic sensor (DAS) that uses a continuous wave laser light source and modulates the continuous wave output of the laser light source with pseudo-random binary sequence codes.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring regions of interest for occurrences that generate acoustic perturbations, comprising:

a. an optical fiber span positioned into a region of interest;

b. a light source for generating a continuous coherent signal of a pre-determined wavelength into the optical fiber;

c. a binary code sequence generator driven by a master clock;

d. an optical modulator having first and second ports for receiving the primary coherent light signal from the light source and a generated binary code from the binary code sequence generator to produce a modulated light signal;

e. an optical circulator/coupler to receive the modulated light signal from the optical modulator and pass it into the optical fiber span positioned into the region of interest;

f. a detector system driven by the master clock for de-modulating, correlating, and de-multiplexing returned backscattered Rayleigh signals from the optical fiber span positioned into the region of interest, wherein the detector system has a processor to detect coherent Rayleigh noise generated by the optical fiber span positioned in the region of interest to identify acoustic events in the regions of interest; and

g. wherein the returned backscattered Rayleigh signals from the optical fiber span positioned into the region of interest are directed to the detector system by the optical circulator/coupler.

2. The system for monitoring regions of interest for occurrences that generate acoustic perturbations of claim 1, wherein the light source for generating a continuous coherent signal of a pre-determined wavelength is a laser.

3. The system for monitoring regions of interest for occurrences that generate acoustic perturbations of claim 1, wherein the detector system driven by the master clock comprises:

a. a heterodyne or homodyne demodulator;

b. a decoder; and

c. an FM demodulator.

4. The system for monitoring regions of interest for occurrences that generate acoustic perturbations of claim 3, wherein the detector system further comprises photo detectors and a processor for controlling all of the functions and computations of the detector system and providing the output of acoustic pressure signals.

5. The system for monitoring regions of interest for occurrences that generate acoustic perturbations of claim 3, wherein the decoder comprises:

a. circuitry for separating the electronic signal from the heterodyne or homodyne demodulator into separate branches representing positions along the sensing fiber optic;

b. circuitry for separating and time delaying the binary coding sequence with a delay proportional to the time it takes for the code to arrive at a defined position of the optical fiber;

c. circuitry for multiplying in time filtering the separated electronic signals from the heterodyne or homodyne demodulator and the corresponding binary coding sequences to obtain signals that contain only the information representing certain positions in the optical fiber; and

d. wherein the circuitries can be implemented either analogically or digitally.

6. The system for monitoring regions of interest for occurrences that generate acoustic perturbations of claim 5 wherein the demodulator is a heterodyne demodulator and the circuitry for multiplying in time and filtering the separated electronic signals utilizes band-pass filtering.

7. The system for monitoring regions of interest for occurrences that generate acoustic perturbations of claim 5 wherein the demodulator is a homodyne demodulator and the circuitry for multiplying in time and filtering the separated electronic signals utilizes low-pass filtering.

8. The system for monitoring regions of interest for occurrences that generate acoustic perturbations of claim 5 wherein the region of interest can include a subsurface wellbore, an oil reservoir, or a pipeline.

9. The system for monitoring regions of interest for occurrences that generate acoustic perturbations of claim 5 wherein the region of interest can include structures such as subsea umbilical'"'"'s or risers.

10. The system for monitoring regions of interest for occurrences that generate acoustic perturbations of claim 5 wherein the region of interest can include perimeters encircling high security areas.

11. A method for monitoring regions of interest for occurrences that generate acoustic perturbations, comprising:

a. deploying a fiber optic cable into a region of interest;

b. transmitting a continuous wave laser light source through the fiber optic cable;

c. modulating the continuous wave output of the laser light source with pseudo-random binary sequence codes;

d. detecting backscattered Rayleigh signals from the deployed fiber optic cable; and

e. using the detected backscattered Rayleigh signals to identify and measure the acoustic perturbations from locations in the region of interest.

12. The method for monitoring regions of interest for occurrences that generate acoustic perturbations of claim 11 wherein the pseudo-random binary sequence codes are binary sequences of ones and negative ones.

13. The method for monitoring regions of interest for occurrences that generate acoustic perturbations of claim 12 wherein the pseudo-random binary sequence codes are periodic with a period of T_b and the minimum period that the code stays at a certain value is T_c, and wherein:

a. the fiber optic cable length L, the desired spatial sampling Δ

_z, and the acoustic signal bandwidth σ

_A are specified in advance for the application; and

i. N is chosen so that NT_c=T_b;

ii. T_b is chosen so that

14. The method for monitoring regions of interest for occurrences that generate acoustic perturbations of claim 11 wherein the occurrences are generated by impacts of sand grains.

15. The method for monitoring regions of interest for occurrences that generate acoustic perturbations of claim 11 wherein the occurrences are generated by proppant noise in hydraulic fracturing operations.

16. The method for monitoring regions of interest for occurrences that generate acoustic perturbations of claim 11 wherein the occurrences are generated by high frequency wellbore leaks.

17. The method for monitoring regions of interest for occurrences that generate acoustic perturbations of claim 11 wherein the occurrences are generated by wireline sonic logging.

18. The method for monitoring regions of interest for occurrences that generate acoustic perturbations of claim 11 wherein the occurrences are generated by inter-zone leaks in wellbores.

19. The method for monitoring regions of interest for occurrences that generate acoustic perturbations of claim 11 wherein the occurrences are generated by flow cavitation.

20. The method for monitoring regions of interest for occurrences that generate acoustic perturbations of claim 11 wherein the occurrences are generated by flow vortex shedding.

21. The method for monitoring regions of interest for occurrences that generate acoustic perturbations of claim 11 wherein the occurrences are generated by a particular flow regime.

22. The method for monitoring regions of interest for occurrences that generate acoustic perturbations of claim 11 wherein the occurrences are generated by a particular flow rate.

23. The method for monitoring regions of interest for occurrences that generate acoustic perturbations of claim 11 wherein the occurrences are generated by a particular fluid fraction.

24. The method for monitoring regions of interest for occurrences that generate acoustic perturbations of claim 11 wherein the occurrences are part of an active ultrasonic flow monitoring system.