METHODS FOR SCANNING AND CLEANING TANKS

• US 20170203342A1
• Filed: 06/30/2015
• Published: 07/20/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2014
• Status: Active Application

• Current Assignee: M-I Drilling Fluids UK Limited (Schlumberger NV)
• Original Assignee: M-I Drilling Fluids UK Limited (Schlumberger NV)
• Inventors: Hunter, Martin
• Application Number:
  US15/316,219
• Publication Number:
  US 20170203342A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B05B 12/12 responsive to conditions of ambient medium or target, e.g. humidity, temperature position or movement of the target relative to the spray apparatus B05B12/082, B05B12/084 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B08B 9/08 Cleaning containers, e.g. tanks
• CPC Class Codes: B08B 9/093 by the force of jets or sprays B08B9/0813 , B08B9/20 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B08B 9/0936 using rotating jets
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 21/01 Arrangements for handling drilling fluids or cuttings outside the borehole, e.g. mud boxes
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 21/06 Arrangements for treating drilling fluids outside the borehole
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 37/00 Methods or apparatus for cleaning boreholes or wells E21B21/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/06 Ray-tracing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 17/20 Finite element generation, e.g. wire-frame surface description, tesselation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/74 involving reference images or patches

Abstract

A method includes scanning an interior of a tank to obtain a tank rendering. Based on the tank rendering, a minimum number of tank cleaning machines and a corresponding position for each of the tank cleaning machines is determined such that substantially all of the interior of the tank is reachable by the tank cleaning machines.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

scanning an interior of a tank to obtain a tank rendering; and

determining, based on the tank rendering, a minimum number of tank cleaning machines and a corresponding position for each of the tank cleaning machines such that substantially all of the interior of the tank is reachable by the tank cleaning machines.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

placing each of the tank cleaning machines in the corresponding position; and

cleaning the tank using the tank cleaning machines.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein cleaning comprises emitting a stream of fluid from a jet of each of the tank cleaning machines in substantially any direction of a spherical coordinate system.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising graphically displaying the tank rendering as a three-dimensional surface mesh of the tank and at least one of agitators, pipes, walls, valves, plates, pumps, and impellers disposed in the tank.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the minimum number of tank cleaning machines is one.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining comprises:

selecting a first position and a second position for one of the tank cleaning machines;

determining a shadow of the first position and a shadow of the second position; and

comparing the shadow of the first position and the shadow of the second position to determine a desired position.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining comprises determining a location of the tank cleaning machine such that a stream from the tank cleaning machine is substantially free of obstructions.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the scanning of the interior of the tank is performed by a scanning device comprising at least one selected from a group consisting of a projecting device, a laser scanning device, and a camera device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the tank comprises a mud tank and is located at a drilling site.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the tank cleaning machines are positioned such that a substantial portion of surface area of the tank is reachable by the tank cleaning machines.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the substantial portion of surface area is greater than a given threshold.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the threshold is expressed as a percentage of total surface area of the tank that is covered by the tank cleaning machines.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the minimum number of tank cleaning machines is determined using a ray tracing technique.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein determining comprises determining a plurality of coordinates for placement of a jet of the tank cleaning machine.

15. A method comprising:

scanning an interior of a tank to obtain a tank rendering, the tank including an interior top surface;

determining, based on the tank rendering, a number of positions on the top surface for cleaning jets such that substantially all of an interior area of the tank is reachable by the cleaning jets;

placing each of the cleaning jets in the corresponding position; and

cleaning the interior of the tank using the cleaning jets, each of the cleaning jets configured to emit a stream of fluid from a point below the corresponding positions in substantially all directions.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the tank comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of agitators, pipes, walls, valves, plates, pumps, and impellers disposed in the tank.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein determining the number of cleaning jets comprises calculating a minimum number of cleaning jets such that substantially all of the interior of the tank is reachable by the cleaning jets.

18. A method comprising:

executing a scan to generate a tank rendering;

inputting the tank rendering on a computer;

displaying a three-dimensional representation of the tank rendering; and

determining, by the computer, a position for at least one tank cleaning machine based on the three-dimensional representation of the tank rendering.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein determining the position of at least one tank cleaning machine comprises maximizing a reachable region based on a number of the at least one tank cleaning machine.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the reachable region is a region of the tank that is reachable by a stream from each jet of the plurality of tank cleaning machines.