Pumping unit engine speed oscillation detection and mitigation

A non-transitory, machine-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that are executable by a computing device, the instructions comprising instructions to:

• determine a first measure of engine speed variability over a first time period based, at least in part, on engine speed data associated with one or more pumping units of a wellbore operation, wherein each of the one or more pumping units includes a transmission that operates at one or more gear settings;
• compare the first measure of engine speed variability to an oscillation bandwidth threshold;
• determine that erratic behavior in engine speed is detected if the first measure of engine speed variability exceeds the oscillation bandwidth threshold over the first time period;
• in response to detecting the erratic behavior in engine speed over the first time period, initiate a timer for a second time period greater than the first time period;
• determine whether the erratic behavior continues through both the first time period and the second time period;
• and
• in response to determining that the erratic behavior continues through both the first time period and the second time period, mitigate engine speed oscillation, wherein mitigating engine speed oscillation includes:
• determining whether a current gear setting of the one or more gear settings is a lowest gear setting;
• in response to determining that the current gear setting is not the lowest gear setting, shifting the current gear setting to a lower gear setting;
• and
• in response to determining that the current gear setting is the lowest gear setting, shifting the current gear setting to neutral.

An apparatus comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that are executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to,
• determine a first measure of engine speed variability over a first time period based, at least in part, on engine speed data associated with one or more pumping units of a wellbore operation, wherein each of the one or more pumping units operates at one or more gear settings;
• compare the first measure of variability to an oscillation bandwidth threshold;
• determine that erratic behavior in engine speed is detected when the first measure of engine speed variability exceeds the oscillation bandwidth threshold over the first time period;
• in response to detecting the erratic behavior in engine speed over the first time period,
• initiate a timer for a second time period greater than the first time period;
• determine whether the erratic behavior continues through both the first time period and the second time period;
• and
• in response to determining that the erratic behavior in engine speed continues through both the first time period and the second time period, mitigate engine speed oscillation, wherein mitigating engine speed oscillation includes:
• determining whether a current gear setting of the one or more gear settings is a lowest gear setting;
• in response to determining that the current gear setting is not the lowest gear setting, shifting the current gear setting to a lower gear setting;
• and
• in response to determining that the current gear setting is the lowest gear setting, shifting the current gear setting to neutral.