In-well monitoring and flow control system
AssigneeExpro North Sea Limited
InventorsAndrew Richards, William George Nigel Parkinson Webster
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An in-well monitoring and flow control system with an improved power supply is described. A separate high voltage (18) and low voltage power supply (23) is provided together with a cable (14) which has at least two separte cores; one core (24) for high voltage power and the other core (26) for low voltage power and control monitoring communications. Embodiments of the invention are described.
Claims22
An in-well flow control and monitoring system for controlling a plurality of electrically operable downhole elements from a surface power supply, said system comprising:
- a high voltage power supply;
- a low voltage power supply;
- at least one high voltage downhole component and at least one low voltage downhole component;
- a cable having at least two separate conductors and an earth return, a first conductor for coupling the high voltage power supply to the at least one high voltage component and a second conductor for connecting the low voltage power supply to the at least one low voltage component, monitoring means coupled to at least one high voltage downhole component for monitoring when a high voltage is required to actuate said downhole component, and means for supplying said high voltage to said high voltage component in response to a signal from said monitoring means.
A system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the high voltage power supply is greater than 400 volts DC.
A system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the control and monitoring system is addressable from the surface whereby a plurality of sensors and valve controllers are coupled to the same conductor.
A system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein said low voltage monitoring means for monitoring said high voltage downhole component is coupled to a position transducer for monitoring the position of the high voltage downhole component.
A system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the high voltage downhole component is a valve which has a valve element which is rotatable between an open and a closed position.
A system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the transducer is an optical transducer for optically monitoring the position of said downhole valve element.
A method of operating an in-well flow control system having a plurality of downhole low voltage components, said method comprising the steps of,
- providing separate high voltage and low voltage power supplies,
- coupling said high voltage and low voltage power supplies to respective said downhole high voltage components and said low voltage components over separate electrical conductors,
- monitoring said high voltage components to determine the requirement for high voltage to be supplied and providing a monitoring signal indicative of whether power is required, and
- supplying high voltage to said high voltage downhole components when said monitoring signal indicates high voltage is required.
A power supply for use with an in-well flow control and monitoring system, said power supply comprising:
- a separate high voltage power supply;
- a separate low voltage power supply;
- a cable having at least two separate conductors, a first conductor for coupling the high voltage power supply to high voltage components disposed downhole, and a second conductor for connecting the low voltage power supply to low voltage components disposed downhole.
A monitoring system for simultaneous monitoring high data rate and low data signals from downhole sensors, said system comprising:
- a high data rate system configuration;
- a low data rate system configuration;
- a cable for use by said high data rate configuration and said low data rate configuration, said cable comprising a conductive sheath, a first conductor for carrying a low voltage supply and low data rate signals, at least two second conductors for carrying a low voltage supply and high data rate signals, the high date rate system configuration having a surface control unit coupled to at least one high data rate downhole monitoring system by said at least two second conductors;
- the low data rate system configuration having a surface control unit coupled to at least one low data rate downhole monitoring node system by said first conductor, said conductive sheath being an earth return for low voltage power supplies for the high data rate low data rate system configurations.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.