Downhole cooling based on thermo-tunneling of electrons
AssigneeBaker Hughes Incorporated
InventorsRocco DiFoggio, Frederick Shipley
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Abstract
An apparatus for and a method of cooling electronic components in downhole equipment using the principles of quantum tunneling.
Claims32
An apparatus for cooling electronic components in a borehole, the apparatus comprising:
- (a) a quantum thermocooler which maintains downhole electronic components below a predefined temperature.
The apparatus of claim 31 wherein the downhole assembly further comprises a bottomhole assembly (BHA) including a drillbit.
The apparatus of claim 31 wherein the downhole assembly further comprises a string of logging instruments.
The apparatus of claim 31 wherein the downhole assembly includes at least one formation evaluation (FE) sensor selected from the group consisting of (i) a gamma ray sensor, (ii) a resistivity sensor, (iii) a nuclear magnetic resonance sensor.
The apparatus of claim 31 wherein the downhole assembly includes a processor which determines from an output of at least one formation evaluation (FE) sensor a parameter of interest of the earth formation.
A method of evaluating an earth formation, the method comprising:
- (a) conveying a downhole assembly including electronic components into a borehole;
- (b) cooling the electronic components using a quantum thermocooler;
- and
- (c) using the electronic components to evaluate the earth formation.
(canceled)
(canceled)
An apparatus conveyed in a borehole, the apparatus comprising:
- (a) a formation evaluation sensor which makes a measurement of a property of an earth formation;
- and
- (b) a quantum thermocooler which cools the formation evaluation sensor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.