US 5,289,354 AGranted

Method for acoustic transmission of drilling data from a well

AssigneeSociete Nationale Elf Aquitaine (Production)

InventorsFrederic Clayer, Henry Henneuse, Jean Sancho

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Abstract

A method for transmitting data from the bottom of a well to the surface is disclosed. The method includes measuring data indicative of at least one drilling condition at the bottom of a well, transmitting into a stream of drilling mud injected into a well pipe string a series of encoded pressure pulses representative of the data measurement, and detecting the encoded pulses at the surface using a pressure sensor which is in communication with the stream of drilling mud as it is being injected into an inlet of the pipe string. The method also includes, as a way of improving data detection, using a surface sensor to measure vibrations in the pipe string which are generated as a result of the propogation of the encoded pulses through the drilling mud.

Claims3

Dependent claims

Method for transmission of data on the drilling conditions of a well having a string of drill pipe, from the bottom to the surface, comprising the following steps:

measuring continuously the pressure of drilling mud as it passes through an inlet into the string of drill pipe;
measuring at least one operating condition at the bottom of the well by means of a sensor;
transmitting encoded signals generated by a single source as fluid pressures pulses in the drilling mud and as axial vibrations in the drill string which are representative of the measured operating condition;
and
detecting simultaneously the fluid pressure pulses in the mud by a pressure sensor at the inlet into the string of a drill pipe and the axial vibrations generated in the string of drill pipe by an accelerometer which is disposed at the upper end of the string of pipe.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.