High impact communication and control system

A method of providing a detectable signal through fluid media from a source location at a well head at which the media is compressible to a remote down hole location for actuation of a controlled device in an incompressible media while safeguarding against accidental actuation of that device, comprising the steps of:

• defining amplitude and width characteristics for at least one signal to actuate the controlled device;
• propagating, from the well head via the fluid media toward the down hole location, a short term high energy pulse in the compressible media which is calculated to be attenuated and modified by the media during propagation in the incompressible and compressible media to amplitude and width characteristics corresponding to the at least one signal for actuation;
• and
• detecting, at the remote down hole location, a local physical perturbation representative of defined characteristics caused by the propagated pulse to provide an electrical signal for actuating the controlled device.

The method of remote signaling to a deep, down hole, location within a well bore, to actuate at least one controlled device without requiring a physical or electrical connection to the device, while providing security against accidental actuation, despite the fact that a tubular structure in the well bore is at least partially filled with at least one mobile media, such as liquid, air, air entrained in liquid, and liquid containing solids, the method comprising the steps of:

• propagating time measured gas pressure impulse shocks directionally into the interior of the tubular structure along the axis, the incremental pressure rise of the impulses above the ambient being in the range of 100-15,000 psi and the duration thereof being in the range of less than 1 second;
• confining the propagated pressure impulse principally within the tubular structure through the mobile media therewithin, while allowing the impulse profile to be modified by dispersion and reflections during propagation;
• establishing a set of pressure impulse profiles, by amplitude and width, anticipated to be received at a down hole location taking into account the mobile media in the tubular structure;
• and
• detecting physical perturbations caused by the shocks in the liquid media at the down hole location, and locally comparing the established profiles to the detected perturbations at the down hole location to identify a signal sent to the down hole location as that intended to be used to actuate a controlled device.

The method of signaling through a long confined pathway containing physically mobile media that may include gases and solids to a remote unit when the pathway has different path configurations and the media may differ along the length of the pathway, comprising the steps of:

• launching an impulse pneumatic shock burst into the pathway, the shock burst having in excess of up to 15,000 psi of pressure differential over a duration in excess of {fraction (1/50)} seconds;
• propagating the shock burst through the different path configurations and through the mobile media in the pathway, the shock burst being subject to attenuation, frequency dispersion, frequency cutoff, and reflections in moving along the pathway;
• and
• detecting the existence, at a remote unit along the pathway, of a pattern of anticipated pulse amplitude and time width variations in at least one property of the media as determined for the remote unit in accordance with its position along the pathway and the mobile media therebetween.

The method of controlling a remote device in a down hole location at substantial depth within a bore hole below a well head installation, the bore hole encompassing a tubular structure and including variations in the size of the tubular conduit and also variations in the media within the tubular structure between the well head installation and the bore hole, the method comprising the steps of:

• propagating a shock impulse along the tubular conduit by releasing into the well head installation, and the bore hole, a burst of gas pressure in excess of 200 psi and with a duration of less than about one second, the impulse having distinctive leading and trailing edges;
• detecting the amplitude and duration of energy from the received shock wave reaching the down hole location;
• varying the pressure and energy content of the successive shock impulses propagated from the well head in accordance with a predetermined command pattern for the remote device;
• and
• detecting the existence of a preselected sequence of amplitude and duration variations in the received pattern of shock impulses to control the remote device.

The method of directing a pressure impulse of chosen profile from a low impedance zone through an abrupt interface to a higher impedance zone to have a time/pressure profile at a substantial distance in the high impedance zone comprising the steps of:

• directing an impulse having a pressure difference greater than 100 psi more than the ambient pressure level into the low impedance zone in the direction of the interface, the impulse having a rectangular leading edge;
• maintaining the impulse for no greater than {fraction (1/50)} second while terminating the impulse abruptly to define a rectangular trailing edge;
• confining the pressure impulse to a limited cross-sectional area along a path through the interface into the higher impedance zone along the substantial distance;
• and
• transitioning through the interface with less than 10% reflection of energy in the pressure impulse at the interface, such that a predictable time/pressure profile is propagated into the high impedance zone.

A method of remotely controlling a signal responsive downhole tool in the tubular system of a petroleum well from a surface location when the tool is immersed at a known distance from the surface location in a media which is at least principally liquid, and the surface location and an upper part of the tubular system in the well are in unpressurized an air media, with there being an air-liquid interface in the tubular system below the surface location, the method comprising the steps of:

• introducing a shock impulse form the surface location into the air media in the upper part of the tubular system, the shock impulse having distinct leading and trailing edges spaced apart by less than a one second duration and a differential pressure amplitude relative to ambient that is calculated to be sufficient relative to existing downhole conditions, the impulse characteristics being selected to identify a particular downhole tool;
• propagating the impulse downward through the tubular system from the surface location with concomitant modification of amplitude, trailing and leading edges;
• sensing, at the downhole location, perturbations traveling along the tubular system in the media that result from the shock impulse at the surface location;
• and
• detecting a perturbation with modified characteristics corresponding to those identifying a particular downhole tool, to control the tool.

A method of signaling through a substantial length of tubular system from an air environment at the upper part of the tubular system, through an air-liquid interface and along the liquid to a signal controllable tool at a given depth in the tubular system, comprising the steps of:

• introducing an abrupt gas impulse into the air environment in the upper part of the tubular system, the impulse having a positive-going trailing edge, the edges being spaced apart by a duration of less than 1 second selected for a particular tool, and the pressure of the impulse between the leading and trailing edges being above that of the air environment by a factor calculated to reach the given depth with discernible characteristics;
• propagating the energy of the impulse downwardly through the tubular system as a traveling positive pressure deviation with both positive and negative-going edges of form modified by the effects of the tubular system and the media;
• and
• detecting variations in the pressure deviations reaching the signal controllable tool which correspond to the leading and trailing edge duration spacings chosen for the control of that tool.