1118 results about "Geophone" patented technology

Proppants having added functional properties are provided, as are methods that use the proppants to track and trace the characteristics of a fracture in a geologic formation. Information obtained by the methods can be used to design a fracturing job, to increase conductivity in the fracture, and to enhance oil and gas recovery from the geologic formation. The functionalized proppants can be detected by a variety of methods utilizing, for example, an airborne magnetometer survey, ground penetrating radar, a high resolution accelerometer, a geophone, nuclear magnetic resonance, ultra-sound, impedance measurements, piezoelectric activity, radioactivity, and the like. Methods of mapping a subterranean formation are also provided and use the functionalized proppants to detect characteristics of the formation.

In one embodiment the invention comprises a particle velocity sensor that includes a housing with a geophone mounted in the housing. A fluid that substantially surrounds the geophone is included within the housing. The particle velocity sensor has an acoustic impedance within the range of about 750,000 Newton seconds per cubic meter (Ns / m<3>) to about 3,000,000 Newton seconds per cubic meter (Ns / m<3>). In another embodiment the invention comprises method of geophysical exploration in which a seismic signal is generated in a body of water and detected with a plurality of co-located particle velocity sensors and pressure gradient sensors positioned within a seismic cable. The output signal of either or both of the particle velocity sensors or the pressure gradient sensors is modified to substantially equalize the output signals from the particle velocity sensors and the pressure gradient sensors. The output signals from particle velocity sensors and pressure gradient sensors are then combined.

A portable self-standing electromagnetic (EM) field sensing locator system with attachments for finding and mapping buried objects such as utilities and with intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) displays. Accessories include a ground penetrating radar (GPR) system with a rotating Tx / Rx antenna assembly, a leak detection system, a multi-probe voltage mapping system, a man-portable laser-range finder system with embedded dipole beacon and other detachable accessory sensor systems are accepted for attachment to the locator system for simultaneous operation in cooperation with the basic locator system. The integration of the locator system with one or more additional devices, such as fault-finding, geophones and conductance sensors, facilitates the rapid detection and localization of many different types of buried objects.

A method and device for seismic exploration of a subsea geologic formation by pickups set on the sea bottom and intermittently connectable to active data acquisition stations (11) brought nearby. Permanent passive reception stations (1) comprising a heavy pedestal provided with housings for seismic pickups (geophones (6), hydrophone (7) which receive acoustic or seismic signals from the underlying formation are arranged at the bottom of the water body. When collection sessions for the signals received by the pickups are scheduled, mobile active acquisition stations (11) connected to permanent passive reception stations (1) are positioned at the bottom of the water body. The signals picked up are then recorded, for the time required to carry out at least one session of acquisition and recording of the acoustic or seismic signals received by the passive stations in response to the emission of seismic waves by one or more seismic sources. The mobile active acquisition stations (11) are thereafter recovered at the surface and the records acquired by each one are transferred to a central collection laboratory.

This invention discloses a valve that generates a hydraulic negative pressure pulse and a frequency modulator for the creation of a powerful, broadband swept impulse seismic signal at the drill bit during drilling operations. The signal can be received at monitoring points on the surface or underground locations using geophones. The time required for the seismic signal to travel from the source to the receiver directly and via reflections is used to calculate seismic velocity and other formation properties near the source and between the source and receiver. This information can be used for vertical seismic profiling of formations drilled, to check the location of the bit, or to detect the presence of abnormal pore pressure ahead of the bit. The hydraulic negative pressure pulse can also be used to enhance drilling and production of wells.

A portable self-standing electromagnetic (EM) field sensing locator system with attachments for finding and mapping buried objects such as utilities and with intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) displays. Accessories include a ground penetrating radar (GPR) system with a rotating Tx / Rx antenna assembly, a leak detection system, a multi-probe voltage mapping system, a man-portable laser-range finder system with embedded dipole beacon and other detachable accessory sensor systems are accepted for attachment to the locator system for simultaneous operation in cooperation with the basic locator system. The integration of the locator system with one or more additional devices, such as fault-finding, geophones and conductance sensors, facilitates the rapid detection and localization of many different types of buried objects.

Proppants having added functional properties are provided, as are methods that use the proppants to track and trace the characteristics of a fracture in a geologic formation. Information obtained by the methods can be used to design a fracturing job, to increase conductivity in the fracture, and to enhance oil and gas recovery from the geologic formation. The functionalized proppants can be detected by a variety of methods utilizing, for example, an airborne magnetometer survey, ground penetrating radar, a high resolution accelerometer, a geophone, nuclear magnetic resonance, ultra-sound, impedance measurements, piezoelectric activity, radioactivity, and the like. Methods of mapping a subterranean formation are also provided and use the functionalized proppants to detect characteristics of the formation.

A method and apparatus is disclosed for performing a seismic survey below the surface of a body of water and on the seabed. In one embodiment, a plurality of seismic data receivers are removably loaded in a carrier located above the surface of the water and the carrier is lowered into the water and placed at a depth relatively close to the seabed. Each of the receivers has a memory for recording the vibrations of the seabed and has a switch for activating the memory. A ROV is used to unload the receivers from the carrier and to deposit each receiver on the seabed and along a survey line. In one embodiment, the receivers comprise a frame, a pressure vessel for housing the memory and remotely activated controls, and a geophone that is separately planted into the seabed at a relatively short distance from the frame.

Hydraulic fracture dimensions and, optionally, fracture closure pressure and time are determined by adding particulate matter that discharges to create an acoustic signal to the proppant, allowing the particulate matter to discharge, and detecting the acoustic signal with geophones or accelerometers. The particulate matter may be spheres or fibers. The discharge may be explosion, implosion, detonation, or rapid combustion or ignition. The discharge may be triggered by fracture closure or by chemical reaction.

This invention discloses a valve that generates a hydraulic negative pressure pulse and a frequency modulator for the creation of a powerful, broadband swept impulse seismic signal at the drill bit during drilling operations. The signal can be received at monitoring points on the surface or underground locations using geophones. The time required for the seismic signal to travel from the source to the receiver directly and via reflections is used to calculate seismic velocity and other formation properties near the source and between the source and receiver. This information can be used for vertical seismic profiling of formations drilled, to check the location of the bit, or to detect the presence of abnormal pore pressure ahead of the bit. The hydraulic negative pressure pulse can also be used to enhance drilling and production of wells.

A seismic data collection unit having multiple separate geophones / geophone packages positioned in a housing wherein the geophones are offset from a vertical axis so that summing of the geophones' respective outputs minimizes certain noise in the unit's output. Specifically, the offset geophones are physically positioned or mathematically configured so as to be symmetrical about a selected vertical axis in order to cancel out certain noise in a seismic signal. The particular placement of the geophones within the housing is preferably selected so that the vertical axis around which the geophones are positioned passes through the center of gravity of the unit.

A method and device for seismic exploration of a subsea geologic formation by pickups set on the sea bottom and intermittently connectable to active data acquisition stations (11) brought nearby. Permanent passive reception stations (1) comprising a heavy pedestal provided with housings for seismic pickups (geophones (6), hydrophone (7)) which receive acoustic or seismic signals from the underlying formation are arranged at the bottom of the water body. When collection sessions for the signals received by the pickups are scheduled, mobile active acquisition stations (11) connected to permanent passive reception stations (1) are positioned at the bottom of the water body. The signals picked up are then recorded, for the time required to carry out at least one session of acquisition and recording of the acoustic or seismic signals received by the passive stations in response to the emission of seismic waves by one or more seismic sources. The mobile active acquisition stations (11) are thereafter recovered at the surface and the records acquired by each one are transferred to a central collection laboratory.

A method is disclosed for processing seismic data from concurrently recorded co-located pressure sensors and geophones. The seismic data are processed by first determining an upgoing wavefield and a downgoing wavefield in the seismic data. Adaptive subtraction is then applied to at least one of the upgoing wavefield and the downgoing wavefield to remove the noise from the signal. In alternative embodiments, the upgoing wavefield can be used as a noise model for the downgoing wavefield or the downgoing wavefield can be used as a noise model for the upgoing wavefield.

Methods and apparatus for processing dual sensor (e.g., hydrophone and vertical geophone) data that includes intrinsic removal of noise as well as enhancing the wavefield separation are provided. The methods disclosed herein are based on a decomposition of data simultaneously into dip and frequency while retaining temporal locality. The noise removed may be mainly coherent geophone noise from the vertical geophone, also known as V(z) noise.

A method is disclosed for combining seismic data sets. This method has application in merging data sets of different vintages, merging data sets collected using different acquisition technologies, and merging data sets acquired using different types of sensors, for example merging hydrophone and geophone measurements in ocean bottom seismic data. In one embodiment, a desired data trace is to be determined from a set of measured data traces, and the following steps are applied: (a) model filters are constructed which express the deterministic relationship between the desired data trace and each available measured trace that depends on the desired data trace; (b) the noise properties associated with each measured data trace are determined; (c) a sufficient statistic for the desired data trace is formed by application of an appropriate filter to each measured trace and summing the filter outputs; (d) the sufficient statistic is further processed by a single-input single-output estimator to construct an estimate of the desired data trace from the sufficient statistic.

A seismic exploration method and unit comprised of continuous recording, self-contained wireless seismometer units or pods. The self-contained unit may include a tilt meter, a compass and a mechanically gimbaled clock platform. Upon retrieval, seismic data recorded by the unit can be extracted and the unit can be charged, tested, re-synchronized, and operation can be re-initiated without the need to open the unit's case. The unit may include an additional geophone to mechanically vibrate the unit to gauge the degree of coupling between the unit and the earth. The unit may correct seismic data for the effects of crystal aging arising from the clock. Deployment location of the unit may be determined tracking linear and angular acceleration from an initial position. The unit may utilize multiple geophones angularly oriented to one another in order to redundantly measure seismic activity in a particular plane.

The invention relates to a near-surface modeling method using tomography inversion of a two-step method. The near-surface modeling method specifically comprises the following steps of: (1) picking and inputting short-refraction first-break; (2) carrying out tomography inversion on the short-refraction first-break and outputting explanation results capable of reflecting fine velocity change in an extremely shallow stratum as shown in picture 2; (3) picking a big shot and recording first-break time; (4) interpolating short-refraction inversion results in combination with explanation results of a microlog in a work area by using a kriging method and building near-surface velocity body of the extremely shadow stratum; (5) meshing and constraining inversion initial-velocity modeling, replacing a near-surface velocity body at the extremely shallow stratum obtained in the last step into the shallow stratum part of the initial model generated at the big-shot first-break, replenishing the velocity loss of the extremely shallow stratum resulting from the excessive minimum offset distance of the big shot; (6) constraining generation of a weight field; and (7) inversing the near-surface velocity model by using a constrained chromatography method, picking the top interface of a high-speed layer on the basis of a velocity-depth model obtained by tomography inversion, and calculating static correcting values of a shot point and a geophone position.

A sensor arrangement is provided for use in the seismic investigation of geological formations below the seabed. A plurality of sensor nodes (20) are provided and are positioned gfor deployment on the seabed to collect pressure waves and shear waves from the geological formations and to transfer seismic data to a surface receiver. Each sensor node (20) may include a cylindrical structure (22), which is intended to penetrate downwardly into the seabed. At least one, preferably three, geophones (30-32) are positioned in connection with this structure (22). An advantageous method for operating a seismic mapping system with sensor arrangements orderly deployed on the seabed records data concerning system behavior and seismic data. This data may be further processed separately.

A method is provided for accurately determining the physical location of a deployed seismic geophone used in seismic investigations by using a portable navigational satellite receiver to obtain a set of navigational satellite measurements providing the position of the deployed geophone at the time of deployment of the geophone into the earth. A method is provided for automatically and accurately identifying and determining the physical location of a deployed geophone used in seismic investigations by using one or more portable navigational satellite receivers and an automatic geophone identification and tracking system at the time of geophone deployment.

An apparatus and method are disclosed for imaging a diffraction grating with a very high depth of focus, using a highly accurate code plate position measurement system. Positions may be measured to an accuracy of 1 nm or even smaller. The system may be used in fields such as manufacturing integrated circuits, and low- and very-low-frequency geophones, and other low- and very-low-frequency acoustic detectors.

The invention belongs to seismic data processing in petroleum geophysical exploration and geological engineering survey, and relates to near-surface velocity modeling and static correction in seismic exploration aiming at research and development of a shallow velocity model required for combined post static correction in a detector chamber of single-point high-density seism. A method for establishing a near-surface velocity model in high-density seismic static correction processing comprises the following steps of: supposing that the near-surface velocity is linearly increased along with the depth, calculating refracted wave velocity of different geophone offset from the travel time difference of primary waves of adjacent detection points of the high-density seism according to the physical property of the primary wave of the near-surface velocity field, establishing a near-surface ramp velocity field parameter according to the relationship between the geophone offset and the refracted wave, and further establishing the near-surface velocity model which can be directly used for static correction quantity calculation in seismic processing and also can be used as an initial model for tomographic inversion of near-surface velocity. The method has high calculation speed, and does not depend on the change of the initial position caused by a seismic focus.

A method and system for acquiring seismic data while conducting drill string operations in a wellbore. The seismic receiver combination set comprises a combination of orthogonal geophones and accelerometers, and an array of hydrophones.

The invention provides a uniformity quantitative analysis method of a three-dimensional observation system. The uniformity quantitative analysis method is as follows: by calculating non-uniformity coefficient of coverage time distribution, non-uniformity coefficient of geophone offset distribution, non-uniformity coefficient of azimuth angle distribution and non-uniformity coefficient of geophonecoverage, analyzing the distribution uniformity of coverage time, the geophone offset, the azimuth angle and the geophone coverage of the three-dimensional observation system qualitatively and quantitatively from two levels of a single surface element and a plurality of surface elements, instructing the design of the observation system, and providing basis of judgment for the accuracy of acquisition construction, so that the selection of the three-dimensional observation system can be more scientific, reasonable and objective.

Provided are a method and a device for tunnel advance geology forecast with tunnel face blasting as a focus. The method comprises the steps of (1) drilling holes on two lateral walls at the inlet position in a tunnel; (2) filling a coupling agent into the drilled holes, and attaching weave detectors to the walls of the drilled holes; (3) winding a trigger circuit copper wire on cartridged explosive, and placing the cartridged explosive into a blasted hole of the tunnel face; (4), enabling two three-component weave detectors buried in a tunnel hole to receive reflective earthquake wave signals; (5) sending the signals to an amplifier after the signals are selected by a multi-way switch; (6) enabling the amplifier to amplify the signals and then transmit the signals to an analog / digital (A / D) converter through wireless transmission; (7) enabling a wireless communication module of a control chamber to receive a wireless signal and then transmit the wireless signal to a host, and recording the signal; and (8) achieving geology forecast through an processing program installed in the host. The device comprises signal acquisition, wireless communication and control and a data analyzing system. The method is simple, easy and low in cost, can be used for advance geology forecast of tunnels, holes and roadway underground spaces, and achieves automation and normalization of geology forecast.

The invention discloses an electrochemical seism radiodetector based on MEMS (Micro-electromechanical Systems) technology and relates to the technology of seism detection. The electrochemical seism radiodetector can detect weak seismic wave. A sensitive unit with a laminar laminated structure is sealed in a cavity fully filled with electrolyte solution, wherein each layer of the sensitive unit comprises two pairs of electrodes and a channel insulating runner; the electrodes of each layer share the same plane, are arranged in an interdigital shape and are arranged on the front surface of the layer; and each channel insulating runner is arranged on the back surface of the related layer. When the seism radiodetector is vibrated by seismic wave, equivalently the seism radiodetector is acted by an accelerated speed, pressure gradient is generated in the solution, the ion concentration distribution and the velocity field of the solution are changed, and the electrochemical reaction speed at the electrodes is affected, so that electrode current is changed. The seismic wave is detected by measuring the change of the electrode current. Due to the adoption of the laminated and plane-shared interdigital electrodes in the sensor, the sensitivity of the radiodetector is improved, the consistency of the electrodes is high, and the width of the electrode and the distance between the electrodes are convenient to adjust.

The invention discloses a direct prestack time migration method for three-dimensional seismic data acquired from irregular surfaces, and the method is applied to the processing on reflected seismic information in seismic exploration. The method can be used for directly carrying out three-dimensional seismic data migration imaging (at different elevations) on shot points and geophone points acquired from irregular surfaces without statically correcting a processing process. In the method, no vertical emergence and incidence assumption is performed on nearsurface seismic wave propagation, therefore, the method can adapt to the situations which have no obvious low velocity region and velocity-reduction region such as high-velocity rock outcropping, and the like. In the method, the seismic wave propagation in near surfaces or stratums is described by using two equivalent speed parameters; and the two equivalent speed parameters can be determined according to the straightness of lineups inmigrated gathers, thereby avoiding the difficulties in near-surface velocity modeling. By using the method disclosed by the invention, the gathers subjected to migration can be subjected to remainingstatic correction, thereby effectively compensating the inherent errors existing in a land acquisition technology. The method has important application value in oil, gas and mineral resource exploration in complex surface areas.

There is provided herein a New system arid method of local attribute match filtering which operates in the local attribute domain via the use of complex wavelet transform technology. This approach is adaptable to address various noise types in seismic data and, more particularly, is well suited to reduce the noise in geophone data as long as an associated hydrophone signal is relatively noise-free.

The invention relates to a method for determining anisotropic parameters by utilizing the data of a three-dimensional VSP (Vertical Seismic Profile). The method comprises the following steps: when collecting the actual journey of the three-dimensional VSP, computing the time difference of each depth point; computing the anisotropic parameters of a VT I medium and the residual time difference after being corrected; determining the anisotropic parameters of an HT I medium according to the relation fitting between the residual time difference and the azimuth angle; computing the VT I anisotropic parameters of each depth point and the anisotropic parameters of the HT I medium point by point; obtaining the parameter curve of the relation that the anisotropic parameters are changed along with the depth; and eliminating the influence of the dynamic correction time difference which is changed along with the wellhead distance or the shot-geophone distance. In the method provided by the invention, the problem that the VT I anisotropic medium and the HT I anisotropic medium have the mutual interference is solved; the anisotropic influence of earthquake can be effectively eliminated; and the imaging quality of the earthquake and the prediction accuracy rate of oil gas are enhanced.