Water Hold-Up Meter Data Compression via Statistical Extraction
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Solution Overview
Problem
The limited bandwidth of wire-line connections between downhole devices and the surface in boreholes restricts the efficient collection and processing of water hold-up data, necessitating a method to reduce data transmission requirements for real-time monitoring and analysis in hydrocarbon extraction operations.
Innovation Solution
A water hold-up meter device with a circular array of resistance probes and a data compression technique using mean and standard deviation calculations, allowing for reduced data transmission by only sending these statistical values instead of raw resistance measurements, thereby optimizing data bandwidth usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If continuous resistance measurements are taken at multiple locations across the borehole, then the accuracy and reliability of water hold-up data is improved, but the data transmission bandwidth requirement increases beyond the capacity of wire-line connections
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential statistical parameters (mean and standard deviation) from the complete resistance measurement dataset, transmitting only these compressed values rather than the full raw data. This extraction approach maintains the ability to calculate accurate water hold-up while dramatically reducing the data volume that must be transmitted through the limited bandwidth wire-line connection.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transforms the resistance measurement data from its original raw form into statistical parameters (mean and standard deviation). This parameter transformation allows the data to represent the same physical information in a compressed format that is suitable for transmission through constrained communication channels while preserving measurement precision.
2Productivity
If raw resistance measurements are transmitted in real-time, then the data bandwidth usage is excessive, but if data is compressed then the transmission efficiency is improved
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential statistical parameters (mean and standard deviation) from the complete resistance measurement dataset, transmitting only these compressed values rather than the full raw data. This extraction approach maintains the ability to calculate accurate water hold-up while dramatically reducing the data volume that must be transmitted through the limited bandwidth wire-line connection.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a statistical representation (mean and standard deviation) that serves as a simplified copy of the complete resistance dataset. This statistical copy contains the essential information needed for water hold-up calculation while using minimal bandwidth, effectively replacing the need to transmit the full detailed dataset.
3Area of stationary object
If multiple sensors are deployed to cover the entire borehole cross-section, then the measurement coverage is improved, but the total data volume requiring transmission increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the data from multiple sensors by calculating statistical parameters (mean and standard deviation) that represent the collective information from all sensors. This merging approach allows comprehensive cross-sectional coverage to be achieved while transmitting only a single set of statistical values rather than separate data streams from each sensor.
Solution Approach 2:
The statistical parameters (mean and standard deviation) serve as a universal representation that captures the essential information from multiple sensors simultaneously. These universal parameters can represent the entire borehole cross-section coverage without requiring separate transmission channels for each sensor.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach significantly reduces data transmission needs, enabling efficient real-time monitoring and decision-making while maintaining accurate water hold-up calculations with minimal error, even in complex fluid mixtures, and can be applied to other bipolar distributions like capacitance or density.
Implementation Method 1
A resistance based water hold up meter works by sensing the apparent resistance of the fluid in the bore hole or drill pipe at an array of points across the area of the bore hole. Any water present will generally contain sufficient salts to make it significantly lower in resistivity than the hydrocarbons.
Data Source
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AI summary
An apparatus for determining the concentration of a conductive fluid present in a fluid filled bore hole is described. Such apparatus are known as water hold-up meters and are frequently used in oil, gas and water filled bore holes. In bore hole applications, data bandwidth between a down hole device and the surface can be limited, while determining water hold-up based on down hole measurements can be data intensive. A technique is proposed for calculating the water hold up that requires less data to be transmitted between the down hole device and the surface.