Well Diagnostic Imager ©
Zero Emissions Retrofit Well Health Monitoring System
Well Diagnostic Imager © What is it?
CHALLENGE
Eliminate life cycle, well related emissions, effluent discharge and other risks of environmental damage.
Provide conventional sensors for WIMS assurance
SOLUTION
Retrofit, wellhead mounted Well Health Monitoring Package which identifies high emissions integrity threats using non- invasive real time well integrity monitoring sensors which interfaces with client servers.
Low risk development to include standard, emerging and development sensors, customisable to application
Well Diagnostic Imager © What does it do?
WHAT IT CAN TELL YOU
Prewarns of failure (well structure, near wellbore and in overburden)
Pressure monitoring for tubing and casing
Gas / liquid leaks
Well/wellhead condition indication
Abnormal internal or external events –well performance trends
Advises probable cause and potential remedial action
Well performance profile indication, ultra long wells
Integrity of abandoned wells
BENEFITS COMPARED TO CURRENT SENSOR APPLICATION
Retrofittable, incorporates existing sensors but adds more features
Sensor offerings to suit increased integrity / abandonment / CCS
Wireless Sensor Network / Battery / Energy harvesting design
Wellhead / flowline / separator mounted
Well-specific sensor combination
Real time with local processing – low bandwidth data requirements
Easily upgraded with non-intrusive sensors (e.g. clamp or bond to well)
Low cost, greater flexibility
Well Diagnostic Imager © Sensors and Data Sources Status
NO NEED TO RE-ENGINEER WHAT ALREADY EXISTS
Off the Shelf Sensors
Pressure -THP and CHP, SSSV control line, chemical injection pump and tank levels
Temperature
Sand production (erosion probe)
Incremental improvements to reduce power consumption / battery life
Novel sensors – commercially available from SME suppliers
Novel sensors are commercially available, but typically not offered or integrated by the larger companies: Difficult to justify as separate systems?
Non intrusive/bonded sensors
Vibration monitoring
Wellhead / flowline strain
Corrosion under insulation (CUI)
Wall thickness corrosion / erosion monitoring
Intrusive sensors
Annular and tubing liquid levels
Gas well water cut
SENSOR R&D – AT PROOF OF CONCEPT
Prove and develop new sensors with aim to meet specific client needs
Well integrity, emissions, security
Corrosion noise sensing DC potential and low frequency EM noise
Flowline fluid identification gas breakthrough
Separator monitoring sand deposition
Gas / Oil / Water leak detection (small area sensing)
Acoustic / Sound monitoring non fibre based point sensing security, unusual well events, leaks, sabotage, pump operation, etc
In well hydrophone flow phenomena, tubing integrity
VISUAL MONITORING – PACKAGING AND IMAGE PROCESSING
WellCam – provides affordable, dashcam-like monitoring for hazardous areas
Battery powered, Wireless data, Hazardous area enclosure
Image / video capture to schedule or in case of event
Image processing for activity or changes
Can be used to monitor valves or gauges in close up mode
FLIR sensor for gas leak detection
R&D Example Corrosion Management
R&D EXAMPLE
As an example, corrosion activity can be monitored using noise spectra as shown in the illustration below.
The output allows for diagnostic analysis and preventative maintenance to be undertaken before critical component failure.
DC and low frequency corrosion monitoring
Real time corrosion monitoring: ability to monitor whole system for corrosion activity including mixed metal systems.
Traditional DC monitoring with additional low frequency to enhance detection of galvanic corrosion between dissimilar metals.
Stainless and mild steel have clear spectral differences even when they have similar DC potentials and could be considered passivated.
More testing / field recording is required but indications are positive.
Implementation will be straightforward.
R&D Example Sand Detection in Vessels
R&D EXAMPLE
Sand deposits in separator vessels can displace significant liquid volumes. This consequently increases the total mass of the system.
By monitoring natural (and potentially imparting low energy forced vibrations) it is possible to estimate the change in mass of a large vessel and therefore give early warning of sand build-up - external equipment only, not required to drain or modify the vessel.
Timelapse shows scale model with 0 to 10kg of sand added
2nd trace: resonance in vertical direction reduces frequency as sand mass increases
Retrofittable vibration monitoring
Low power vibration sensors with AI capability available
Packaging for Ex zone 1 environment required
Next step to deploy test hardware to flow loop or real location to gather data
Could be applied to flow lines for wax / scale deposition and possibly gas breakthrough
R&D Example Camera Monitoring a Pressure Gauge
R&D EXAMPLE
An existing dial pressure gauge needs to be closely monitored for changes prior to a well intervention
A WellCam can be temporarily installed to monitor and upload data from the remote location
Automatic image recognition
Camera can be configured / trained to read the gauge and upload the result – lower and upper pressures and confidence level – lowest bandwidth/no human intervention
Image taken and processed every minute, update to server configurable or if a significant change is detected
Images stored locally and can be sent if bandwidth allows for human verification