Mud pump valve leak detection and forecasting

Inventors: Alejandro Camacho Cardenas (Singapore, SG); Vishwanathan Parmeshwar (Houston, TX); Manat Singh (Houston, TX)

Assignee: Schlumberger Technology Corporation

F04B51/00 F04B7/04 F04B53/1032 G01M3/224 G01M3/24 G01M3/2876 G01M3/38 E21B21/00 F04B15/02

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Quick Facts

Patent No.: US 12669118
App. No.: 18/491,346
Granted: Jun 30, 2026
Kind: B2

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Abstract

A system and method for controlling a pump in a drilling system, of which the method includes determining a plurality of baseline behaviors for one or more valves of the pump, determining a plurality of in-use behaviors for the one or more valves of the pump. Each of the plurality of in-use behaviors are determined based on one or more measurements from one or more sensors. The method also includes comparing the in-use behaviors and the baseline behaviors, and forecasting, based on the comparison of the in-use behaviors and the baseline behaviors, a remaining useful life of the at least one of the one or more valves.

Claims (34)

1 . A method for controlling a pump in a drilling system, the method comprising:

embedding at least one marker within a valve element of at least one valve of the pump, wherein the at least one marker comprises a plurality of different materials that are detectable in a fluid pumped by the pump, and wherein the plurality of different materials are successively released into the fluid in response to wear of the valve element;

determining baseline behaviors for the at least one valve of the pump by determining a first amount of the plurality of different materials present in the fluid downstream of the pump using at least one sensor;

determining in-use behaviors for the at least one valve of the pump by determining a second amount of the plurality of different materials present in the fluid downstream from the pump using the at least one sensor;

comparing the in-use behaviors and the baseline behaviors by comparing the first and second amounts of the plurality of different materials in the fluid downstream from the pump; and

forecasting, based on the comparison of the in-use behaviors and the baseline behaviors, a remaining useful life of the at least one valve.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the first amount of the plurality of different materials present in the fluid downstream from the pump comprises detecting, via the at least one sensor, at least one property of the plurality of different materials present in the fluid downstream from the pump, the at least one property including an optical property, an acoustic property, or a radiation-based property, and wherein determining the second amount of the plurality of different materials present in the fluid downstream from the pump comprises detecting, via the at least one sensor, the at least one property of the plurality of different materials present in the fluid downstream from the pump.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor relies on a laser or an ultrasound.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of different materials are suspended in the fluid upon release into the fluid.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of different materials are dissolved in the fluid upon release into the fluid.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of different materials are radioactive, wherein determining the first amount of the plurality of different materials present in the fluid downstream from the pump comprises detecting, via the at least one sensor, the radioactivity of the plurality of different materials, and wherein determining the second amount of the plurality of different materials present in the fluid downstream from the pump comprises detecting, via the at least one sensor, the radioactivity of the plurality of different materials.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one marker includes a first marker comprising a first plurality of different materials used to determine the baseline behaviors and a second marker comprising a second plurality of different materials used to determine the in-use behaviors.

8 . A system for pumping fluid into a well, the system comprising:

a pump comprising at least one valve;

a leakage detection system coupled to the pump and comprising at least one sensor;

at least one marker embedded within a valve element of the at least one valve, wherein the at least one marker comprises a plurality of different materials that are detectable in a fluid pumped by the pump, and wherein the plurality of different materials are successively released into the fluid in response to wear of the valve element; and

a processor coupled to the leakage detection system, the processor configured to perform operations by executing computer-readable instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the operations comprising:

determining baseline behaviors for the at least one valve by determining a first amount of the plurality of different materials present in the fluid downstream from the pump using the at least one sensor;

determining in-use behaviors for the at least one valve by determining a second amount of the plurality of different materials present in the fluid downstream from the pump using the at least one sensor;

comparing the in-use behaviors and the baseline behaviors by comparing the first and second amounts of the plurality of different materials in the fluid downstream from the pump; and

forecasting, based on the comparison of the in-use behaviors and the baseline behaviors, a remaining useful life of the at least one valve.

9 . The system of claim 8 , wherein determining the first amount of the plurality of different materials present in the fluid downstream from the pump comprises detecting, via the at least one sensor, at least one property of the plurality of different materials present in the fluid downstream from the pump, the at least one property including an optical property, an acoustic property, or a radiation-based property, and wherein determining the second amount of the plurality of different materials present in the fluid downstream from the pump comprises detecting, via the at least one sensor, the at least one property of the plurality of different materials present in the fluid downstream from the pump.

10 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of different materials are suspended in the fluid upon release into the fluid.

11 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of different materials are dissolved in the fluid upon release into the fluid.

12 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of different materials are radioactive, wherein determining a first amount of the plurality of different materials present in the fluid downstream from the pump comprises detecting, via the at least one sensor, the radioactivity of the plurality of different materials, and determining a second amount of the plurality of different materials present in the fluid downstream from the pump comprises detecting, via the at least one sensor, the radioactivity of the plurality of different materials.

13 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the at least one marker includes a first marker comprising a first plurality of different materials used to determine the baseline behaviors and a second marker comprising a second plurality of different materials used to determine the in-use behaviors.

14 . A non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a computing system, cause the computing system to perform operations, the operations comprising:

determining baseline behaviors for at least one valve of a pump, by determining a first amount of a plurality of different materials successively released from at least one marker embedded within the at least one valve, the plurality of different materials being present in a fluid downstream from the pump and detected using at least one sensor;

determining in-use behaviors for the at least one valve of the pump, by determining a second amount of the plurality of different materials successively released from the at least one marker embedded within the at least one valve, the plurality of different materials being present in the fluid downstream from the pump and detected using the at least one sensor;

comparing the in-use behaviors and the baseline behaviors by comparing the first and second amounts of the plurality of different materials in the fluid downstream from the pump; and

forecasting, based on the comparison of the in-use behaviors and the baseline behaviors, a remaining useful life of the at least one valve.

15 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions of claim 14 , wherein the at least one marker includes a first marker comprising a first plurality of different materials used to determine the baseline behaviors and a second marker comprising a second plurality of different materials used to determine the in-use behaviors.

16 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions of claim 14 , wherein determining the first amount and the second amount of the plurality of different materials comprises detecting, via the at least one sensor, radioactivity of the plurality of different materials of the at least one marker.

17 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining a confidence level in the determination of the remaining useful life based on a relative change between successive amounts of the plurality of different materials released into the fluid.