Deformation monitoring mechanism with multi-pixel angle-sensitive laser ranging
A monitoring device monitors deformation of a casing installed in a wellbore and housing a production tubing, and includes: a packer installed within an annulus between the casing and the production tubing; a deformable substrate that is disposed at an outer side of the annulus and contacts an inner surface of the casing to deform along with casing deformation; a light source that is disposed on the deformable substrate and emits light towards an inside of the annulus; an imaging device that is disposed in the packer to be opposite to the light source across the annulus and detects the light emitted from the light source; and a processor that produces a signal from the detected light, processes the produced signal, and transmits the processed signal to a surface control device that monitors the deformation of the casing based on the signal.
1. A monitoring device that monitors deformation of a casing installed in a wellbore and housing a production tubing extending from a surface into the wellbore, the monitoring device comprising:
a packer that is installed within an annulus between the casing and the production tubing;
a deformable substrate that is disposed at an outer side of the annulus and contacts an inner surface of the casing to deform along with the deformation of the casing;
a light source that is disposed on the deformable substrate and emits light towards an inside of the annulus;
an imaging device that is disposed in the packer to be opposite to the light source across the annulus and detects the light emitted from the light source; and
a processor that produces a signal from the detected light, processes the produced signal, and transmits the processed signal to a surface control device that monitors the deformation of the casing based on the signal.
2. The monitoring device according to claim 1 , wherein
the casing has a columnar shape, and
the deformable substrate is composed of anisotropic material such that the deformation of the deformable substrate propagates exclusively along a radial direction of the casing.
3. The monitoring device according to claim 1 , wherein
the deformable substrate is made of high-temperature elastomer, flexible thermoplastic, or shape memory polymer (SMP).
4. The monitoring device according to claim 1 , wherein
the deformable substrate has a thermal expansion of less than 0.01 (millimeter/kelvin) and a thermal conductivity of 0.03-0.1 (watts/(meter*kelvin)).
5. The monitoring device according to claim 1 , wherein
the packer includes a tube that penetrates the packer and through which a production flows, and
the imaging device is disposed on an outer peripheral surface of the tube.
6. The monitoring device according to claim 1 , wherein
the light source comprises a laser array including fiber coupled (FC) pulsed lasers, and
the imaging device comprises a sensor array that receives the light emitted from the FC pulsed lasers.
7. The monitoring device according to claim 6 , wherein one laser in the laser array emits a laser beam at a time and all sensors in the sensor array detect an intensity and an incident angle of the laser beam.
8. The monitoring device according to claim 6 , wherein the sensor array includes a charge coupled device (CCD) image sensor or a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor with angle sensitive pixels.
9. The monitoring device according to claim 8 , wherein
the processor encodes an arrival time and an incident angle of the light with respect to the sensor array to produce the processed signal.
10. A well system, comprising:
the monitoring device according to claim 1 ;
the production tubing that extends from the surface into the wellbore;
the casing that is installed in the wellbore and houses the production tubing; and
the surface control device that monitors the deformation of the casing based on the signal received from the monitoring device.
11. A method of monitoring deformation of a casing installed in a wellbore and housing a production tubing extending from a surface into the wellbore, the method comprising:
emitting, by a light source, light towards an inside of an annulus between the casing and the production tubing, wherein the light source is disposed on a deformable substrate that is disposed at an outer side of the annulus and that contacts an inner surface of the casing to deform along with the deformation of the casing;
detecting, by an imaging device, the light emitted from the light source, wherein the imaging device is disposed in a packer to be opposite to the light source across the annulus, the packer being installed within the annulus; and
producing, by a processor, a signal from the detected light, processing the produced signal, and transmitting the processed signal to a surface control device that monitors the deformation of the casing based on the signal.
12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein
the casing has a columnar shape, and
the deformable substrate is composed of anisotropic material such that the deformation of the deformable substrate propagates exclusively along a radial direction of the casing.
13. The method according to claim 11 , wherein
the deformable substrate is made of high-temperature elastomer, flexible thermoplastic, or shape memory polymer (SMP).
14. The method according to claim 11 , wherein
the deformable substrate has a thermal expansion of less than 0.01 (millimeter/kelvin) and a thermal conductivity of 0.03-0.1 (watts/(meter*kelvin)).
15. The method according to claim 11 , wherein
the packer includes a tube that penetrates the packer and through which a production flows, and
the imaging device is disposed on an outer peripheral surface of the tube.
16. The method according to claim 11 , wherein
the light source comprises a laser array including fiber coupled (FC) pulsed lasers, and
the imaging device comprises a sensor array that receives the light emitted from the FC pulsed lasers.
17. The method according to claim 16 , wherein
the emitting includes:
emitting a laser beam from one laser in the laser array at a time, and
the detecting includes:
detecting an intensity and an incident angle of the laser beam by all sensors in the sensor array.
18. The method according to claim 16 , wherein the sensor array includes a charge coupled device (CCD) image sensor or a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor with angle sensitive pixels.
19. The method according to claim 18 , further comprising: encoding an arrival time and an incident angle of the light with respect to the sensor array to produce the processed signal.