WO2003060281A2

WO2003060281A2 - Stacked borehole packer modules

Info

Publication number: WO2003060281A2
Application number: PCT/US2002/041527
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ramsey Haught; Ray D. Solbau; John R. Clyde; Paul J. Cook
Original assignee: The Regents Of The University Of California
Priority date: 2001-12-21
Filing date: 2002-12-20
Publication date: 2003-07-24
Also published as: AU2002361876A8; WO2003060281A3; AU2002361876A1

Abstract

An intelligent borehole packer module (200) is comprised of one or more inflatable elastic bladders (205) forming a packer section with an on board controller (210) inflating or deflating each elastic packer (205) independently. Additional controller-actuated valves (230) allow for selective sampling or well injection. Since the controllers (210) can be connected in a parallel manner to the controller power and communication cable (220), and the same two tubes (250, 255) (one for packer inflation pressure, and one for injection or sampling) enter and leave all modules (200), a string of intelligent borehole packer modules (200) may be assembled to arbitrary length of independently addressable packer sections. The on board controller (210) can also function as a data collection and alarm device by reading various analog and digital sensors located within the packers (205). Entire boreholes can now be simultaneously sealed with packer sections to better simulate undisturbed rock and soil without packer repositioning and subsequent borehole deterioration due to packer movement.

Description

SERIALLY STACKED BOREHOLE PACKER MODULE WITH LOCAL CONTROL, MONITORING, AND DATA

COLLECTION

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERAL FUNDING

This invention claims priority from U.S. provisional patent application number 60/345,159 filed on December 21, 2001, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERAL FUNDING

This invention was made with U.S. Government support under Contract Number DE- AC03-76SF00098 between the U.S. Department of Energy and The Regents of the University of California for the management and operation of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The U.S. Government has certain rights in this invention.

REFERENCE TO A COMPUTER PROGRAM

Not applicable.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the oil and gas industry, and more particularly to borehole devices for sealing and instrumenting boreholes for studies in a variety of underground well-based environments.

Description of the relevant art

A packer is an expandable plug used to isolate sections of a well or borehole for pumping, fluid and/or gas injection or data collection. The packer module comprises an inner metal tube or pipe body with one or more inflatable elastic elements on the outside, attached at both ends to the outer diameter of the metal body. An inflation port allows pressurized gas or liquid to enter between the metal body and the inflatable elastic bladder to expand the inflatable elastic bladder. When lowered into a well or borehole, the inflatable elastic bladder can be inflated to seal against the interior bore of a well, thus preventing gas or fluid from moving along the outside of the packer at the packer — well bore interface. With packers sealing a geological structure (typically a fracture or fault), a gas, liquid, or gas/liquid mixture may be injected into the structure as desired. Inflatable well borehole packers have been used in the oil and gas industry since the 1940s.

Packers may be connected together with sections of piping to isolate different geological locations of a well. However, due to limitations in present-day packer design, only a few packer modules can be sequentially connected due to the following reasons.

Dedicated tubing and wires are passed through the interior of the metal bodies of most packer modules to provide gas or liquid for injection, pumping or inflation, and for connection to pressure sensors, temperature sensors, etc. for data collection terminating at a particular dedicated packer module. With each packer having n dedicated lines comprised of tubing or wires, in traditional implementations, m packers will require m*n dedicated lines. At some point, the cross-sectional area of the aggregated bundle of m*n lines exceeds the available packer interior area. The number of packers that can be fastened together is therefore limited due to the sequential buildup in the number of wires and tubes passing through the packer bodies, and through the sections of pipe that connects them together, as described below.

Present day packer modules are essentially inflatable borehole instrumentation and control systems for surface-based pressurization and instrumentation electronics systems. The electrical cables used for control and measurement, as well as fluid tubes used for inflation, injection and sampling for each packer section are traditionally sequentially passed internally through each of the preceding packer modules. The large amount of cabling and tubing required for each packer module to connect to the surface to the appropriate electronic control and instrumentation devices limits the maximum number of packer modules that can be sequentially connected mechanically to each other. With typical small diameter, hence less expensive, wells and boreholes, there is very little cross sectional area available for the tubes and wires from several packer modules to pass through the packer module closest to the surface where the pressurization and data acquisition systems are located. This traditional method of wiring and tubing limits a packer string to a typical maximum packer string length of about four packer modules.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One embodiment of the present invention is directed toward flow characterization of geological fracture fields, both above and below the water table. Another embodiment of this invention is reservoir development. The intelligent borehole packer may be used in a variety of geological implementations:

1. single-hole and cross-hole pneumatic and fluid testing in both transient and steady state conditions, 2. monitoring inflatable elastic bladder — borehole seals by monitoring pressures above and below a particular inflatable elastic bladder,

3. gas or liquid sampling from individual zones between inflated elastic bladders,

4. tracer testing for transport studies by injecting between inflated elastic bladders at different depths and sampling between any of the other inflated elastic bladders along the packer string in the borehole or in surrounding boreholes that have been instrumented with packer strings, and

5. elimination of geological strata cross-contamination by separation of different lithologies and pollutants, by emplacing a long contiguous packer string within the borehole.

The present borehole packer string comprises:

one or more (e.g. three) serially stacked module shells, each module shell enclosing an injector/sampler tube, an inflation supply tube (typically supplying air, although other liquids, fluids, or their mixtures may be used), and an electrical cable;

the injector/sampler tube extending the length of each module shell and connecting to the outside of the borehole in order to remove samples from and inject fluid into the borehole;

one or more (e.g. four) inflatable elastic bladders mounted to the outside of each module shell for sealing the borehole when inflated; an electronic controller in the module shell communicating with data collection and control systems equipment outside of the borehole via connection with the electrical cable, further connected to a valve system for addressably controlling the inflation and deflation of each inflatable elastic bladder and, further, for controlling injection and sample removal through the injection/sampler tube, and further for monitoring the inflation status of the inflatable elastic bladders;

the electronic controller in the module shell connecting to one or more sensors enclosed by the module shell for monitoring ambient borehole physical conditions selected from the group comprising temperature, pressure, density, current, voltage, tilt, flow, deflection, distance, optical and electromagnetic vectors; and

the inflation supply tube extending the length of each module and connecting to a pressure source (such as a compressor or pressurized gas canister) outside of the borehole in order to provide inflation fluid (e.g. air) from the outside to each inflatable elastic bladder.

The present borehole packer may also comprise one or more sensors disposed in various locations within the module shell for monitoring fluid pressure within and external to the borehole in response to sealing the borehole with the inflatable bladders and injecting fluid into the borehole. Some of these pressure sensors may be directly connected to one or more inflatable elastic bladders to detect bladder integrity. Input from other sensors may also be used to control fluid flow through the injector/sampler tube. By injecting fluid above an inflated elastic bladder, and detecting pressures below the bladder, it is possible to detect whether the bladder has in fact sealed the borehole. For example, a borehole is sealed by one of the inflated elastic bladders if the inflatable elastic bladder is first inflated, an initial pressure measured in the borehole below the bladder, fluid injected above the bladder, and the borehole pressure below the inflated elastic bladder remains essentially unchanged. A change in pressure beyond the seal of an inflated elastic bladder implies that fluid has passed around the bladder to raise the pressure beyond the seal, implying imperfect sealing, or geological features that allow for fluid and/or gas circulation around the bladder seal. In either case, a pressure rise would indicate that, regardless of the cause, the bladder would not seal this particular wellbore position. The present borehole packer also provides a method of measuring geological conditions in the vicinity of a borehole, comprising the steps of:

(a) inflating a predetermined array of addressably inflatable bladders so as to create an array of discretely isolated borehole spaces defined by at least one inflated bladder;

(b) measuring within the array of discretely isolated borehole spaces one or more ambient borehole physical conditions selected from the group comprising temperature, pressure, density, current, voltage, tilt, flow, deflection, distance, optical and electromagnetic vectors;

(c) optionally injecting a fluid and/or gas into the array of discretely isolated borehole spaces at one or more predetermined injection points; and

(d) measuring within the array of discretely isolated borehole spaces one or more ambient borehole physical conditions selected from the group comprising temperature, pressure, density, current, voltage, tilt, flow, deflection, distance, optical and electromagnetic vectors;

(e) carrying out steps (a) through (d) without movement of the addressably inflatable bladders axially in the borehole.

That is, the present invention provides a means for carrying out different measurements within a borehole without the necessity of moving the borehole packer array between tests, thereby minimizing mechanical abrasion damage to the borehole packer and geological structure damage to the borehole. With prior art arrangements, the entire packer string had to be moved within the borehole in order to define different discretely isolated borehole regions.

Another embodiment of the intelligent borehole packer comprises a module shell with an entrance end and an exit end; an injector/sampler tube for injection or extraction entering the entrance end and exiting the exit end of said module shell, the injector/sampler tube in fluid communication with an ambient atmosphere external to the module shell through a controllable injector/sampler valve; one or more inflatable elastic bladders with an interior volume inflatably mounted to said module shell, and expanding outside said module shell upon inflation of the interior volume; a controller attached to and enclosed within said module shell; a cable connected to said controller, entering the entrance end and exiting the exit end of said module shell; an inflation tube, entering the entrance end and exiting the exit end of said module shell; and a valve system mounted inside said module shell and controlled by said controller for independently addressably pressurizing or depressurizing each of said inflatable elastic bladders by independently valving each of said inflatable elastic bladder interior volumes to either said inflation tube or a vent exiting said module shell. The cable in this and other embodiments is preferably an electrical cable, although it may be any cable structure that provides for power, communication, and control of the packer module controller. As such, the cable may readily be electrical, electrical and optical, and even purely fiber optical if another source of power local to the packer module is provided.

Another embodiment of the intelligent borehole packer comprises a module shell, enclosing a controller, one or more inflation valves, and an injector/sampler valve, the inflation valve addressably controlled by the controller, the injector/sampler valve controlled by the controller; a cable entering and leaving the module shell, the cable communicating with the controller; one or more inflatable elastic bladder having two ends sealed to the module shell, each having an inflatable interior region in fluid communication with the associated inflation valve; an inflation supply entering and leaving the module shell, the inflation supply in fluid communication with the inflation valve, whereby the inflation supply may be used to inflate the inflatable interior region of the inflatable elastic bladder through actuation of the associated inflation valve by the controller; and an injector/sampler tube entering and leaving the module shell, controllably in fluid communication with an ambient region exterior to the module shell through controller controlled actuation of the injector/sampler valve.

In another embodiment, a method of intelligent borehole packer application comprises the steps of: distributing a sequence of serially interconnected intelligent borehole packers in a well borehole, each intelligent borehole packer having a controller and one or more inflatable elastic bladders controlled by the controller, the intelligent borehole packers sequentially connected so as to pass an inflation supply, an injector/sampler tube, and a communication cable, each intelligent borehole packer having one or more injector/sampler ports in fluid communication with the injector/sampler tube controlled by the controller; connecting a proximally located intelligent borehole packer sequence to a surface control station, the surface control station capable of: communicating with the controllers in each intelligent borehole packer; and inflating a prescribed set of intelligent borehole packers by supplying a first pressurized fluid, gas, or gas/fluid mixture to the inflation supply. The communication cable in this embodiment provides for communication and control of the packer module controller from a remote, surface, control station.

In another embodiment, the intelligent borehole packer string comprises:

a proximal and distal end on the intelligent borehole packer string, wherein the distal end is sealed and covered by a protective cap to protect the otherwise exposed injector/sampler tube, inflation tube, and electrical cable;

the proximal end electrical cable is connected to an instrumentation data acquisition system, preferably a surface-base system;

the proximal end of the injector/sampler tube is connected to either or switchably both a surface injector pump for forcing fluid into the injector/sampler tube, or sampling pump for pumping wellbore fluid to the surface for sample; and

the proximal end of the inflation tube is connected to an inflation system, preferably a surface-based inflation system. In this embodiment, proximal is nearest the surface of the well, and distal is furthest from the surface of the well.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be more fully understood by reference to the following drawings, which are for illustrative purposes only:

Figure 1 is a view of three packer strings of three sets of borehole packer modules, with four independently addressable inflatable elastic bladders per packer module, placed in the ground with two intersecting fracture zones intersecting the packer strings.

Figure 2 is a cut-away view of one borehole packer module, showing the internal packer module and module-to-module interconnection components. Figure 3 is a hydraulic schematic of the inflatable elastic bladder inflation, deflation, and monitoring components.

Figure 4 is a ghosted view of one borehole packer module, showing the internal packer module inflatable elastic bladder inflation components. Figure 5 is a hydraulic schematic of the fluid injection and sampling components.

Figure 6 is a ghosted view of one borehole packer module, showing the internal injection components.

Figure 7 is an enlarged cut away view of one borehole packer module, showing an on-board controller and relay board. Figure 8 is a cut away view of one borehole packer module, showing the internal module and module-to-module components, with all of the inflatable elastic bladders deflated.

Figure 9 is a view of three interconnected borehole packer modules forming a packer string, with all inflatable elastic bladders inflated. DETAILED DESCRD7TION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Definitions

A "packer" means a device containing an inflatable elastic bladder wrapped about a modular shell providing structural support for a packer module. When properly designed, the packer is capable of expanding to the outer diameter of a borehole or well, and thereby circumferentially sealing the borehole with packer inflation. Packers may be inflated upon pressurization by suitable gases, liquids, or gas/liquid mixtures. In the loose parlance of the oil and gas industry, both the inflatable elastic bladder and the entire modular shell incorporating the inflatable elastic bladder are confusingly used somewhat interchangeably. As used herein, the "packer" refers to the borehole sealing device. The term "inflatable elastic bladder" is used to specify the actual inflating member.

The term "controller" as used herein means any device capable of performing the communication and control operations used in this invention, including but not limited to: a microprocessor, a digital state machine, a field programmable gate array (FGPA), a digital signal processor, a collocated integrated memory system with microprocessor and analog or digital output device, a distributed memory system with microprocessor and analog or digital output device connected with digital, analog, and/or optical signal communication protocols, and discrete analog and/or digital components. The present controller is used to control inflation and deflation of the inflatable elastic bladders, optionally monitor borehole geophysical conditions, and provide alarms for geophysical conditions exceeding preset limits.

Introduction

The present borehole packer is based on a modular design wherein each packer module 200 comprises a series of adjacent inflatable elastic bladders 205. Each of the bladders is independently inflatable through a single air supply 250. The same air supply 250 connects each module in a series of packer modules forming a packer string.

A series of modules may be connected by control and supply lines. These lines preferably comprise:

(1) a cable 220 for electrical power and data transfer;

(2) an injector control supply 240, a conduit for delivering pressurized air to an air- controlled valve used to control the flow of fluid to be injected or sampled from the borehole packer;

(3) an inflation supply 250, a conduit for air to inflate each inflatable bladder; and

(4) an injector/sampler 255 tube for delivering gas, water, or other fluid to be injected into the borehole, or recovering samples from the borehole.

Numerous inflatable elastic bladders and packer modules can be connected by only the above connections. Furthermore, the injector control supply 240 can be eliminated by using air from the inflation supply 250 to control the valves, as described below. By using a manifold 270 in each module, with a separate packer inflation valve 230 for each inflatable elastic bladder 205, numerous bladders can be independently controlled from a single air supply.

The present borehole packer is termed an "intelligent" borehole packer in that a controller is located in the borehole packer shell. This controller, which is physically placed within the borehole for operation, may be pre-programmed or otherwise directed by an operator on the surface (or external to the wellbore) to direct the expansion or contraction of one or more inflatable elastic bladders for "packing," or circumferentially sealing, the borehole. This is done in conjunction with injection of fluids for borehole testing or removal of fluids for sampling. Thus, all of the valves, pressure sensors, and inflation and injection controls are in the borehole and housed within the packer modules. A large number of packer modules can be assembled in one borehole to forma a long contiguous packer string. The length of such a packer string is limited only by the addressability of the controllers used in the packer modules, the strength of the module shells and interconnections, and economics. Packer strings may therefore be comprised of 1-24, 1-32, or as many as 64 or 128. Although certainly not economical, the addressability of a 32 bit addressing scheme provides a theoretical limit of as many as 2³² packer modules, or more than four billion. Preferably, each module shell contains approximately four inflatable elastic bladders disposed on the exterior thereof so that, when inflated, the borehole is sealed. The present borehole packer string may comprise a number of packer modules, with spaces in between. The spaces may be isolated between and within packer modules, so as to isolate a predetermined section of a borehole.

Sampling can also be carried out within the borehole in association with various isolation routines.

The present borehole packer further comprises sensors in each module for sensing pressure, temperature, injection volume, etc. Each sensor is associated with a controller in a module for signal processing and/or data collection, alarm indication, and data communication. Because each module has a controller, signal processing can be done in parallel by using multiple sensors in multiple packer modules, facilitating shorter sampling time intervals. This is important in transient flow tests.

A variety of borehole segments may be created by inflating a predetermined array of inflatable elastic bladders, and the sample segment set can easily be changed without removing the packer string by altering the array of inflated elastic bladders. Pressure transients can be measured by sensors, controlled, e.g. by a microprocessor. Note that the predetermined array of inflated elastic bladders may be as little as a single bladder, or as many as all of the addressable bladders.

Borehole packer modules also provide flexibility in testing by using different combinations of sensors in the modules. Since packer strings need not be moved once initially emplaced within the borehole, the system reduces field personnel time and expense by acquiring data from the packer string's total length in one set-up. The packer string is adapted for use with analysis software for single and cross-hole pneumatic and fluid testing, gas or fluid sampling from individual zones, tracer testing for transport studies, and elimination of cross-contamination due to enhanced borehole sealing through remote detection of effective inflatable elastic bladder seals, and lack of packer string repositioning.

Packers are typically used as expandable plugs to isolate sections of a well or borehole for pumping, injection or data collection operations. Several packer modules may be connected together with sections of piping to isolate different parts of a well. By varying the length of the interconnecting pipe sections, discrete sections of a well may be created, defined by regions between inflated packer modules. The packers typically comprise a metal tube or pipe body with an elastic rubber element on the outside of the metal body and at attached both ends to the metal body. A metal body is typically used, however, other pipe-shaped bodies of fiberglass or nonmetallic construction may be used where necessary. The pipe body forms a module shell, with cables, tubes, valves, and controller protected inside and enclosed by the module shell. An inflation port allows gas to pass through the module shell to an inflatable region located between the module shell and the inflatable elastic element to expand the elastic. The inflatable region is thus formed by the module shell, and the inflatable elastic element, which is attached at both ends to the module shell. When inflated, the inflatable region expands the inflatable elastic element radially outward, away from the module shell. When lowered into a well or borehole, the inflatable elastic bladder element can be inflated to seal against the well bore. Since packers are generally sealed through one or more modular shells to ambient conditions, the well or borehole is thereby sealed into one or more distinct sealed regions. This sealing prevents air or fluid from moving from one side to the other of the inflated elastic bladders.

A serially stacked assembly of one or more interconnected packer modules is known as a packer string, or alternatively as a string of packers. Traditionally, the packer string is assembled with connecting tubes between each packer module, resulting in a limit only about four packer modules in a traditional packer string. Since these traditional packer strings are much shorter in length than the depth of a well, the packer string must be deflated and moved further into or out of the well for sealing and testing different borehole locations. Movement of the traditional packer string may cause degradation of the wellbore through crumbling of the surrounding geological structure, and may make the data acquired from some tests very questionable due to the changes of wellbore geology. Additionally, when the packer string is moved, the inflatable elastic members may come into contact with abrasive borehole, which may result in packer abrasion and potential inflation and/or sealing failure.

The present intelligent borehole packer comprises modular addressable units with inflatable elastic rubber elements, that can be stacked (or serially linked) together end-to- end to entirely seal almost any desired length of borehole with high spatial resolutions. This is in sharp contrast with traditional packer strings where, when using typical five- foot length packer modules, the longest continuous packer stringed well section is about twenty feet, with perhaps sixteen independent inflatable elastic bladders. Such traditional packer string has, depending on the type of measurements to be performed, over 32 tubes and wires routed to the surface. The intelligent borehole packer described here allows any number of different length intervals to addressably be opened anywhere along the packer string for the purposes of geophysical property sensing and flow studies. By using an embedded processor in each of the packer modules to control inflation of the rubber elements, injection points, and measurement of geophysical data, the maximum number of tubes passing through the packer string, regardless of length, is reduced from several per packer module to two for the entire packer string. The number of cables is reduced from the traditional several per packer section to one small (typically six conductor) electrical cable for the entire string.

Each intelligent borehole packer module is addressable from the surface, preferably using the RS-485 serial communication standard. The controller in each module can process the routine tasks of monitoring the module's status, reporting back to the surface computer the data collected from the sensors placed in the intelligent borehole packer (pressure, temperature, humidity, etc.), and generating any alarm signals based on measurements outside preset or algorithmically set limits. The data measurement can be done simultaneously in parallel with the other packer modules thus reducing the surface computer requirements to the activities of data collection and control. This data communication configuration parallelism allows for better time resolution of the sensor data, which is extremely important in transient flow tests. Alternative embodiments could use a combination electrical/optical cable for respective power and communication requirements. Yet other embodiments would move from the RS-485 communication standard to distributed internet connections such as fiber or wire-based 10/100 base T, or IEEE 1394 (Fire Wire) for high-speed data collection and communication. By addition of remote communications hardware at the surface of a well, an entire well field comprised of a plurality of emplaced packer strings could be remotely networked, measured, and controlled.

The local controller is remotely modifiable from the surface. Thus, modifications to data collection, alarm limits, or software triggering algorithms (when the controller has central processor-type functions) in each controller can be accomplished from the surface without removing the intelligent borehole packer string from the well bore.

By using the controller in each packer module to average the data collected, and transporting that information digitally, data measurement is greatly simplified. Additionally, since low-level analog signals are not being transmitted from down-hole sensors, data integrity and signal to noise ratios are greatly improved.

Borehole Module Structure

Referring now to Figure 1, three intelligent borehole packer strings 110, 120 and 130 are seen placed in the ground 101 in three different boreholes. The three strings intersect two geological fracture zones 140 and 150.

Refer now to Figure 2. Here we see an intelligent bore packer module 200 comprised of four inflatable elastic bladders 205. One of the four inflatable elastic bladders 205 can be seen to be attached at two ends 206 and 207, to the module shell 208 (shown here in cutaway view for clarity). The other three inflatable elastic bladders 205 are analogously attached to the module shell 208. An on-board central processing unit, or controller 210, receives power and data communications through a communication and power cable 220, which extends either to the surface of the well, or to other sequentially stacked intelligent borehole packer modules (not shown). The controller 210 is electrically connected to a relay board 225, which in turn is electrically interconnected with instrumentation, valves, or other devices internal to the packer module 200. Although the relay board 225 is implemented for convenience, the controller 210 may be directly connected with the instrumentation, valves, or other devices internal to the packer module 200. For clarity, the module 200 internal wiring details have been omitted.

Elastic Bladder Inflation and Leak Detection

Refer now to Figures 2, 3 and 4. A pressurized inflation supply 250 line (Figure 3) is valved to inflation manifold 270 for distribution by manifold supply valve 310. Each of the four inflatable elastic bladders 205 may be independently inflated or deflated through operation of its respective inflatable elastic bladder inflation valve 230. Four inflatable elastic bladder inflation valves 230, electrically actuated by controller 210 signals to relay board 225, connect the pressure in inflation manifold 270 from each of the four inflatable elastic bladders 205 to the inflation supply 250. Pressurization flows from the inflation supply 250 through the inflation manifold 270, and enters each of the four inflatable elastic bladders 205 through their respective bladder inflation ports 277 (Figure 4). The inflation manifold 270 is vented externally from the module 200 by manifold exhaust valve 320 after previously closing the manifold supply valve 310, to allow for depressurization of the inflation manifold 270 and any or all of the inflatable elastic bladders 205 through opening of the respective packer inflation valves 230. The inflation manifold 270 is again valved to the inflation supply 250 through the manifold supply valve 310 to allow for re-pressurization of the inflation manifold 270.

The inflation manifold 270 additionally has a pressure transducer. By sequencing the valving, pressurization and depressurization of each of the inflatable elastic bladders 205, and monitoring the inflation manifold 270 pressure, it is possible to detect leaks in any of the inflatable elastic bladders 205. Once a particular inflatable elastic bladder 205 is known to be leaky, it may optionally not be valved through its respective packer inflation valve 230, thereby isolating the leak to just those leaky inflatable elastic bladders 205. In this manner, a leak in one or more of the inflatable elastic bladders 205 does not have to have any impact on the inflation of any of the other non-leaky inflatable elastic bladders 205. Injection and Sampling

Refer now to Figures 2, 5 and 6. The injector control supply 240 is valved (by injector/sampling control valve 265) to a pinch valve 260 (a high flow, high pressure valve), which, when actuated allows a direct pressure connection from an injector/sampler tube 255 to the injection/sampling port 275 for either injection or sampling.

Two injection/sampling ports 275 are shown in Figure 6 between the first and last two inflatable elastic bladders 205 of a four-bladder module.

The injector control supply 240 tube is generally pressurized at a higher pressure than the inflation supply line 250. In an alternative embodiment (not shown), the injector control supply 240 tube could be pressure-reduced through a regulator to provide a locally derived inflation supply 250 line within each intelligent borehole packer module 200, thus not requiring a separate inflation supply 250 line to enter and exit each intelligent borehole packer module 200, thereby reducing the number of tubes passing through each intelligent borehole packer module 200 to a total of two.

[0001] Injector and sampler control valve 265 is preferably a three way valve with a first port connected to the injector control supply 240, and a second port to the pinch valve 260. A third port is vented externally from the intelligent borehole packer module 200. An injection/sampler pressure transducer 510 is isobarically ported with the injection/sampling port 275 to provide pressure monitoring of the ambient pressure when the pinch valve 260 is closed, or the injection pressure when open and undergoing injection.

Intelligent Borehole Packer Construction

Figure 7 is a close up view of the cutaway intelligent borehole packer module 200. The controller 210 is electrically connected to relay board 225 for distribution wiring to the valves, instrumentation, and other devices resident in the intelligent borehole packer module 200. All components must fit within the module shell 208 so that when the inflatable elastic bladders 205 are deflated, the components are not destroyed by contact with the well bore during packer insertion. Figure 8 shows an intelligent borehole packer module 200, similar to that of Figure 2, but with all inflatable elastic bladders 205 deflated.

Figure 9 shows a string of three of the intelligent borehole packer modules 200 with all inflatable elastic bladders 205 inflated. The total number of lines exiting the last module is three pressure tubes, and one electrical cable. As previously described in the alternate embodiment, only two pressure tubes are required, with an optional internal pressure regulator replacing the third line of the prior embodiment.

The description given here, and best modes of operation of the invention, are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. Many modifications, alternative constructions, and equivalents may be employed without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

Claims

CLAIMS We claim:

1. An intelligent borehole packer module comprising: a. a module shell with an entrance end and an exit end; b. an injector/sampler tube for injection or extraction entering the entrance end and exiting the exit end of said module shell, the injector/sampler tube in fluid communication with an ambient atmosphere external to the module shell through a controllable injector/sampler valve; c. one or more inflatable elastic bladders inflatably mounted to said module shell forming an interior volume between the bladder and the module shell, and expanding outside said module shell upon inflation of the interior volume; d. a controller enclosed within said module shell; e. an electrical cable connected to said controller, entering the entrance end and exiting the exit end of said module shell; f. an inflation tube, entering the entrance end and exiting the exit end of said module shell; and g. a valve system mounted inside said module shell and controlled by said controller for independently addressably pressurizing or depressurizing each of said inflatable elastic bladders by independently valving each of said inflatable elastic bladder interior volumes to either said inflation tube or a vent exiting said module shell.

2. An intelligent borehole packer string comprised of two or more of the intelligent borehole packer modules of claim 1 wherein: a. the injector/sampler tubes, inflation tubes, and electrical cables at the entrance end of each first intelligent bore packer are serially connected to the exit end of each second intelligent bore packer to form an intelligent borehole packer string.

3. The intelligent borehole packer string of claim 2 further comprises: a. a proximal and distal end on the intelligent borehole packer string, wherein the distal end is sealed and covered by a protective cap to protect the otherwise exposed injector/sampler tube, inflation tube, and electrical cable; b. the proximal end electrical cable is connected to an instrumentation data acquisition system; c. the proximal end of the injector/sampler tube is connected to a surface sampling system; and d. the proximal end of the inflation tube is connected to an inflation system.

4. The intelligent borehole packer of claim 1 further comprising: a. one or more sensors connected to and communicating with said controller, b. so that said controller can measure said sensor.

5. The intelligent borehole packer of claim 4 wherein said sensors are selected from the group consisting of temperature, pressure, density, current, voltage, tilt, flow, deflection, distance, optical and electromagnetic sensors.

6. The intelligent borehole packer of claim 1 further comprising: a. a pressure reducing system further comprising:

1. a high pressure input connected to said inflation tube and a lower pressure output for closing the injector/sample valve.

7. An intelligent borehole packer comprising: a. a module shell, enclosing a controller, one or more inflation valves, and an injector/sampler valve,

1. the inflation valve addressably controlled by the controller,

2. the injector/sampler valve controlled by the controller; b. an electrical cable entering and leaving the module shell, the cable communicating with the controller; c. one or more inflatable elastic bladder having two ends sealed to the module shell, each having an inflatable interior region in fluid communication with the associated inflation valve; d. an inflation supply entering and leaving the module shell, 1. the inflation supply in fluid communication with the inflation valve,

2. whereby the inflation supply may be used to inflate the inflatable interior region of the inflatable elastic bladder through actuation of the associated inflation valve by the controller; and e. an injector/sampler tube entering and leaving the module shell, controllably in fluid communication with an ambient region exterior to the module shell through controller controlled actuation of the injector/sampler valve.

8. The intelligent borehole packer of claim 7 further comprising: a. a pressure reducing system disposed between the inflation tube and the injector/sampler valve.

9. The intelligent borehole packer of claim 7 wherein: a. the electrical cable powers the controller.

10. A method of intelligent borehole packer application comprising the steps of: a. distributing a sequence of serially interconnected intelligent borehole packers in a well borehole,

1. each intelligent borehole packer having a controller and one or more inflatable elastic bladders controlled by the controller,

2. the intelligent borehole packers sequentially connected so as to pass an inflation supply, an injector/sampler tube, and an electrical cable,

3. each intelligent borehole packer having one or more injector/sampler ports in fluid communication with the injector/sampler tube controlled by the controller; b. connecting a proximally located intelligent borehole packer sequence to a surface control station,

1. the surface control station capable of:

1. communicating with the controllers in each intelligent borehole packer; and c. inflating a prescribed set of intelligent borehole packers by supplying a first pressurized fluid, gas, or gas/fluid mixture to the inflation supply.

11. The method of intelligent borehole packer application of claim 10 further comprising the steps of: a. injecting a second pressurized fluid, gas, or gas/fluid mixture to a prescribed set of ports in the intelligent borehole packer sequence by actuating one or more injector/sampler valves.

12. The method of intelligent borehole packer application of claim 10 further comprising the steps of: a. sampling a prescribed set of ports in the intelligent borehole packer sequence by placing the ports in fluid communication with an external ambient atmosphere surrounding the packer sequence.

13. The method of intelligent borehole packer application of claim 10 wherein: a. the sequence of intelligent borehole packers comprises one or more of the individual intelligent borehole packers.

14. The method of intelligent borehole packer application of claim 10 further comprising the steps of: a. setting an alarm trigger for an observable physical measurement monitored by one of the controllers, and b. triggering an alarm when the alarm trigger for the observable physical measurement is met or exceeded.

15. The method of intelligent borehole packer application of claim 14 wherein: a. the observable physical measurement monitored is selected from the group consisting of temperature, pressure, density, current, voltage, tilt, flow, deflection, distance, optical and electromagnetic vectors.

16. The method of intelligent borehole packer application of claim 10 further comprising the steps of: a. inflating one or more of the inflatable elastic bladders controlled by the controllers in the intelligent borehole packer sequence; b. injecting a second pressurized fluid, gas, or gas/fluid mixture to a prescribed set of injector/sampler ports in the intelligent borehole packer sequence; and c. detecting the sealing ability of the inflatable elastic bladders by remotely monitoring pressures among and outside the packer sequence.

17. The method of intelligent borehole packer application of claim 10 further comprising the steps of: a. sampling a prescribed set of ports in the intelligent borehole packer sequence by placing the injector/sampler ports in fluid communication with an external ambient atmosphere surrounding the intelligent borehole packer sequence.

18. The method of intelligent borehole packer application of claim 10 further comprising the steps of: a. injecting a second pressurized fluid, gas, or gas/fluid mixture to a first prescribed set of injector/sampler ports in the intelligent borehole packer sequence for a period of time; b. ceasing injection; c. waiting a prescribed dwell duration; and d. sampling a second prescribed set of injector/sampler ports in the intelligent borehole packer sequence for a period of time.

19. The method of intelligent borehole packer application of claim 18 further comprising the steps of: a. detecting the second pressurized fluid, gas, or gas/fluid mixture with the second prescribed set of injector/sampler ports in the intelligent borehole packer sequence.

20. The method of intelligent borehole packer application of claim 18 wherein: a. the second prescribed set of injector/sampler ports in the intelligent borehole packer sequence is a single injector/sampler port.