Development of a 300°C 3C Fiber Optic Downhole Seismic Receiver Array for Surveying and Monitoring of Geothermal Reservoirs
- Paulsson, Inc., Van Nuys, CA (United States); Paulsson, Inc.
To address the critical site characterization and monitoring needs for Enhance Geothermal Systems (EGS) programs, US Department of Energy (DOE) awarded Paulsson, Inc. in 2011 a contract to design, build and test a high temperature fiber optic based ultra-large bandwidth clamped borehole seismic vector array capable of deploying a large number of 3C sensor pods suitable for deployment into high temperature and high pressure boreholes. Paulsson, Inc. has completed a design or a unique borehole seismic system consisting of a novel drill pipe based deployment system that includes a hydraulic clamping mechanism for the sensor pods, a new sensor pod design and most important – a unique fiber optic seismic vector sensor with technical specifications and capabilities that far exceed the state of the art seismic sensor technologies. These novel technologies were all applied to the new borehole seismic system. In combination these technologies will allow for the deployment of up to 1,000 3C sensor pods in vertical, deviated or horizontal wells. Laboratory tests of the fiber optic seismic vector sensors developed during this project have shown that the new borehole seismic sensor technology is capable of generating outstanding high vector fidelity data with extremely large bandwidth: 0.01 – 6,000 Hz. Field tests have shown that the system can record events at magnitudes much smaller than M-4.0 at frequencies over 2,000 Hz. The sensors have also proved to be about 100 times more sensitive than the regular coil geophones that are used in borehole seismic systems today. The fiber optic seismic sensors have furthermore been qualified to operate at temperatures over 300°C (572°F). The data telemetry fibers used for the seismic vector sensors in the system are also used to simultaneously record Distributed Temperature Sensor (DTS) and Distributed Acoustic Sensor (DAS) data allowing additional value added data to be recorded simultaneously with the seismic vector sensor data.
- Research Organization:
- Paulsson, Inc., Van Nuys, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Geothermal Technologies Office (EE-4G)
- DOE Contract Number:
- EE0005509
- OSTI ID:
- 1339217
- Report Number(s):
- Final Report DE--EE0005509; 3107802219
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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