The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for governmental purposes without payment of any royalties thereon or therefor.
(1). Field of the Invention
The instant invention relates to an instrumented cable using optical fiber for many types of measurements, and more particularly to measure the temperature profile of a body of water as a function of depth using an instrumented fiber optic tow cable and to measure a temperature profile for oil wells.
(2). Description of the Prior Art
There are several approaches for measuring temperature with fiber-optic-based sensors that are already available in the prior art. However, one of the main obstacles of using this technique is to design a system that is sufficiently rugged to survive deployment and retrieval through handling systems at high tensions over a limited diameter sheave or a winch. Nonetheless, the use of optical fibers to measure various physical parameters such as light transmission in different media is on the increase due to the compact size and the ease of operation of optical fiber detectors in various environments. As an example, use of optical fibers to measure the temperature profile of a body of water as a function of depth is quite important as the water temperature affects the propagation of acoustic waves in the body of water and thus affects sonar performance. The temperature of the water is also important to the fishing industry, because some species of fish stay within water having very precise temperature bounds. Still another area of interest is to measure temperature profile in an oil well. It is thus desirable to integrate an optical fiber tow cable as a detector for making measurements of various parameters including temperature profile of a body of water and/or and oil well using a state-of-the art tow cable with optical fibers.
In accordance with the principal object of the present invention, an armored fiber optic cable is integrated with the means for measuring temperature of a body of water and/or obtaining temperature profile in an oil well. In the fiber optic tow cable, a plurality of optical fibers enclosed in tubes are interspersed among the armor wires comprising either a typical double-plow steel wire or KEVLAR™ fiber tow cable as taught by Holmberg in U.S. Pat. No. 5,212,755; dated 18 May 1993, assigned to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy. A series of temperatures sensors are incorporated into the optical fibers integrated in the tow cable. This patent is incorporated by reference in subject patent application. Subject invention further teaches the use of a light source which illuminates on the optical fibers used and the scattered light is received by a receiver which sends the signals for processing in a processor to obtain temperature profile of the body of water or that of an oil well as a function of depth.
It is an object of subject invention to integrate fiber optic sensors into a state-of-the-art tow cable.
Still another object of subject invention is to use temperature sensors in conjunction with the optical fibers to measure a temperature profile of a body of water.
Still another object of subject invention is to use an instrumented tow cable to measure a temperature profile of an oil well.
Another object of subject invention is to use steel armor wires to protect the optical fibers used in the system.
Another object of subject invention is to use KEVLAR™ fibers or wires to protect the optical fibers used in the system for measuring temperature profile.
Still another object of subject invention is to use the optical fibers fitted with temperature sensors in the outer most layer wherein either armor steel wires or armor KEVLAR™ fibers are used as armor wires.
Other objects features and advantages of the invention shall become apparent as the description thereof proceeds when considered in connection with accompanying illustrative drawings.
A more complete understanding of the invention and many of the attendant advantages thereto will be readily appreciated as the same become better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:
Referring now to
It should also be noted that in embodiment 1 as shown in
It should be noted that the inventive concept of subject invention is the concept of integration of optical fibers with the system of measuring the temperatures at various depths of a fluid. The system of measuring the temperatures using a light source, a receiver and a processor can be varied without deviating from the teachings of subject invention.
Another preferred method for measuring temperature is via Raman scattering coupled with an adaptation of Optical Time Domain Reflectometry (OTDR). This provides a direct measurement of the temperature over cells determined by a type of time of arrival processing of the scattered energy.
While there is shown and described herein certain specific structure embodying the invention, it will be manifested to those skilled in the art that various modifications and rearrangements of the parts may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the underlying inventive concept. As an example, armor wires could be either steel wires or KEVLAR™ fibers. Furthermore, the system for measuring the temperature of the fluid as a function of depth of a fluid using a light source, a receiver and a processor can be varied without deviating from the teachings of subject invention except insofar are indicated by the scope of the appended claims.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20040208224 A1 | Oct 2004 | US |