According to a consulting report by Memmes, as the oil and gas industry has just recovered from the long-term downturn, operators have a strong desire to increase the intelligence of underground wells, increase technological reliability, accelerate drilling speeds, and reduce the cost of downhole operations. demand. These factors together create a new era of MEMS-based directional drilling sensor technology.
In the history of oil and gas drilling, the basic principles and methods involving drilling sensor technology have only undergone two changes. The invention of the borehole sensor first appeared in the 1920s. Prior to this, the industry was basically blindly drilling. Drilling tools were developed using only simple techniques such as etching the glass out of the meniscus with acid in the bottle, or using other simple mechanical means to measure the deviation of the well.
In the 1970s, with the invention of magnetic guidance tools, a major revolution swept the entire industry. The principle is that most of today's modern directional drilling tools still comply. However, we are now witnessing the dawn of a new era - directional drilling sensors based on MEMS technology are being accepted as a reliable alternative to drilling.
Why MEMS?
With MEMS technology, humans create micro-mechanical devices with the most vivid imagination. Imagine that gears, transmissions, clutches, actuators, and even miniature turbine engines can be as big as nails. However, how can humans achieve this from a microscopic point of view? Even a modern precision computer-controlled machine can't satisfy the microscopic scale required for MEMS devices.
Directional drilling sensor technology based on MEMS gradually opens up
The secret lies in the innovation of semiconductor manufacturing technology. Like the devices that make the micro-transistors needed for today's powerful computers, semiconductor manufacturers can create microscopic mechanical components layer by layer. Material deposition, delamination, removal of excess material through photolithographic processes and etch processes enable patterning, which is a key technology for manufacturing MEMS devices.
MEMS manufacturing based on semiconductor technology not only miniaturizes devices to the extreme, but also makes them inexpensive and robust. Semiconductor factories are constantly trying to make chips or MEMS on the road. These economies of scale electronics use the same process, equipment, and low-cost materials, making MEMS an attractive technology for mass-production sensors.
The miniaturization of MEMS devices gives them inherent reliability. Based on semiconductor technology, these devices combine anti-fatigue components, so that MEMS structures will not fail through billions or trillions of cycles. The microscopic size of the MEMS device means smaller motion quality, which means that the reliability under shock and vibration is extremely good.
MEMS Economic Scale
In 1993, Analog Devices announced the first MEMS accelerometer. The mass production of the sensor first originated from the demand for airbag applications. Since then, MEMS have developed at an alarming rate. In fact, every cell phone now has MEMS accelerometers, magnetometers, and gyroscopes, and many cell phones also include MEMS pressure sensors (barometers) and microphones. Global shipments of sensors measured in megabytes sell for only a few dollars or less. As the market continues to expand, new applications of MEMS technology will continue to be discovered. According to 2017 Yole's "Status of MEMS Industry - 2017 Edition," the MEMS and sensor market will grow from 38 billion U.S. dollars in 2016 to 66 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, with a compound annual growth rate of 12%. From a shipment perspective, sensors and actuators (including SAW and BAW filters, oscillators, inkjet heads, micromirrors, microfluidic devices, etc.) will be from 650 in 2016 Billions rose to 138 billion in 2021.
Directional drilling sensor technology based on MEMS gradually opens up
MEMS and Sensor Market Size 2015~2021
Application of MEMS Technology in Directional Drilling
Surprisingly, almost all of today's electronic MWD systems use some sort of MEMS sensor. MEMS sensors have the natural features of sensing and quantifying secondary parameters such as drilling dynamics and functional failure. Sensors for measuring downhole shock, vibration and rotation parameters are commercially available, economical, and well-satisfied. However, MWD systems consistently use traditional sensor technology to perform critical borehole orientation measurements.
For a long time, the industry has been searching for alternatives to standard positioning sensors consisting of three-axis inertia (mechanical, quartz-based) accelerometers and three-axis fluxgate (ring-core) magnetometers. It is the main method of measuring the position of the wellbore. Traditional sensors are bulky, fragile, and expensive (sometimes equivalent to 100 to 1000 times the cost of a MEMS sensor), but they are very accurate, and dozens of temperature cycles can be performed repeatedly. Operators can tolerate very small errors or inaccurate positioning of the borehole, but it is difficult to certify alternative sensor technologies that can match the existing accuracy and temperature repeatability of traditional sensors.
Directional drilling market is gradually opening up to MEMS technology
Today's market demand is extremely harsh. The customer requested immediate receipt of a sufficient number of directional drilling sensors (eg, demand on the first day and delivery on the next day), and proved to be less expensive and more reliable and perform better than ever used sensors. Traditional sensor technology has become a negative textbook for market demand due to high cost, long delivery time and poor stability.
This lays the foundation for sensor manufacturers to invest in the development and production of MEMS-based sensors to replace traditional sensors.
Innovation: endless
An effective way to increase the reliability of traditional sensors is to design a redundant system with two or more components. When the first component to be used fails, the backup component can immediately “back upâ€. Due to the cost and size of the sensor, this route is in fact infeasible for innovators of traditional sensor technologies. However, the MEMS sensor is smaller in size and the price is much lower, so you can get on the right track.
It is now feasible to build a system with two or three redundant positioning sensors that are less costly than traditional single sensors. MEMS sensor manufacturers can deploy a large number of sensor arrays, with the same volume as conventional sensors, with improved reliability, accuracy, and performance. This is just the beginning of the possibility that MEMS sensors can implement new applications and innovations.
The development of the hegemony market
The current "problem" is not "if" but "when" we will rely on MEMS technology for directional drilling. In this article, most sensors are based on traditional technology. However, some manufacturers now offer innovative borehole measurement-grade directional sensors that are partially or completely based on MEMS technology and are suitable for a wide range of temperature ranges. As the industry's confidence in new sensors grows, we expect more manufacturers to enter the market.
In addition, we interviewed many companies in various industries involved in the research, development, manufacture, and supply of sensors, not just in the oil and gas industry. Each interviewed manufacturer demonstrated a clear model, which is to transfer R&D funds from traditional sensor manufacturing technology to MEMS-based technology. Some manufacturers have abandoned investment in traditional technologies and only focused on developing MEMS-based sensors.
Finally, while MEMS-based sensors have long been developed for use in other industries and are used in the oil and gas industry, some new companies focused on the design, development, and manufacture of high-temperature MEMS sensors for downhole oil and gas directional drilling are also emerging. .
Nowadays, the demand for directional drilling service companies is getting smaller and smaller, and it is under increasing pressure to meet the continuously falling prices while maintaining supply of innovative products and to maintain operations. Equipment manufacturers use the competitive and reliable drilling technology products to “add wings†to service companies and continue to find ways to provide customers with the same price but more innovative and better performance solutions.
MEMS technology makes new products not only perform better or better than traditional sensors, but also provide higher value.
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