US 12,031,430 B2
Measuring drilling fluid pH with smart polymers
Mohammed Albassam, Al-Khobar (SA); Arturo Magana Mora, Dhahran (SA); Chinthaka Pasan Gooneratne, Dhahran (SA); Mohammad Aljubran, Dhahran (SA); and Peter Boul, Houston, TX (US)
Assigned to Saudi Arabian Oil Company, Dhahran (SA)
Filed by Saudi Arabian Oil Company, Dhahran (SA)
Filed on Oct. 4, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/959,408.
Prior Publication US 2024/0110476 A1, Apr. 4, 2024
Int. Cl. E21B 49/08 (2006.01); C09K 8/24 (2006.01); G01N 33/24 (2006.01)
CPC E21B 49/0875 (2020.05) [C09K 8/24 (2013.01); G01N 33/24 (2013.01)] 7 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
inserting, by a monitoring system, units of smart polymers with per-hydrogen (pH) sensitivity into drilling fluid pumped into a well during a drilling operation, the smart polymers configured to be triggered by hydrogen ion concentrations;
storing, by the monitoring system, an insertion timestamp associated with each unit, each insertion timestamp indicating a time that each unit was inserted into the drilling fluid;
capturing, by a camera positioned at a sensing location and linked to the monitoring system, continuous images and observed characteristics of returning mud exiting through an annulus of the well and containing the units of smart polymer;
determining, by the monitoring system and using the continuous images and the observed characteristics and the insertion timestamps associated with each unit of smart polymer, an estimate of pH values at a drill bit of the drilling operation, wherein determining the estimate is based at least in part on executing image processing algorithms, machine-learning models, and deep-learning models; and
suggesting, by the monitoring system and based at least in part on the estimate of the pH values, changes to be made to drilling parameters for the drilling operation.