SBIR Phase I: Development of an Affordable and Versatile Spectral Induced Polarization (SIP) Borehole Tool

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目旨在开发一种频域频谱激发极化(SIP)钻孔工具的原型，该工具可用于在宽频率范围内以高精度/分辨率收集钻孔数据。该技术是一种新兴的地球物理技术，它提供了现有地球物理测井仪器所不能提供的关于多孔介质的物理、化学和生物地球化学特征的独特信息。人们普遍认识到需要这样一种工具，特别是在石油、采矿和环境行业，但技术限制和经济限制以前阻碍了这项技术的商业化。该公司将设计和测试井下SIP工具，以克服感知到的技术问题。仪器仪表的最新进展，包括所需电子设备的尺寸和功率要求，现在允许建造这样一种工具，能够以负担得起的成本提供所需的能力。这将通过在实验室环境中通过对具有已知SIP特性的材料进行测量并通过与台式SIP仪器进行比较来确定原型工具的性能来进行演示。该工具还将在一个实验水箱中进行测试，该水箱旨在根据感知到的现场部署来模拟井眼。该项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力将是获得有关地下物理、化学和生物地球化学性质变化的新的、更准确的信息，这些信息将通过在井眼中测井获得。该项目是对勘探、水资源和环境行业中公认的需求的回应，该需求是为了更好地解决地球物理化学性质相对于可从现有钻孔测井仪器中提取的变化的问题。这一创新工具的应用将包括表征新的信息参数，以及探测和监测到目前为止仅在实验室环境中表征的地球化学和生物地球化学过程。该公司是一家有资格的小企业，将扩大他们的客户基础，合作学术机构的教职员工和学生都将能够利用该工具来增强他们的环境研究能力。一所州立大学和一家当地小企业之间的这一新合作将加强促进产业界和学术界之间的合作的努力。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project seeks to develop a prototype of a frequency domain spectral induced polarization (SIP) borehole tool that could be used to collect data in boreholes over a wide frequency range with high accuracy/resolution. The SIP technique is an emerging geophysical technology that offers unique information on the physical, chemical and biogeochemical characteristics of porous media not provided by existing geophysical logging tools. The need for such a tool is well recognized, especially in the oil, mining and environmental industries, but technical constraints and economical limitations have previously prevented the technology from being commercialized. The company will design and test a borehole SIP tool to overcome the perceived technical problems. Recent advances in instrumentation, including size and power requirements of the needed electronics, now allow for the construction of such a tool that can offer the required capabilities at an affordable cost. This will be demonstrated by determining the performance of the prototype tool in a laboratory setting by making measurements on materials with known SIP characteristics and by comparisons with bench-top SIP instruments. The tool will also be tested in an experimental tank designed to simulate a borehole as per the perceived field deployment.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be the availability of new and more precise information on the variation of the physical, chemical and biogeochemical properties of the subsurface to be obtained from logging measurements in a borehole. This project is a response to a recognized need in the exploration, water resources and environmental industries for improved resolution of variations in the physicochemical properties of the earth relative to that extractable from existing borehole logging tools. The applications of this innovative tool will include the characterization of new information parameters and the detection and monitoring of geochemical and biogeochemical processes only characterized until now in laboratory settings. The company, a qualifying small business, will broaden their customer base, and both faculty and students at the partner academic institution will be able to utilize the tool to enhance their capabilities for environmental research. This new collaboration between a state university and a local small business will strengthen efforts to promote collaborations between industry and academia.