Apparatus for direct airborne electromagnetic prospecting of hydrocarbon deposits.

Claim 1

A helicopter mounted apparatus for direct electromagnetic prospecting of hydrocarbon deposits comprising in combination a transmitting system, a receiving system, and a processing system, wherein: (a) the transmitting system consists of a high power generator mounted on a helicopter board which supplies alternating current in the frequency range of 0.1 to 10 Hz through a supply cable to an induction transmitter loop consisting of a large number of windings of a single insulated conductor, (i) said transmitter loop being suspended vertically beneath the helicopter by means of a snap fastener, a shaft with an articulated joint, and a supporting frame, (ii) said shaft extending vertically below the helicopter and being connected to the helicopter via said snap fastener, and the lower end of said shaft being rigidly, orthogonally connected to said supporting frame, (iii) said supporting frame consisting of two crossed bars at whose ends said transmitter loop is rigidly connected, (iv) said articulated joint on said shaft enabling said frame and said transmitter loop to be oriented in any direction and at any angle, such orientation being achieved with a controlling assembly consisting of a transmitter loop orientation controller, controlling elements, loop orientation sensors, and shock absorbers, (v) said orientation controller mounted on the helicopter board and connected to a microprocessor also mounted on the helicopter board, said microprocessor controlling the entire apparatus and sending signals of predetermined orientation characteristics to said orientation controller, and said orientation controller in turn sending signals to said controlling elements, (vi) said controlling elements mounted on arms which connect the shaft to said support frame, and adjusting the relative length of said arms to obtain the desired orientation, (vii) said loop orientation sensors mounted on said supporting frame and continuously sending signals of the actual orientation back to said orientation controller, which in turn continuously adjusts the signal to the controlling elements, (viii) said shock absorbers being mounted on the arms connecting the shaft to said support frame, and (ix) the signal from said loop orientation sensors being sent to said microprocessor as one input to be stored; (b) the receiving system consisting of three orthogonal induction receiver antennae each consisting of two circuits wound on a permalloy core, one a measuring circuit to measure the deviation of phase and amplitude of one of the three components H x , H y , H z of said primary electromagnetic fields, and the other a compensation circuit which is used to compensate for the deviation of phase and amplitude signals measured by said inducation receiver antennae over locations known not to contain hydrocarbons (reference locations), (i) said induction receiver antennae being rigidly attached to a horizontal aerodynamic shield, said aerodynamic shield stabilizing said induction receiver antennae while in flight and being suspended vertically from the transmitter loop supporting frame by means of steel lines, (ii) signals received by the induction receiver antennae over said reference locations for all combinations of transmitter induction loop orientation, frequency, and helicopter altitude being transmitted to the microprocessor via measuring cables and stored in magnetic storage controlled by said microprocessor, and when flights are performed over locations for which it is to be determined whether or not hydrocarbons occur (prospecting locations), signals being sent to the compensation circuits from said microprocessor to compensate for the signals previously obtained over said reference locations, and (iii) the orientation of said inducation receiver antennae being sensed by antennae orientation sensors mounted on one of said inducation receiver antennae, said antennae orientation sensors generating a signal which is sent via an additional measuring cable to said microprocessor and then stored on said magnetic storage; (c) the processing system consisting of a digital meter assembly, a microprocessor, magnetic storage, and a monitor, (i) said digital meter assembly being located on the helicopter board and accepting as input the signals of the compensated phase and amplitude from said measuring circuits of said induction receiver antennae, the orientation of said induction transmitter loop as sensed by said loop orientation sensors, the orientation of said induction receiver antennae as sensed by said antennae orientation sensors, the helicopter altitude and geographic co-ordinates as measured by standard helicopter instruments, (ii) said microprocessor being located on the helicopter board and being linked electronically to the transmitting system, receiving system, and digital meter assembly, and controlling the generator output and the orientation of said transmitting induction loop, and (iii) said microprocessor also gathering and storing in said magnetic storage the signals of phase and amplitude from said measuring circuits of said induction receiver antennae, the helicopter altitude, the frequency of the signal supplied to said transmitting induction loop, the orientation of said induction receiver antennae, and the geographic co-ordinates of the helicopter, and (iv) said microprocessor processing this data to obtain a probability level of hydrocarbon occurrence over each said prospecting location on the basis of pattern recognition theory and displaying said probability level on said monitor located in the helicopter, or alternately, said processing being performed after the helicopter lands by a second microprocessor on the ground and plotting a map of probability contours from data obtained over all said prospecting locations.