ES473174A1 - Method and apparatus for acoustic signal detection - Google Patents

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for acoustic signal detection, adapted for use in acoustic velocity well logging to measure the difference in transit times of an acoustic signal between a transmitter and two or more receivers. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention two timing measurements of the signal R1s, R2s arriving at each of two receivers (R1, R2 Fig. 1, not shown) may be made by activating zero crossing detectors at the arrival of the first negative and first positive half- cycles at each receiver. A transit time is calculated from the zero crossing times following the first negative half-cycle. This first transit time A'-A may be checked for accuracy by comparing the first transit time with a second transit time B'-B calculated from zero crossing times following the first positive half-cycles, by comparing the first transit time to a previously measured transit time and/or by detecting the order of arrival of the negative and positive half-cycles to determine whether the half-cycles have been detected out of sequence at either receiver. Should the first transit time be determined to be inaccurate, the previously measured transit time or the second transit time may be substituted therefor.