9500680 Bayless This Small Business Innovative Research Phase II project provides the opportunity to eliminate the radioactive material currently used in Measurement-While-Drilling (MWD) density logging tools. The existing tools, which provide critical information for most formation evaluations, pose risks to the environment and to the personnel that operate and transport them. The overall objective of the project is to perform the research required to develop a novel electrical x-ray instrument for the measurement of bulk formation density and lithology (composition) in MWD applications. The specific technical objectives of the project are: (1) to modify the Phase I device to experimentally demonstrate reliable electron beam operation at high energies; (2) to improve the basic geometry of the x-ray density/lithology logging tool in order to maximize its performance; (3) to design and construct a high energy laboratory prototype x-ray logging tool; (4) to measure the performance characteristics of the laboratory prototype x-ray system; and (5) to experimentally evaluate the high energy MWD x-ray tool in simulated formations. Sperry-Sun Drilling Services, a leader in the MWD field and a Phase I contributor, will participate under Objectives 2, 3 and 5. If successful, this project will provide a new type of MWD density/lithology logging tool with performance parameters comparable to, or exceeding, those of radioactive tools. However, it will eliminate the risks associated with the radioactive material in existing tools. ***
