×

Multi-gimbaled borehole navigation system

  • US 20050126022A1
  • Filed: 11/12/2004
  • Published: 06/16/2005
  • Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2002
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
Patent Images

1. An omnidirectional borehole navigation system comprising:

  • a housing for traversing a borehole;

    an outer gimbal connected to said housing and at least two stacked inner gimbals that are connected to said outer gimbal, said inner gimbals each having an axis parallel to one another and perpendicular to an axis of the outer gimbal;

    at least one inertial sensor located on each inner gimbal, the at least one inertial sensor selected from at least one gyro and at least one accelerometer, the gyros having input axes that span three dimensional space, and the accelerometers having input axes that span three dimensional space;

    one or more gyro circuits within the housing and responsive to the at least one gyro to produce the inertial angular rate about each gyro input axis;

    one or more accelerometer circuits within the housing and responsive to the at least one accelerometer to produce the non-gravitational acceleration along each accelerometer input axis;

    a processor responsive to said gyro circuits and said accelerometer circuits for determining the attitude and the position of said housing in the borehole;

    an outer gimbal drive system for controlling the orientation of the outer gimbal; and

    an inner gimbal drive system for controlling the orientation of each of the inner gimbals.

View all claims
  • 3 Assignments
Timeline View
Assignment View
    ×
    ×