METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DRILLING RIG TESTING USING VIRTUALIZED COMPONENTS

• US 20120173218A1
• Filed: 10/21/2011
• Published: 07/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Athens Group Services Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Athens Group Holdings, LLC
• Inventors: Shafer, Donald F., Price, Mark, O'Grady, William T. Jr., Fesas, Nestor
• Granted Patent: US 8,793,114 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 703/7
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 10/62 characterised by parts, e.g. cutting elements, which are detachable or adjustable E21B10/64 takes precedence; for roller bits E21B10/20; for augers E21B10/44
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 41/00 Equipment or details not covered by groups E21B15/00 - E21B40/00
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 44/00 Automatic control systems specially adapted for drilling operations, i.e. self-operating systems which function to carry out or modify a drilling operation without intervention of a human operator, e.g. computer-controlled drilling systems; Systems specially adapted for monitoring a plurality of drilling variables or conditions
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0256 injecting test signals and analyzing monitored process response, e.g. injecting the test signal while interrupting the normal operation of the monitored system; superimposing the test signal onto a control signal during normal operation of the monitored system

Abstract

A method and system dynamically generates virtualized configurations of sensors and signals used in drilling system equipment. The virtualized configurations may be used for novel operational testing of automation systems on drilling rigs. The methods and systems may be configured to virtualize actual drill floor equipment in order to have enhanced fault coverage of the automation systems. A control network that is a component of the automation systems may implement a testing loop that accommodates virtualized equipment in a manner substantially similar to actual equipment. In this manner, the testing loop may be configured to control elements specific to the equipment under control, and generate testing results for those specific control elements.

Claims

1. A method for analyzing a drilling rig, comprising:

generating a first state model of a drilling rig control system based on an actual design of the drilling rig, wherein the first state model includes model objects representing drilling rig elements; and

determining, from the first state model, failure states of the drilling rig that are attainable by the drilling rig control system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the model objects are obtained from an object library of drilling rig elements.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a model object includes stimulus-response logic for interacting with other model objects in the first state model.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a reference comparison of the first state model to a second state model of the drilling rig control system based on a reference design of a reference drilling rig, wherein the second state model includes the model objects; and

using the reference comparison for determining the failure states.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the failure states represent equipment failure states in the drilling rig control system.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the failure states are indicative of new alarms that are not yet implemented in the drilling rig control system.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a third state model of the drilling rig control system based on a virtual design of the drilling rig, wherein the virtual design includes virtualized equipment for the drilling rig, and wherein the third state model includes the model objects, including model objects representing the virtualized equipment.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the third state model includes the first state model.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the virtualized equipment is configured to prevent a failure state of the drilling rig in the third state model.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

introducing a virtual fault in the first state model; and

monitoring the first state model for an alarm generated in response to the virtual fault.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

based on the alarm, adding a first virtualized equipment to the virtual design, wherein the first virtualized equipment prevents the virtual fault from occurring in the third state model.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein a model object representing the first virtualized equipment is selected from a list consisting of model objects representing:

a sensor, an actuator, a control element, a signal processing element, and an interface element.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

based on an analysis of the third state model, determining that an actual instance of the first virtualized equipment prevents a failure state in the actual design of the drilling rig.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

adding the first virtualized equipment to the drilling rig control system, wherein a model object representing the first virtualized equipment is used to generate output signals that are monitored by physical inputs to the drilling rig control system.

15. Non-transitory computer readable media for analyzing a drilling rig, including instructions executable to:

compare an actual design of the drilling rig with a reference design of a reference drilling rig; and

based on results of the instructions executable to compare, determine a failure state of the drilling rig that is attainable by a drilling rig control system configured to control the drilling rig.

16. The computer readable media of claim 15, wherein the reference design is based on an object library of virtual drilling rig elements representing actual drilling rig elements.

17. The computer readable media of claim 15, wherein the instructions executable to determine the failure state include instructions executable to:

generate a state model for the drilling rig, including stimulus-response logic representing behavior of drilling rig elements.

18. The computer readable media of claim 17, wherein the state model represents actual drilling rig elements and virtual drilling rig elements.

19. The computer readable media of claim 15, wherein the drilling rig includes a zone management system configured to prevent physical collisions of drilling rig elements.

20. The computer readable media of claim 19, wherein the failure state includes collisions that are attainable by the zone management system.

21. The computer readable media of claim 15, including instructions executable to:

based on an analysis of the failure state, generate a virtual design for the drilling rig, wherein the virtual design includes virtual drilling rig elements not present in the actual design.

22. The computer readable media of claim 21, wherein the virtual design is configured to eliminate the failure state.

23. A computer system for analyzing a drilling rig, comprising:

a processor configured to access memory media, wherein the memory media include processor executable instructions to;

compare an actual design of the drilling rig with a reference design of a reference drilling rig, wherein the reference design is based on an object library of virtual drilling rig elements representing actual drilling rig elements

based on results of the processor executable instructions to compare, determine a failure state of the drilling rig that is attainable by a drilling rig control system configured to control the drilling rig, including processor executable instructions to generate a state model for the drilling rig, the state model including stimulus-response logic representing behavior of drilling rig elements; and

based on an analysis of the failure state, generate a virtual design for the drilling rig, wherein the virtual design includes virtual drilling rig elements not present in the actual design, wherein the virtual design is configured to eliminate the failure state.