DIRECTIONAL DRILLING TARGET STEERING APPARATUS AND METHOD

• US 20130175092A1
• Filed: 12/21/2012
• Published: 07/11/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/05/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Merlin Technologies Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Merlin Technologies Incorporated
• Inventors: Kolpack, Bruce, Bahr, David
• Granted Patent: US 9,540,879 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 175/45
• 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: E21B 47/024 of devices in the borehole determining slope or direction of the borehole E21B47/022
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 7/046 horizontal drilling drilling with mechanical conveying means E21B7/003
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 7/06 Deflecting the direction of boreholes

Abstract

An apparatus and method are used in conjunction with a system for performing horizontal directional drilling, the system including a drill string extending from a drill rig to a boring tool such that the boring tool is steerable based on a roll orientation. The system also includes an arrangement for generating steering commands for guiding the boring tool to a target position. Responsive at least in part to the steering commands, a display is configured to selectively indicate each of a rotate command, a push command and a spin command. A steering indicator is described which indicates a current roll orientation of the boring tool. A 3-D grid can be animated and centered on either a steering or target indicator. Rounding of a steering command ratio can limit the display of target roll orientations to only those that a given boring tool transmitter is capable of sensing and indicating.

Claims

1. In a system for performing horizontal directional drilling including a drill string extending from a drill rig to a boring tool such that the boring tool is steerable based on a roll orientation thereof, said system including an arrangement for generating steering commands for guiding the boring tool to a target position, an apparatus comprising:

a display configured to selectively indicate each of a rotate command, a push command and a spin command responsive at least in part to the steering commands.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the display is configured to visually indicate each of said rotate command, said push command and said spin command to an operator.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the display illustrates a steering indicator that is positioned on the display based on the steering commands and the steering indicator indicates said roll orientation of the boring tool.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein the steering indicator graphically indicates the roll orientation on a clock face.

5. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein the steering indicator numerically indicates the roll orientation.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the system generates the steering commands including a vertical steering command and a horizontal steering command and wherein the display is configured to switch between the spin command and each of the push command and the rotate command based on a threshold value of a magnitude of each of the vertical steering command and the horizontal steering command.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the magnitude of each of the push command and the rotate command is specified in a range of 256 units and the threshold value is less than or equal to 5 units.

8. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the steering indicator is configured to change in appearance while the rotate command is issued as compared to the appearances of the push command and the spin command.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the steering indicator is configured to include a first diameter corresponding to the push command and the spin command and a second, larger diameter corresponding to the rotate command.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the display illustrates a target indicator and said display is configured to center the steering indicator on the target indicator responsive to both the vertical steering command and the horizontal steering command satisfying said threshold value.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the target position is defined in fixed relation to a portable device that transmits a homing signal.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the target position is a point along a predetermined bore plan.

13. In a system for performing horizontal directional drilling including a drill string extending from a drill rig to a boring tool such that the boring tool is steerable based on a roll orientation thereof, said system including an arrangement for generating steering commands for guiding the boring tool to a target position, an apparatus comprising:

a display configured to illustrate a steering indicator in a positional relationship with a target indicator on said display and said steering indicator is configured to present information that is representative of a current roll orientation of the boring tool in conjunction with indicating a desired steering direction to steer the boring tool to the target position.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the steering indicator graphically illustrates the current roll orientation on a clock face.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the steering indicator includes a roll bar that illustrates the current roll orientation.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the roll bar is configured for stepwise movement between a plurality of predefined roll positions on the clock face responsive to the current roll orientation of the boring tool.

17. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the steering indicator numerically illustrates the current roll orientation of the boring tool.

18. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the steering indicator graphically indicates a current pitch orientation of the boring tool.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the steering indicator includes a pitch horizon that indicates said current pitch orientation.

20. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein said boring tool exhibits a pitch orientation and a pitch reading characterizing the pitch orientation is at least periodically transmitted to said display and wherein the display is configured to illustrate a current pitch orientation in conjunction with a pitch trend including a minimum pitch and a maximum pitch based on a plurality of the transmitted pitch readings.

21. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the target indicator is positionally fixed on the display and the steering indicator moves around the target indicator to present the positional relationship.

22. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the steering indicator is positionally fixed on the display and the target indicator moves around the steering indicator to present the positional relationship.

23. The apparatus of claim 22 wherein the display is configured to illustrate a series of geometric shapes that lead from the steering indicator to the target indicator.

24. In a system for performing horizontal directional drilling including a drill string extending from a drill rig to a boring tool such that the boring tool is steerable based on a roll orientation thereof and said boring tool transmits a current roll orientation signal that exhibits a given resolution to define a set of predetermined, angularly spaced apart roll orientation positions each of which can be specified by the current roll orientation signal, an apparatus comprising:

an arrangement for generating a vertical steering command and a horizontal steering command such that a steering command ratio between the vertical steering command and the horizontal steering command defines a desired steering direction for guiding the boring tool to a target and the desired steering direction is not limited to said predetermined spaced apart roll orientations defined by the given resolution of the transmitter; and

a display configured to illustrate a steering indicator in an offset positional relationship from a target indicator based on the steering commands and said steering indicator graphically presents a modified desired steering direction, that is based on the desired steering direction, at least when the desired steering direction falls between the predetermined spaced apart roll positions, and the modified steering direction corresponds to a nearest one of the predetermined roll orientation positions such that the modified desired steering direction angularly aligns with one of the predetermined spaced apart roll orientations.

25. The apparatus of claim 24 wherein each steering command is specified by a range of 256 units and the given resolution of the current roll orientation signal is no more than 24 clock positions such that the modified steering direction is rounded to one of the clock positions.

26. In a system for performing horizontal directional drilling including a drill string extending from a drill rig to a boring tool such that the boring tool is steerable based on a roll orientation thereof and the system is configured to generate steering commands such that the boring tool can home in on a target, an apparatus comprising:

a display configured to illustrate a steering indicator in a positional relationship with a target indicator based on the steering commands; and

a grid pattern illustrated on the display and originating on a selected one of the target indicator and the steering indicator.

27. The apparatus of claim 26 wherein the grid pattern includes a plurality of elements and at least some elements of the grid pattern are configured to move responsive to movement of the boring tool toward the target.

28. The apparatus of claim 27 wherein the grid pattern diagrammatically represents a three dimensional tunnel structure.

29. The apparatus of claim 28 wherein the grid pattern is configured such that movement of said elements mimics movement of the boring tool within the three dimensional tunnel structure.

30. In a system for performing horizontal directional drilling including a drill string extending from a drill rig to a boring tool such that the boring tool is steerable based on a roll orientation thereof, said system including an arrangement for generating steering commands for guiding the boring tool to a target position, a method comprising:

selectively visually indicating each of a rotate command, a push command and a spin command responsive at least in part to the steering commands.