CUSTOMIZED DRILLING TOOLS

• US 20190323296A1
• Filed: 07/01/2019
• Published: 10/24/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Schlumberger Technology Corporation (Schlumberger NV)
• Original Assignee: Smith International Incorporated (Schlumberger NV)
• Inventors: Gan, Xiaoge, Zhang, Youhe, Song, Huimin
• Granted Patent: US 11,125,021 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 10/50 the bit being of roller type
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 10/602 the bit being a rotary drag type bit with blades

Abstract

A downhole cutting tool has a body that includes a cutting end, a connection end, a longitudinal axis extending axially through the body, and a gradient composition having one or more gradients. Each gradient extends a distance in a respective direction through the body. Each gradient has changing amounts of a first material in the gradient composition along the respective direction in which the gradient extends.

Claims

1. A downhole cutting tool, comprising:

a body comprising;

a cutting end;

a connection end;

a longitudinal axis extending axially through the body; and

a gradient composition having one or more gradients, each gradient extending a distance in a respective direction through the body, and each gradient comprising changing amounts of a first material in the gradient composition along the respective direction in which the gradient extends.

2. The tool of claim 1, wherein the one or more gradients comprise an axial gradient extending along the longitudinal axis, the changing amounts of the first material in the axial gradient varying along the longitudinal axis from the cutting end to the connection end.

3. The tool of claim 2, wherein the gradient composition of the axial gradient comprises a compositional slope equal to an interval of the distance over the changing amounts of the first material in percent composition of the first material in the gradient composition, wherein the compositional slope varies over the distance.

4. The tool of claim 2, wherein the one or more gradients comprise at least one radial gradient extending in a radial direction, the changing amounts of the first material in the at least one radial gradient varying along the radial direction.

5. The tool of claim 4, wherein the at least one radial gradient comprises progressively increasing and decreasing amounts of the first material along the radial direction.

6. The tool of claim 4, wherein the at least one radial gradient extends a radial distance from an outer surface of the body to an interior portion of the body, the radial distance being greater than or equal to 75 percent of a body radius measured from the outer surface to the longitudinal axis.

7. The tool of claim 1, wherein the cutting tool is a drill bit comprising:

a plurality of blades extending outwardly from the body;

wherein the gradient composition comprises one or more gradients extending from an interior portion of each blade to an exterior portion of each blade, the interior portion composition comprising a first amount of the first material by percent composition, the exterior portion composition comprising a second amount of the first material by percent composition greater than the first amount, and the changing amounts of the first material gradually increasing from the first amount to the second amount.

8. The tool of claim 7, wherein a first blade of the plurality of blades has a first compositional slope and a second blade of the plurality of blades has a second compositional slope different from the first compositional slope, the first compositional slope equal to an interval of the distance over a change in percent composition of the first material in the composition, and the second compositional slope equal to the interval of the distance over a different change in percent composition of the first material in the composition.

9. The tool of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more gradients comprises a changing amount of a second material inversely corresponding to the change in percent composition of the first material along the direction in which the respective gradient extends, the second material comprising steel.

10. The tool of claim 1, wherein the one or more gradients correspond to an erosion profile of the cutting tool, the erosion profile comprising a map of forces encountered by the cutting tool during a downhole operation.

11. The tool of claim 1, wherein each gradient of the one or more gradients comprises changing amounts of the first material of less than 5 wt % of the first material at a resolution interval along the direction in which the respective gradient extends.

12. A method of manufacturing a downhole cutting tool, the method comprising:

successively depositing a volume of at least two materials using a deposition device to build a three dimensional body of the cutting tool having a gradient composition with at least two gradients in composition extending in different directions along the body, each gradient comprising a progressively increasing or decreasing amount of a first material by percent composition.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein successively depositing comprises:

depositing the at least two materials in a first layer on a substrate according to a first grid pattern, the first layer having a first material composition pattern corresponding to the first grid pattern; and

depositing the at least two materials in multiple sequential layers over the first layer, each sequential layer having a sequential material composition pattern corresponding to sequential grid patterns,

where the first material composition pattern and the sequential material composition patterns form the gradient composition when deposited.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

modeling the cutting tool;

dividing the cutting tool model into multiple planes; and

mapping the material composition of one of the planes into the first grid pattern.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the deposition device comprises at least two feeders, each feeder feeding one of the at least two materials, and one of the at least two materials is a metallic binder material.

16. The method of claim 12, comprising:

simulating the cutting tool during a downhole operation;

generating an erosion profile of the cutting tool based on the simulating; and

designing the gradient composition to correspond with the erosion profile.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the body of the cutting tool comprises an exterior portion and an interior portion, the gradient composition of the exterior portion having greater erosion resistance than the gradient composition of the interior portion.

18. A downhole cutting tool, comprising:

a body comprising a cutting end, a connection end, and a longitudinal axis extending therethrough; and

a first gradient composition comprising a progressively decreasing amount of a first material in the composition along a first distance from the cutting end, the first gradient composition forming a cutting end portion of the body.

19. The tool of claim 18, further comprising a second gradient composition extending a second distance from the cutting end portion of the body.

20. The tool of claim 19, wherein the first gradient composition has a first compositional slope, and the second gradient composition has a second compositional slope different from the first compositional slope, the first compositional slope equal to the first distance over a first total amount change in composition of the first material, and the second compositional slope equal to the second distance over a second total amount change in composition of the first material.