Apparatus and method for determining a drilling mode to optimize formation evaluation measurements
First Claim
1. A method for using drilling pauses to perform formation evaluation measurements of an earth formation surrounding a borehole, comprising the steps of:
- a) drilling the borehole into the formation using a drill string;
b) while drilling the borehole, detecting a pause where a portion of the drill string remains stationary with respect to the formation for a time interval; and
c) determining a characteristic of the formation during the time interval.
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Accused Products
Abstract
There are many natural pauses during rotary drilling operations where a portion of the drill string remains stationary. Pauses include drill pipe connections, circulating time, and fishing operations. These pauses are used to obtain formation evaluation measurements that take a long time or that benefit from a quiet environment, as opposed to the naturally noisy drilling environment. Various techniques that are sensitive to the mud flow, weight-on-bit, or motion of the drill string may be used alone or in combination to identify the drilling mode and control the data acquisition sequence.
155 Citations
59 Claims
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1. A method for using drilling pauses to perform formation evaluation measurements of an earth formation surrounding a borehole, comprising the steps of:
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a) drilling the borehole into the formation using a drill string;
b) while drilling the borehole, detecting a pause where a portion of the drill string remains stationary with respect to the formation for a time interval; and
c) determining a characteristic of the formation during the time interval. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. An apparatus for performing formation evaluation measurements of an earth formation surrounding a borehole, comprising:
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a) a drill string;
b) drilling means attached to the drill string for drilling the borehole into the formation;
c) means for rotating the drilling means;
d) means for rotating the drill string; and
,e) means for detecting a pause where a portion of the drill string remains stationary with respect to the formation for a time interval and, f) means for determining a characteristic of the formation during the time interval. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54)
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55. A method for modifying a data acquisition sequence, comprising the steps of:
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a) drilling a borehole into an earth formation using a drill string;
b) while drilling the borehole, detecting a current downhole condition;
c) identifying a current drilling process mode;
d) selecting a data acquisition sequence based upon the current drilling process mode; and
e) modifying a current data acquisition sequence based upon the selected data acquisition sequence. - View Dependent Claims (56, 57, 58, 59)
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Specification