Borehole drilling control system, method and apparatus
First Claim
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1. An apparatus comprising:
- a rotary steerable tool having a main tool body having a first end coupled to a bottom hole assembly of a drill string and a second end coupled to a drill bit, the rotary steerable tool comprising an inertial measurement unit to output a measurement used to determine an azimuthal deviation and inclination of the steerable well bore drilling tool during a drilling operation, wherein the main tool body includes an outer housing, wherein the inertial measurement unit is positioned in the outer housing, wherein said main tool body comprises a deflection means arranged to deflect said second end away from a longitudinal axis of the main tool body, wherein said main tool body further comprises a flexible shaft and a further shaft positioned between said drill string and said flexible shaft.
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Abstract
One embodiment includes an apparatus comprising a steerable well bore drilling tool having a main tool body. The steerable well bore drilling tool includes an inertial measurement unit to output a measurement used to determine an azimuthal deviation and inclination of the steerable well bore drilling tool during a drilling operation.
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Citations
41 Claims
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1. An apparatus comprising:
a rotary steerable tool having a main tool body having a first end coupled to a bottom hole assembly of a drill string and a second end coupled to a drill bit, the rotary steerable tool comprising an inertial measurement unit to output a measurement used to determine an azimuthal deviation and inclination of the steerable well bore drilling tool during a drilling operation, wherein the main tool body includes an outer housing, wherein the inertial measurement unit is positioned in the outer housing, wherein said main tool body comprises a deflection means arranged to deflect said second end away from a longitudinal axis of the main tool body, wherein said main tool body further comprises a flexible shaft and a further shaft positioned between said drill string and said flexible shaft. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A steerable well bore drilling tool comprising:
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a main tool body having a first end connectable to a drill string and a second end connectable to a drill bit, the tool body arranged to transmit rotary motion from said first end to said second end and comprising; deflection means arranged to deflect said second end away from a longitudinal axis of the main tool body; an outer housing that includes an inertial measurement unit, wherein the outer housing is to essentially not rotate during a drilling operation; estimation means arranged to estimate the direction of the main tool body on the basis of the output of said inertial measurement unit;
wherein the main tool body is to communicate the estimate to a control means at the surface of the Earth, wherein the main tool body is to receive a control communication back from the control means to control said deflection means based on the first estimate; anda communication links to transmit the direction of the main tool body to a control means at the surface of the Earth, wherein the control means is to generate a steering command based on a difference between the direction from the communications link and a planned direction of main tool body, the control means to transmit the steering command to the communications link, wherein the deflection means is to deflect said second end on the basis of the steering command; a flexible shaft; and a further shaft positioned between said drill string and said flex shaft. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A method comprising:
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receiving a steering command from a control means at a surface of the Earth; steering a direction of drilling of a borehole using a rotary steerable tool based on the steering command, wherein the rotary steerable tool comprises a main tool body having a first end coupled to a bottom hole assembly and a second end coupled to a drill bit, wherein the main tool body comprises a deflection means to deflect said second end away from a longitudinal axis of the main tool body, said main tool body further comprising a flexible shaft arranged to transmit rotary motion from said first send to said second end, wherein said deflection means is a flexible shaft deflection means arranged to deflect said second end of said shaft away from said longitudinal axis of said main tool body, wherein the steering comprises, receiving a measurement of an angular rate around a number of orthogonal axes from an inertial measurement unit that is part of the rotary steerable tool; receiving a measurement of an acceleration along the number of orthogonal axes from the inertial measurement unit; and estimating an inclination and an azimuthal direction of a main tool body of the rotary steerable tool based on the measurement of the angular rate and the measurement of the acceleration. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29)
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30. An apparatus comprising:
a rotary steerable tool having a main tool body having a first end coupled to a bottom hole assembly of a drill string and a second end coupled to a drill bit, the rotary steerable tool comprising an inertial measurement unit to output a measurement used to determine an azimuthal deviation and inclination of the steerable well bore drilling tool during a drilling operation, the inertial measurement unit including at least one gyroscope to measure angular rate around one or more of the number of orthogonal axes, the inertial measurement unit includes at least one accelerometer to measure acceleration along one or more of the number of orthogonal axes, wherein the main tool body includes an outer housing, wherein the inertial measurement unit is positioned in the outer housing, wherein the rotary steerable tool further comprises an estimation means to estimate a direction of the rotary steerable tool based on an output from the inertial measurement unit, wherein the rotary steerable tool further comprises a bore hole length measurement means to measure the distance of the rotary steerable tool along the bore hole, wherein the estimation means is to estimate the azimuthal deviation and the inclination of the main tool body based on the angular rate and the acceleration and as a function of the length of the bore hole. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33)
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34. A steerable well bore drilling tool comprising:
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a main tool body having a first end connectable to a drill string and a second end connectable to a drill bit, the tool body arranged to transmit rotary motion from said first end to said second end and comprising; deflection means arranged to deflect said second end away from a longitudinal axis of the main tool body; an outer housing that includes an inertial measurement unit, wherein the outer housing is to essentially not rotate during a drilling operation; estimation means arranged to estimate the direction of the main tool body on the basis of the output of said inertial measurement unit;
wherein the main tool body is to communicate the estimate to a control means at the surface of the Earth, wherein the main tool body is to receive a control communication back from the control means to control said deflection means based on the first estimate; anda communication links to transmit the direction of the main tool body to a control means at the surface of the Earth, wherein the control means is to generate a steering command based on a difference between the direction from the communications link and a planned direction of main tool body, the control means to transmit the steering command to the communications link, wherein the deflection means is to deflect said second end on the basis of the steering command; a flexible shaft arranged to transmit rotary motion from said first end to said second end wherein said deflection means is a flexible shaft deflection means arranged to deflect said second end of said shaft away from said longitudinal axis of said main tool body. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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Specification