Drilling wellbores with optimal physical drill string conditions
First Claim
1. A method of controlling the drilling of a wellbore using a drill string formed of jointed tubulars and having a bottomhole assembly (BHA) coupled to an end thereof, the method comprising:
- providing a plurality of distributed sensors along at least a portion of the jointed tubulars and at the BHA, the distributed sensors being configured to measure one or more selected parameters of interest;
measuring the selected parameters of interest;
transmitting the measurements to a processor;
processing the measurements using the processor to determine a physical condition for a selected segment of the drill string;
providing a display device for pictorially representing an image of the selected segment of the drill string; and
indicating the determined physical condition for the selected segment of the drill string by providing a visual signal on the image.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A drilling system includes a control unit and a bottomhole assembly (BHA) coupled to a drill string. The control unit uses measurements from sensors distributed throughout the drill string and BHA to determine the physical condition of the drill string and BHA and to determine whether drilling can be optimized. The drill string sensors are housed in receiver subs and optionally can be positioned on extensible members. The receiver sub also can include a short-hop telemetry module, a processor module, and a clock module. In one embodiment, the receiver subs include seismic sensors for enabling vertical seismic profiling. During operation, the processor visually presents to the operator via one or more graphical user interfaces a dynamically updated pictorial image representing the drilling system. The image is annotated with an appropriate visual signal to indicate a determined physical condition at a given location or component. The processor can also display recommended adjustments to drilling parameters for increasing drilling rates, improving tool life, and more precise steering.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. A method of controlling the drilling of a wellbore using a drill string formed of jointed tubulars and having a bottomhole assembly (BHA) coupled to an end thereof, the method comprising:
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providing a plurality of distributed sensors along at least a portion of the jointed tubulars and at the BHA, the distributed sensors being configured to measure one or more selected parameters of interest; measuring the selected parameters of interest; transmitting the measurements to a processor; processing the measurements using the processor to determine a physical condition for a selected segment of the drill string; providing a display device for pictorially representing an image of the selected segment of the drill string; and indicating the determined physical condition for the selected segment of the drill string by providing a visual signal on the image. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A system for drilling a wellbore, comprising:
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a drill string, said drill string including a plurality of jointed tubulars and a bottomhole assembly (BHA) coupled to an end thereof; a plurality of sensors distributed along at least a portion of said drill string, the distributed sensors being configured to measure one or more selected parameters of interest; a processor receiving the measurements from said plurality of distributed sensors, determining a physical condition for a segment of said drill string using at least some of the measurements, and generating a pictorial image of said segment of said drill string; and a display device for pictorially representing the image of said segment of said drill string, said image including a visual signal indicating the determined physical condition for said segment. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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Specification