Drilling tool, apparatus and method for underreaming and simultaneously monitoring and controlling wellbore diameter
DCFirst Claim
1. A wellbore underreaming tool for use in oil and natural gas drilling arranged for attachment to a rotary drill-bit and associated drill-pipe to enlarge the wellbore to a diameter greater than a pass-through diameter of a wellbore restriction, the underreaming tool comprising:
- at least one radially extendable cutter block to form the enlarged wellbore diameter;
at least one caliper to determine the wellbore diameter;
a position sensor to sense a relative position of the cutter block to a tool body;
at least one calibration sensor to measure and detect changes in fluid properties, the at least one calibration sensor sensing fluid properties from one of a group comprising flow, rpm, weight, and hydraulic force; and
at least one processor inter-connecting the at least one caliper and the at least one calibration sensor, said processor providing verification and control of a desired wellbore diameter by comparing simultaneous measurements from the caliper measuring wellbore diameter and from the position sensor for sensing the relative position of the extendable cutter block to the tool body, and compensating the measurements using said calibration sensor.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The Smart Reamer® Tool, Apparatus or Method is used to underream an oil or natural gas well while interlinked calipers and calibration sensors simultaneously record data relating to the geometry of the drilling operation (well diameter, diameter of the underreamed zone) and drilling fluid properties (density). Further sensors provide data on the relative position of the cutting and stabilizing blocks. Other sensors measure vibration data. All the sensors are interlinked by means of microprocessors which compare and correlate said data to automatically verify and deliver a desired wellbore diameter without the need to unnecessarily stop drilling or trip out of the hole.
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Citations
32 Claims
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1. A wellbore underreaming tool for use in oil and natural gas drilling arranged for attachment to a rotary drill-bit and associated drill-pipe to enlarge the wellbore to a diameter greater than a pass-through diameter of a wellbore restriction, the underreaming tool comprising:
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at least one radially extendable cutter block to form the enlarged wellbore diameter; at least one caliper to determine the wellbore diameter; a position sensor to sense a relative position of the cutter block to a tool body; at least one calibration sensor to measure and detect changes in fluid properties, the at least one calibration sensor sensing fluid properties from one of a group comprising flow, rpm, weight, and hydraulic force; and at least one processor inter-connecting the at least one caliper and the at least one calibration sensor, said processor providing verification and control of a desired wellbore diameter by comparing simultaneous measurements from the caliper measuring wellbore diameter and from the position sensor for sensing the relative position of the extendable cutter block to the tool body, and compensating the measurements using said calibration sensor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method of real-time underreaming below a restriction in a well, comprising:
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providing a drill-bit and an extendable tool to underream and increase a diameter of a borehole greater than a diameter of the drill-bit after passing through the restriction, said tool being activated to extend extendable blocks on the extendable tool to underream a diameter greater than that of the restriction and the drill-bit; rotating said extendable tool and moving it axially along said borehole; sensing a relative position of the extendable blocks to a body of the extendable tool using a position sensor; measuring a borehole diameter using a caliper; sensing a fluid property from one of a group comprising flow, rpm, weight, density, sound transit time and hydraulic force using at least one calibration sensor; calibrating said measurements using a sensed fluid property from the at least one calibration sensor; and using a processor, providing verification and control of a desired wellbore diameter by comparing and correlating data received from said caliper and from the position sensor to deliver the desired wellbore diameter. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. An underreaming apparatus comprising:
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extendable blocks; wellbore diameter measurement calipers to determine a wellbore diameter, the wellbore diameter measurement calipers incorporating fluid properties calibration sensors to calibrate said calipers, said extendable blocks and calipers housed in separate tool bodies connected to each other, the fluid properties calibration sensors sensing fluid properties from one of a group comprising flow, rpm, density, sound transit time, weight, and hydraulic force, the wellbore diameter measurement calipers using said fluid properties calibration sensors and at least one telemetry system located at longitudinally separated positions each connected to a tool body; a position sensor to sense a relative position of the extendable block to a tool body; a first housing to underream the wellbore; a second housing to stabilize the underreaming tool within the walls of the wellbore during expansion; a third housing to measure wellbore diameter; a fourth housing to transmit data; and at least one processor inter-connecting the wellbore diameter measurement calipers and the fluid properties calibration sensors, said processor providing verification and control of a desired wellbore diameter by comparing simultaneous measurements from the wellbore diameter measurement calipers and from the position sensor, and compensating the measurements using said fluid properties calibration sensors. - View Dependent Claims (27)
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28. A method of closed loop underreaming to provide a wellbore of a predetermined diameter, comprising:
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a drilling rig in contact with a downhole processor, the downhole processor measuring an underreamed wellbore diameter using an acoustic caliper; sensing a relative position of the extendable blocks to a body of the extendable tool using a position sensor; sensing a fluid property from one of a group comprising flow, rpm, density, sound transit time, weight, and hydraulic force using at least one calibration sensor; calibrating said acoustic caliper using a sensed fluid property from the at least one calibration sensor; using a processor, providing verification and control of the predetermined diameter by comparing and correlating data received from said acoustic caliper and from the position sensor to deliver the predetermined diameter; and comparing measured underreamed wellbore diameter with one or more of;
calibration data, fluid properties, flow rate, underreamer cutter block position, weight and revolutions per minute to verify underreaming and delivery a desired wellbore diameter. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30)
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31. A method of closed loop underreaming to provide wellbore of a predetermined diameter, comprising:
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providing a drilling rig in contact with a downhole processor, the downhole processor measuring underreamed wellbore diameter using an acoustic caliper; sensing a relative position of the extendable blocks to a body of the extendable tool using a position sensor; sensing a fluid property from one of a group comprising flow, rpm, density, sound transit time, weight, and hydraulic force using at least one calibration sensor; calibrating said acoustic caliper using a sensed fluid property from the at least one calibration sensor; using a processor, providing verification and control of the predetermined diameter by comparing and correlating data received from said acoustic caliper and from the position sensor to deliver the predetermined diameter; and comparing a measured underreamed wellbore diameter with one or more of;
acoustic calibration data, fluid properties, flow rate, underreamer cutter block position, weight and revolutions per minute to verify underreaming and delivery of the predetermined diameter.
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32. A method of real time reaming, comprising:
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providing a drill-bit and an extendable tool to ream a borehole; passing through a restriction; activating said tool to extend extendable cutter blocks to a diameter greater than the diameter of the drill-bit; sensing a relative position of the extendable cutter blocks to a body of the tool using a position sensor; rotating said tool and moving it axially along said borehole; measuring a borehole diameter using at least one caliper; sensing a fluid property from one of a group comprising flow, rpm, density, sound transit time, weight, and hydraulic force using at least one calibration sensor; calibrating said caliper using a sensed fluid property from the calibration sensor; and using a processor connected to a control area which act in response to data received from said at least one caliper, verifying and controlling a predetermined diameter by comparing and correlating data received from the at least one caliper and from the position sensor to deliver the predetermined diameter.
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Specification