Apparatus, computer readable medium, and program code for evaluating rock properties while drilling using downhole acoustic sensors and telemetry system
First Claim
1. An apparatus for identifying rock properties in real-time during drilling, the apparatus comprising:
- a downhole sensor subassembly connected between a drill bit and a drill string;
one or more acoustic sensors carried by the downhole sensor subassembly and operably coupled to a downhole data interface;
a downhole processor assembly operably coupled to the one or more acoustic sensors and operably coupled to a downhole data transmitting interface, the downhole processor assembly adapted to perform the following operations;
receiving digitized raw acoustic sensor data from the one or more acoustic sensors, the raw acoustic sensor data representing an acoustic signal generated real-time as a result of rotational contact of the drill bit with rock during drilling, andprocessing the raw acoustic sensor data, the operation of processing including deriving a plurality of acoustic characteristics from the processed raw acoustic sensor data, the plurality of acoustic characteristics including mean frequency and normalized deviation of frequency; and
a surface computer operably coupled to the downhole data transmitting interface through a surface data transmitting interface and a communication medium extending therebetween, the computer configured to perform the following operations;
receiving acoustic characteristics data from the downhole processor assembly,performing one or more of the following processing operations at the surface computer;
identifying lithology type of rock being encountered by the drill bit utilizing the mean frequency and the normalized deviation of frequency, andderiving petrophysical properties of rock being encountered by the drill bit from the acoustic characteristics data utilizing a petrophysical properties evaluation algorithm employable to predict one or more petrophysical properties of rock undergoing drilling utilizing one or more of the plurality of acoustic characteristics.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Apparatus, computer readable medium, and program code for identifying rock properties in real-time during drilling, are provided. An example of an embodiment of such an apparatus includes a downhole sensor subassembly connected between a drill bit and a drill string, acoustic sensors operably coupled to a downhole processor, a borehole telemetry system, downhole and surface data transmitting interfaces, and a surface computer operably coupled to the downhole data transmitting interface. The downhole processor is adapted to perform operations including receiving raw acoustic sensor data resulting from rotational contact of the drill bit with rock, transforming the raw acoustic sensor data into the frequency domain, filtering the transformed data, and deriving acoustic characteristics from the filtered data. The surface computer is adapted to perform operations including deriving petrophysical properties from the acoustic characteristics directly or by utilizing a petrophysical properties evaluation algorithm.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. An apparatus for identifying rock properties in real-time during drilling, the apparatus comprising:
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a downhole sensor subassembly connected between a drill bit and a drill string; one or more acoustic sensors carried by the downhole sensor subassembly and operably coupled to a downhole data interface; a downhole processor assembly operably coupled to the one or more acoustic sensors and operably coupled to a downhole data transmitting interface, the downhole processor assembly adapted to perform the following operations; receiving digitized raw acoustic sensor data from the one or more acoustic sensors, the raw acoustic sensor data representing an acoustic signal generated real-time as a result of rotational contact of the drill bit with rock during drilling, and processing the raw acoustic sensor data, the operation of processing including deriving a plurality of acoustic characteristics from the processed raw acoustic sensor data, the plurality of acoustic characteristics including mean frequency and normalized deviation of frequency; and a surface computer operably coupled to the downhole data transmitting interface through a surface data transmitting interface and a communication medium extending therebetween, the computer configured to perform the following operations; receiving acoustic characteristics data from the downhole processor assembly, performing one or more of the following processing operations at the surface computer; identifying lithology type of rock being encountered by the drill bit utilizing the mean frequency and the normalized deviation of frequency, and deriving petrophysical properties of rock being encountered by the drill bit from the acoustic characteristics data utilizing a petrophysical properties evaluation algorithm employable to predict one or more petrophysical properties of rock undergoing drilling utilizing one or more of the plurality of acoustic characteristics. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. An apparatus for identifying rock properties in real-time during drilling, the apparatus comprising:
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a drill string comprising a plurality of drill pipes each have an inner bore; a drill bit connected to the downhole end of the drill string; a downhole sensor subassembly connected to and between the drill bit and the drill string; acoustic sensors contained by the downhole sensor subassembly and operably coupled to a downhole data transmitting interface; a borehole telemetry system for carrying data to a surface computer, the borehole telemetry system comprising the downhole data transmitting interface, a communication medium operably coupled to the downhole data transmitting interface, and a surface data transmitting interface operably coupled to the communication medium; a downhole processor assembly operably coupled to the one or more acoustic sensors and operably coupled to the downhole data transmitting interface, the downhole processor assembly adapted to perform the following operations; receiving raw acoustic sensor data from the one or more acoustic sensors, the raw acoustic sensor data representing an acoustic signal generated real-time as a result of rotational contact of the drill bit with rock during drilling, and processing the raw acoustic sensor data, the operation of processing including deriving a plurality of acoustic characteristics from the processed raw acoustic sensor data, the plurality of acoustic characteristics comprising mean frequency and normalized deviation of frequency; a top drive system for rotating the drill string, the top drive system including rotating and stationary portions, the surface data transmitting interface connected to a stationary portion of the top drive system; and a surface computer operably coupled to the downhole processor assembly through the downhole data transmitting interface, the communication medium, and surface data transmitting interface, the computer including a processor, memory in communication with the processor, and a petrophysical properties evaluation program stored in the memory, the computer configured to perform the following operations; receiving acoustic characteristics data from the downhole processor assembly, performing one or more of the following processing operations at the surface computer; identifying lithology type of rock being encountered by the drill bit utilizing the mean frequency and normalized deviation of frequency, and deriving petrophysical properties of rock being encountered by the drill bit from the acoustics characteristics data utilizing a petrophysical properties evaluation algorithm employable to predict one or more petrophysical properties of rock undergoing drilling utilizing one or more of the plurality of acoustic characteristics. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A non-transitory computer readable medium having processor readable acoustics characteristics evaluation program code embodied on the computer readable medium, the processor readable program code for programming one or more processors to perform operations for evaluating acoustic sensor data generated as a result of rotational contact of a drill bit with rock during drilling for acoustic characteristics usable for determining properties of the rock real-time during drilling, the processor readable program code comprising a set of instructions that when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the operations of:
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receiving raw acoustic sensor data from the one or more acoustic sensors, the raw acoustic sensor data representing an acoustic signal generated real-time as a result of rotational contact of the drill bit with rock during drilling; and processing the raw acoustic sensor data, the operation of processing including deriving a plurality of acoustic characteristics from the processed raw acoustic sensor data, the plurality of acoustic characteristics comprising mean frequency and normalized deviation of frequency; transmitting the acoustic characteristics from a downhole processor assembly to a surface computer via a borehole telemetry system, wherein the surface computer is configured to perform one or more of the following operations at the surface computer; identifying lithology type of rock being encountered by the drill bit utilizing the mean frequency and the normalized deviation of frequency, and deriving petrophysical properties of rock being encountered by the drill bit from the acoustic characteristics data utilizing a petrophysical properties evaluation algorithm employable to predict one or more petrophysical properties of rock undergoing drilling utilizing one or more of the plurality of acoustic characteristics. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17)
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18. A non-transitory computer readable medium having processor readable petrophysical properties evaluation program code embodied on the computer readable medium, the processor readable program code for programming one or more processors to perform operations for evaluating properties of rock in a formation in real-time during drilling, the processor readable program code comprising a set of instructions that when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the operations of:
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receiving acoustic characteristics data from a downhole processor assembly, the acoustic characteristics data providing one or more acoustic characteristics evaluated from an acoustic signal provided by one or more acoustic sensors positioned adjacent a drill bit generated real-time as a result of rotational contact of the drill bit with rock during drilling, the one or more acoustic characteristics comprising mean frequency and normalized deviation of frequency; and performing one or more of the following processing operations at the downhole processor assembly; identifying lithology type of rock being encountered by the drill bit utilizing mean frequency and the normalized deviation of frequency, and deriving petrophysical properties of rock being encountered by the drill bit utilizing a petrophysical properties evaluation algorithm employable to predict one or more petrophysical properties of rock undergoing drilling utilizing the one or more acoustic characteristics. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. An apparatus for identifying rock properties in real-time during drilling, the apparatus comprising:
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a downhole sensor subassembly connected between a drill bit and a drill string; one or more acoustic sensors carried by the downhole sensor subassembly and operably coupled to a downhole data transmitting interface; and a borehole telemetry system for carrying data to a surface computer, the borehole telemetry system comprising the downhole data transmitting interface, a communication medium operably coupled to the downhole data transmitting interface, and a surface data transmitting interface operably coupled to the communication medium; a downhole processor assembly operably coupled to the one or more acoustic sensors and operably coupled to the downhole data transmitting interface, the downhole processor assembly adapted to perform the following operations; receiving raw acoustic sensor data from the one or more acoustic sensors, the raw acoustic sensor data representing an acoustic signal generated real-time as a result of rotational contact of the drill bit with rock during drilling, and processing the raw acoustic sensor data, the operation of processing including deriving a plurality of acoustic characteristics from the processed raw acoustic sensor data, the plurality of acoustic characteristics comprising mean frequency and normalized deviation of frequency; transmitting the acoustic characteristics from the downhole processor assembly to the surface computer via a borehole telemetry system, the surface computer adapted to perform one or more of the following operations at the surface computer; identifying lithology type of rock being encountered by the drill bit utilizing the mean frequency and the normalized deviation of frequency, and deriving petrophysical properties of rock being encountered by the drill bit from the acoustic characteristics data utilizing a petrophysical properties evaluation algorithm employable to predict one or more petrophysical properties of rock undergoing drilling utilizing one or more of the plurality of acoustic characteristics. - View Dependent Claims (27)
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Specification