Patent Application
20240401459
This application relates to systems and methods for oilfield, and more particularly to systems and methods for the downhole tracking of drill string components.
In drilling for the extraction of minerals, numerous devices are positioned along a drill string, and each device can encounter various interest points within a borehole. As an example, a borehole may have various sections (e.g., a vertical section and a curved section), and a diameter of the borehole in one section may be different from a diameter of the borehole in another section. Other non-limiting examples of interest points within the borehole may include a location of transition from one kind of drilling to another kind of drilling, a location at which the material being drilled transitions from a soft material to a harder material, blockages, obstacles, and/or other conditions, combinations thereof, and/or other interest points as desired. Such interest points may affect the progress of the drill string components within the borehole and/or during travelling into and/or out of the borehole. Traditional approaches for recording such interest points have relied upon hand aggregation by a human operator in a tally book and/or the human operator's memory, but such approaches are susceptible to human error and are time and labor intensive.
Embodiments covered by this patent are defined by the claims below, not this summary. This summary is a high-level overview of various embodiments and introduces some of the concepts that are further described in the Detailed Description section below. This summary is not intended to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used in isolation to determine the scope of the claimed subject matter. The subject matter should be understood by reference to appropriate portions of the entire specification of this patent, any or all drawings, and each claim.
According to certain embodiments, a method includes determining a position of a drill string component within a borehole, comparing the position of the drill string component to a position of one or more interest points along the borehole, and generating an output response based on the comparison of the position of the drill string component relative to the position of the one or more interest points.
In some embodiments, generating the output response includes providing a first alert based on the position of the drill string component being at the position of the one or more interest points and providing a second alert based on the position of the drill string component being different from the position of the one or more interest points.
In various embodiments, generating the output response includes generating a first control signal for controlling drilling equipment pursuant to a first drilling operation based on the position of the drill string component being at the position of the one or more interest points and generating a second control signal for controlling drilling equipment pursuant to a second drilling operation based on the position of the drill string component being different from the position of the one or more interest points.
In certain embodiments, generating the output response includes generating a map of the drill string with an indicator corresponding to the drill string component, displaying the map of the drill string, and controlling a characteristic of the indicator based on the comparison of the position of the drill string component relative to the position of the one or more interest points. In some cases, controlling the characteristic includes controlling at least one of a color of the indicator, a size of the indicator, flashing of an indicator, and/or a shape of the indicator. In various cases, generating the map of the drill string includes generating a plurality of indicators corresponding to a plurality drill string component of the drill string, and the method includes controlling a characteristic of each indicator based on a comparison of the position of the corresponding drill string component relative to the position of the one or more interest points. In some examples, the method includes generating a map of the borehole with the one or more interest points, and generating the map of the drill string is relative to the map of the borehole.
In some embodiments, generating the output response includes providing an indication of a current status of the drill string component relative to the one or more interest points.
In certain embodiments, generating the output response includes predicting a status of the drill string component over a projected interval and providing an indication of the predicted status. In some cases, the projected interval is a time interval, a distance interval, or a state of operation.
In various embodiments, generating the output response includes determining whether the drill string component is at the position of the one or more interest points, and, if the drill string component is at the position of the one or more interest points, determining whether an alert condition exists and generating the output response based on the existence of the alert condition. In certain cases, determining whether the alert condition exists is based on a comparison of an operating characteristic of the drill string component relative to a characteristic of the one or more interest points.
In some embodiments, generating the output response includes determining whether an alert condition exists based on a current position or predicted future position of the drill string component relative to the one or more interest points and generating the output response based on the existence of the alert condition.
According to certain embodiments, a computer system may utilize a current position and/or a predicted future position of a drill string component to a position of one or more interest points along the borehole, and generate an output signal based on the comparison of the current or predicted future position of the drill string component relative to the position of the one or more interest points.
In some embodiments, the computer system may determine a current position and/or a future predicted position and compare that position of the drill string component to a position of the one or more interest points along the borehole. In various embodiments, the output signal may be based on the comparison of the current or future predicted position of the drill string component relative to a position of the one or more interest points along the borehole.
In various cases, the computer system may generate a mapping of the drill string with an indicator corresponding to the drill string component and control a characteristic of the indicator as the output response.
In certain embodiments, the computer system may control the characteristic of the indicator based on a current position of the drill string component relative to the position of one or more interest points along the borehole.
In some examples, the computer system may predict a future status of the drill string component relative to the one or more interest points along the borehole and control the characteristic of the indicator based on the predicted future status of the drill string component relative to the position of one or more interest points along the borehole.
According to certain embodiments, a method includes identifying a plurality of drill string components along a drill string, for each drill string component, identifying one or more interest points along a borehole, tracking each drill string component within the borehole and relative to the corresponding one or more interest points, and generating an output response based on the tracking of each drill string component relative to the corresponding one or more interest points along the borehole.
Generating the output response may include generating a mapping of the drill string with a plurality of indicators, each corresponding to a drill string component of the plurality of drill string components, displaying the mapping of the drill string, and controlling at least one characteristic of each indicator based on the tracking of the corresponding drill string component relative to the corresponding one or more interest points along the borehole. In some examples, displaying the mapping of the drill string includes displaying a mapping of the borehole with the one or more interest points.
In various embodiments, generating the output response includes providing an alert of a current position of each drill string component relative to the one or more interest points.
In certain examples, generating the output response includes predicting a future status of each drill string component relative to the one or more interest points and providing an alert of the predicted future status of each drill string component relative to the one or more interest points. Predicting the future status may be based on the position of each drill string component relative to the one or more interest points and based on an operating characteristic of each drill string component relative to the one or more interest points. In some cases, the operating characteristic may be at least one of a diameter of the drill string component, a shape of the drill string component, a type of drill string component, a length of the drill string component, or a drilling condition of the drill string component.
Generating the output response additionally, or alternatively, may include controlling a drilling operation.
According to certain embodiments, a method includes providing a plurality of device indicators on a user interface, each device indicator corresponding to a drill string component along a drill string, determining a position of each drill string component relative to a condition along a borehole, and controlling a characteristic of each device indicator based on the position of the particular drill string component relative to the condition.
Various implementations described herein can include additional systems, methods, features, and advantages, which cannot necessarily be expressly disclosed herein but will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following detailed description and accompanying drawings. It is intended that all such systems, methods, features, and advantages be included within the present disclosure and protected by the accompanying claims.
The specification makes reference to the following appended figures, in which use of like reference numerals in different figures is intended to illustrate like or analogous components.
Described herein are systems and methods for tracking drill string components of a drill string within a borehole and relative to one or more blockages, obstacles, and/or other conditions that may affect the progress of the drill string components within the borehole and/or during travelling into and/or out of the borehole. In some embodiments, the systems and methods described herein may aggregate, calculate, infer, and/or otherwise determine conditions for one or multiple devices along a drill string in a downhole well situation, and may generate an output such as displaying the impending condition, generating a control response for drilling equipment, etc. In certain embodiments, the systems and methods described herein may provide a visualization of the drill string components, and each drill string component may have a dedicated indicator for the current status of the drill string component.
The systems and methods described here may serve as an interface to navigate into specifics of a drill string component with data and controls or of visualizations of the drill string component and conditions. As a non-limiting example, an indictor corresponding to the drill string component may be selected, clicked, or otherwise interfaced with to activate or navigate to data, procedures, or visual representations of the drill string component and condition.
In some embodiments, the systems and methods described herein may display on a user interface a mapping or collection of device status indicators, which can be arranged in a line or other meaningful juxtaposition to clarify interrelations between their placement or function along a drill string. The condition can be indicated by symbols, color, patterns, sizes, shapes, and/or other graphical effects. As previously discussed, the user interface may be remote or at the drill site as desired, and/or the user interface may be available to one or more users or viewers on various devices.
Optionally, the mapping or collection may include a plurality of status indicators for each drill string component. As an example, related to each device status indicator, a second cumulative indicator may be present to represent the cumulative projected or predicted conditions of that drill string component over a predetermined set of times, distances, or ranges and states of operation. In such embodiments, the cumulative status optionally may be configured to indicate best case, worst case, and/or other conditions of particular interest that may be expected to occur over the projected interval. As yet another example, a third set of incremental status indicators may be provided evaluating the conditions of interest in finer granularity of smaller intervals of time, space, or process would indicate the state in only in that interval. In embodiments where the system is reversible, as in the situation where a drill string is brought back out of the well for repairs, reconfiguration, or as part of a larger process, the indicators may project forward in time using conditions or data previous in the process to evaluate the indicated status per interval and per cumulative range.
In certain embodiments, the arrangement of the display may be conditional with either the progress direction dictating the layout of the entire set of indicators, or the primary current status indicator remaining stationary and the cumulative indicator dropping to indicate progress of the incremental status indicators to be reversed or presented as retrograde. Optionally, and when included, the incremental status indicators may be hidden or revealed as desired.
For each status, the condition may be determined and displayed. The condition may be based on a position of the drill string component, a characteristic of the drill string component, combinations thereof, and/or as otherwise desired. As non-limiting examples, the condition may be based on a characteristic of the drill string component, such as but not limited to a diameter of the drill string component, a shape of the drill string component, a type of drill string component, a length of the drill string component, and/or a drilling condition of the drill string component. In one non-limiting examples, the condition may be based on the drill string characteristic being within a threshold, and the threshold may be predetermined or adjustable as desired.
The rapid and clear communication of these conditions will function better than the current process of hand aggregation, memory, and tabular records most usually found in these situations. The systems and methods described herein may further be utilized to control, monitor, and/or report systems and processes controlled by any computing or device control and may function itself as a user interface for graphical, textual, or sonic representations of the system being represented.
Various other benefits and advantages may be realized with the systems and methods described herein, and the aforementioned benefits and advantages should not be considered limiting.
In certain embodiments, the drilling system 100 may receive, determine, and/or obtain an identification of the drill string components 112 of the drill string 110 and thereby obtain and/or generate a drill string tally of the drill string components 112. As non-limiting examples, the drilling system 100 may receive the identification and/or tally from an operator (e.g., manually, input via a device and/or computer system for logging, etc.) and/or the drilling system 100 may include components and/or systems for automatically identifying the drilling string components and/or the tally.
As one non-limiting example of an automated system, as illustrated in
The one or more cameras 104 may be positioned to have a field of view of a drill site. As non-limiting examples, the field of view may include a borehole 108, a tower area where one or more devices and/or equipment are assembled for the drill string 101, and/or to have a field of view of at least a portion of a drill string 110. The one or more cameras 104 may be various types of cameras or devices suitable for capturing one or more images. As non-limiting examples, the one or more cameras 104 may be visible light cameras such as grayscale, color, RGB, and/or other visible light cameras. In some embodiments, one or more cameras 104 may be cameras capable of observing light outside the visible spectrum, such as infrared, near infrared, or ultraviolet cameras. In some embodiments, the one or more cameras 104 may include cameras that are capable of recording distance or ranging information, such as time-of-flight cameras or LIDAR sensors. Such one or more time-of-flight or LIDAR sensors or cameras can be used to provide accurate distance, size, shape, dimensions, and other important physical information about components of the drill string 110 as discussed in detail below. In some embodiments, the one or more cameras may include arrays of cameras, wide-angle, 360 degree cameras, or other such image capturing devices. The one or more cameras 104 may be video cameras, or may be cameras taking still images, or a combination thereof. In some embodiments, by including many cameras, aspects of the present disclosure can be resilient against individual camera failures by switching to use as input another camera that has not failed. In some embodiments, interpretative processing can be used to fill gaps in image data caused by transmission dropout, blind spots, or other occlusions to monitor aspects of the drilling rig that are temporarily or permanently not visible to the one or more cameras 104.
The control system 106 may include one or more processing units and/or one or more memory devices. The processing unit may be various suitable processing devices or combinations of devices including but not limited to one or more application specific integrated circuits, digital signal processors, digital signal processing devices, programmable logic devices, field programmable gate arrays, processors, controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors, other electronic units, and/or a combination thereof. The one or more memory devices may be any machine-readable medium that can be accessed by the processor, including but not limited to any type of long term, short term, volatile, nonvolatile, or other storage medium, and is not to be limited to any particular type of memory or number of memories, or type of media upon which memory is stored. Moreover, as disclosed herein, the term “storage medium,” “storage” or “memory” can represent one or more memories for storing data, including read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic RAM, core memory, magnetic disk storage mediums, optical storage mediums, flash memory devices and/or other machine readable mediums for storing information. The term “machine-readable medium” includes, but is not limited to, portable or fixed storage devices, optical storage devices, wireless channels, and/or various other storage mediums capable of storing that contain or carry instruction(s) and/or data.
While illustrated as separate from the one or more cameras 104, in some embodiments, the control system 106 (or sub-components thereof such as one or more processing units and/or one or more memory devices) may be components of one or more cameras 104.
In certain embodiments, the control system 106 optionally includes an associated user interface, including but not limited to a graphical user interface or a human machine interface, such that the control system 106 may obtain information from a user and/or provide information to the user. In such embodiments, the user interface and/or human machine interface may be on the control system 106 itself or may be at a location remote from the control system 106, such as on a user device, a dedicated user interface device, and/or as otherwise desired.
In various embodiments, the control system 106 may be communicatively coupled to one or more rig control systems and/or equipment for controlling one or more drilling operations. Non-limiting examples of rig control systems and/or equipment include steering control systems, weight on bit control systems, pressure control systems, positional control systems, rotary control systems, fluid circulation control systems, a top drive, mud pumps, a wireline, combinations thereof, and/or other systems and/or equipment as desired.
As mentioned, in other embodiments, the identification of drill string components, characteristics of the drill string components, and/or a position of the drill string components need not be obtained visually, and other techniques may be utilized as desired.
In certain embodiments, regardless of how the drill string components 112 are identified, the drilling system 100 may record, identify, and/or confirm position information about each drill string component 112. In various embodiments the drilling system 100 may further record, identify, and/or confirm characteristic information about each drill string component 122 as discussed in detail below.
Referring to
In a block 202, the method may include obtaining and/or determining information about one or more drill string components 112 along the drill string 110. In some embodiments, block 202 includes obtaining and/or determining a position of each of the one or more drill string components 112 along the drill string 110. The position information obtained and/or in block 202 may be a current position of a particular drill string component 112 and/or may be a predicted future position of the drill string component 112. As a non-limiting example, based on a recorded and/or confirmed current position of a drill string component 112, that position may be projected, such as into a borehole, to obtain a future predicted position of that drill string component 112. As such, unless stated otherwise, “position information” as used herein refers to a current position or a future predicted position of a drill string component 112. In various embodiments, when the drill string 110 includes a plurality of drill string components 112, block 202 may include obtaining the position information of each drill string component 112.
As a non-limiting example, in certain embodiments, block 202 may include receiving, by the control system 106, visual data from the one or more cameras 104 and detecting the one or more drill string components 112 in the visual data. Detection of the one or more drill string components 112 in the visual data by the control system 106 may be accomplished using various techniques as desired.
In some embodiments, in addition to detecting and/or determining the position information of the one or more drill string components 112, block 202 optionally may include detecting one or more characteristics of the one or more drill string components. The one or more characteristics may include, but are not limited to, component length, component diameter, component size, shape, modulus of elasticity, weight, and/or profile, location on the drill string, direction of motion, speed, etc. Additionally, or alternatively, block 202 may include detecting and/or obtaining information (e.g., position, type, characteristics, etc.) about the one or more drill string components 112 via other means or systems, such as but not limited to receiving the information from an operator, via other identification systems, combinations thereof, and/or as otherwise desired. As a non-limiting example, block 202 includes determining, based on the visual data, the one or more characteristics of the one or more drill string components. Optionally, block 202 includes generating a drill string tally of the drill string components 112 forming the drill string 110. The information collected about the drill string components 112 in block 202 may be automatically collected, stored, and updated during drilling of the borehole.
Optionally, block 202 may include composing, recording, and/or confirming the components assembled into the drill string based on visual (or other) data. As a non-limiting example, a reference drill string tally of drill string components or well plan may be provided by an operator, retrieved from a database, and/or otherwise be obtained by the system 102. The control system 106 may receive visual data from the one or more cameras 104 and identify a drill string component in the visual data. In certain embodiments, the control system 106 may generate a drill string tally based on a detected relative motion or movement of the identified drill string component (e.g., adding a drill string component to the drill string tally based on a detected movement of adding to the drill string and/or into the borehole, and removing a drill string component from the drill string tally based on a detected movement of removal from the drill string and/or out of the borehole). In various embodiments, the drill string tally generated by the system 102 may be compared to the reference drill string tally or well plan. Optionally, an output response may be generated based on a discrepancy and/or the generated drill string tally not matching or being outside of a threshold from the reference drill string tally. Output responses may include generating an alert, controlling drilling operations, combinations thereof, and/or as otherwise desired.
As another non-limiting example, the optional steps of composing, recording, and/or confirming the components assembled into the drill string based on visual (or other) data optionally includes obtaining and/or receiving visual data from one or more cameras having a field of view of at least a portion of a drilling site. The method may include identifying a drill string component of a drill string in the visual data and receiving and/or determining position information of the drill string component within the drill string assembly. In some embodiments, the method includes comparing the received position information of the drill string component to a position of one or more planned components of the drill string assembly (e.g., defined in a well plan, a reference drill string tally, a previously planned drill string tally, etc.) and report its position, condition, and/or configuration for documentation and/or validation of previously planned assembly or document its assembly for documentation and system use.
In a block 204, the method includes comparing position information of a drill string component 112 within the borehole 108 relative to one or more interest points along the borehole 108. In some embodiments, block 204 includes obtaining the position information of the drill string component 112 by obtaining current position information (e.g., depth, relative position, etc.) from one or more sensors, calculating or estimating a position of the drill string component 112 (e.g., based on drilling speed, position along drill string 110, etc.), predicting a future position of the drill string component 112, or as otherwise desired. In various embodiments, when the drill string 110 includes a plurality of drill string components 112, block 204 may include obtaining the position information of each drill string component 112.
The interest points and location of such interest points along the borehole 108 may be provided by an operator, may be estimated before drilling, and/or may be determined during drilling. Non-limiting examples of issues points may include, but are not limited to, changes in borehole diameter or shape, a change in orientation (e.g., vertical section of the borehole, curved section of the borehole, horizontal section of the borehole, etc.), a location of transition from one kind of drilling to another kind of drilling, a location at which the material being drilled transitions from a soft material to a harder material, blockages, obstacles, curves with dogleg severity above a threshold, ledges in the borehole, faults, cave ins, anything that might impede movement of a component of the drill string or cause added friction or push the drill string in a direction, combinations thereof, and/or other interest points as desired. In embodiments where the drill string 110 includes a plurality of drill string components 112, the same interest points may be provided and/or provided for all of the drill string components 112, and/or interest points may be determined and/or provided for one or more associated drill string components 112. In such embodiments, interest points for one type of drill string component 112 (e.g., a stabilizer) need not be the same as the interest points for another type of drill string component 112 (e.g., a pipe casing).
In some embodiments, the position information of the drill string component 112 in block 204 is a current position of the drill string component 112 relative to the one or more interest points. Additionally, or alternatively, block 204 may include predicting a future position of the drill string component 112 relative to the one or more interest points. In certain embodiments, block 204 may include projecting a position of a drill string component 112 along the drill string 110 into a borehole to obtain a future predicted position of the drill string component 110.
Collectively in blocks 206, 208, and 210, the method includes generating an output response based on the comparison of the position of the drill string component 112 relative to the one or more interest points along the borehole.
In some embodiments, in block 206, the method includes determining whether an alert condition exists. Block 206 may be based on the position of the drill string component 112 relative to one or more interest points, alone or in combination with additional information. In certain embodiments, block 206 includes determining a current alert condition based on the current position of the drill string component. Additionally, or alternatively, block 206 includes predicting a future alert condition based on the predicted future position of the drill string component relative to one or more interest points in the borehole.
In some embodiments, the additional information may include a comparison of a characteristic of the drill string component 112 relative to the interest point of the borehole. As non-limiting examples, the characteristic of the drill string component 112 may include a physical characteristic (e.g., shape, profile, diameter, length, etc.), an operating characteristic (e.g., rotating, sliding, etc.), and/or other characteristics compared to a corresponding characteristic of the interest point. In some embodiments, the alert condition in block 206 may be determined based on the position and/or the additional information being within one or more threshold values. As non-limiting examples, the alert condition may be determined based on a proximity or position threshold, a clearance threshold, and/or as otherwise desired.
In block 208, a first output response may be generated based on the absence of the alert condition in block 206. In block 210, a second output response different from the first output response may be generated based on the existence of the alert condition in block 206. The output responses in blocks 208 and 210 may be various types of output responses as desired, such as but not limited to generating control signals for rig control systems or equipment, generating an auditory alert or alarm, generating a visual alert or alarm, combinations thereof, and/or other output responses as desired. In some embodiments, and as discussed in detail below with reference to
Generally, a well plan may be developed (e.g., by the computer system and/or provided by the operator, etc.) for drilling the well borehole before drilling begins. The well plan may include a trajectory for the wellbore, as well as information such as drilling parameters, equipment to be used and the like. As drilling begins and continues, one or more interest points may be identified as noted above. The interest points may be at locations along the well plan that are near or far from planned drilling events. In various embodiments, the well plan may keep track of drill string components, locations of drill string components, features of drill string components, and borehole features (e.g., formations, geological changes, well path, etc.). As a non-limiting example, it may be that a slide drilling operation is to be performed at a particular measured depth, according to the well plan. However, during drilling, a point of interest may be identified that is located close to the planned beginning of the slide (e.g., twenty feet before the planned slide is to begin). In such a situation, it may be desirable to begin the slide drilling operation before the point of interest is reached by the drill bit. In such a situation, the computer system may update the well plan and automatically initiate the slide earlier than the original well plan in order to avoid problems caused by the point of interest. In some situations, such as when a point of interest is located near a transition from slide to rotary drilling, or rotary to slide drilling, it may be desirable to continue the slide or rotary drilling operation (as the case may be) past the planned end of the slide or rotary drilling operation in order to avoid potential problems resulting from the point of interest. In such situations, the computer system controlling drilling may be programmed with software to automatically adjust by initiating drilling operations, adjusting one or more drilling parameters (e.g., weight on bit (WOB), torque, RPMs, differential pressure, toolface orientation, oscillation, wraps, reactive torque, etc.), delaying one or more drilling operations in order to avoid potential problems resulting from the point of interest. As non-limiting examples, the computer system may control and/or adjust drilling operations to avoid an identified and/or predicted problem. Controlling and/or adjusting drilling operations may include, but are not limited to, postponing a slide, performing and/or initiating a slide sooner than planned, extending a slide, changing RPM, WOB, mud flow, combinations thereof, and/or as otherwise desired. It should be appreciated that multiple points of interest may be identified during drilling of a wellbore, and the computer system may be programmed to adjust drilling operations and/or drilling parameters to avoid potential problems caused by a plurality of points of interest. Moreover, each of the points of interest may be associated with one or more components or features of the drill string.
Other controls may be implemented using the systems described herein, and the aforementioned examples should not be considered limiting.
In another non-limiting example, a method may include determining features in a drill string which may form constraints (e.g., based on a type of drill string component, a position of the drill string component along the drill string, a physical characteristic of a drill string component, an operating characteristic of the drill string component, etc.) and tracking and/or projecting the features along a well path and relative to one or more interest points (e.g., a change in geology, a change in characteristic of the borehole, etc.).
Referring to
In certain embodiments, a graphical user interface 304 includes one or more types of indicators, each corresponding to a particular drill string component 112 identified or detected along the drill string 110. In
The current status indicators 308 may provide feedback of present conditions of the drill string components 112 in the borehole 108 and the projected status indicators 310, 312 may provide projected or predicted future conditions of the drill string components 112 in the borehole 108. As previously discussed, the condition or status of the drill string component may be based on the position relative to an interest point and/or based on additional information. The device condition may be indicated and controlled by controlling a color of the indicator, symbol of the indicator 308, pattern, and/or other graphical effects as desired. In the example illustrated, the device condition is indicated with a check mark for no condition/a clear condition and with an x mark for a problematic or risk condition.
While two conditions are illustrated in
In certain embodiments, an interval over which the cumulative projected status indicators 310 provide an indication of the condition of the corresponding drill string component 112 may be different from an interval over which an incremental projected status indicator 312 provides an indication of the condition of the corresponding drill string component 112. As non-limiting examples, the cumulative projected status indicators 310 may provide a projected or predicted condition over a first set of times, distances, and/or ranges and states of operation, and the incremental projected status indicators 312 may provide a projected or predicted condition over a second set of times, distances, and/or ranges and states of operation. As non-limiting examples, the cumulative projected status indicators 310 may provide the projected or predicted condition over a 60 minute time period or a distance of 100 feet, and the incremental projected status indicators 312 may provide the projected or predicted condition over a 10 minute time period or a distance of 20 feet. Various other intervals may be utilized as desired. Moreover, the intervals may be predetermined or determined as desired.
Optionally, the cumulative projected status indicator 310 may be configured to indicate a best case condition, a worst case condition, and/or other condition of interest that is projected or expected to occur over the projected interval.
Optionally, each row 314 or other grouping of incremental projected status indicators 312 may correspond to future interest points along a borehole. As a non-limiting example, from the current position and status of the drill string 110,
In various embodiments, the sets of indicators 306A-C may be mapped or arranged to correspond to placement and/or function of the drill string components 112A-C along the drill string 110. In certain embodiments, the arrangement may be based on the progress direction of drilling. As a non-limiting example, the drill string components may be along the drill string 110 such that drill string component 112A is the deepest the borehole followed by the drill string component 112B and then the drill string component 112C. In this example, the sets of indicators 306A-C are arranged in a line with the set of indicators 306A corresponding to the deepest drill string component 112A to the right. Similarly, the rows 314 of the second incremental status indicators 312 may be arranged such that a deepest/most distant interest point in the borehole is furthest away (e.g., towards the bottom) from the current status indicators 308.
As another non-limiting example, the current status indicators 308 may remaining stationary on the display, and the projected indicators 310, 312 may drop to indicate progress into the borehole or presented as retrograde to indicate progress out of the borehole. As a non-limiting example,
In other embodiments, the sets of indicators 306 may be arranged in other arrangements or juxtapositions to clarify interrelations between the placement of the corresponding drill string components 112 and/or their function. As a non-limiting example, while
Referring to
Additionally, or alternatively, the graphical user interface 304 may include a drill string mapping or representation 320 along with drill string component representations 322 corresponding to the drill string 110 and drill string components 112. As illustrated by comparing
In certain embodiments, the graphical user interface 704 may include additional features compared to the graphical user interface 304.
Compared to the graphical user interface 304, each of the current status indicators 308 of the graphical user interface 704 include an icon, picture, or other representation 724 of the corresponding drill string component. Additionally, or alternatively, a text identification 726 for the drill string component represented by each current status indicator 308 may be provided. The graphical user interface 704 may additionally include information indicating a depth 728 of each drill string component. Optionally, the graphical user interface 704 includes an operational status indicator 730 providing one or more operational status indications for each drill string component. The operational status indications may include, but are not limited to, a type of drilling, an orientation of drilling, combinations thereof, and/or other operational status as desired. In the embodiment illustrated, each operational status indicator provides an indication of a type of drilling represented by a letter (e.g., an “R” for rotation and an “S” for sliding) as well as an orientation by a color (e.g., purple for vertical, green for horizontal, orange for curve, etc.). Other statuses and/or combinations of statuses may be indicated as desired.
The graphical user interfaces may provide for each drill string component immediate feedback of all present conditions (via current status indicators 308), all projected conditions of interest for each time, space, and/or process interval (via incremental projected status indicators 312), and/or a worst, best, or otherwise indicated projected condition of interest (via the cumulative projected status indicators 310). The various indicators may serve as a link to further data, applications, devices, and/or visualization that relate to each drill string component, condition, and/or process of concern. In certain embodiments, the rapid and clear communication of these conditions may facilitate controlling, monitoring, and/or reporting system and processes.
Various other benefits and advantages may be realized with the systems and methods described herein, and the aforementioned benefits and advantages should not be considered limiting.
A collection of exemplary embodiments are provided below, including at least some explicitly enumerated as “Illustrations” providing additional description of a variety of example embodiments in accordance with the concepts described herein. These illustrations are not meant to be mutually exclusive, exhaustive, or restrictive; and the disclosure not limited to these example illustrations but rather encompasses all possible modifications and variations within the scope of the issued claims and their equivalents.
Illustration 1. A drilling system comprising: a camera having a field of view of a drilling site; a computer system communicatively coupled to the camera, wherein the computer system is configured to: receive visual data from the camera; identify a drill string component of a drill string in the visual data; receive and/or determine position information of the drill string component within the drill string; compare the received position information of the drill string component to one or more planned components of the drill string; and generate an output response based on the comparison of the received position information of the drill string component relative to the position of the one or more planned components of the drill string assembly.
Illustration 2. The drilling system of any preceding or subsequent illustrations or combination of illustrations, wherein the computer system is further configured to generate a drill string tally comprising a condition, position, and/or configuration of each drill string component and compare the generated drill string tally to a reference or previously planned drill string tally.
Illustration 3. The drilling system of any preceding or subsequent illustrations or combination of illustrations, wherein the computer system is further configured to determine a characteristic of the drill sting component based on the drill string composition data and compare the characteristic of the drill string component to a characteristic of the one or more interest points along the borehole, and wherein the output signal is based on the comparison of the characteristic of the drill string component relative to a characteristic of the one or more interest points along the borehole.
Illustration 4. The drilling system of any preceding or subsequent illustrations or combination of illustrations, wherein the computer system is configured to generate a mapping of the drill string with an indicator corresponding to the drill string component and control a characteristic of the indicator as the output response.
Illustration 5. The drilling system of any preceding or subsequent illustrations or combination of illustrations, wherein the computer vision processor is configured to control the characteristic of the indicator based on a current position of the drill string component relative to the position of one or more interest points along the borehole.
Illustration 6. The drilling system of any preceding or subsequent illustrations or combination of illustrations, wherein the computer vision processor is configured predict a future status of the drill string component relative to the one or more interest points along the borehole and control the characteristic of the indicator based on the predicted future status of the drill string component relative to the position of one or more interest points along the borehole.
Illustration 7. A method comprising: determining, by a computer system, a position of a drill string component within a borehole; comparing, by the computer system, the position of the drill string component to a position of one or more interest points along the borehole; and generating, by the computer system, an output response based on the comparison of the position of the drill string component relative to the position of the one or more interest points.
Illustration 8. The method of any preceding or subsequent illustrations or combination of illustrations, wherein generating the output response comprises providing a first alert based on the position of the drill string component being at the position of the one or more interest points and providing a second alert based on the position of the drill string component being different from the position of the one or more interest points.
Illustration 9. The method of any preceding or subsequent illustrations or combination of illustrations, wherein generating the output response comprises generating a first control signal for controlling drilling equipment pursuant to a first drilling operation based on the position of the drill string component being at the position of the one or more interest points and generating a second control signal for controlling drilling equipment pursuant to a second drilling operation based on the position of the drill string component being different from the position of the one or more interest points.
Illustration 10. The method of any preceding or subsequent illustrations or combination of illustrations, wherein generating the output response comprises: generating a map of the drill string, the map of the drill string comprising an indicator corresponding to the drill string component; displaying the map of the drill string; and controlling a characteristic of the indicator based on the comparison of the position of the drill string component relative to the position of the one or more interest points.
Illustration 11. The method of any preceding or subsequent illustrations or combination of illustrations, wherein controlling the characteristic comprises controlling at least one of a color of the indicator, a size of the indicator, or a shape of the indicator.
Illustration 12. The method of any preceding or subsequent illustrations or combination of illustrations, wherein generating the map of the drill string comprises generating a plurality of indicators corresponding to a plurality drill string component of the drill string, and wherein the method comprises controlling a characteristic of each indicator based on a comparison of the position of the corresponding drill string component relative to the position of the one or more interest points.
Illustration 13. The method of any preceding or subsequent illustrations or combination of illustrations, further comprising generating a map of the borehole with the one or more interest points, and wherein generating the map of the drill string is relative to the map of the borehole.
Illustration 14. The method of any preceding or subsequent illustrations or combination of illustrations, wherein generating the output response comprises providing an indication of a current status of the drill string component relative to the one or more interest points.
Illustration 15. The method of any preceding or subsequent illustrations or combination of illustrations, wherein generating the output response comprises: predicting a status of the drill string component over a projected interval; and providing an indication of the predicted status.
Illustration 16. The method of any preceding or subsequent illustrations or combination of illustrations, wherein the projected interval is a time interval, a distance interval, or a state of operation.
Illustration 17. The method of any preceding or subsequent illustrations or combination of illustrations, wherein generating the output response comprises: determining whether the drill string component is at the position of the one or more interest points; and if the drill string component is at the position of the one or more interest points, determining whether an alert condition exists and generating the output response based on the existence of the alert condition.
Illustration 18. The method of any preceding or subsequent illustrations or combination of illustrations, wherein determining whether the alert condition exists is based on a comparison of an operating characteristic of the drill string component relative to a characteristic of the one or more interest points.
Illustration 19. The method of any preceding or subsequent illustrations or combination of illustrations, wherein generating the output response comprises: determining whether an alert condition exists based on a current position or predicted future position of the drill string component relative to the one or more interest points and generating the output response based on the existence of the alert condition.
Illustration 20. A method comprising: identifying a plurality of drill string components along a drill string; for each drill string component, identifying one or more interest points along a borehole; tracking each drill string component within the borehole and relative to the corresponding one or more interest points; and generating an output response based on the tracking of each drill string component relative to the corresponding one or more interest points along the borehole.
Illustration 21. The method of any preceding or subsequent illustrations or combination of illustrations, wherein generating the output response comprises: generating a mapping of the drill string, the mapping of the drill string comprising a plurality of indicators, each corresponding to a drill string component of the plurality of drill string components; displaying the mapping of the drill string; and controlling at least one characteristic of each indicator based on the tracking of the corresponding drill string component relative to the corresponding one or more interest points along the borehole.
Illustration 22. The method of any preceding or subsequent illustrations or combination of illustrations, wherein displaying the mapping of the drill string further comprises displaying a mapping of the borehole with the one or more interest points.
Illustration 23. The method of any preceding or subsequent illustrations or combination of illustrations, wherein generating the output response comprises providing an alert of a current position of each drill string component relative to the one or more interest points.
Illustration 24. The method of any preceding or subsequent illustrations or combination of illustrations, wherein generating the output response comprises predicting a future status of each drill string component relative to the one or more interest points and providing an alert of the predicted future status of each drill string component relative to the one or more interest points.
Illustration 25. The method of any preceding or subsequent illustrations or combination of illustrations, wherein predicting the future status is based on the position of each drill string component relative to the one or more interest points and based on an operating characteristic of each drill string component relative to the one or more interest points.
Illustration 26. The method of any preceding or subsequent illustrations or combination of illustrations, wherein the operating characteristic comprises at least one of a diameter of the drill string component, a shape of the drill string component, a type of drill string component, a length of the drill string component, or a drilling condition of the drill string component.
Illustration 27. A method comprising: providing a plurality of device indicators on a user interface, each device indicator corresponding to a drill string component along a drill string; determining a position of each drill string component relative to an interest point along a borehole; and controlling a characteristic of each device indicator based on the position of the particular drill string component relative to the interest point.
Illustration 28. Non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising a plurality of instructions executable by one or more processors, which, when executed on the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform actions comprising: identifying a plurality of drill string components along a drill string; for each drill string component, identifying one or more interest points along a borehole; tracking each drill string component within the borehole and relative to the corresponding one or more interest points; and generating an output response based on the tracking of each drill string component relative to the corresponding one or more interest points along the borehole.
Illustration 29. Non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising a plurality of instructions executable by one or more processors, which, when executed on the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform actions comprising: providing a plurality of device indicators on a user interface, each device indicator corresponding to a drill string component along a drill string; determining a position of each drill string component relative to an interest point along a borehole; and controlling a characteristic of each device indicator based on the position of the particular drill string component relative to the interest point.
Illustration 30. Non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising a plurality of instructions executable by one or more processors, which, when executed on the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform actions comprising: determining, by a computer system, a position of a drill string component within a borehole; comparing, by the computer system, the position of the drill string component to a position of one or more interest points along the borehole; and generating, by the computer system, an output response based on the comparison of the position of the drill string component relative to the position of the one or more interest points.
Illustration 31. A drilling system comprising a computer system coupled to one or more cameras having a field of view of a drilling site, wherein the computer system is configured to: receive visual data from the one or more cameras; identify a drill string component of a drill string in the visual data and based on movement of the drill string component; generate a drill string tally based on the identification of the drill string component, the drill string tally comprising position information of the drill string component within the drill string; compare the generated drill string tally to a well plan or to a manual tally; and generate an output based on the comparison.
Illustration 32. A drilling system comprising a computer system coupled to one or more cameras having a field of view of a drilling site, wherein the computer system is configured to: receive visual data from the one or more cameras; identify a drill string component of a drill string in the visual data; receive and/or detect position information of the drill string component within the drill string assembly and additional information of the drill string component; generate a drill string tally based on the position information of the drill string component; compare the received and/or detected position information and additional information of the drill string component to a position of one or more planned components of the drill string; and generate an output response based on the comparison.
Illustration 33. The drilling system of any preceding or subsequent illustrations or combination of illustrations, wherein the additional information comprises at least one of a condition of the drill string component, a configuration of the drill string component, type of drill string component, an operating condition of the drill string component, or a physical property of the drill string component.
Illustration 34. The drilling system of any preceding or subsequent illustrations or combination of illustrations, wherein the output response comprises an alert.
Illustration 35. The drilling system of any preceding or subsequent illustrations or combination of illustrations, wherein the output response comprises control of one or more drilling operations.
Illustration 36. The drilling system of any preceding or subsequent illustrations or combination of illustrations, wherein the output response comprises a display of information.
Illustration 37. The drilling system of any preceding or subsequent illustrations or combination of illustrations, wherein the computer system is further configured to determine a characteristic of the drill sting component based on the visual or recorded position data and compare the characteristic of the drill string component to a characteristic of the one or more interest points along the borehole, and wherein the output signal is based on the comparison of the characteristic of the drill string component relative to a characteristic of the one or more interest points along the borehole.
Illustration 38. The drilling system of any preceding or subsequent illustrations or combination of illustrations, wherein the computer system is configured to generate a mapping of the drill string with an indicator corresponding to the drill string component and control a characteristic of the indicator as the output response.
Illustration 39. The drilling system of any preceding or subsequent illustrations or combination of illustrations, wherein the computer system is configured to control the characteristic of the indicator based on a current position of the drill string component relative to the position of one or more interest points along the borehole.
Illustration 40. The drilling system of any preceding or subsequent illustrations or combination of illustrations, wherein the computer system is configured predict a future status of the drill string component relative to the one or more interest points along the borehole and control the characteristic of the indicator based on the predicted future status of the drill string component relative to the position of one or more interest points along the borehole.
Illustration 41. A drilling system comprising: a camera having a field of view relative to a borehole of a well; a computer system communicatively coupled to the camera, wherein the computer system is configured to: receive visual data from the camera; identify a drill string component of a drill string in the visual data; receive position information of the drill string component within the drill string assembly; compare the received position information of the drill string component to a position of one or more planned components of the drill string assembly and one or more of (i) report its position, condition, and/or configuration for documentation and/or validation of previously planned assembly or (ii) document its assembly for documentation and system use.
As used herein, the terms “invention,” “the invention,” “this invention,” and “the present invention” are intended to refer broadly to all of the subject matter of this patent application and the claims below. Statements containing these terms should be understood not to limit the subject matter described herein or to limit the meaning or scope of the patent claims below.
As used herein, the meaning of “a,” “an,” and “the” includes singular and plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.
The subject matter of embodiments of the present disclosure is described here with specificity to meet statutory requirements, but this description is not necessarily intended to limit the scope of the claims. The claimed subject matter may be embodied in other ways, may include different elements or steps, and may be used in conjunction with other existing or future technologies. This description should not be interpreted as implying any particular order or arrangement among or between various steps or elements except when the order of individual steps or arrangement of elements is explicitly described. Directional references such as “up,” “down,” “top,” “bottom,” “left,” “right,” “vertical,” “horizontal,” “lateral,” “longitudinal,” “front,” and “back,” among others, are intended to refer to the orientation as illustrated and described in the figure (or figures) to which the components and directions are referencing.
The terms “comprising,” “having,” “including,” and “containing” are to be construed as open-ended terms (i.e., meaning “including, but not limited to,”) unless otherwise noted. All methods described herein can be performed in any suitable order unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context. The use of any and all examples, or exemplary language (e.g., “such as”) provided herein, is intended merely to better illuminate embodiments of the invention, and does not pose a limitation on the scope of the invention unless otherwise claimed. No language in the specification should be construed as indicating any non-claimed element as essential to the practice of the invention.
The above-described aspects are merely possible examples of implementations, merely set forth for a clear understanding of the principles of the present disclosure. Many variations and modifications can be made to the above-described embodiment(s) without departing substantially from the spirit and principles of the present disclosure. All such modifications and variations are intended to be included herein within the scope of the present disclosure, and all possible claims to individual aspects or combinations of elements or steps are intended to be supported by the present disclosure. Moreover, although specific terms are employed herein, as well as in the claims that follow, they are used only in a generic and descriptive sense, and not for the purposes of limiting the described embodiments, nor the claims that follow.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/505,631, filed on Jun. 1, 2023, and entitled SYSTEM SEQUENTIAL STATUS INDICATOR FOR DOWNHOLE TRACKING, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63505631 | Jun 2023 | US |
