System and method for controlling a drilling path based on drift estimates

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10472893-B2
Application number	US-201615068222-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 11, 2016
Priority date	Dec 22, 2011
Publication date	Nov 12, 2019
Grant date	Nov 12, 2019

Abstract

A surface steerable system coupled to a drilling rig receives BHA information from a bottom hole assembly (BHA) located in a borehole. The BHA information corresponds to a first location of the BHA with respect to a target drilling path and geological formation drift information. The surface steerable system calculates a toolface vector to create a convergence path from the first location of the BHA to the target drilling path that accounts for geological formation drift defined by the geological formation drift information such that the BHA will converge with the target drilling path by drilling in accordance with the toolface vector. The surface steerable system causes at least one control parameter to be modified in order to alter a drilling direction of the BHA based on the calculated toolface vector and transmits the at least one control parameter to the drilling rig to target the BHA in accordance with the calculated toolface vector.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for controlling a drilling operation, comprising:
receiving, by a surface steerable system coupled to a drilling rig, BHA information for a bottom hole assembly (BHA) located in a borehole, wherein the BHA information comprises a first location of the BHA with respect to a target drilling path, wherein the first location is within a geological formation;
receiving geological drift information for the geological formation indicating a trajectory bias within the geological formation observed while drilling along a straight path;
calculating, by the surface steerable system, a drift vector corresponding to the trajectory bias for the BHA within the geological formation for a drill bit for a first portion of a wellbore within the geological formation;
calculating, by the surface steerable system, a toolface vector to create a convergence path from the first location of the BHA to the target drilling path that compensates for the drift vector such that the BHA will converge with the target drilling path by drilling in accordance with the toolface vector;
causing, by the surface steerable system, at least one control parameter to be modified in order to alter a drilling direction of the BHA based on the calculated toolface vector; and
transmitting the at least one control parameter to the drilling rig to drill in accordance with the calculated toolface vector.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the convergence path requires both slide operations and rotate operations to move from the first location of the BHA to the target drilling path.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the convergence path requires only a rotate operation to move from the first location of the BHA to the target drilling path.

4. The method of claim 1 further including the step of calculating, by the surface steerable system, an adjustment of the toolface vector to a second toolface vector to compensate for a second drift vector such that the BHA will converge with the target drilling path by drilling in accordance with the second toolface vector when the drift vector used to determine the toolface vector is determined to no longer be correct.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of calculating the toolface vector further comprises the step of calculating the toolface vector to create the convergence path toward a predetermined point along the target drilling path in a three-dimensional relationship from the location of the BHA.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of calculating the toolface vector further comprises calculating a plurality of toolface vectors, each defining a convergence path from the first location of the BHA to the target drilling path that accounts for the trajectory bias of the geological formation, each of the plurality of toolface vectors having a different cost associated therewith, to account for the trajectory bias such that the BHA will converge with the target drilling path by drilling along each of the plurality of toolface vectors.

7. A surface steerable system for use with a drilling rig comprising:
a network interface;
a processor coupled to the network interface; and
a non-transitory memory coupled to the processor, the memory storing a plurality of instructions for execution by the processor, the plurality of instructions including:
instructions for receiving, by a surface steerable system coupled to a drilling rig, BHA information from a bottom hole assembly (BHA) located in a borehole, wherein the BHA information corresponds to a first location of the BHA within a geological formation;
instructions for determining, by the surface steerable system, whether the first location of the BHA is not within a predetermined amount from a target drilling path;
instructions for receiving geological drift information for the geological formation indicating a trajectory bias within the geological formation observed while drilling along a straight path;
instructions for calculating, by the surface steerable system, if the first location of the BHA is not within the predetermined amount from the target drilling path, a drift vector corresponding to the trajectory bias for the BHA within the geological formation, and a toolface vector or a convergence path from the first location of the BHA to the target drilling path that compensates for the drift vector such that the BHA will converge with the target drilling path by drilling in accordance with the toolface vector;
instructions for causing, by the surface steerable system, at least one control parameter to be modified in order to alter a drilling direction of the BHA based on the calculated toolface vector; and
instructions for transmitting the at least one control parameter to the drilling rig drill in accordance with the calculated toolface vector.

8. The surface steerable system of claim 7 , wherein the convergence path requires both slide operations and rotate operations to move from the first location of the BHA to the target drilling path.

9. The surface steerable system of claim 7 , wherein the convergence path requires only a rotate operation to move from the first location of the BHA to target drilling path.

10. The surface steerable system of claim 7 further including instructions for calculating, by the surface steerable system, an adjustment of the toolface vector to provide a second toolface vector to compensate for a second drift vector such that the BHA will converge with the target drilling path by drilling in accordance with the second toolface vector when the drift vector used to determine the toolface vector is determined to no longer be correct.

11. The surface steerable system of claim 7 further comprising instructions for drilling the borehole using the BHA in response to the at least one drilling parameter.

12. The surface steerable system of claim 7 , wherein the instructions for calculating the toolface vector further comprise instructions for calculating the toolface vector to create the convergence path toward a predetermined point along the target drilling path in a three-dimensional relationship from the location of the BHA.

13. The surface steerable system of claim 7 , wherein the instructions for calculating the toolface vector further comprise instructions for calculating a plurality of toolface vectors, each defining a convergence path from the first location of the BHA to the target drilling path that compensates for the trajectory bias of the geological formation, each of the plurality of toolface vectors having a different cost associated therewith, such that the BHA will converge with the target drilling path by drilling along each of the plurality of toolface vectors.

14. A drilling system, comprising:
a bottom hole assembly (BHA) for drilling a borehole through a geological formation responsive to steering control signals;
a drilling rig for driving the bottom hole assembly through a drill string;
a surface steerable system for generating the steering control signals to control the BHA, wherein the surface steerable system (a) receives BHA information from the BHA wherein the BHA information comprises a first location of the BHA, wherein the first location is within a geological formation, (b) receives geological drift information for the geological formation indicating a trajectory bias within the geological formation observed while drilling along a straight path, (c) determines if the distance from a first location of the BHA to a target drilling path exceeds a predetermined amount and, if so, (d) calculates a drift vector corresponding to the trajectory bias for the BHA within the geological formation, and a

Assignees

• Motive Drilling Tech Inc
• Univ Texas

Inventors

• Benson Todd W
• Chen Teddy
• Bhaduri Sashmit

Classifications

• E21B7/04 Primary

  Directional drilling · CPC title

• E21B44/00

  Automatic control systems specially adapted for drilling operations, i.e. self-operating systems which function to carry out or modify a drilling operation without intervention of a human operator, e.g. computer-controlled drilling systems; Systems specially adapted for monitoring a plurality of drilling variables or conditions · CPC title

• E21B47/022

  of the borehole, e.g. using geomagnetism · CPC title

• E21B47/024

  of devices in the borehole (determining slope or direction of the borehole E21B47/022) · CPC title

• E21B47/09

  Locating or determining the position of objects in boreholes or wells {, e.g. the position of an extending arm}; Identifying the free or blocked portions of pipes · CPC title