System and method for providing drilling fluid for earth drilling

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10871044-B2
Application number	US-201716469227-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 21, 2017
Priority date	Dec 22, 2016
Publication date	Dec 22, 2020
Grant date	Dec 22, 2020

Abstract

It is described how to provide a drilling fluid for earth drilling, wherein the drilling fluid comprises a liquid and at least one mineral. A recycling device preconditions supplied drilling fluid. At least one drilling fluid analyzer is provided for determining the state of drilling fluid that comes out of the borehole. There is also a mixing device for mixing drilling fluid reconditioned by the recycling device with liquid and/or mineral, wherein the mixing device is coupled to the drilling fluid analyzer in order to perform mixing according to the state of the drilling fluid.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system for providing a drilling fluid for earth drilling, wherein the drilling fluid comprises a liquid and at least one mineral, comprising:
a first drilling fluid analyzer for determining a condition of drilling fluid that comes out of a drilled borehole, the first drilling fluid analyzer comprising a first sensor configured to determine one or more physical or chemical quantities of the borehole supplied drilling fluid indicative of a determined condition of said drilling fluid,
a recycling device for fluidly connected to the drilled borehole via a conduit conveying said borehole supplied drilling fluid, wherein said recycling device is configured to receive a signal indicative of the determined condition of drilling fluid and to employ one or more filters to perform filtering operations to separate said borehole supplied drilling fluid into components useful for downstream mixing according to a target condition, thereby providing reconditioned drilling fluid;
a mixing device positioned downstream of said recycling device and fluidly coupled thereto and having a chamber or channel for mixing the reconditioned drilling fluid reconditioned by the recycling device with liquid and/or mineral,
wherein the mixing device is coupled to the drilling fluid analyzer in order to perform mixing according to the determined condition of the drilling fluid by matching the determined condition of the drilling fluid with a setpoint value of valves of the mixing device configured to achieve the target condition.

2. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising a control unit coupled to the drilling fluid analyzer and with which the mixing device can be actuated to provide a particular condition.

3. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising a second conduit which fluidly connects the recycling device and the mixing device, and wherein a sensor of said first drilling fluid analyzer is arranged in the conduit.

4. The system according to claim 3 , wherein
a second drilling fluid analyzer is disposed in the second conduit between said recycling device and said mixing device for determining the state of the reconditioned drilling fluid that comes out of the recycling device, the second drilling fluid analyzer comprising a second sensor configured to determine one or more physical or chemical quantities of the reconditioned drilling fluid indicative of a condition of said reconditioned drilling fluid, and
wherein the mixing device is coupled to the second drilling fluid analyzer for adjusting mixing of the reconditioned drilling fluid from the recycling device, and said one liquid and/or mineral, according to a signal output from said second drilling fluid analyzer corresponding to the determined condition of the reconditioned drilling fluid by matching the determined condition of the reconditioned drilling fluid with a setpoint value of valves of the mixing device configured to achieve the target condition.

5. The system according to claim 4 , further comprising:
a third drilling fluid analyzer in line between said mixing device and a ground drilling device downstream of said mixing device for determining the state of the drilling fluid that comes out of the mixing device, the third drilling fluid analyzer comprising: a third sensor configured to determine one or more physical or chemical quantities of the drilling fluid from the mixing device indicative of a determined condition of said drilling fluid output from the mixing device, and a transmitter for transmitting a signal indicative of the determined condition of said drilling fluid output from the mixing device;
wherein the ground drilling device coupled to the third drilling fluid analyzer comprises a receiver for receiving the signal transmitted from the third drilling fluid analyzer, the ground drilling device adjusting one or more parameter settings for the earth drilling according to said received signal.

6. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the first drilling fluid analyzer is wirelessly connected to the recycling device and the mixing device.

7. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said filtering operations comprise at least one of a mechanical filtering, a chemical separation, and rejection of portions of the drilling fluid coming from the borehole.

8. The system according to claim 1 , wherein said first drilling fluid analyzer is further configured to determine a given soil condition based on the borehole drilling fluid and send a signal to the mixing device to adjust the condition of the drilling fluid to the given soil in which the drilling head of the ground drilling device resides.

9. A method for providing a drilling fluid for earth drilling, wherein the drilling fluid comprises a liquid and at least one mineral, the method comprising:
recycling spent drilling fluid from a drilled borehole by determining using a sensor one or more physical or chemical quantities of the borehole supplied drilling fluid indicative of a determined condition of said spent drilling fluid, and
transmitting a signal associated with said determined condition;
automatically conveying said spent drilling fluid to a recycling device;
performing at said recycling device select filtering operations according to said signal to separate said borehole supplied drilling fluid into components useful for downstream mixing based on a target condition, and
mixing of the recycled drilling fluid with liquid and/or mineral according to the signal associated with said determined condition of the drilling fluid by matching the determined condition of the drilling fluid with a setpoint value of valves of a mixing device configured to achieve the target condition.

10. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising:
determining using a second sensor in line with the flow of drilling fluid from the recycling device, to a mixing device, one or more physical or chemical quantities of the recycling device indicative of a determined condition of said recycling device drilling fluid; and
adjusting mixing of the reconditioned drilling fluid from the recycling device, and said one liquid and/or mineral, according to a signal corresponding to the determined condition of the reconditioned drilling fluid from said second sensor, by matching the determined condition of the reconditioned drilling fluid with a setpoint value of valves of the mixing device configured to achieve the target condition.

11. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising wireless transmission of a signal corresponding to the determined condition of the drilling fluid.

12. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising transmission of a signal corresponding to a setpoint from a ground drilling device.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein the one or more physical or chemical quantities comprise density, viscosity, sand content, and chemical composition of the spent drilling fluid.

14. A system for providing a drilling fluid for earth drilling, wherein the drilling fluid comprises a liquid and at least one mineral, comprising:
a first drilling fluid analyzer for determining a condition of drilling fluid that is supplied out of a drilled borehole, the first drilling fluid analyzer comprising a first sensor configured to determine one or more physical or chemical quantities of the borehole supplied drilling fluid indicative of a given condition of said drilling fluid, and a transmitter configured to transmit a signal corresponding to said given condition;
a recycling device for reconditioning said borehole supplied drilling fluid, the recycling device fluidly connected to the drilled borehole

Assignees

• Tracto Technik

Inventors

• Fischer Sebastian

Classifications

• E21B43/2607

  Surface equipment specially adapted for fracturing operations · CPC title

• B01F35/2142

  using wireless sensors introduced in the mixture, e.g. transponders or RFID tags, for measuring the parameters of the mixture or components to be mixed · CPC title

• B01F2101/49

  Mixing drilled material or ingredients for well-drilling, earth-drilling or deep-drilling compositions with liquids to obtain slurries · CPC title

• B01F35/82

  by adding a material to be mixed to a mixture in response to a detected feature, e.g. density, radioactivity, consumed power or colour · CPC title

• B01F35/213

  of the properties of the mixtures, e.g. temperature, density or colour · CPC title