System and method for determining the location of a bottom hole assembly

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11028684-B2
Application number	US-201916242564-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 8, 2019
Priority date	Dec 22, 2011
Publication date	Jun 8, 2021
Grant date	Jun 8, 2021

Abstract

A system and method for surface steerable drilling are provided. In one example, the system receives toolface information for a bottom hole assembly (BHA) and non-survey sensor information corresponding to a location of the BHA in a borehole. The system calculates an amount of incremental progress made by the BHA based on the non-survey sensor information and calculates an estimate of the location based on the toolface information and the amount of incremental progress. The system repeats the steps of receiving toolface information and non-survey sensor information and calculating an amount of incremental progress to calculate an estimate of a plurality of locations representing a path of the BHA from a first survey point towards a second sequential survey point.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for determining a location of a bottom hole assembly, comprising:
receiving, by a computer system, first toolface update from a bottom hole assembly (BHA) located in a borehole during drilling of the borehole, wherein the first toolface update comprises first toolface orientation of the BHA, and wherein the first toolface update is received between a first measured survey point that has been passed and a second measured survey point that has not been reached;
receiving, by the computer system, a second toolface update from the BHA located in the borehole during the drilling of the borehole, wherein the second toolface update comprises second toolface orientation of the BHA, and wherein the second toolface update is received a time period after the first toolface update is received;
receiving, by the computer system, a plurality of differential pressure measurements of a pressure difference of a drilling fluid across a drill bit;
determining, by the computer system, an average differential pressure over a toolface update period using the plurality of differential pressure measurements, wherein the toolface update period is a length of time between the first toolface update and the second toolface update;
determining, by the computer system responsive to the average differential pressure, an average rate of penetration (ROP) of the BHA for the toolface update period;
determining, by the computer system responsive to the average ROP, a borehole depth increase;
determining, by the computer system responsive to the second toolface update, a borehole trajectory calculation; and
determining, by the computer system, a spatial estimate of borehole position, responsive to at least one of the second toolface update, the borehole depth increase, and the borehole trajectory calculation.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of:
determining, by the computer system, whether survey data has been received for any measured survey point after the first measured survey point, and, if so, using the survey data for the measured survey point after the first measured survey point to update the spatial estimate of borehole position, and if survey data for the measured survey point after the first measured survey point has not been received, then receiving non-survey information obtained while drilling, wherein the non-survey information is received between the first measured survey point and the measured survey point after the first measured survey point, determining, responsive to at least the non-survey information, a second spatial estimate of borehole position, wherein the second spatial estimate of borehole position specifies at least one of a current borehole position, a drill bit position along the borehole, and a trajectory of the borehole.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the average differential pressure is calculated or acquired from a database.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the average ROP for a formation using the BHA at the average differential pressure is calculated or acquired from a database.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the borehole depth increase is determined by applying the average ROP over the toolface update period.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the average differential pressure is used to estimate a force on the drill bit.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the force on the drill bit is used to determine a distance the drill bit should have drilled in a formation.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the borehole trajectory calculation comprises a plane of arc for a borehole curvature projection and the plane of arc is obtained by applying a minimum curvature method.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the borehole trajectory calculation comprises at least one of a straight line calculation, a tangential calculation, a balanced tangential calculation, a radius of curvature calculation, and a spline curve calculation.

10. A system for determining a location of a bottom hole assembly, comprising:
a processor;
a 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 the system, a first toolface update from a bottom hole assembly (BHA) located in a borehole during a drilling of the borehole, wherein the first toolface update comprises first toolface orientation of the BHA, and wherein the first toolface update is received between a first measured survey point along the borehole that has been passed and a second measured point that has been reached;
instructions for receiving, by the processor, a second toolface update from the BHA located in the borehole during the drilling of the borehole, wherein the second toolface update comprises second toolface orientation of the BHA, and wherein the second toolface update is received a time period after the first toolface update is received;
instructions for receiving, by the processor, first non-survey information obtained while drilling, the first non-survey information comprising a plurality of differential pressure measurements of a pressure difference of a drilling fluid across a drill bit;
instructions for determining, by the processor, an average differential pressure over a toolface update period using the plurality of differential pressure measurements, wherein the toolface update period is a length of time between the first toolface update and the second toolface update;
instructions for determining, by the processor, an average rate of penetration of the BHA at the average differential pressure;
instructions for determining, by the processor, a borehole depth increase;
instructions for determining, by the processor, a trajectory calculation to use in a borehole projection; and
instructions for determining, by the processor, a spatial estimate of borehole position, responsive to at least the second toolface update, the borehole depth increase, and the trajectory calculation.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the instructions for calculating a spatial estimate of borehole position include instructions for estimating a vector specifying a three-dimensional location and a three-dimensional orientation of the drill bit.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein toolface information is obtained at a plurality of pre-defined time intervals.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the average differential pressure is calculated or acquired from a database.

14. The system of claim 10 , wherein the average rate of penetration for a formation using the BHA at the average differential pressure is calculated or acquired from a database.

15. The system of claim 10 , wherein the borehole depth increase is calculated by applying the average rate of penetration over the toolface update period.

16. The system of claim 10 , wherein the average differential pressure is used to estimate a force on the drill bit.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the force on the drill bit is used to determine a distance the drill bit should have drilled in a formation.

18. The system of claim 10 , wherein a plane of arc is obtained by applying a minimum curvature method.

19. The system of claim 10 , wherein the trajectory calculation comprises at least one of a straight line calculation, a tangential calculation, a balanced tangential calculation, a radius of curvature calculation, and a spline curve calculation.

20. The system of claim 10 , further comprising instructions for determining, by the system, wh

Assignees

• Motive Drilling Tech Inc

Inventors

• Benson Todd W
• Chen Teddy

Classifications

• E21B44/00 Primary

  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

• E21B47/09 Primary

  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

• E21B7/04 Primary

  Directional drilling · CPC title

• E21B47/12

  Means for transmitting measuring-signals or control signals from the well to the surface, or from the surface to the well, e.g. for logging while drilling · CPC title

• E21B47/18

  through the well fluid {, e.g. mud pressure pulse telemetry} · CPC title