Drill bits with incorporated sensing systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11111732-B2
Application number	US-201916525039-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 29, 2019
Priority date	Jul 29, 2019
Publication date	Sep 7, 2021
Grant date	Sep 7, 2021

Abstract

The present disclosure is directed to systems, methods, and apparatuses for obtaining sensor data from sensors incorporated into a drill bit during a drilling operation to form a wellbore. The obtained sensor data may be used to control an aspect of the drilling operation. The sensors may be incorporated into drill bit cutters of a drill bit, a drill bit body of a drill bit, or both. Example sensors include acoustic sensors, pressure sensor, vibration sensor, accelerometers, gyroscopic sensors, magnetometer sensors, and temperature sensors.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A drill bit for forming a wellbore, the drill bit comprising:
a body comprising a connector for a drill string;
a drill bit cutter coupled to the body, the drill bit cutter comprising:
a substrate with a first end and an opposite second end;
an end cap formed on the first end of the substrate, the end cap having a cutting surface operable to engage formation rock to form the wellbore; and
an acoustic sensor attached to the second end of the substrate, the acoustic sensor configured to transmit acoustic waves and receive reflected acoustic waves; and

a processor electrically connected to the acoustic sensor, the processor operable to determine a condition of the drill bit cutter based on at least one of a phase difference and a frequency difference between a transmitted acoustic wave and a received acoustic wave of the acoustic sensor.

2. The drill bit of claim 1 , wherein the acoustic sensor is adapted to determine an amount of wear of the drill bit cutter.

3. The drill bit of claim 2 , wherein the drill bit cutter comprises an additional sensor disposed at an interface between the end cap and the substrate.

4. The drill bit of claim 1 , further comprising an additional sensor formed on a surface of the drill bit cutter.

5. The drill bit of claim 4 , wherein the additional sensor is formed on the drill bit cutter by a chemical vapor deposition process.

6. The drill bit of claim 5 , wherein the chemical vapor deposition process is atomic layer deposition.

7. The drill bit of claim 5 , wherein the additional sensor comprises a plurality of sensors, and wherein the plurality of sensors are formed on the drill bit cutter.

8. The drill bit of claim 1 , wherein the drill bit cutter comprises a plurality of drill bit cutters, wherein the acoustic sensor comprises a plurality of acoustic sensors, and wherein at least one of the plurality of acoustic sensors is coupled to each of the drill bit cutters.

9. A method for controlling a drilling process using a drill bit, the method comprising:
receiving data from an acoustic sensor of a drill bit cutter of the drill bit, the acoustic sensor attached to a first end of a substrate of the drill bit cutter during formation of a wellbore, the drill bit cutter comprising an end cap formed on an opposite second end of the substrate, the end cap having a cutting surface operable to engage formation rock to form the wellbore;
determining a condition of the drill bit cutter based on the received data from the acoustic sensor by determining at least one of a phase difference and a frequency difference between a transmitted acoustic wave and a received acoustic wave of the acoustic sensor; and
altering a drilling parameter of the drill bit based on the determined condition.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the method further comprises:
determining a downhole drilling condition within the wellbore based on the drill bit condition of the drill bit cutter; and
determining a drilling characteristic based on the determined downhole drilling condition;
wherein altering the drilling parameter is based on the determined drilling characteristic.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein receiving data from the acoustic sensor comprises receiving data from the acoustic sensor in real-time.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the received data is acoustic data.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the condition of the drill bit is a wear condition of a drill bit.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the drilling characteristic comprises a rate of penetration of the drill bit or a depth of cut of the drill bit.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein the drilling parameter is selected from a group consisting of a rotational speed of the drill bit, a flow rate of drilling mud pumped during drilling, or a loading force applied to the drill bit.

16. The method of claim 9 , further comprising receiving data from one or more additional sensors coupled to the drill bit, the one or more additional sensors formed on a surface of the drill bit, a sensor embedded in a portion of the drill bit, or a sensor located at an interface between portions of a drill bit.

17. An apparatus for controlling a drilling operation using a drill bit for forming a wellbore, the apparatus comprising:
one or more processors; and
a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium coupled to the one or more processors and storing programming instructions for execution by the one or more processors, the programming instructions to instruct the one or more processors to:
receiving data from an acoustic sensor of a drill bit cutter of the drill bit, the acoustic sensor attached to a first end of a substrate of the drill bit cutter during formation of a wellbore, the drill bit cutter comprising an end cap formed on an opposite second end of the substrate, the end cap having a cutting surface operable to engage formation rock to form the wellbore;
determine a condition of the drill bit cutter based on the received data from the acoustic sensor by determining at least one of a phase difference and a frequency difference between a transmitted acoustic wave and a received acoustic wave of the acoustic sensor; and
alter a drilling parameter of the drill bit based on the determined condition.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the programming instructions to instruct the one or more processors to alter a drilling parameter based on the received sensor data comprises programming instructions to instruct the one or more processors to:
determine a downhole drilling condition within the wellbore based on the drill bit condition of the drill bit cutter; and
determine a drilling characteristic based on the determined downhole drilling condition;
wherein altering the drilling parameter is based on the determined drilling characteristic.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the drilling parameter is selected from a group consisting of a rotational speed of the drill bit, a flow rate of drilling mud pumped during drilling, or a loading force applied to the drill bit.

20. The method of claim 17 , further comprising receiving data from one or more additional sensors coupled to the drill bit, the one or more additional sensors formed on a surface of the drill bit, a sensor embedded in a portion of the drill bit, or a
sensor located at an interface between portions of a drill bit.

Assignees

• Saudi Arabian Oil Co

Inventors

• Zhan Guodong
• Gooneratne Chinthaka Pasan
• Li Bodong
• Moellendick Timothy E

Classifications

• E21B47/013

  Devices specially adapted for supporting measuring instruments on drill bits · CPC title

• 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

• E21B12/02 Primary

  Wear indicators · CPC title

• E21B47/01 Primary

  Devices for supporting measuring instruments on drill bits, pipes, rods or wirelines; Protecting measuring instruments in boreholes against heat, shock, pressure or the like · CPC title

• E21B47/107

  using acoustic means · CPC title