Drill planning tool for topography characterization, system and associated methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11149539-B2
Application number	US-201916520182-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 23, 2019
Priority date	Jul 23, 2019
Publication date	Oct 19, 2021
Grant date	Oct 19, 2021

Abstract

A planning tool plans movement of a boring tool for an underground drilling operation. The planning tool includes one or more wheels for rolling on a surface of the ground along a path responsive to movement by an operator to characterize the surface contour and to generate guidance for the boring tool to reach a target position. Planning can additionally be based on waypoints. The planning tool can be rolled unidirectionally or bidirectionally to characterize the surface contour. Bidirectional movement cancels accelerometer fixed bias. Path stitching is used to plan around obstacles. The planning tool can facilitate tracker placement. The planning tool can collect noise information for frequency selection purposes. A described technique maximizes linear drilling in an underground plan. Compensation and/or warnings are provided for unsteady, fast and slow movement of the planning tool while measuring the surface contour.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A planning tool as part of a system for horizontal directional drilling in which a drill rig advances a boring tool through the ground using a drill string that extends from the drill rig to the boring tool, said planning tool comprising:
one or more wheels for rolling on a surface of the ground along a path responsive to movement by an operator;
an encoder for generating an encoder output responsive to the rolling of one of the wheels;
an accelerometer including at least one measurement axis for generating an accelerometer output during said rolling of the wheels that characterizes a pitch orientation of the planning tool; and
a processor for generating an underground plan for the boring tool below the surface of the ground in relation to said path based on the encoder output and the accelerometer output and said processor is configured to generate a speed warning responsive to the encoder output being indicative of a velocity that violates a threshold velocity.

2. The planning tool of claim 1 wherein said processor determines a surface contour of said path in a vertical plane.

3. The planning tool of claim 1 wherein said processor generates the underground plan responsive to an indication by the operator that collection of the encoder output and the accelerometer output along the path from a start position to an end position is complete.

4. The planning tool of claim 1 wherein said processor generates the underground plan additionally based on a minimum bend radius of said drill string.

5. The planning tool of claim 1 wherein the underground plan is a bore plan that extends from an entry position at which the boring tool enters the ground to an exit position at which the boring tool exits the ground.

6. The planning tool of claim 1 wherein the underground plan is a bore segment that represents no more than a portion of an overall underground path which extends from an entry position at which the boring tool enters the ground to an exit position at which the boring tool exits the ground.

7. The planning tool of claim 6 wherein the bore segment is an initial entry portion beginning from the entry position serving as the start position at which the boring tool enters the ground and ending at an intermediate position in the ground.

8. The planning tool of claim 6 wherein the bore segment is an exit portion beginning from an intermediate position in the ground and ending at the exit position serving as the end position at which the boring tool exits the ground.

9. The planning tool of claim 6 wherein the bore segment is an intermediate portion that does not include the entry position or the exit position and extends from a first position in the ground to a second position in the ground.

10. A planning tool as part of a system for horizontal directional drilling in which a drill rig advances a boring tool through the ground using a drill string that extends from the drill rig to the boring tool, said planning tool comprising:
a pair of in-line wheels for rolling on a surface of the ground along a path responsive to movement by an operator;
an encoder for generating an encoder output responsive to the rolling of one of the wheels;
an accelerometer including at least one measurement axis for generating an accelerometer output during said rolling of the wheels that characterizes a pitch orientation of the planning tool; and
a processor for generating an underground plan for the boring tool below the surface of the ground in relation to said path based on the encoder output and the accelerometer output.

11. A planning tool as part of a system for horizontal directional drilling in which a drill rig advances a boring tool through the ground using a drill string that extends from the drill rig to the boring tool, said planning tool comprising:
one or more wheels for rolling on a surface of the ground along a path responsive to movement by an operator;
an encoder for generating an encoder output responsive to the rolling of one of the wheels;
an accelerometer including at least one measurement axis for generating an accelerometer output during said rolling of the wheels that characterizes a pitch orientation of the planning tool; and
a processor for generating an underground plan for the boring tool below the surface of the ground in relation to said path based on the encoder output and the accelerometer output;
a GPS sensor for generating GPS positional information; and
said processor configured to operate in a measurement mode based on the accelerometer output and the encoder output and in a GPS mode based on the GPS positional information.

12. The planning tool of claim 11 wherein said processor is configured to switch from the measurement mode to the GPS mode based on the accelerometer output being indicative of the planning tool rolling on a rough surface such that the wheels at least periodically lose contact with the surface of the ground.

13. A planning tool as part of a system for horizontal directional drilling in which a drill rig advances a boring tool through the ground using a drill string that extends from the drill rig to the boring tool, said planning tool comprising:
one or more wheels for rolling on a surface of the ground along a path responsive to an operator;
an encoder for generating an encoder output responsive to the rolling of at least one of the wheels;
an accelerometer including at least one measurement axis for generating an accelerometer output, during said rolling, that characterizes a pitch orientation of the planning tool and said accelerometer output also includes one or more pitch errors responsive to operator induced accelerations that result from one or more changes in a velocity of the planning tool during said rolling by the operator; and
a processor configured for detecting the changes in the velocity based on the encoder output and for applying compensation to the accelerometer output based on the detected changes to generate a compensated pitch orientation with the pitch errors substantially removed.

14. The planning tool of claim 13 wherein the processor applies the compensation to the accelerometer output based on a calibration coefficient.

15. The planning tool of claim 13 wherein the encoder generates a pulse output responsive to the rolling including a series of pluses that are separated in time by a pulse interval that changes with changes in the velocity and said processor determines the operator induced accelerations based on a rate of change in the pulse interval.

16. A planning tool as part of a system for horizontal directional drilling in which a drill rig advances a boring tool through the ground using a drill string that extends from the drill rig to the boring tool, said planning tool comprising:
a wheel for rolling on a surface of the ground along a path responsive to movement by an operator;
an encoder for generating an encoder output responsive to the rolling of the wheel;
an accelerometer including at least one measurement axis for generating an accelerometer output during said rolling that characterizes a pitch orientation of the planning tool, said accelerometer output exhibiting a temperature sensitive drift;
an oven that receives said accelerometer for maintaining the accelerometer at an at least approximately constant temperature to substantially reduce said temperature sensitive drift during said rolling; and
a processor for generating a surface contour of said path at least in a vertical plane based on the encoder output and the accelerometer output.

17. A planning tool

Assignees

• Merlin Technology Inc

Inventors

• Zeller Rudolf
• Shaw Timothy
• Bayliss Timothy
• Caswell Craig

Classifications

• G01S19/49

  whereby the further system is an inertial position system, e.g. loosely-coupled · CPC title

• G01S19/396

  Determining accuracy or reliability of position or pseudorange measurements · CPC title

• G01S19/14

  specially adapted for specific applications · CPC title

• E21B47/024 Primary

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

• E21B47/0228 Primary

  using electromagnetic energy or detectors therefor · CPC title