System and method for controlling a drilling path based on drift estimates in a rotary steerable system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016362971-A1
Application number	US-201615250575-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 29, 2016
Priority date	Jun 25, 2014
Publication date	Dec 15, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method for drilling, comprising receiving, by a surface steerable system coupled to a drilling rig, BHA information from a rotary steerable bottom hole assembly (BHA) located in a borehole, calculating, by the surface steerable system, torsional and spatial forces acting on the rotary steerable BHA at a first location of the rotary steerable BHA with respect to a target drilling path responsive to the BHA information, calculating, by the surface steerable system, a first vector to create a convergence path from the first location of the rotary steerable BHA to the target drilling path that accounts for the torsional and the spatial forces acting on the rotary steerable BHA, causing, by the surface steerable system, at least one drilling parameter to be modified in order to alter a drilling direction of the rotary steerable BHA based on the calculated first vector, transmitting the at least one drilling parameter to the drilling rig to target the rotary steerable BHA in accordance with the first vector, and drilling the borehole using the rotary steerable BHA in response to the at least one drilling parameter.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for drilling, comprising:
receiving, by a surface steerable system coupled to a drilling rig, BHA information from a rotary steerable bottom hole assembly (BHA) located in the borehole; calculating, by the surface steerable system, torsional and spatial forces acting on the rotary steerable BHA at a first location of the rotary steerable BHA with respect to a target drilling path responsive to the BHA information; calculating, by the surface steerable system, a first vector to create a convergence path from the first location of the rotary steerable BHA to the target drilling path that accounts for the torsional and the spatial forces acting on the rotary steerable BHA; causing, by the surface steerable system, at least one drilling parameter to be modified in order to alter a drilling direction of the rotary steerable BHA based on the calculated first vector; transmitting the at least one drilling parameter to the drilling rig to target the rotary steerable BHA in accordance with the first vector; and drilling the borehole using the rotary steerable BHA in response to the at least one drilling parameter.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of calculating further comprises the step of calculating the first vector to create the convergence path toward any point in a two-dimensional relationship from the location of the rotary steerable BHA.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of calculating is further responsive to any forces forcing the rotary steerable BHA to miss convergence with the target drilling path.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of calculating further comprises calculating a plurality of the first vectors, each of the plurality of first vectors having a different cost associated therewith, to account for the torsional and spatial forces acting on the rotary steerable BHA such that the rotary steerable BHA will converge with the target drilling path by drilling along each of the first vectors.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising calculating the location of the rotary steerable BHA with respect to the target drilling path responsive to the received BHA information.

6 . 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 the surface steerable system coupled to the drilling rig, BHA information from a rotary steerable bottom hole assembly (BHA) located in a borehole;
instructions for calculating, by the surface steerable system, torsional and spatial forces acting on the rotary steerable BHA at a first location of the rotary steerable BHA with respect to a target drilling path responsive to the BHA information;
instructions for calculating, by the surface steerable system, a first vector from the first location of the rotary steerable BHA to the target drilling path for creating a convergence path from the location of the rotary steerable BHA to the target drilling path that accounts for the torsional and the spatial forces acting on the rotary steerable BHA;
instructions for causing, by the surface steerable system, at least one drilling parameter to be modified in order to alter a drilling direction of the rotary steerable BHA based on the calculated first vector; and
instructions for transmitting the at least one drilling parameter to the drilling rig to align the rotary steerable BHA in accordance with the first vector.

7 . The surface steerable system of claim 8 further comprising instructions for drilling the borehole using the rotary steerable BHA in response to the at least one drilling parameter.

8 . The surface steerable system of claim 8 , wherein the instructions for calculating an further comprises instructions for calculating the adjustment of the first vector to any point in a two-dimensional relationship from the location of the rotary steerable BHA.

9 . The surface steerable system of claim 8 , wherein the instructions for calculating is further responsive to any forces forcing the rotary steerable BHA to miss convergence with the target drilling path.

10 . The surface steerable system of claim 8 , wherein the instructions for calculating further comprises instructions for calculating a plurality of the first vectors, each of the plurality of first vectors having a different cost associated therewith, to account for the torsional and the spatial forces acting on the rotary steerable BHA such that the rotary steerable BHA will converge with the target drilling path by drilling along each of the first vectors.

11 . The surface steerable system of claim 8 , further comprising instructions for calculating the location of the rotary steerable BHA with respect to the target drilling path responsive to the received BHA information.

12 . A drilling system, comprising:
a rotary steerable bottom hole assembly (BHA) for drilling a borehole through a geological formation responsive to steering control signals; a drilling rig for driving the BHA through a drill string; a surface steerable system for generating the steering control signals to control the rotary steerable BHA, wherein the surface steerable system receives BHA information from the bottom hole assembly (BHA) located in the borehole, the surface steerable system calculates torsional and spatial forces acting on the rotary steerable BHA at a first location of the rotary steerable BHA with respect to a target drilling path responsive to the BHA information, the surface steerable system calculates a first vector for creating a convergence path from the location of the rotary steerable BHA to the target drilling path that accounts for the torsional and spatial forces acting on the BHA, the surface steerable system modifies at least one drilling parameter in order to alter a drilling direction of the rotary steerable BHA based on the calculated first vector and transmits the at least one drilling parameter to the drilling rig to target the rotary steerable BHA toward the target drilling path.

13 . The drilling system of claim 15 , wherein the bottom hole assembly drills the borehole using the rotary steerable BHA in response to the at least one drilling parameter.

14 . The drilling system of claim 15 , wherein the surface steerable system calculates the first vector towards any point in a two-dimensional relationship with the location of the rotary steerable BHA.

15 . The drilling system of claim 15 , wherein the surface steerable system calculates the first vector responsive to any forces forcing the rotary steerable BHA to miss the convergence with the target path.

16 . The drilling system of claim 15 , wherein the surface steerable system calculates a plurality of the first vectors, each of the plurality of first vectors having a different cost associated therewith, to account for the torsional and spatial forces acting on the rotary steerable BHA such that the rotary steerable BHA will converge with the target drilling path by drilling in accordance with each of the first vectors.

17 . The drilling system of claim 15 , wherein the surface steerable system further calculates the location of the rotary steerable BHA with respect to the target drilling path responsive to the received BHA information.

18 . A method for drilling, comprising:
(a) receiving, by a surface steerable system couple

Assignees

• Motive Drilling Tech Inc

Inventors

• Benson Todd W
• Chen Teddy
• Wilmes Joel

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

• E21B3/02

  Surface drives for rotary drilling · CPC title

• E21B47/024

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

• G05B15/02

  electric · CPC title

• E21B4/02

  Fluid rotary type drives · CPC title