Closed loop fully autonomous directional drilling

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025084750-A1
Application number	US-202418595926-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 5, 2024
Priority date	Sep 13, 2023
Publication date	Mar 13, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for performing closed loop, fully autonomous directional drilling using a drilling and steering system. An example method can include receiving, by a surface controller, a well plan for performing directional drilling of a wellbore; determining, based on the well plan, a first drilling instruction for directing a drilling and steering system to drill the wellbore; sending the first drilling instruction to a downhole controller that is coupled to the drilling and steering system; receiving at least one sensor measurement from a downhole sensor that is associated with the drilling and steering system; determining, based on the well plan and the at least one sensor measurement, a second drilling instruction for directing the drilling and steering system to drill the wellbore; and sending the second drilling instruction to the downhole controller that is coupled to the drilling and steering system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A system comprising:
a memory; and one or more processors coupled to the memory, the one or more processors being configured to:
receive, by a surface controller, a well plan for performing directional drilling of a wellbore;
determine, based on the well plan, a first drilling instruction for directing a drilling and steering system to drill the wellbore;
send the first drilling instruction to a downhole controller that is coupled to the drilling and steering system;
receive at least one sensor measurement from a downhole sensor that is associated with the drilling and steering system;
determine, based on the well plan and the at least one sensor measurement, a second drilling instruction for directing the drilling and steering system to drill the wellbore; and
send the second drilling instruction to the downhole controller that is coupled to the drilling and steering system.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
receive real-time wellbore data from a geosteering application; determine, based on the real-time wellbore data, a third drilling instruction for directing the drilling and steering system to drill the wellbore; and send the third drilling instruction to the downhole controller that is coupled to the drilling and steering system.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first drilling instruction corresponds to at least one of a vertical section of the wellbore, a lateral section of the wellbore, and a curved section of the wellbore.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the second drilling instruction corresponds to a first transition between a vertical section of the wellbore and a curved section of the wellbore or a second transition between the curved section of the wellbore and a lateral section of the wellbore.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the first drilling instruction includes one or more drilling parameters, and wherein the one or more drilling parameters include at least one of a weight-on-bit (WOB) parameter, a rotations-per-minute (RPM) parameter, a flow parameter, and a power parameter.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
receive a user input that includes a manual instruction for the downhole controller; and send the manual instruction to the downhole controller that is coupled to the drilling and steering system.

7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
determine that the drilling and steering system failed to respond to the first drilling instruction; and in response, resend the first drilling instruction to the downhole controller that is coupled to the drilling and steering system.

8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the surface controller includes a machine learning model that is trained to control the drilling and steering system based on the well plan.

9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor measurement includes at least one of an azimuth of the wellbore and an inclination of the wellbore.

10 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving, by a surface controller, a well plan for performing directional drilling of a wellbore; determining, based on the well plan, a first drilling instruction for directing a drilling and steering system to drill the wellbore; sending the first drilling instruction to a downhole controller that is coupled to the drilling and steering system; receiving at least one sensor measurement from a downhole sensor that is associated with the drilling and steering system; determining, based on the well plan and the at least one sensor measurement, a second drilling instruction for directing the drilling and steering system to drill the wellbore; and sending the second drilling instruction to the downhole controller that is coupled to the drilling and steering system.

11 . The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , further comprising:
receiving real-time wellbore data from a geosteering application; determining, based on the real-time wellbore data, a third drilling instruction for directing the drilling and steering system to drill the wellbore; and sending the third drilling instruction to the downhole controller that is coupled to the drilling and steering system.

12 . The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the first drilling instruction corresponds to at least one of a vertical section of the wellbore, a lateral section of the wellbore, and a curved section of the wellbore.

13 . The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the second drilling instruction corresponds to a first transition between a vertical section of the wellbore and a curved section of the wellbore or a second transition between the curved section of the wellbore and a lateral section of the wellbore.

14 . The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the first drilling instruction is sent to the downhole controller using a downlink protocol.

15 . The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , further comprising:
receiving a user input that includes a manual instruction for the downhole controller; and sending the manual instruction to the downhole controller that is coupled to the drilling and steering system.

16 . The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , further comprising:
determining that the drilling and steering system failed to respond to the first drilling instruction; and in response, resending the first drilling instruction to the downhole controller that is coupled to the drilling and steering system.

17 . The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the surface controller includes a machine learning model that is trained to control the drilling and steering system based on the well plan.

18 . The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the at least one sensor measurement includes at least one of an azimuth of the wellbore and an inclination of the wellbore.

19 . A drilling and steering system comprising:
a drilling apparatus; a downhole controller that is coupled to the drilling apparatus; and a surface controller that is coupled to the downhole controller and the drilling apparatus, wherein the surface controller is configured to:
determine, based on a well plan, a first drilling instruction for directing the drilling apparatus to perform directional drilling of a first section of a wellbore; and
transfer, based on the well plan, control of the drilling apparatus to the downhole controller, wherein the downhole controller is configured to: determine, based on the well plan, a second drilling instruction for directing the drilling apparatus to perform directional drilling of a second section of the wellbore.

20 . The drilling and steering system of claim 19 , wherein the first section of the wellbore corresponds to a vertical section of the wellbore and the second section of the wellbore corresponds to at least one of a curved section of the wellbore and a lateral section of the wellbore.

Assignees

• Halliburton Energy Services Inc

Inventors

• Wu Min
• Sun Cili
• Friedrich Robert Alan
• Bhaidasna Ketan C
• Pillai Bipin K
• Costa Oliveira Chagas Fernando
• Pho Vy
• Demirer Nazli

Classifications

• E21B2200/22

  Fuzzy logic, artificial intelligence, neural networks or the like · CPC title

• E21B7/04

  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

• E21B47/022

  of the borehole, e.g. using geomagnetism · 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