System and method for drill pipe tallying

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9784094-B2
Application number	US-201314396703-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 30, 2013
Priority date	Apr 30, 2012
Publication date	Oct 10, 2017
Grant date	Oct 10, 2017

Abstract

A method for drill pipe tallying includes detecting that a drill bit ( 14 ) has tripped in through a rig floor and monitoring movement of a drawworks ( 6 ) that supports the drill bit and a length of drill pipe. If a tag interrogating device does not detect a wireless tag ( 26 ) associated with a set of slips, the method includes counting the movement of the drawworks toward a drill pipe tally. If a tag interrogating device detects a wireless tag associated with a set of slips, the method includes not counting the movement of the drawworks toward the drill pipe tally. The tag interrogating device is positioned at a fixed location relative to the rig floor.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for drill pipe tallying, comprising:
detecting that a drill bit has tripped in through a rig floor;
monitoring movement of a drawworks that supports the drill bit and a length of drill pipe coupled to the drill bit;
in response to a determination that a tag interrogating device does not detect a wireless tag associated with a set of slips, counting the movement of the drawworks toward a drill pipe tally; and
in response to a determination that the tag interrogating device does detect the wireless tag associated with the set of slips, not counting the movement of the drawworks toward the drill pipe tally;
wherein the tag interrogating device is configured to be positioned at a predetermined distance away from the rig floor such that communication is enabled between the wireless tag associated with the set of slips and the tag interrogating device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein detecting that the drill bit has tripped in through the rig floor comprises detecting a wireless tag associated with the drill bit has passed through the rig floor.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein monitoring movement of the drawworks comprises monitoring the position of a traveling block or monitoring an amount of wire released from a drawworks spool.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the tag interrogating device is housed in a housing coupled to a rotary pan below a rotary table.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the tag interrogating device is above a bell nipple positioned below the rotary table.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the tag interrogating device is positioned below the rig floor.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein
the tag interrogating device is configured to be positioned at a predetermined distance away from the rig floor such that communication is enabled between the wireless tag associated with the set of slips and the tag interrogating device when the slips are engaged and such that communication is not enabled between the wireless tag associated with the set of slips and the tag interrogating device when the slips are not engaged.

8. A system for drill pipe tallying, comprising:
a set of slips comprising a first wireless tag configured for wireless communication;
a tag interrogating device configured to wirelessly communicate with the first wireless tag and configured to detect the first wireless tag; and
a monitoring system communicably coupled to the tag interrogating device, the monitoring system configured to:
monitor movement of a drawworks that supports a drill bit and a length of drill pipe;
count the movement of the drawworks toward a drill pipe tally if in response to a determination that the tag interrogating device does not detect the first wireless tag; and
not count the movement of the drawworks toward the drill pipe tally if in response to a determination that the tag interrogating device detects the first wireless tag;

wherein the tag interrogating device is configured to be positioned at a predetermined distance away from a rig floor such that communication is enabled between the first wireless tag and the tag interrogating device.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the monitoring system is further configured to detect that a drill bit has tripped in through the rig floor.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the tag interrogating device is further configured to detect a second wireless tag, which causes the monitoring system to determine that the drill bit has passed through the rig floor, wherein the second wireless tag is associated with the drill bit.

11. The system of claim 8 wherein the monitoring system is configured to monitor the position of a traveling block or an amount of wire released from a drawworks spool to monitor the movement of the drawworks.

12. The system of claim 8 further comprising a housing for the tag interrogating device that is coupled to a rotary pan below a rotary table.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the tag interrogating device is above a bell nipple positioned below the rotary table.

14. The system of claim 8 wherein the tag interrogating device is configured to be positioned at a predetermined distance away from the rig floor such that communication is enabled between the first wireless tag and the tag interrogating device when the slips are engaged.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the monitoring system comprises a tag identification database that associates one or more tag identification values with either slips or a drill bit and the tag interrogating device is configured to:
receive a tag identification value from a wireless tag; and
transmit the tag identification value to the monitoring system.

16. The system of claim 8 wherein the tag interrogating device is positioned below the rig floor.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
detect that a drill bit has tripped in through a rig floor;
monitor movement of a drawworks that supports the drill bit and a length of drill pipe;
in response to a determination that a tag interrogating device does not detect a wireless tag associated with a set of slips, count the movement of the drawworks toward a drill pipe tally; and
in response to a determination that the tag interrogating device does detect the wireless tag associated with the set of slips, not count the movement of the drawworks toward the drill pipe tally;
wherein the tag interrogating device is configured to be positioned at a predetermined distance away from the rig floor such that communication is enabled between the wireless tag associated with the set of slips and the tag interrogating device.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to receive an indication that the tag interrogating device detects that a wireless tag associated with the drill bit has passed through the rig floor.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of 17 wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to monitor the position of a traveling block or monitor an amount of wire released from a drawworks spool to determine the movement of the drawworks.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 wherein
the tag interrogating device is configured to be positioned at a predetermined distance away from the rig floor such that communication is enabled between the wireless tag associated with the set of slips and the tag interrogating device when the slips are engaged.

Assignees

• Nat Oilwell Varco Lp

Inventors

• Limbacher Christopher Lee

Classifications

• F16L2201/60

  Identification or marking · CPC title

• E21B19/16

  Connecting or disconnecting pipe couplings or joints (E21B19/20 takes precedence) · CPC title

• E21B17/006

  Accessories for drilling pipes, e.g. cleaners (wear protectors E21B17/10; handling drilling pipes E21B19/00; thread protectors B65D59/00) · CPC title

• E21B19/07

  Slip-type elevators · CPC title

• E21B47/04 Primary

  Measuring depth or liquid level · CPC title