Nonstop transition from rotary drilling to slide drilling
AssigneeNabors Drilling Technologies USA, Inc.
InventorColin Gillan
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems, devices, and methods for transitioning from a rotary drilling operation to a slide drilling operation on a drilling rig include rotary drilling a borehole in a subterranean formation by rotating a bottom hole assembly (BHA) on a drill string driven by a top drive and determining a trapped torque in a drill string. While maintaining weight on bit at the BHA, the drill string may be rotated in reverse to remove the trapped torque, and a slide drilling process may be performed without raising the bit from the bottom of the borehole.
Claims21
A system for transitioning from a rotary drilling operation to a slide drilling operation on a drilling rig, comprising:
- a top drive;
- a drill string having a bottom hole assembly (BHA), the drill string being cooperatively connected to the top drive;
- and
- a controller in communication with the top drive and configured to:
- determine a rotational displacement introduced to the drill string while rotating the drill string and to determine trapped torque in the drill string as a function of the rotational displacement of the drill string due to the rotation of the top drive;
- and
- prior to initiating a slide drilling process, generate a control signal to rotate the top drive in reverse for the determined rotational displacement to relieve the trapped torque from the drill string.
A system for transitioning from a rotary drilling operation to a slide drilling operation on a drilling rig, comprising:
- a top drive;
- a drill string extending from the top drive and having a bottom hole assembly (BHA) disposed at a distal end of the drill string;
- a sensor configured to detect applied torque on the drill string over a first period of time during a rotary drilling process;
- and
- a controller in communication with the sensor and the top drive, the controller configured to:
- receive the detected applied torque from the sensor;
- determine trapped torque in the drill string as a function of power of the top drive over the first period of time;
- and
- prior to initiating a slide drilling process, transmitting an instruction to the top drive to rotate in reverse until the trapped torque is removed from the drill string.
A method of transitioning from a rotary drilling operation to a slide drilling operation on a drilling rig, comprising:
- rotary drilling a borehole in a subterranean formation by rotating a bottom hole assembly (BHA) on a drill string driven by a top drive;
- determining a trapped torque in the drill string applied by the top drive during a startup process;
- while maintaining weight on bit at the BHA, rotating the drill string in reverse to remove the trapped torque;
- and
- performing a slide drilling process without relieving the weight on bit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.