US 10,895,143 B2Granted

In-situ downhole measurement correction and control

AssigneeScientific Drilling International, Inc.

InventorsTimothy Whitacre, Matthew A. White, Pong Pipatwit

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Abstract

A method includes providing a Bottom Hole Assembly (BHA) in a wellbore. The BHA includes a rotary steerable system and a downhole attitude correction and control system. The downhole correction and control system includes a first sensor set, the sensors of the first sensor set positioned near ferromagnetic components of a drill string and a second sensor set, the sensors of the second sensor set positioned further from the ferromagnetic components of the drill string than the sensors of the first sensor set. Corrupted data from the first sensor set and reference data from the second sensor set is obtained, the corrupted data including cross-axis magnetometer and accelerometer measurements. The method additionally includes correcting the corrupted sensor data to form corrected sensor measurements and calculating an estimated azimuth from the corrected sensor measurements. The method further includes steering the rotary steerable system based on the estimated azimuth.

Claims36

Dependent claims

A method comprising:

providing a Bottom Hole Assembly (BHA) positioned in a wellbore, the BHA comprising:
a rotary steerable system;
and
a downhole attitude correction and control system, the downhole correction and control system comprising:
a first sensor set having sensors;
a second sensor set having sensors, the sensors of the second sensor set positioned further from one or more ferromagnetic components of the drill string than the sensors of the first sensor set;
and
a RSS controller, the RSS controller operatively coupled to and adapted to receive measurements from the first and second sensor sets, the controller in data communication with the rotary steerable system;
obtaining corrupted data from the first sensor set and reference data from the second sensor set, the corrupted data including along-hole and cross-axis magnetometer and accelerometer measurements;
depth aligning the corrupted sensor data and the reference data by:
transferring corrupted data to a corrupted sensor data buffer and the reference data to a reference sensor data buffer;
and
aligning the corrupted sensor data buffer and the reference sensor data buffer such that the attitude of the reference sensor data buffer is taken at the same depth and same attitude as corresponding corrupted sensor data buffer;
calculating twist misalignment between the cross-axis magnetometer and accelerometer measurements of the corrupted sensor data to obtain a bias estimate;
calculating an estimated z axis magnetic scale factor and bias of the first sensor set;
calculating a cross-axis magnetic scale factor of the corrupted sensor data;
correcting the corrupted sensor data to form corrected sensor measurements;
calculating an estimated azimuth from the corrected sensor measurements;
and
steering the rotary steerable system based on the estimated azimuth.

17 more elements

A method comprising:

providing a Bottom Hole Assembly (BHA) positioned in a wellbore, the BHA comprising:
a rotary steerable system;
and
a downhole attitude correction and control system, the downhole correction and control system comprising:
a first sensor set having sensors;
a second sensor set having sensors, the sensors of the second sensor set positioned further from one or more ferromagnetic components of the drill string than the sensors of the first sensor set;
and
a RSS controller, the RSS controller operatively coupled to and adapted to receive measurements from the first and second sensor sets, the controller in data communication with the rotary steerable system;
obtaining corrupted data from the first sensor set and reference data from the second sensor set, the corrupted data including along-hole and cross-axis magnetometer and accelerometer measurements;
depth aligning the corrupted sensor data and the reference data;
calculating twist misalignment between the cross-axis magnetometer and accelerometer measurements of the corrupted sensor data to obtain a bias estimate;
calculating an estimated z axis magnetic scale factor and bias of the first sensor set;
calculating a cross-axis magnetic scale factor of the corrupted sensor data;
correcting the corrupted sensor data to form corrected sensor measurements;
calculating an estimated azimuth from the corrected sensor measurements;
and
steering the rotary steerable system based on the estimated azimuth, wherein steering the rotary steerable system comprises employing a target plane control mode, the target plane control mode comprising:
defining a control plane by a starting attitude and a target attitude to drill towards and hold;
and
separating steering forces into two orthogonal components, a to-plane steering force in the direction normal to the plane and a to-target steering force parallel to the plane and in the direction of the target attitude.

17 more elements

A method comprising:

providing a Bottom Hole Assembly (BHA) positioned in a wellbore, the BHA comprising:
a rotary steerable system wherein the rotary steerable system comprises a non-rotating sleeve;
and
a downhole attitude correction and control system, the downhole correction and control system comprising:
a first sensor set having sensors;
a second sensor set having sensors, the sensors of the second sensor set positioned further from one or more ferromagnetic components of the drill string than the sensors of the first sensor set;
and
a RSS controller, the RSS controller operatively coupled to and adapted to receive measurements from the first and second sensor sets, the controller in data communication with the rotary steerable system;
obtaining corrupted data from the first sensor set and reference data from the second sensor set, the corrupted data including along-hole and cross-axis magnetometer and accelerometer measurements;
depth aligning the corrupted sensor data and the reference data;
calculating twist misalignment between the cross-axis magnetometer and accelerometer measurements of the corrupted sensor data to obtain a bias estimate;
calculating an estimated z axis magnetic scale factor and bias of the first sensor set;
calculating a cross-axis magnetic scale factor of the corrupted sensor data;
rotating the first sensor set relative to the non-rotating sleeve;
obtaining measurements of the magnetic field with the first sensor set;
identifying synchronous variations in the cross-axis magnetic field, total magnetic field, or one or more components of the magnetic field that correspond with the rotation of the first sensor set relative to the non-rotating sleeve;
determining the interference caused by the non-rotating sleeve;
and
subtracting the magnetic interference caused by the non-rotating sleeve from the measurements of the first sensor set;
correcting the corrupted sensor data to form corrected sensor measurements;
calculating an estimated azimuth from the corrected sensor measurements;
and
steering the rotary steerable system based on the estimated azimuth.

20 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 16/416,185Filed 18 May 2019 · us provisional application
Priority: 18 May 2018
Published: US 2019/0353023 A121 Nov 2019
Granted: 19 Jan 2021
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification7 codes

E21B 44/005
Automatic control systems specially adapted for drilling operations, i.e. self-operating systems which function to carry out or modify a…
E21B 7/06
Directional drilling: deflecting the direction of boreholes
E21B 47/024
Determining slope or direction: of devices in the borehole
G01V 3/26
Specially adapted for well-logging: operating with magnetic or electric fields produced or modified either by the surrounding earth formation or…