Sensor on clamp device

#The present disclosure relates to improvements in sensors used in conjunction with oil and gas well drilling operations.

#Oil and gas wells are first drilled using sections of drill pipe progressively threaded together forming a drill string with a drilling bit always at the bottom. During drilling, the top drive provides rotational torque to the drilling bit by way of the drill string. After the initial well is drilled, the drill string is removed and tubing or casing strings, are similarly threaded together and lowered down the wellbore for the purposes of performing operations or producing oil or gas from the well.

#During the drilling phase, there is required a means to monitor the forces being applied to the drill string and the drilling bit to ensure that the well is being drilled as efficiently as possible. Forces are generated by the interaction of the pipe string and drilling bit with the surrounding formations can be measured using acceleration sensors. The sensor data can be electronically recorded for future analysis as well as presented graphically to the drilling crew for real-time adjustments.

#A further, detailed, description of the invention, briefly described above, will follow by reference to the following drawings of specific embodiments of the invention. The drawings depict only typical embodiments of the invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope. In the drawings:

#FIG. 1 is an elevation view of a typical top drive for a drilling system;

#FIG. 2 is an elevation view of a top drive for a drilling system showing one example of the sensors of the present invention located on the tool joint clamp;

#The drawing is not necessarily to scale and in some instances proportions may have been exaggerated in order more clearly to depict certain features.

#The description that follows and the embodiments described therein are provided by way of illustration of an example, or examples, of particular embodiments of the principles of various aspects of the present invention. These examples are provided for the purposes of explanation, and not of limitation, of those principles and of the invention in its various aspects.

#With reference to the Figures, in one embodiment, the present disclosure provides a sensor-on-clamp device 100. The present invention in some embodiments relates to a tool joint clamp 6 that can be mounted with sensors 8 and other related equipment such as power sources and transceivers, the tool joint clamp 6 being one that is already used in the system. While connection clamps 6 and tool joint clamps are examples of such clamps, it would be well understood that other clamps used in, for example, pipelines or mining, would also work for housing the sensor-on-clamp device 100. In some embodiments, the sensor-on clamp device 100 is housed on a housing 2 mounted to the tool joint clamp 6. In other embodiments of the invention, a custom tool joint clamp 6 may be manufactured in which sensors 8 are directly housed or mounted.