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US 12,180,820 B1Granted
Drilling a wellbore into a magma reservoir
AssigneeEnhancedGEO Holdings, LLC
InventorsBenjamin Chris Smith, James Michael Browning, Randall Howard Hornbaker, Kevin Martin Stone, Georgios Evangelatos, Shamsul Abedin Al-Tomal, Andrew Nguyen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for preparing a geothermal system involves preparing a wellbore that extends into an underground magma reservoir. Characteristics of the drilling process and the borehole are monitored to detect when the magma reservoir is reached, such that specially configured drilling operations can be performed to drill to a target depth within the magma reservoir.
Claims21
A method, comprising:
- drilling an initial section of a borehole extending from a surface toward an underground magma reservoir, wherein at least a portion of the initial section of the borehole is drilled at an initial drilling rate;
- detecting contact between a drill bit used to drill the borehole and magma in the underground magma reservoir;
- and
- in response to detecting contact between the drill bit and the magma:
- providing a drilling fluid into the borehole to cause magma in the magma reservoir to form a solid rock plug that can be drilled by the drill bit;
- drilling into the solid rock plug at a drilling rate that is less than the initial drilling rate;
- and
- moving the drill bit into contact and out of contact with the solid rock plug using a reciprocating motion.
5 more elements
A system, comprising:
- drilling equipment comprising a drill bit attached to a drill string, wherein the drilling equipment is configured to drill a borehole from a surface towards an underground magma reservoir;
- and
- a drilling controller coupled to the drilling equipment and configured to:
- cause the drilling equipment to drill an initial section of a borehole extending from a surface toward an underground magma reservoir, wherein at least a portion of the initial section of the borehole is drilled at an initial drilling rate;
- detect contact between the drill bit and magma in the underground magma reservoir;
- in response to detecting contact between the drill bit and the magma:
- cause the drilling equipment to provide a drilling fluid into the borehole to cause magma in the magma reservoir to form a solid rock plug that can be drilled by the drill bit;
- cause the drilling equipment to drill into the solid rock plug at a drilling rate that is less than the initial drilling rate;
- and
- cause the drill bit to move into contact and out of contact with the solid rock plug using a reciprocating motion.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.