# US 12,601,225 B2 · Apparatus and methods for controlling drilling > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,601,225 B2 - Document ID: US12601225B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 18/056,165 - Filed: 2022-11-16 - Published: 2023-05-18 - Granted: 2026-04-14 - Earliest claimed: 2021-11-16 - Assignees: Helmerich & Payne Technologies, LLC - Applicants: Helmerich & Payne Technologies, LLC - Inventors: William Edward Weideman; Jefferson Xu; John Jeremy Cantwell - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12601225B2 ## CPC - E21B 7/10: Correction of deflected boreholes - E21B 44/00: Automatic control systems specially adapted for drilling operations, i.e. self-operating systems which function to carry out or modify a drilling operation without intervention of a human operator, e.g. computer-controlled drilling systems; Systems specially adapted for monitoring a plurality of drilling variables or conditions - E21B 7/046: {horizontal drilling (drilling with mechanical conveying means E21B7/003)} - E21B 44/02: Automatic control of the tool feed ({E21B44/005,} E21B44/10 take precedence) - E21B 2200/20: Computer models or simulations, e.g. for reservoirs under production, drill bits - E21B: EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; OBTAINING OIL, GAS, WATER, SOLUBLE OR MELTABLE MATERIALS OR A SLURRY OF MINERALS FROM WELLS ## Abstract An autotuner control system may be implemented to monitor and control operation of a drilling system and one or more drilling parameters during drilling operations. The control system may be a proportional integral derivative (PID) controller or a proportional integral (PI) controller, which can run iteratively during drilling operations to adjust drilling parameters and/or the controller. The PI or PID controller may apply adaptive filters to update and adjust one or more controller parameters (PID or PI), to autotune such parameters and may incorporate a stability constraint filter to constrain said adaptive filter, such as to reduce the impact of dead time and process time delays and adjust drilling parameters to match the drilling goals. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A control system for a drilling process with a dead time delay, the control system comprising: a computer system comprising a processor and a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory comprises instructions executable by the processor to perform the following: (a) receiving a target value for a spindle position for drilling of a wellbore, wherein a spindle comprises a portion of a drilling rig for drilling a well; (b) receiving a measured value for the spindle position; (c) determining an error value for the spindle position; (d) providing the target value and the error value to a first controller, wherein the first controller comprises a first proportional integral derivative (PID) controller or a proportional integral (PI) controller and generates a first controller output; (e) adding process noise to the first controller output and providing a sum to a plant; (f) storing the first controller output in a memory; (g) generating a plant output and adding thereto a measurement noise value, thereby generating a feedback output; (h) comparing the feedback output with the target value; (i) adjusting one or more coefficients and repeating steps (a)-(h) during drilling of the well until a difference between the feedback output and the target value falls within a target range therefor, or is below a maximum acceptable threshold therefor; (j) providing the target value to a model operation; (k) providing an output of the model operation to a second PI or PID controller and generating a second controller output therefrom; (l) determining a difference between the first controller output and the second controller output; (m) applying a filter to the difference between the first controller output and the second controller output to generate updated coefficients; (n) responsive to the updated coefficients, determining whether to adjust the first controller or the second controller or both; (o) adjusting the spindle position responsive to the updated coefficients; and (p) controlling the drilling of the wellbore based on the updated coefficients. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The control system according to claim 1, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions for adjusting the spindle position responsive to the updated coefficients. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The control system according to claim 2, wherein the filter comprises at least one of a least squares recursive filter, a Kalman filter, a regression filter, an adaptive filter, or a least mean squares filter. ### Claim 4 A control system for drilling operations, the control system comprising: a computer system comprising a hardware processor coupled to a memory, the memory storing instructions executable by the processor to: receive a target value corresponding to a drilling parameter for drilling a wellbore during drilling of the wellbore; receive data corresponding to a measured value of the drilling parameter during drilling of the wellbore; calculate an error between the target value and the measured value; provide the target value and the error to a first controller, wherein the first controller generates a first controller output; responsive to the calculated error, calculate an adjustment to the drilling parameter; responsive to the adjustment, calculate a model error between the target value and the measured value and based on the calculated adjustment; provide the model error to a second controller, wherein the second controller generates a second controller output; determine a difference between the first controller output and the second controller output; apply a filter to the difference between the first controller output and the second controller output to generate updated coefficients; responsive to the updated coefficients, determine whether to adjust the first controller or the second controller or both; responsive to the model error, adjust the drilling parameter for drilling the wellbore based on the calculated adjustment and the updated coefficients, wherein the drilling parameter comprises at least one of: spindle position, toolface orientation, weight-on-bit, and differential pressure; and controlling the drilling of the wellbore based on the adjusted drill parameter. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The control system of claim 4, wherein the error is calculated using an adaptive filter. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The control system of claim 5, wherein the adaptive filter is a Kalman filter. ### Claim 7 (depends on 5) The control system of claim 5, wherein the adaptive filter is a recursive least squares filter. ### Claim 8 (depends on 4) The control system of claim 4, wherein the computer system comprises a proportional integral derivative controller. ### Claim 9 (depends on 4) The control system of claim 4, wherein the computer system is configured to comprise a proportional integral controller. ### Claim 10 (depends on 4) The control system of claim 4, wherein the control system is coupled to a control system of a drilling rig, and wherein the control system is adapted to adjust the drilling parameter for drilling operations of the drilling rig. ### Claim 11 (depends on 4) The control system of claim 4, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions to determine the adjustment to the drilling parameter based on the calculated error when the calculated error exceeds a threshold therefor. ### Claim 12 (depends on 4) The control system of claim 4, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions to receive the measured value from a sensor. ### Claim 13 A method of controlling drilling operations, the method comprising: receiving, by a first controller comprising a proportional integral derivative controller or a proportional integral controller, a target value corresponding to a drilling parameter for a well being drilled; receiving, by the first controller, data corresponding to a measured value of the drilling parameter; receiving, by the first controller during drilling of a wellbore, data corresponding to a measured value of the drilling parameter; calculating, by the first controller, an error between the target value and the measured value; provide the target value and the error to a first controller, wherein the first controller generates a first controller output; calculating, by the controller, an adjustment for the drilling parameter based on the calculated error; calculating, by the first controller, a model error between the target value and the measured value and based on the calculated adjustment; providing, by the first controller, the model error to a second controller and generating a second controller output therefrom; determining a difference between the first controller output and the second controller output; applying a filter to the difference between the first controller output and the second controller output to generate coefficients; responsive to the generated coefficients, determining whether to adjust the first controller or the second controller or both; implementing, by the first controller, the calculated adjustment for the drilling parameter based on the calculated adjustment and the updated coefficients when the calculated adjustment is outside a target error margin; adjusting the drilling parameter during drilling in accordance with the calculated adjustment based on the calculated adjustment and the updated coefficients; and controlling the drilling of the wellbore based on the adjusted drilling parameter. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, wherein the drilling parameter comprises at least one of: spindle position, toolface, rate of penetration, weight-on-bit, and differential pressure. ### Claim 15 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, wherein the calculated error is calculated using an adaptive filter. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The method of claim 15, wherein the adaptive filter is a Kalman filter. ### Claim 17 (depends on 15) The method of claim 15, wherein the adaptive filter is a recursive least square filter. ### Claim 18 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, wherein the calculated adjustment is implemented by adjusting one or more drilling parameters of a drilling rig and drilling in accordance with the adjusted one or more drilling parameters, wherein the adjusted one or more parameters comprise the drilling parameter. ### Claim 19 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, further comprising: iteratively calculating the adjustment to the drilling parameter based on the calculated error, when the calculated error exceeds a threshold error margin therefor. ### Claim 20 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, wherein the measured value comprises data received from a sensor. ### Claim 21 A non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising instructions that when executed by a processor, causes the processor to: receive a target value corresponding to a drilling parameter from a first controller; receive data corresponding to a measured value of the drilling parameter during drilling of a wellbore from the first controller; calculate an error between the target value and the measured value, wherein the first controller generates a first controller output; calculate an adjustment to a drilling parameter based on the calculated error; calculate a model error between the target value and the measured value and based on the adjustment; provide the model error to a second controller and generating a second controller output therefrom; determine a difference between the first controller output and the second controller output; apply a filter to the difference between the first controller output and the second controller output to generate coefficients; responsive to the generated coefficients, determine whether to adjust the first controller or the second controller or both; deploy the calculated adjustment to the drilling parameter during drilling based on the calculated adjustment and the updated coefficients, when the calculated adjustment exceeds a threshold error margin therefor; and control the drilling of the wellbore based on the calculated adjustment to the drilling parameter. ### Claim 22 (depends on 21) The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 21 further comprising instructions to iteratively calculate the adjustment to the drilling parameter based on the calculated error, wherein the calculated error exceeds the threshold error margin therefor.