Active Vibration Control for Subterranean Drilling Operations

Abstract

An active vibration control device improves drilling by actively applying a dampening profile and/or a controlled vibration to a drill string and/or bottomhole assembly (BHA). Embodiments of the present invention control the behavior of a drill string and/or BHA in order to prevent or minimize the occurrence of harmful drill string/BHA motion and/or to apply a vibration to the drill string/BHA that improves one or more aspects of the drilling process. Measurements of one or more selected parameters of interest are processed to determine whether the undesirable vibration or motion is present in the drill string or BHA and/or whether the drill string and/or BHA operation can be improved by the application of a controlled vibration. If either or both conditions are detected, corrective action is formulated and appropriate control signals are transmitted to one or more devices in the drill string and/or BHA.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.