System and method for positioning of tubular members

A method for making threaded oilfield tubular connections on a drilling floor, the method comprising:

• moving an oilfield tubular, said tubular having a threaded ends, from a tubular storage area and suspending the moving tubular in a vertical position above a vertical stationary downhole tubular suspended in a rotary table in a drill floor, the stationary tubular having thread connections on both ends, the uppermost thread connection of the stationary tubular capable of mating a lower thread connection of the moving tubular, by means of an automated tubular handling system;
• capturing image information of the drilling floor, utilizing at least two imaging systems, each imaging system comprised of at least one color video camera and being radially offset from each other with respect to the rotary table;
• transmitting the image information to an image processing system, the image processing system recognizing the moving and stationary tubulars and generating position information for the moving and stationary tubulars in three dimensions;
• transmitting the position information to the automated tubular handling system, the tubular handling system developing positioning instructions to bring the lowermost end of the moving tubular in alignment with the uppermost end of the downhole tubular and to lower the moving tubular to bring the moving and stationary tubulars into threaded contact;
• creating a threaded connection between the moving tubular and the stationary downhole tubular by tightening said tubular threads using an automated hydraulic wrench system located on the drilling floor.

A system for making tubular threaded connections on a drilling rig floor, the system comprising:

• an automated tubular handling system for transporting a tubular from a tubular storage area proximate to said drilling floor, said automated tubular handling system being capable of orienting said tubular in a vertical position, said tubular having a thread connections on each end of said tubular, and moving said tubular in proximity to a stationary tubular vertically positioned in a rotary table in said drilling floor, said stationary tubular having thread connection on each end of said tubular, the thread connection on said stationary tubular uppermost end being capable of mating with the thread connection on the lowermost end of said moving tubular;
• at least two imaging systems, each imaging system comprised of at least one camera, the imaging systems being radially offset from each other relative to the center of rotary table, each imaging system providing real time images of said stationary tubular and said moving tubular;
• an image processing system that receives the real time images from the imaging systems, the image processing system operating to detect the stationary and moving tubulars and generating real time estimates of location data for the stationary and moving tubulars in three dimensional space on the drilling floor;
• transmitting the real time location data to the automated tubular handling system, said tubular handling system processing the real time location information to bring the moving tubular into vertical alignment with the stationary tubular, and lowering the moving tubular into threaded contact with the stationary tubular;
• and
• an automated torque wrench located on the drilling floor, said automated wrench being advanced from a position away from the rotary table towards the rotary table and into contact with the moving tubular and stationary tubular and applying torque to said tubulars to establish a threaded connection between said stationary tubular and moving tubular.

A method for positioning oil field threaded tubulars in a drilling floor environment, the system comprising:

• moving a tubular, said tubular having thread connections on each end, said tubular having thread connections on each end, by means of an automated tubular handling system from a tubular storage area proximate to said drilling floor, said automated tubular handling system being capable of orienting said moving tubular in a vertical position and in proximity to a stationary tubular, said stationary tubular having thread connections on each end, vertically positioned in a rotary table in said drilling floor, the uppermost end of said stationary tubular having a thread connection capable of mating with the thread connection on the lower end of the moving tubular;
• capturing image data from at least two imaging systems, each imaging system comprised of at least one camera, the imaging systems being radially offset from each other relative to the center of rotary table, and each providing real time images of said stationary tubular and said moving tubular;
• processing the image data from the imaging systems, the image processing operating to detect the stationary and moving tubulars and generating real time estimates of location data for the stationary and moving tubulars in three dimensional space on the drilling floor;
• and
• transmitting the real time location data to the automated tubular handling system, said tubular handling system processing the real time location information to bring the moving tubular into vertical alignment with the stationary tubular, and lowering the moving tubular into threaded contact with the stationary tubular.