Self-adjusting directional drilling apparatus and methods for drilling directional wells
AssigneeBaker Hughes Holdings LLC
InventorVolker Peters
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus for drilling curved and straight sections of a wellbore is disclosed that in one non-limiting embodiment includes a drilling assembly configured to include a drill bit at an end thereof that can be rotated by a drive in the drilling assembly and by the rotation of the drilling assembly, and wherein the drilling assembly includes: a deflection device that (i) tilts a section of the drilling assembly within a selected plane when the drilling assembly is substantially rotationally stationary to allow drilling of a curved section of the wellbore by rotating the drill bit by the drive; and (ii) straightens the section of the drilling assembly when the drilling assembly is rotated to allow drilling of a straight section of the wellbore.
Claims18
An apparatus for drilling curved and straight sections of a wellbore, comprising:
- a drilling assembly configured to include a drill bit at an end thereof that is rotatable by a drive in the drilling assembly, the drilling assembly further configured to be connected to a drill pipe that is rotatable from a surface location, wherein the drilling assembly further includes:
- a shaft, wherein the shaft is coupled to the drive and the drill bit;
- and
- a housing comprising:
- an upper section and a lower section;
- and
- a pivot member between the upper section and the lower section that couples the upper section to the lower section, wherein the lower section tilts relative to the upper section about the pivot member when the drill pipe is rotationally stationary to allow drilling of a curved section of the wellbore;
- wherein the pivot member comprises a first pin through a wall of the housing and second pin through the wall of the housing;
- and
- wherein rotating the drill pipe causes a reduction of the tilt between the upper section and the lower section to allow drilling of a straighter section of the wellbore.
A method of drilling a wellbore, comprising:
- conveying a drilling assembly into the wellbore by a drill pipe from a surface location, the drilling assembly including:
- a drill bit at an end thereof that is rotatable by a drive in the drilling assembly;
- a shaft, wherein the shaft is coupled to the drive and the drill bit;
- a housing comprising:
- an upper section and a lower section;
- a pivot member between the upper section and the lower section that couples the upper section to the lower section, wherein the lower section tilts relative to the upper section about the pivot member when the drill pipe is rotationally stationary to allow drilling of a curved section of the wellbore,
- wherein the pivot member comprises a first pin through a wall of the housing and second pin through the wall of the housing;
- wherein rotating the drill pipe reduces the tilt between the upper section and the lower section to allow drilling of a straighter section of the wellbore;
- maintaining the drill pipe rotationally stationary to enable the lower section to tilt relative to the upper section about the pivot member;
- and
- rotating the drill bit by the drive to drill the curved section of the wellbore.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.