Removal of rock cuttings while drilling utilizing an automatically adjustable shaker system

Abstract

A system is provided for the optimization of particle separation in a shaker system of a well drilling system. A well bore is drilled with a rotary drilling system. A stream of drilling fluid is circulated through the rotary drilling system to carry rock particles away from the bottom of the well bore as the well bore is formed. This stream of drilling fluid with the rock particles being carried therein is passed through a shaker system for separating the rock particles from the drilling fluid. A value of at least one, and preferably a plurality of operating parameters of the rotary drilling system are monitored, which parameters correlate to an average size of the rock particles being generated. The shaker system is adjusted in response to these monitored values, and more particularly in response to control signals computed based upon these monitored values, to increase separation of the rock particles by the shaker system.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.