Method for stabilizing a rotary drill string and drill bit

Abstract

Apparatus for stabiliing a rotary drill string and drill bit used to drill a borehole in a material, such as a subterranean formation, includes an imbalanced drill collar and a drill bit connected to the drill collar. The imbalanced drill collar creates a drill string imbalance force directed radially outwardly from the center of rotation of the drill collar through a predetermined area on the circumference of the drill collar and urges the predetermined area into contact with the borehole wall as the drill string rotates. The drill bit includes a drilling surface for contacting the material and drilling the borehole in the material, the drilling surface including a cutting zone for cutting the borehole in the material and the bearing zone having a low coefficient of friction relative to the cutting zone. The bearing zone slidingly engages the wall of the borehole as the drill bit rotates and the drill bit is aligned with the drill collar so that the bearing zone and drill string imbalance force are in the same axially-extending radially plane. Preferably, the drill bit is imbalanced to create a drill bit imbalanced force directed radially outwardly from the center of rotation of the drill bit through the bearing zone in the same axially-extending radial plane as the drill string imbalance force.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.