Method and apparatus for providing dynamic data during drilling

Abstract

The present disclosure is directed to both a method and apparatus for providing data dynamically during the drilling of a borehole. This invention can be used with drilling apparatus which is commonly used to drill oil or gas wells, including wells which are vertically drilled or highly deviated wells. The invention provides measures of weight on the drill bit and other forces acting on a drill stem in the vicinity of the drill bit. The present invention is incorporated within the drill stem, which is powered from the surface by a typical rotary drilling rig. The associated drilling apparatus, however, further includes and incorporates a mud motor cooperating with a bent subsection of the sort normally used in drilling a borehole which deviates from the vertical. The downhole element of the invention consists of a subsection which is affixed in the drill stem in the vicinity of the drill bit, and preferably immediately above the drill bit. In one embodiment of the invention, the downhole subsection includes one or more recessed chambers which define a flat faces parallel to the longitudinal axis of the subsection at the interior which is immediately adjacent to a relatively thin portion of the wall of the subsection. The thin portions or "diaphragms" are stressed as the subsection is loaded by forces in the vicinity of the drill bit. The diaphragms acts as collectors for the discrete strains generated by the nominally squared discontinuities. Consequently, strain gauges affixed to the one or more diaphragms provide output signals proportional to stress from which various force components can be uniquely determined.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.