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US 8,672,056 B2Granted
System and method for controlling steering in a rotary steerable system
AssigneeSchlumberger Technology Corporation
InventorsBrian Clark, Geoffrey C. Downton
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and methodology provide control over the directional drilling of a wellbore. A rotational valve is mounted within a drill collar of a rotary steerable system to enable selective actuation of one or more steering pads on the drill collar via an actuating fluid. The rotational valve is controlled via a motor and designed to provide enhanced control over the flow of actuating fluid to the steering pads.
Claims20
A system for drilling a wellbore, comprising:
- a rotary steerable system having:
- a drill collar;
- a plurality of movable steering pads mounted to the drill collar, the plurality of movable steering pads being hydraulically actuated by a fluid directed through a plurality of ports corresponding with the plurality of movable steering pads;
- a rotational valve positioned in the drill collar, the rotational valve having a plurality of openings and an additional opening to control flow of the fluid to the plurality of ports for actuating the plurality of movable steering pads, the plurality of openings matching the number of ports;
- and
- an electric motor coupled to the rotational valve, the electric motor being controlled to rotate the rotational valve in a manner which controls flow of fluid to desired ports of the plurality of ports, the additional valve opening being located to enable flow through specific ports to specific movable steering pads and the plurality of openings being positioned to enable alignment of the plurality of openings with the plurality of ports to enable simultaneous flow of the fluid to all of the plurality of movable steering pads while the additional valve opening is closed.
3 more elements
A method of forming a wellbore, comprising:
- mounting a rotational valve in a drill collar to control flow of an actuating fluid to a plurality of movable steering pads via selective movement of a plurality of openings and an additional opening in the rotational valve into and out of communication with desired ports which rotate with the drill collar during drilling;
- arranging the plurality of openings to enable alignment of the plurality of openings with the desired ports for simultaneous flow of actuating fluid to all of the plurality of movable steering pads;
- positioning the additional opening to enable selective flow of the actuating fluid to specific movable steering pads of the plurality of steering pads and to enable closing of the additional opening during the simultaneous flow of actuating fluid to all of the plurality of movable steering pads;
- and
- coupling a motor to the rotational valve to rotate the rotational valve in a manner which controls flow of the actuating fluid into the ports via the plurality of openings and the additional opening to enable selective orienting of the drill collar through actuation of the plurality of movable steering pads.
2 more elements
A method of drilling a wellbore, comprising:
- selectively actuating steering pads on a drill collar of a rotary steerable system via an actuating fluid;
- controlling flow of the actuating fluid to the actuating steering pads with a motor controlled rotational valve;
- providing the motor controlled rotational valve with a plurality of openings matching the number of steering pads and an additional opening such that the plurality of openings and the additional opening have a fixed angular displacement with respect to each other;
- and
- rotating the motor controlled rotational valve at a plurality of different speeds to provide the desired flow of actuating fluid to the steering pads selectively through the plurality of openings and the additional opening to provide directional control over the rotary steerable system.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.