# US 9,038,735 B2 · Electromechanical actuator apparatus and method for down-hole tools > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 9,038,735 B2 - Document ID: US9038735B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 14/229,700 - Filed: 2014-03-28 - Published: 2014-07-31 - Granted: 2015-05-26 - Earliest claimed: 2010-04-23 - Assignees: Bench Tree Group, LLC - Applicants: Bench Tree Group LLC - Inventors: Pedro R. Segura; Daniel Q. Flores; William F. Trainor - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US9038735B2 ## CPC - E21B 23/00: Apparatus for displacing, setting, locking, releasing or removing tools, packers or the like in boreholes or wells (setting of casings, screens or liners E21B43/10) - E21B 41/00: Equipment or details not covered by groups E21B15/00 - E21B40/00 - E21B 44/00: Automatic control systems specially adapted for drilling operations, i.e. self-operating systems which function to carry out or modify a drilling operation without intervention of a human operator, e.g. computer-controlled drilling systems; Systems specially adapted for monitoring a plurality of drilling variables or conditions - E21B: EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; OBTAINING OIL, GAS, WATER, SOLUBLE OR MELTABLE MATERIALS OR A SLURRY OF MINERALS FROM WELLS ## Abstract An apparatus and method for the actuation of down-hole tools are provided. The down-hole tool that may be actuated and controlled using the apparatus and method may include a reamer, an adjustable gauge stabilizer, vertical steerable tools, rotary steerable tools, by-pass valves, packers, whipstocks, down hole valves, latch or release mechanisms and/or anchor mechanisms. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An actuator for a downhole tool, comprising: a housing; an actuator, housed in the housing, that generates a force to be applied to a downhole tool that is connectable to the actuator; a shaft, in the housing, that transfers the force of the actuator to the downhole tool that is connectable to the actuator; an electronic control system that provides control signals to the actuator; the electronic control system having a plurality of sensors that detect operation of the actuator and affect the control signals provided to the actuator and sensorless circuitry that detect the operation of the actuator; and wherein the electronic control system detects that a sensor has failed, switches to the sensorless circuitry when the sensor has failed and uses an output signal from the sensorless circuitry and output signals from the plurality of sensors that did not fail to provide the control signals to the actuator so that the actuator operates even when the sensor has failed. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The actuator of claim 1, wherein the electronic control system further comprises a circuit, coupled to the plurality of sensors and the sensorless circuitry, that generates a signal and a drive circuit that generate the control signal for the actuator based on the signal. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The actuator of claim 2, wherein the circuit further comprise firmware that detects that the sensor has failed, switches to the sensorless circuitry when the sensor has failed and uses an output signal from the sensorless circuitry and output signals from the plurality of sensors that did not fail to provide the control signals to the actuator so that the actuator operates even when the sensor has failed. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The actuator of claim 3, wherein the state machine is a programmable device. ### Claim 5 (depends on 2) The actuator of claim 2, wherein the circuit is a state machine. ### Claim 6 (depends on 2) The actuator of claim 2, wherein the circuit further comprise firmware that detects that each of the sensors has failed and switches to the sensorless circuitry when the sensors have failed and uses an output signal from the sensorless circuitry to provide the control signals to the actuator so that the actuator operates even when the sensor has failed. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The actuator of claim 1, wherein each sensor is one of a Hall Effect sensor, a synchroresolver, an optical encoder, a magnet/reed switch combination, a magnet/coil induction sensor, a proximity sensor, a capacitive sensor, an accelerometer, a tachometer, a mechanical switch, a potentiometer and a rate gyro. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The actuator of claim 1 further comprising a shock absorbing member, adjacent to the actuator, that absorbs shocks in the actuator and a compensation mechanism, housed in the housing, that balances the pressure within the actuator with a borehole pressure. ### Claim 9 An actuator for a downhole tool, comprising: a housing; an actuator, housed in the housing, that generates a force to be applied to a downhole tool that is connectable to the actuator; a shaft, housed in the housing, that transfers the force of the actuator to the downhole tool that is connectable to the actuator; an electronic control system that provides control signals to the actuator; the electronic control system having a plurality of sensors that detect operation of the actuator and affect the control signals provided to the actuator and sensorless circuitry that detect the operation of the actuator; and wherein the electronic control system detects that more than one of the sensors has failed, switches to sensorless circuitry when the sensors have failed and uses output signals from the sensorless circuitry to control the actuation of the downhole actuator so that the downhole actuator operates even when the sensor has failed. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The actuator of claim 9, wherein the electronic control system further comprises a circuit, coupled to the plurality of sensors and the sensorless circuitry, that generates a signal and a drive circuit that generate the control signal for the actuator based on the signal. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The actuator of claim 10, wherein the circuit further comprise firmware that detects that the sensors have failed, switches to the sensorless circuitry when the sensors have failed and uses an output signal from the sensorless circuitry to provide the control signals to the actuator so that the actuator operates even when the sensor has failed. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The actuator of claim 11, wherein the state machine is a programmable device. ### Claim 13 (depends on 10) The actuator of claim 10, wherein the circuit is a state machine. ### Claim 14 (depends on 9) The actuator of claim 9, wherein each sensor is one of a Hall Effect sensor, a synchroresolver, an optical encoder, a magnet/reed switch combination, a magnet/coil induction sensor, a proximity sensor, a capacitive sensor, an accelerometer, a tachometer, a mechanical switch, a potentiometer and a rate gyro. ### Claim 15 (depends on 9) The actuator of claim 9 further comprising a shock absorbing member, adjacent to the actuator, that absorbs shocks within the actuator and a compensation mechanism, housed in the housing, that balances the pressure within the actuator with a borehole pressure. ### Claim 16 A method for operating an downhole actuator, comprising: providing, in the downhole actuator, an electronic control system having a plurality of sensors that controls the actuation of the downhole actuator; detecting, by the electronic control system, that a sensor has failed; switching to sensorless circuitry when the sensor has failed; and using an output signal from the sensorless circuitry and output signals from the plurality of sensors that did not fail to control the actuation of the downhole actuator so that the downhole actuator operates even when the sensor has failed. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The method of claim 16, wherein detecting failure of a sensor further comprising sending a diagnostic signal to the sensor and failing to receive a diagnostic count from the sensor. ### Claim 18 (depends on 16) The method of claim 16, wherein each sensor is a hall effect sensor. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) The method of claim 18, wherein the output of the sensorless circuitry is an electromotive force position feedback signal. ### Claim 20 A method for operating an downhole actuator, comprising: providing, in the downhole actuator, an electronic control system having a plurality of sensors that controls the actuation of the downhole actuator; detecting, by the electronic control system, that more than one of the sensors has failed; switching to sensorless circuitry when the sensors have failed; and using output signals from the sensorless circuitry to control the actuation of the downhole actuator so that the downhole actuator operates even when the sensor has failed. ### Claim 21 (depends on 20) The method of claim 20, wherein detecting failure of the sensors further comprising sending a diagnostic signal to each sensor and failing to receive a diagnostic count from each sensor. ### Claim 22 (depends on 20) The method of claim 20, wherein each sensor is a hall effect sensor. ### Claim 23 (depends on 22) The method of claim 22, wherein the output of the sensorless circuitry is an electromotive force position feedback signal.