Measuring torque in a downhole environment
AssigneeSmith International, Inc.
InventorJames E. Beylotte
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A drilling system may include one or more downhole components to which a torque is applied. To determine the torque, the rotational velocity may be determined at two locations on a downhole component. An angle of twist may be determined by taking the integral of the rotational velocity at the two points, and the torque may be proportional to the angle of twist. The angle of twist, physical properties based on the geometry and material of the downhole component may be used, and the distance between the two locations may be used to calculate the torque.
Claims20
A method for determining torque on a downhole component within a wellbore, comprising:
- obtaining a first rotational velocity measurement at a first location of a downhole component;
- obtaining a second rotational velocity measurement at a second location of the downhole component, wherein obtaining the first and second rotational velocity measurements includes synchronizing sampling of the first and second rotational velocity measurements;
- and
- calculating torque on the downhole component using the first and second rotational velocity measurements.
A drilling system, comprising:
- a downhole component;
- at least two sensing instruments coupled to the downhole component, each of the at least two sensing instruments including a rotational velocity sensor;
- a controller communicatively coupled to the at least two sensing instruments, the controller being programmed to use rotational velocity measurements from the rotational velocity sensors to calculate a torque on at least a portion of the downhole component located adjacent one or both of the at least two sensing instruments;
- and
- a synchronizer configured to synchronize sampling of rotational velocity measurements by the rotational velocity sensors.
A method for calculating torque on a downhole tool within a wellbore, comprising:
- obtaining synchronized measurements of rotational velocity at first and second locations of a downhole tool within a wellbore;
- integrating the synchronized measurements of rotational velocity at the first and second locations;
- determining a difference between the integrals of synchronized measurements of rotational velocity at the first and second locations;
- and
- calculating a torque between the first and second locations using the difference between the integrals, a distance between the first and second locations, and physical properties of the downhole tool.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.