Videometric systems and methods for offshore and oil-well drilling
AssigneeNational Oilwell Varco, L.P.
InventorsArne Austefjord, Pal Jacob Nessjoen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system is disclosed for determining the position of a downhole drill pipe relative to a pipe handling device. The system comprises: an imaging means arranged to capture an image of the drill pipe in a region of the pipe for engagement by the device; and a processor operable to analyze said captured image and to determine therefrom the position of the drill pipe relative to said device.
Claims18
A system for determining a position of a downhole drill pipe relative to a wrench arrangement, and for controlling the wrench arrangement for connecting adjacent drill pipes in a downhole drill-string and comprising:
- an imaging means configured to capture a sequence of images of the drill-string in a region above a well bore for engagement by a wrench whilst the wrench arrangement is moved towards the drill pipe projecting from the well bore, the sequence of images includes a static position of the drill pipe and the wrench arrangement while moving;
- a processor operable to:
- analyze said captured images;
- and to determine therefrom, via a motion detection algorithm, position of an uppermost end of the drill pipe projecting from the well bore relative to said wrench;
- and
- filter out parts of said image sequence containing motion and to determine from remaining static parts of the image the position of the uppermost end of the drill pipe;
- and
- control means operable in response to signals from the processor to control the position of the wrench arrangement in dependence on the position of the uppermost end of said drill pipe projecting from the well bore;
- and
- for disconnecting adjacent drill pipes in the drill-string:
- said imaging means is configured to capture an image of a joint between connected ends of said adjacent drill pipes in a region of the drill-string above the well bore;
- and
- said processor is operable to:
- analyze said captured image and to determine therefrom position of an uppermost end of a lower of said drill pipes projecting from the well bore, and
- analyze the edge contours of said drill-string in said captured image to determine position of said joint and then to perform an edge detection algorithm on the region of said image depicting said joint to determine the uppermost end of the lower of the drill pipes.
A method for controlling a wrench arrangement for connecting and disconnecting adjacent drill pipes in a downhole drill-string, comprising:
- capturing a sequence of images of the drill-string in a region above a well bore whilst the wrench arrangement is moved towards the drill pipe projecting from the well bore, the sequence of images includes a static position of the drill pipe and the wrench arrangement while moving;
- analyzing said captured images;
- and determining therefrom position of an uppermost end of the drill pipe projecting from the well bore relative to said wrench arrangement;
- filtering out parts of said image sequence containing motion and determining from remaining static parts of the image the position of the uppermost end of the drill pipe;
- controlling the position of the wrench arrangement in dependence on the determined position of the uppermost end of said drill pipe projecting from the well bore;
- capturing an image of a joint between connected ends of said adjacent drill pipes in a region of the drill-string above the well bore;
- analyzing said captured image and determining therefrom position of an uppermost end of a lower of said drill pipes projecting from the well bore;
- analyzing edge contours of said drill-string in said captured image to determine position of said joint;
- and
- performing an edge detection algorithm on the region of said image depicting said joint to determine the uppermost end of the lower of the drill pipes.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.