Directional drilling using a rotating housing and a selectively offsetable drive shaft
AssigneeHalliburton Energy Services, Inc.
InventorJacob A. Schurmann
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Example systems described herein may include a housing 201 and an offsetable drive shaft 202 coupled to a drill bit 203 and at least partially disposed within the housing 201. The offset angle of the offsetable drive shaft 202 may determine an angle of the drill bit face. A motor 204 may be coupled to the housing 201 that, when activated, independently rotates the housing 201. By independently counter-rotating the housing 201 relative to a drill string during drilling operations, the angular orientation of the offsetable drive shaft 202 and drill bit 203 may remain geo-stationary with respect to the surrounding formation, without requiring that the housing 201 engage a borehole wall.
Claims19
A system for controlling the direction of a drilling assembly within a borehole, comprising:
- a tool collar;
- a housing_positioned proximate to an end and at least partially outside of the tool collar;
- an offsetable drive shaft coupled to the tool collar and a drill bit and at least partially disposed within the housing, wherein the tool collar and the offsetable drive shaft rotate in a same direction;
- and
- a motor coupled to the housing, wherein the motor, when activated, independently rotates the housing in a direction opposite from a direction of rotation of the offsetable drive shaft.
A method for controlling the direction of a drilling assembly within a borehole, comprising:
- positioning an offsetable drive shaft coupled to a tool collar within the borehole, wherein the offsetable drive shaft is coupled to a drill bit and at least partially disposed within a housing, and wherein the housing is positioned proximate to an end of the tool collar and at least partially outside of the tool collar;
- rotating the offsetable drive shaft and drill bit in a first direction at a first speed;
- rotating the housing in a second direction opposite the first direction at a second speed.
A system for controlling the direction of a drilling assembly within a borehole, comprising:
- a tool collar coupled to a drill string;
- a rotationally independent housing positioned proximate to an end and at least partially outside of the tool collar;
- an offsetable drive shaft coupled to the tool collar and at least partially disposed within the housing, wherein the offset, wherein the drill string rotates the offsetable drive shaft;
- an offset mechanism partially disposed around the offsetable drive shaft within the housing, wherein the offset mechanism controls an offset angle of the offsetable drive shaft;
- and
- a motor disposed within the tool collar, wherein the motor, when activated, rotates the rotationally independent housing in a direction opposite to a direction of rotation of the offsetable drive shaft.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.