Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.

Hossam Gharib

Steven Graham Bell

John Keith Savage

Geoffrey Andrew Samuel

Hamid Sadabadi

Steven Park

Julien Marck

Hammid Sadabadi

A radial bearing apparatus including a housing with a housing bore defining a radial bearing housing surface, a shaft extending through the housing bore and defining a radial bearing shaft surface, and a radial bearing contact interface between the radial bearing housing surface and the radial bearing shaft surface for bearing a variable side force applied to the shaft. The radial bearing contact interface includes an oblique section in which the radial bearing housing surface and the radial bearing shaft surface are oblique to each other when the side force is zero and progressively increase in contact in an axial direction in response to an increasing magnitude of the side force.

Radial bearing apparatus for use with side forces

Conventional practice for determining a life expectancy of a drilling tool has been based on simple static bending moment evaluation and/or conservative past experience life limits. This archaic practice has often led to premature scrapping of the tools and has proven to be overly conservative and cost-ineffective. Introduced herein is a BHA condition monitoring technique that combines both field data and advanced models in one system. The introduced technique is based on a combination of system and component level models to monitor and evaluate the current health and life of BHA components. The introduced technique can apply to all directional drilling BHAs, including mud motors and rotary steerable systems, and can be used at different levels of the tool's life cycle to improve efficiency, reduce downhole failure incidents, and maximize assets' utilization.

Comprehensive structural health monitoring method for bottom hole assembly

Methods and apparatus are disclosed for retaining components in a downhole motor in the event of a mechanical separation or failure of one or more components therein. As described, the retention mechanism does not require a threaded connection to components of the mud motor drivetrain. Downhole motor assemblies including the new catch mechanism also include a structural element to engage the catch assembly and the components to which it is attached in the event of a mechanical failure within the mud motor assembly.

Method and apparatus for retaining components in a downhole motor

An assembly for use in a wellbore can include a drill string having an outer housing and a thrust bearing sleeve positioned within the outer housing of the drill string. The assembly can also include a stationary thrust bearing positioned within the thrust bearing sleeve and coaxially around a mandrel extending through a longitudinal length of the thrust bearing sleeve. The assembly can further include an interlocking component including a first end coupled to the stationary thrust bearing and a second end positioned in a recessed portion of a housing of the drill string for preventing the stationary thrust bearing from rotating about a central axis of the mandrel, and for allowing the stationary thrust bearing to rotate about one or more axes perpendicular to the central axis. The assembly can include a flexible member for opposing a rotational force applied to the stationary thrust bearing by another thrust bearing.

Thrust bearing alignment

A drilling apparatus including a housing having a housing bore, a proximal housing end, and a distal housing end, a driveshaft rotatably supported within the housing bore, a fixed first angular offset axially located between the proximal housing end and the distal housing end, and a variable second angular offset axially located between the proximal housing end and the distal housing end. The drilling apparatus may have a reduced stiffness section so that the drilling apparatus bends preferentially at the reduced stiffness section, and the variable second angular offset may be axially located at the reduced stiffness section.

Drilling apparatus with fixed and variable angular offsets

A drilling apparatus having a drive section and a bearing section axially distal to the drive section. The bearing section includes a unitary bearing housing defining a bearing housing bore, a driveshaft received within the bearing housing bore and rotatable relative to the bearing housing, and a bearing assembly radially interposed between the bearing housing and the driveshaft for rotatably supporting the driveshaft within the bearing housing bore. The unitary bearing housing may be connected directly with a transmission housing. An axis intersection point between a primary axis of the drilling apparatus and the driveshaft axis may be axially located between a proximal bearing housing end and a distal bearing housing end. One or more stationary bearing components may be non-rotatably engaged with one or more sleeves which are non-rotatably engaged with the bearing housing.

Drilling apparatus with a unitary bearing housing

A drilling apparatus having a drive section and a bearing section axially distal to the drive section. The bearing section includes a bearing housing having a bearing housing bore defining a bearing housing bore axis, a sleeve assembly received within the bearing housing bore, the sleeve assembly having a sleeve assembly bore defining a sleeve assembly bore axis, a driveshaft received within the sleeve assembly bore, and a bearing assembly for rotatably supporting the driveshaft within the sleeve assembly bore. The sleeve assembly includes a plurality of axially arranged sleeve sections. The sleeve assembly bore axis is oblique to the bearing housing bore axis. The sleeve sections may be received within the bearing housing bore so that they maintain a fixed angular position relative to each other and relative to the bearing housing, and so that they maintain a fixed axial position relative to the bearing housing.

Drilling apparatus with a fixed internally tilted driveshaft

A directional drilling system comprises a driveshaft to couple to a drill string or a drill bit and an apparatus. The apparatus comprises an eccentric coupler disposed at the driveshaft and a coil coupled at one end to the eccentric coupler. In some embodiments, the coil comprises a fixed end and a rotating end. In response to a first transition temperature, the rotating end of the coil causes the eccentric coupler to rotate about the driveshaft, so as to move the driveshaft from a first orientation to a second orientation. Additional apparatus, methods, and systems are disclosed.

Directional drilling systems, apparatus, and methods

A driveshaft transmission assembly may include a catch assembly having a catch mechanism and pressure plugs. The catch assembly may prevent the loss of certain driveshaft transmission assembly components downhole in the event of a failure of the driveshaft transmission due to dynamic loads produced during operation in a drilling system. The catch mechanism may be coupled to a radial bearing assembly by the pressure plugs. The pressure plugs may secure the catch mechanism to the radial bearing assembly during operation of the driveshaft transmission assembly using a normal force created by a pressure differential between downhole pressure external to the catch mechanism and ambient pressure sealed in the recesses of the radial bearing assembly.

Driveshaft catch assembly with pressure plugs

An assembly usable with a bottom hole assembly in a wellbore can include a fixed housing member coupleable to a bent housing member at a housing coupling location. The bent housing member can rotate relative to the fixed housing member and can include an offset opening for receiving a drive shaft. The assembly can include an RFID tag positioned on a piston that is slideably positioned within the fixed housing member. An RFID reader can be positioned on the fixed housing member for detecting the RFID tag in response to the RFID tag being in a detectable range of the RFID reader. The RFID reader can also be for transmitting information about the RFID tag for controlling a motor to rotate and position the drive shaft at a selected angular position.

Adjustable bent housing actuation using radio frequency identification

A driveshaft transmission assembly may include a catch assembly. The catch assembly may prevent the loss of certain driveshaft transmission assembly components downhole in the event of a failure of the driveshaft transmission due to dynamic loads produced during operation of a drilling system. The catch assembly may be coupled to a first radial bearing assembly using locking devices. The driveshaft transmission assembly may also include a second radial bearing assembly interlockably coupled to a thrust bearing and a bearing housing.

Driveshaft catch assembly

Catch mechanism for retaining components in a downhole motor

A clamping assembly may include a split-ring device and bearing for coupling to a driveshaft. The split-ring device may comprise split-ring shells having protrusions on an interior radial surface for positioning in grooves adjacent to radial protrusions on the driveshaft. In some aspects, the split-ring shells may include tabs corresponding to cavities on a first bearing for coupling the split-ring shell to the first bearing. In other aspects, the split-ring shells may be sized to create one or more gaps when positioned on the driveshaft. The first bearing may include one or more corresponding tabs for positioning in the one or more gaps created by the split-ring shells. A second bearing may be threadably coupled to the first bearing to suppress the axial and rotational movement of the clamping assembly separate from the driveshaft.

Driveshaft clamping assembly

A system may include a bearing cylinder that has a bored hole for receiving a drive shaft. The bored hole can correspond to an eccentric inner diameter of the bearing cylinder. A radio frequency identification (RFID) tag may be positioned on a piston that may be slideably coupled to a housing of a bottom hole assembly. A motor may be positioned within the housing of the bottom hole assembly to rotate the bearing cylinder and position the drive shaft at a bend angle. An RFID reader may be coupled to the housing of the bottom hole assembly to detect the RFID tag in response to the RFID tag being in a detectable range of the RFID reader and to transmit information about the RFID tag to control the motor.

Growing community of inventors

Edmonton, Canada

Hossam Gharib