Smith International, Inc.

Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.

Dyna-Drill Technologies, Inc.

Schlumberger Technology Corporation

Michael E Hooper

Wayne C Quantz

Paul David Ringgenberg

Madapusi K Keshavan

William C Paluch

Daniel H Symonds

David P Crockett

James W Estep

John Clyde Wade

Alois Jerabek

Glennon Allmon Wheeler

Dah-Ben Liang

Donald F Wilcock

Mark J Hommel

Gerard P Erpenbeck

A drill tool that is usable in drilling a wellbore can include a pin component and a box component. The pin component has a threaded portion and an extended portion extending axially from an end of the threaded portion. The box component is part of a stator of a downhole drilling motor. The box component is threadedly coupled to the pin component such that the extended portion of the pin component is positioned in an inner area defined by the box component to absorb stress from the threaded portion during a bend for a wellbore drilling operation.

Drilling component coupler for reinforcement

A Moineau style stator includes a helical reinforcement component that provides an internal helical cavity. A resilient liner is deployed on an inner surface of the helical reinforcement component. The helical reinforcement component includes a solder or braze material and is typically metallurgically bonded to an inner wall of a stator tube. In exemplary embodiments, the helical reinforcement component includes a composite mixture of solder and aggregate. Exemplary embodiments of this invention address the heat build up and subsequent elastomer breakdown in the lobes of prior arts stators by providing a helical reinforcement component. Solder reinforced stators tend to be less expensive to fabricate than reinforced stators of the prior art.

Braze or solder reinforced moineu stator

Braze or solder reinforced Moineau stator

A hydrostatic mechanical seal assembly includes a locally deployed pump for pressurizing a lubricant fluid between the opposing faces of a mating ring and a sealing ring. In one exemplary embodiment, such pressurization may be achieved via a device that converts the rotational motion of a drive shaft into fluid pressure. The locally deployed pump is intended to advantageously provide a stable positive pressure on the sealing interface between the mating and sealing rings, which may provide improved sealing characteristics, especially in demanding downhole environments.

Hydrostatic mechanical seal with local pressurization of seal interface

An integrated drilling and evaluation system includes a drill string having an interior portion and a drill bit, carried on a lower end, that includes ports for communicating fluid between the interior portion of the drill string and an uncased well bore. A packer, carried above the drill bit, is operable for sealingly closing a well annulus, A tester valve inserted in the drill string is operable for sealingly closing the drill string. The packer and tester valve are cooperatively operable for isolating a subsurface zone of interest. The system includes monitoring means inserted in the drill string for monitoring a parameter of well fluid from the subsurface zone. Once the subsurface zone is isolated, well fluid is communicated into the interior portion of the drill string through the ports of the drill bit, received by the monitoring means, and tested without removing the drill string form the well.

Drilling formation tester, apparatus and methods of testing and monitoring status of tester

An integrated drilling and evaluation system includes a drill string having an interior portion and a drill bit, carried on a lower end, that includes ports for communicating fluid between the interior portion of the drill string and an uncased well bore. A packer, carried above the drill bit, is operable for sealingly closing a well annulus. A tester valve inserted in the drill string is operable for sealingly closing the drill string. The packer and tester valve are cooperatively operable for isolating a subsurface zone of interest. The system includes monitoring means inserted in the drill string for monitoring a parameter of well fluid from the subsurface zone. Once the subsurface zone is isolated, well fluid is communicated into the interior portion of the drill string through the ports of the drill bit, received by the monitoring means, and tested without removing the drill string form the well.

The inventive stator includes a helical cavity component made from a material chosen to reinforce an elastomer liner deployed thereon. The contouring of the elastomer liner is asymmetrical, such that the elastomer liner is relatively thick on the loaded side of a lobe as compared to its thickness on the unloaded side of the lobe.

Asymmetric contouring of elastomer liner on lobes in a Moineau style power section stator

A mechanical seal for use in a rotary rock bit comprises a leg seal ring positioned within a recessed portion of a leg forming a seal cavity. The leg seal comprises one surface partially engaged by a resilient material and an opposite surface comprising a first sealing surface. The mechanical seal also comprises cone seal ring positioned within a portion of a cone forming the seal cavity. The cone seal comprises one surface positioned within and attached to a recessed portion of the cone and another surface comprising a second sealing surface engaging the first sealing surface. The portion of the leg seal ring engaged by the resilient material engages a back face of the leg which includes a ramp, serving to urge the first sealing surface against the adjacent second sealing surface and create a sealing engagement. The first and second sealing surfaces are made from different hard materials each having a similar hardness of greater than 1000, and each material selected has a Knoop hardness difference of about 400 or less. The first and second sealing surfaces may be formed from materials the same as or different than materials forming the leg seal ring and cone seal ring, respectively.

Rock bit with mechanical seal

An improved O-ring seal for rock bit bearings is formed from a resilient elastomeric composition comprising a multiplicity of low friction wear resistant particles distributed uniformly throughout the composition. The low friction wear resistant particles can have a rounded or non-rounded configuration. The low friction wear resistant particles located near the surface of the O-ring are exposed through wear of the elastomeric component to form wear pads that contact adjacent rotating rock bit sealing surfaces. The wear pads serve to reduce the break-off friction between the adjacent sealing surfaces and minimize the occurrence of stick-slip, thereby enhancing the service life of the O-ring seal and rock bit.

O-ring seal for rock bit bearings

A rock bit is disclosed having a plurality of rolling cone cutters each having a gage row of inserts oriented to face the borehole bottom for crushing the same, and a second row of heel gage inserts which are oriented to face the borehole sidewall for scraping the same, heel inserts are nestled within the profile of the gage inserts in order to alleviate most of the scraping action normally encountered by gage inserts.

Rock bit

A radially disposed thrust bearing surface formed in a rotary cone is provided with at least a pair of grooves and a ramp surface on the trailing edge of the grooves. The groove provides a lubricant reservoir and the ramp serves to generate hydrodynamic pressures during rotation of the rotary cone on the thrust surface of a journal bearing thereby distributing a film of lubricant on the opposing thrust bearing surfaces.

Lubricant system for a rotary cone rock bit

This invention consists of a floating spindle cap disposed between a spindle pilot bearing extending from a main journal bearing and a cone bore formed by a rotary rock bit cone secured to the journal bearing. The floating spindle cap is formed from a softer material than both the spindle bearing and the cone to accommodate for slight misalignments and edge loading between the journal bearings and the cone while working in a borehole.

Spindle cap bearing for rotary cone rock bits

A sealed bearing roller cone rock bit is disclosed having precision roller bearings with very close fits. The bearing package includes highly refined and hardened surface finishes, special roller bearing metal materials and lubricants with specific lube viscosities.

Growing community of inventors

Spring, TX, United States of America

Michael E Hooper