Baker Hughes Corporation

Baker Hughes, a Ge Compnay, LLC

Michael Neubert

Hanno Reckmann

Ingolf Wassermann

Andreas Hohl

Radu Coman

Christian Herbig

Andreas Peter

Holger Mathiszik

Oliver Hoehn

Armin Kueck

Bilel Said

Volker Krueger

Andrew G Brooks

John D Macpherson

Stefan Wessling

Pushkar N Jogi

Thomas G Dahl

Hatem Oueslati

Michael Koppe

Gerald Heisig

James Albert Hood

Ray Ballantyne

Anne Claudia Maria Bartetzko

Imed Ben Brahim

John D MacPherson

Pushkar Nath Jogi

Methods and apparatuses for controlling a trajectory of a borehole being drilled into the earth are provided. The apparatus includes a drilling system including a drill tubular, a disintegrating device, and a steering system coupled to the drill tubular configured to steer the drilling system, the drilling system configured to drill the borehole by receiving control outputs from at least one control unit for controlling parameters of the drilling system, the at least one control unit configured to provide the control outputs to the steering system, the at least one control unit being configured to provide a depth-based control output.

Depth-based borehole trajectory control

Systems and methods for controlling subsurface drilling operations are described. The methods include performing the subsurface drilling operation using a bottomhole assembly having a disintegrating device, detecting, with a sensor, a formation layer orientation, approaching, with the disintegrating device, a rock layer, and generating a steering command to change an angle of attack of the disintegrating device relative to the rock layer based on the detected formation layer orientation.

Systems and methods to control drilling operations based on formation orientations

An example system for optimal storage of load data for lifetime prediction for a piece of equipment used in a well operation includes a sensor collecting load data of the piece of equipment and a processing device for executing computer readable instructions. The computer readable instructions include: determining a lifetime model for the piece of equipment; calculating a bucket size using one of the lifetime model and a distribution of load data; discretizing a load data spectrum into one or more buckets using the calculated bucket size; assigning the collected load data to the one or more buckets of the load data spectrum; storing the collected load data assigned to the one or more buckets to a memory; and determining a lifetime estimation of the piece of equipment based on the load data assigned to the one or more buckets of the load data spectrum and stored to the memory.

Optimal storage of load data for lifetime prediction for equipment used in a well operation

Unwanted oscillations of a drill string while a borehole is being drilled are limited by adjusting a drilling parameter. Measurements related to oscillations of the drill string can be extrapolated by calculation to a position of interest along the drill string using a mode identified from one or more determined modes and a stability criterion that models the drill string. The stability criterion includes a specific modal damping for each of the one or more determined modes. The position of interest may correspond to a location of a tool or component that may be damaged by the unwanted oscillations. If the tool or component can be damaged by the oscillations as calculated, then the drilling parameter is adjusted to limit those oscillations.

Normalized status variables for vibration management of drill strings

Methods and apparatuses for controlling a trajectory of a borehole being drilled into the earth are provided. The apparatus includes a drilling system including a drill tubular, a disintegrating device, and a steering system coupled to the drill tubular configured to steer the drilling system, the drilling system configured to drill the borehole by receiving control outputs from at least one control unit for controlling parameters of the drilling system, the at least one control unit configured to provide the control outputs to the steering system, the at least one control unit being configured to provide depth-based control.

Examples of techniques for optimal storage of load data for lifetime prediction for a piece of equipment used in a well operation are disclosed. In one example implementation according to aspects of the present disclosure, a method may include: using a lifetime model for the piece of equipment used in the well operation; discretizing, by a processing device, a load data spectrum into one or more buckets, the one or more buckets having a bucket size, wherein the bucket size of at least one bucket is based on one of the lifetime model and a distribution of load data; collecting load data of the piece of equipment; assigning, by the processing device, the collected load data to the one or more buckets of the load data spectrum; and storing, by the processing device, the collected load data assigned to the one or more buckets to a memory.

The disclosure is directed to method and apparatus for communication through a fluid. The method includes measuring signals in the fluid at at least two spaced apart positions; estimating a subset of a separation matrix; and using the estimated subset and the signals to estimate a signal sent by the message source. The apparatus may include a message source on a bottom hole assembly; sensors disposed at least two spaced apart locations; and at least one processor configured to: estimate a subset of a separation matrix based on the signals and use the subset to estimate a message signal set by the message source.

Estimation of multichannel mud characteristics

A downhole tool starts recording seismic energy. During the recording time, a surface seismic source is activated a specified number of times with a nominally defined separation between successive. The downhole sensor receives seismic waves resulting from the activation, but the time of the shooting sequence is not known downhole. The recorded data stream is processed and converted in real-time into seismic traces. A predefined number of traces are stacked and the quality of this sliding stack is used to detect time of the shooting sequence. The method could be used to detect one or several shooting sequences during a measurement window.

Seismic measurements while drilling

A system, method and computer-readable medium for acquiring seismic data, which includes activating a seismic source at a surface location; defining a seismic trace of a seismic wave received at a downhole location on a bottomhole assembly in a borehole in response to the activation of the seismic source; compressing the seismic trace; and recording the compressed seismic trace to a storage medium.

Sending a seismic trace to surface after a vertical seismic profiling while drilling measurement

A system for synchronizing components of a downhole system includes: a source assembly including a source clock; an electromagnetic source associated with the source assembly and configured to emit an electromagnetic signal into an earth formation at a transmission time; a receiver assembly including a receiver clock; an electromagnetic receiver associated with the receiver clock and configured to detect the electromagnetic signal; and a processor configured to identify a receipt time of the electromagnetic signal based on the receiver clock and adjust the receiver clock by comparing the transmission time to the receipt time.

Method and apparatus for clock synchronization

Measurements made with at least two sensors (flow rate or pressure) during generation of a message concurrently with operation of a noise source are used to estimate a channel transfer function. The estimated transfer function is then used to attenuate pump noise in a mud pulse telemetry system. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract which will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.

Estimation of properties of mud

A drilling system includes a control unit and a bottomhole assembly (BHA) coupled to a drill string. The control unit uses measurements from sensors distributed throughout the drill string and BHA to determine the physical condition of the drill string and BHA and to determine whether drilling can be optimized. The drill string sensors are housed in receiver subs and optionally can be positioned on extensible members. The receiver sub also can include a short-hop telemetry module, a processor module, and a clock module. In one embodiment, the receiver subs include seismic sensors for enabling vertical seismic profiling. During operation, the processor visually presents to the operator via one or more graphical user interfaces a dynamically updated pictorial image representing the drilling system. The image is annotated with an appropriate visual signal to indicate a determined physical condition at a given location or component. The processor can also display recommended adjustments to drilling parameters for increasing drilling rates, improving tool life, and more precise steering.

Drilling wellbores with optimal physical drill string conditions

A system for drilling a well comprises a tubular member having a bottomhole assembly at a bottom end thereof disposed in a wellbore. A first sensor is disposed in the bottomhole assembly at a predetermined axial location for detecting bending in a first axis and generating a first bending signal in response thereto, where the first axis is substantially orthogonal to a longitudinal axis of the bottomhole assembly. A second sensor is disposed in the bottomhole assembly at the predetermined axial location for detecting bending in a second axis and generating a second bending signal in response thereto, where the second axis is substantially orthogonal to the longitudinal axis. A processor receives the first bending signal and the second bending signal and relates the first bending signal and the second bending signal to a borehole curvature according to programmed instructions.

Method and apparatus for enhancing directional accuracy and control using bottomhole assembly bending measurements

Measurements made with dual sensors (flow rate or pressure) are used to attenuate pump noise in a mud pulse telemetry system.

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Braunschweig, Germany

Michael Neubert