Baker Hughes Corporation

William Befeld

Robert Alan Estes

Karsten Fuhst

Gary J Cresswell

Andreas Peter

Matthias Moeller

Christian Weiner

Ulrich Michael

Sven Krueger

Jerry Cerkovnik

An anchoring system for use with a downhole tool includes a body with anchor members mounted on the body that pivot radially outward from the body and into engagement with an inner surface of a tubular. Curved slots are provided along a portion of the members and a sliding block has a protrusion that projects into the slots. The slots are curved so that when the block is urged axially within the body, the interaction between the slots and protrusions pivots the members radially outward. A piston is urged through the body to drive the block. Optionally, an elongate helical gear may cooperate with grooves formed in an edge of the members so that rotating the gear pivots the members radially outward.

Downhole clamping mechanism

A cutting tool that inserts into a tubular for cutting the tubular from within. The cutting tool includes a motor, a cutting head, permanent anchor between the motor and cutting head, an electronics portion, and a modular anchoring sub that can be between the motor and electronics portion or on the upper end of the cutting tool. The modular anchoring sub provides flexibility in where anchoring elements are positioned so that depending on the application, the modular anchoring sub can be positioned so that it provides its maximum anchoring force for stabilizing the cutting tool during use.

Modular anchoring sub for use with a cutting tool

Autonomous control of a wellbore tool is provided by programming a memory module of a processor with a database having data relating to a selected parameter of interest; conveying a sensor and the processor along the wellbore; and activating the wellbore tool if the processor determines that a measurement provided by the sensor correlates with the database data. The processor may correlate the sensor measurements with a predetermined pattern associated with the data, a preset value, and/or a preset range of values. Well tool activation may occur when the processor finds: a substantial match between a predetermined pattern and at least one measured value; a present value and at least one measured value, and/or a preset range of values and at least one measured range of values. Also, activating the well tool may occur only if a measurement from a second sensor meets a preset criteria.

Autonomous downhole control methods and devices

A method for determining depth in a wellbore uses inertial navigation in conjunction with a database having one or more measured parameters correlated with depth. The measured parameter may be the lengths of stands forming a drill string, prior survey data relating to a naturally occurring feature such as formation lithology, or data relating to a human made feature such as collars in a casing string. The downhole processor may use accelerometer measurements to calculate a measured depth of a BHA and access the database to retrieve a predicted depth that corresponds with one or more sensor measurements (e.g., motion indicating the addition of a stand to a drill string). Thereafter, if the downhole processor determines that the predicted depth is in agreement with the calculated depth, the processor stores the predicted depth and/or associates the predicted depth with directional surveys taken along the wellbore.

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Richmond, TX, United States of America

William Befeld