EA017791B1 - System and method for directionally drilling a borehole with a rotary drilling system - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for controlling a rotary drilling system, for directional drilling of the borehole through the earth formation and comprising a drill string and a bottom-hole assembly coupled with a drill bit, to directionally drill a borehole through an earth formation, comprising: applying a side force to the bottomhole assembly to generate lateral motion of the bottomhole assembly in the borehole and provide for side cutting by the drill bit; and controlling, using direction control element connected to the bottomhole assembly so that its position remains stationary during rotary drilling of the borehole, the lateral motion of said bottomhole assembly to direct the side cutting and provide for the directional drilling of the borehole in the first direction and move the direction control element on the bottomhole assembly for controlling the lateral motion of said bottomhole assembly to direct the side cutting and provide for the directional drilling of the borehole in the second direction.

Description

This invention, in General, relates to a method and system of directional drilling of a borehole with a rotary drilling system. More specifically, but not by way of limitation, an embodiment of the present invention provides for controlling the movement of a rotary drilling system in a wellbore when a lateral force is applied to the drilling system so that the drilling system drills the wellbore in a directional direction through the geological formation. In some aspects of the present invention, lateral cutting of a borehole wall with a drill bit adjusts the geostationary element to provide directional lateral cutting and, as a result, directional drilling of the borehole through the geological formation under an applied lateral force.

In industry practice, directional drilling of a wellbore through a geological formation or coring in underground formations is often necessary so that the wellbore and / or coring can bypass and / or pass through reservoirs and / or reservoirs in the formation to achieve a given goal in the formation and / or the like When drilling a wellbore or drilling with coring in underground formations, in some cases it is necessary to be able to change and control the direction of drilling, for example, to direct the wellbore to the project site or to regulate the horizontal direction in the area containing hydrocarbons after reaching the project site. It may also be necessary to correct deviations from the desired direction when drilling a straight borehole or to control the direction of the wellbore in order to avoid obstacles, such as formations with properties that are unfavorable for drilling. It should be understood that wellbore drilling may include vertical drilling, horizontal drilling and directional drilling, and many drilling operations may include combinations thereof.

In the oil and gas industry, for example, a wellbore can be drilled to open a specific subterranean formation at a specific location. In some drilling processes, in order to complete the required wellbore, the drilling path through the geological formation may be pre-planned and the drilling system may be controlled to match the drilling path. In other processes, or in combination with the previous process, the target for the wellbore can be determined and the progress of drilling the wellbore in the geological formation during the drilling can be monitored and measures can be taken to ensure that the wellbore reaches its design goal. In addition, the operation of the drilling system can be controlled to ensure economical drilling, which may include drilling with the most rapid penetration of the geological formation, drilling with reduced wear of the bit, drilling to achieve optimal penetration through the geological formation and optimal wear of the bit and / or the like .

One aspect of the drilling process may be referred to as directional drilling. Directional drilling is the deliberate deviation of a wellbore from a naturally selected path. In other words, directional drilling is the guidance of the drill string, such that the drill string moves in the desired direction.

Directional drilling may be preferred in situations such as offshore drilling or the like, since it can provide for the drilling of multiple wells from one drilling platform. Directional drilling can also provide horizontal drilling through the reservoir to create improved interaction between the wellbore and the reservoir, i.e. horizontal drilling can create an extended section of the wellbore passing through the reservoir, thereby increasing well productivity.

A directional drilling system may also be useful in vertical drilling operations. For example, in a vertical drilling operation, the drill bit may deviate from the design path of vertical drilling due to the unpredictable nature of the penetration layers and / or the changing forces that the drill bit experiences. When such a deviation occurs, a directional drilling system can be used to return the drill bit to a vertical course.

The monitoring process for directional drilling of a borehole may include determining the location of the drill bit in the geological formation, determining the orientation of the drill bit in the geological formation, determining the axial load on the drill bit of the drilling system, determining the drilling speed through the geological formation, determining the properties of the drilling geological formation, determination of the properties of the subterranean formation surrounding the drill bit; prediction of some properties of the formations in front of the drill bit , seismic analysis of the geological formation, determination of reservoir properties, etc. near the drill bit, measuring pressure, temperature, and / or the like. in the wellbore, and / or surrounding the wellbore, and / or the like. In any process for directional drilling of the wellbore, if the design path is followed, the drilling process is monitored, and / or the drilling conditions, and / or the like, it is necessary to be able to guide the drilling system.

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The forces exerted on the drill bit during the drilling operation include gravity, the torque developed by the bit, the end load applied to the bit, and the bending moment from the drilling assembly. These efforts, together with the type of drilling layer and the inclination of the layer to the wellbore, can create a complex interacting system of forces during drilling.

In many practical applications, the drilling system may be a rotary drilling system in which a downhole assembly including a drill bit is connected to a drill string (casing string) that can be driven / rotated from a drilling platform. In a rotary drilling system, directional drilling of a wellbore can be created by varying factors, such as axial load on the bit, rotational speed, etc.

With respect to rotary drilling, known directional drilling methods include the use of rotary controlled systems (RUS). In RUS, the drill string is rotated from the surface, causing the rotation of the drill bit on the surface of the geological formation at the end of the wellbore and for drilling through the formation. Downhole devices and systems, such as those discussed below, can be included in the work to carry out drilling with a drill bit in the required direction. Rotation of the drill string significantly reduces the possibility of jamming or sticking of the drill string while drilling.

Rotary guided drilling systems for directional drilling of wellbores through the earth’s stratum can generally be classified by dividing the entire assembly from the axis of the well and the bit positioning system into systems. In both types of systems, the objective of the system is to apply lateral force to the drill bit to create directional drilling with the drill bit, i.e. with a deviation from the axis.

In the bit positioning system, the axis of rotation of the drill bit deviates from the local axis of the layout of the bottom of the drill string (BHA) in the general direction of the new borehole. The term bottom hole assembly can be used to refer to a plurality of devices / systems attached to a drill string in a borehole. Thus, the layout of the bottom of the drill string may include a drill bit, weighted drill pipes, blocks of measuring instruments, a sub-depth sub, a downhole hydraulic motor, centralizers with rigid blades, a thick-walled drill pipe, impact releasing devices (jars) and sub and / or the like .

In general, it is possible to drill / drill a wellbore according to standard three-point geometry formed by the upper and lower tangent points of the centralizer with rigid blades and a drill bit. The angle of deviation of the axis of the drill bit in conjunction with a finite distance between the drill bit and the lower centralizer with rigid blades gives the non-collinearity condition required to create a curve. There are many ways in which this can be achieved, including a fixed bend at the layout point of the bottom of the drill string near the lower centralizer with rigid blades or a bend of the drive shaft of the drill bit distributed between the upper and lower centralizers with rigid blades. By controlling the installation of a centralizer with rigid blades, the introduction of a curve sub between centralizers with rigid blades can achieve the value of flexibility and the location of the bend and / or the like. in directional drilling, i.e. lateral force can be created on the drill bit, creating off-axis drilling of the wellbore.

Bit positioning may include using a downhole hydraulic motor to rotate / move the drill bit in the wellbore. For example, a drill bit, an engine, and a drill bit can be installed in a drill string including a curve sub, and the engine can rotate the drill bit, causing bending angles to apply lateral force to the drill bit and, therefore, drill the borehole with the drill bit in the direction of lateral force . In such a system, the drill bit can be connected to the engine by a swivel or deflection mechanism / link, a curved sub, or the like, while the drill bit can be tilted relative to the engine. When a change in the direction of drilling is necessary, the rotation of the drill string can be stopped and the bit can be installed in the wellbore using a downhole hydraulic motor in the desired direction and the rotation of the drill bit can begin drilling in the required direction. In such a device, the direction of drilling depends on the angular position of the drill string.

In its idealized form, in a bit positioning system, the drill bit does not need to perform side cutting, since the axis of the bit is constantly rotating in the direction of the curved borehole. Examples of rotary guided bit positioning systems and principles of their operation are described in US Patent Application Publications No. 2002/0011359; 2001/0052428 and US Patent Nos. 6394193, 6364034, 6244361, 6158529, 6092610 and 5113953, all incorporated herein by reference.

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Systems for repelling the entire arrangement from the axis of the well and methods utilize applying force to the wall of the wellbore to bend the drill string and / or directly applying lateral force to the drill bit to drill in the preferred direction. In a rotary controlled system of repelling the entire arrangement from the axis of the well, the required condition of noncollinearity is achieved by applying a force mechanism that creates an offset in the direction of the preferred orientation relative to the direction of penetration of the wellbore. There are many ways in which this can be achieved, including approaches with displacement without rotation (relative to the wellbore) and eccentric actuators that exert force on the drill bit in the required direction of guidance. Guidance is also obtained by creating non-collinearity between the drill bit and at least two other tangent points. In its idealized form, the side bit is required from the drill bit to create a curved borehole. Examples of systems for repelling the entire layout from the axis of the well and the principles of their operation are described in US patent No. 5265682, 5553678, 5803185, 6089332, 5695015, 5685379, 5706905, 5553679, 5673763, 5520255, 5603385, 5582259, 5778992 and 5971085 included document as a link.

Known forms of RUS may include an opposite rotation mechanism rotating in a direction opposite to the direction of rotation of the drill string. Usually the opposite rotation occurs at the same speed as the rotation of the drill string so that the section of the opposite rotation maintains one angular position relative to the surface of the wellbore. Since the section of the opposite rotation does not rotate relative to the wellbore, specialists in the art often call it geostationary. In this description, no distinction is made between the terms opposite rotation and geostationary.

In the system of repelling the entire arrangement from the axis of the well, a centralizer is usually used with rigid blades of both external and internal opposite rotation. The centralizer of the opposite rotation with rigid blades remains at a fixed angle (or geostationary) relative to the borehole wall. When the wellbore is to be deflected, an actuator held geostationary by a centralizer with rigid blades can be actuated to press the deflecting support against the wall of the wellbore in the opposite direction from the desired deviation. As a result, a lateral force pushing the drill bit to cut in the desired direction is applied to the drill bit.

The force created by the actuators / deflecting bearings balances the bending force of the bottom of the drill string, and the reaction force acts through the actuators / deflecting bearings on the opposite side of the bottom of the drill string, and the reactive force acts on the cutting elements of the drill bit, thereby guiding the shaft wells. In some situations, the force from the deflecting supports / actuators may be large enough to create formation erosion if the system is used.

For example, in the system 8crrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. ^| using three deflecting bearings located around the bottom of the drill string assembly section to be synchronously deployed from the bottom of the drill string to push the bit in a certain direction while guiding the well being drilled. In the system, the deflecting supports are installed close, within 1-4 feet (0.3-1.2 m) behind the bit and are driven / driven by a mud stream taken from the circulation fluid. In other systems, the axial load on the bit created by the drilling system, or wedge, etc. can be used to orient the drilling system in the wellbore.

Another way to create lateral force on the drill bit is to use a drill bit with a cutting element design designed to create a varying or relatively constant lateral force on the drill bit in a direction that remains roughly fixed in one direction relative to the body of the drill bit (or at least one quadrant ) This can be easily achieved by a well-thought-out device of cutting elements, as is the case with a bit balanced against vibrations (where the average lateral cutting force is directed to a specific calibrating deflecting support, which is held in rotation against the borehole wall). For directional drilling purposes, the off-center lateral force developed by the device of the cutting elements can be used to drive a set of calibrating cutting elements to the walls of the wellbore (opposite to the bit balanced against vibration). When the bit rotates, the lateral cutting force on the penetration side also rotates, thus the preferred direction of penetration.

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SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to a method and a control system for a rotary drilling system for directional drilling of a wellbore through a geological formation, a rotary drilling system comprising a drill string and a drill bit in which the drill bit is rotated by a drill string for drilling a geological formation. More specifically, but not by way of limitation, embodiments of the present invention provide for controlling the movement of a drilling system in a drilled wellbore by means of a system and / or reactive forces between the drilling system and the wall of the wellbore when lateral force acts on the drilling system. In such embodiments, controlling the movement of the drilling system in the wellbore and / or reactive forces between the drilling system and the wall when a lateral force acts on the drilling system can provide direction to the drilling system for drilling the wellbore in the desired direction and / or focusing or deviating the movement of the drilling bits and / or direction of drilling of a drill bit created by lateral force.

In some aspects, by controlling the movement of the drill bit in the wellbore, so that the necessary movement maintains a constant direction, when the drilling system rotates in the wellbore, the rotary drilling system can drill the wellbore in the necessary direction, this direction can be adjusted in some embodiments during the process drilling. In other aspects, an asymmetric calibrating deflection support device that rotates during a drilling process can enhance / focus lateral drilling with a drill bit under lateral force.

In some aspects of the present invention, side cutting of a borehole wall with a drill bit of a drilling system, when a lateral force is applied, can be controlled to provide selective direction for side cutting of the wall and, as a result, directional drilling of the borehole through the geological formation. In some aspects, a side cutting control is used to control side drilling of the wellbore with a drill bit, a side cutting control is connected to the drilling system to ensure that the side cutting control remains geostationary in the wellbore during rotary drilling.

Therefore, in one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method for controlling a rotary drilling system comprising a drill string and a bottom assembly of a drill string, a bottom assembly of a drill string including a drill bit for directionally drilling a borehole through a geological formation, a method comprising applying a lateral efforts to layout the bottom of the drill string to provide lateral cutting with a drill bit and control the movement of the layout of the bottom of the drill string in the borehole, etc. and this movement of the bottom hole assembly is controlled to provide lateral cutting direction.

In some aspects, the geostationary control element can be used to control the movement of the bottom hole assembly in the wellbore. A geostationary element can be made to control the interactions between the layout of the bottom of the drill string and the wall of the borehole to provide deviation / focusing of the movement of the borehole in a specific direction. In such aspects, since the control element is geostationary in the wellbore, the control element may cause lateral directional drilling of the drilling system, even if the drilling system rotates in the wellbore.

In some aspects, the geostationary control element may include a sleeve connected to the eccentricity with the layout of the bottom of the drill string. In such aspects, when a lateral force is applied to the layout of the bottom of the drill string, the lateral force should move the bottom of the borehole in a direction substantially coinciding with the lateral force. However, an eccentrically connected sleeve can interact with the wall of the borehole, restraining the movement of the bottom of the drill string in some directions, while not restricting or less restraining the movement of the bottom of the drill string in other directions. Therefore, in an embodiment of the present invention, when an eccentrically connected sleeve interacts cyclically with the wall under lateral force to arrange the bottom of the drill string, the eccentrically connected sleeve can direct / focus / reject movement of the bottom of the drill string causing lateral cutting with the drill bit in the directional / focused / deviated direction.

In some aspects of the present invention, the drill bit of the drilling system may comprise a uniform distribution of gauge cutting elements. Moreover, when a lateral force is applied to the drill bit, the calibrating cutting elements are brought into contact with the borehole wall in the direction coinciding with the direction of the lateral force. At the same time, during the movement of the bottom hole assembly in the borehole, when the aforementioned force acts on the bottom hole assembly, some sections of the eccentrically connected sleeve may prevent contact of the calibrating cutting elements with the wall, where the sections of the sleeve extend beyond or reach the caliber of the calibrating cutting elements and these sections of the sleeve should come into contact with the wall and restrain the full contact of the calibrating cutting elements with the wall. IN

- 4 017791, by contrast, other sections eccentrically connected to the sleeve may not restrain the contact of the calibrating cutting elements with the wall and may provide full contact of the calibrating cutting elements with the wall when the bottom assembly of the drill string is moved as a result of lateral force. Therefore, an eccentrically connected sleeve can control lateral cutting of the wellbore with calibrating cutting elements under the action of the lateral force applied.

The sleeve may include a disk, cylinder or the like connected to the drill bit and / or the bottom of the drill string. The sleeve may comprise a weighted drill pipe calibrating a deflecting support or the like. In some aspects, the sleeve may comprise a plurality of individual elements located around the bottom of the drill string and positioned so as to create an asymmetric outer surface of the bottom of the drill string and the plurality of elements. In other aspects, the extension member is coupled to the bottom of the drill string and leaves the bottom of the drill string to create a heterogeneous interaction between the bottom of the drill string and the wall.

In some aspects, the sleeve may be rotationally coupled to the bottom of the drill string. In such aspects, the sleeve may rotate on the bottom of the drill string so that a wall section having full contact or less restraint contact with calibrating cutting elements can be changed according to the position of the bushings. In this way, wall cutting with gauge cutting elements under the action of lateral force can be directed / focused in the necessary direction by rotating the eccentrically connected sleeve on the bottom of the drill string assembly, as necessary.

In some aspects, instead of a sleeve, a plurality of calibrated deflectors can be connected to the bottom of the drill string to create an asymmetric outer surface formed by the outer surfaces of the calibrated deflectors. This asymmetric surface should control the movement of the bottom of the drill string assembly in the wellbore, since the bottom of the drill string cyclically interacts with the wall of the well bore, since the lateral force acts on the layout of the bottom of the drill string. As for an eccentrically connected sleeve, an asymmetric outer surface can be used to direct / deflect / focus the movement of the wellbore, the directional movement of which can, in turn, cause lateral cutting with the drill bit of the wellbore in accordance with the directed / focused / deviated movement.

In some aspects of the present invention, a rotary drilling system drill bit may comprise one or more calibrating cutting elements for contacting and cutting a wall. In such aspects, asymmetric calibrating deflection bearings can be performed to provide directional drilling of the wellbore by restraining the interaction between one or more calibrating cutting elements and the wall in a certain range of azimuthal angles and not restricting the interaction between one or more calibrating cutting elements and the wall in a complementary range azimuthal angles.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the directional control element of the system may comprise a cylinder, a disc, or a plurality of elements connected to the drill bit and / or a bottom assembly of the drill string, the cylinder, disc, or the plurality of elements having a circumferential flexibility. Moreover, when a cylinder section or disk one of the many elements with low ductility / elasticity contacts the wall under the action of lateral force, the section can resist movement in this direction of movement, while a more flexible / flexible cylinder section or disk or more elastic / ductile element may deform / feed and allow movement and / or resist movement to a lesser extent in the direction of the more pliable / elastic section. Therefore, cyclic interactions between a cylinder, a disk or a plurality of elements and a wall should determine the proper direction of movement of the bottom of the drill string in the borehole under the influence of lateral force and, as a result, the direction of side cutting of the drill bit.

In some aspects of the present invention, the rotary drilling system drill bit may comprise one or more calibrating cutting elements for contacting the wall and cutting the wall. In such aspects, when a cylinder section, or a disk, or one of a plurality of low ductility / elasticity elements contacts the wall under lateral force, this can counteract the contact between the calibrating cutting element and the wall of the calibrating cutting element located near the cylinder or disk section , or one of many elements with low ductility / elasticity. In contrast, a more malleable / resilient section of the cylinder, or a disk, or a more resilient / malleable element must be deformed / fed by lateral force upon contact with the wall, providing greater contact between the calibrating cutting element near the more elastic / malleable element or section and walls, resulting in increased wall cutting in the direction of the ductile section / element in comparison with wall cutting in the direction of the section or element with less elasticity / ductility and obliquely directed e bu

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The lateral force of the present invention can be created by any known methods. These methods may include, but are not limited to, positioning the cutting elements on the drill bit so as to develop lateral force exerted on the drill bit when the drill bit drills the wellbore, using a flexible member and / or curved sub, and a plurality of centralizers with rigid blades to use the axial load on the bit to create lateral force, manipulate the drill bit to aim in the direction of moving away from the central axis of the wellbore, use an actuator a connected to the layout of the bottom of the drill string to apply force to the wall of the wellbore and / or the like

In another embodiment of the present invention, a rotary drilling system control device for directional drilling of a borehole through a geological formation may comprise a bottom hole assembly, a bottom drill assembly including a drill bit, and a direction control element connected to the bottom drill string assembly and made with the possibility of creating a movement of the layout of the bottom of the drill string in the selected direction, when a lateral force is applied to the layout Isa drillstring. In some embodiments, the control is connected to the bottom of the drill string so that the control remains geostationary in the wellbore during the rotary drilling process.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a device for controlling a rotary drilling system for directional drilling of a wellbore through a geological formation comprises a drill bit; one or more calibrating cutting elements connected to the drill bit and made with the possibility of contact with the wall of the wellbore; and a direction control element connected to the drill bit so that it remains geostationary during rotary drilling of the wellbore and is configured to provide wall cutting with one or more calibrating cutting elements in the required range of azimuthal angles and inhibit wall cutting with one or more calibrating cutting elements in a complementary range of azimuthal angles.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a geostationary eccentric gauge arrangement with a drill bit with lateral force applied to the drill bit in a direction that remains generally fixed, in one direction relative to the bit body (or at least one quadrant), can be used. This lateral force may be a lateral force to repel the entire arrangement, a lateral force to position the bit, created by the thoughtful arrangement of the cutting elements on the bit and / or the like. In the system, the average value of the lateral cutting force of the drill bit is directed in a specific direction (quadrant). In an embodiment, the geocentric gage arrangement can be kept geostationary and can be used to modulate cutting with a plastic deformation bit in the preferred cutting direction relative to the ground and thereby providing a controlled guidance mechanism for rotary drilling. The eccentric sleeve of the embodiment is configured to restrain the interaction of the calibrating cutting elements with the formation in a certain range of azimuthal directions, while allowing the calibrating cutting elements to contact the borehole wall in a complementary range of azimuthal directions. In this way, side cutting in the containment range is prevented and freedom of side cutting in the complementary range is given. By adjusting the orientation of the geostationary sleeve, the directionality of the bit is controlled with rotation of the drilling assembly.

In some embodiments, a rotary drilling system, a device / method for generating lateral force on a bottom hole assembly and / or a drill bit of a drilling system, and a lateral force deviation control element for a created / acting bottom hole assembly and / or drill bit are provided.

Aspects include managing a rotary drilling system for directional drilling of a wellbore through a geological formation. At the same time, the controls for controlling interactions between the bottom hole assembly and / or the drill bit and the wall of the drilled hole and / or deviation of lateral force acting on the bottom hole assembly and / or the drill bit can be active / moving to selectively change direction drilling, can be geostationary to create directional drilling in a fixed direction, can be performed to deviate the applied / created lateral Leah, where the characteristics of the applied / create lateral force can be taken into account in the establishment of configurations. Additionally, the control element can be made taking into account the characteristics of the unapplied / not generated lateral force, such as gravity.

In an additional embodiment, a device for controlling a rotary drilling system for directional drilling of a wellbore through a geological formation, a device comprising a drill bit; means for creating lateral force acting on the drill bit; and means for deflecting the generated lateral force. In some aspects, a rejection tool is provided.

- 6 017791 of the lateral force may contain one or more calibrating deflecting supports, while the calibrating deflecting supports are connected to the drill bit to create an unequal caliber of the drill bit and the calibrating deflecting supports connected to it. Gauge deflecting bearings can rotate during the drilling process and can serve to enhance / focus the drilling of the side of the wellbore under the action of the lateral force applied.

In some embodiments, the means of deflecting the generated lateral force may comprise a set of calibrating deflecting supports connected to the drill bit, wherein the set of calibrating deflecting supports may comprise a plurality of calibrating deflecting supports connected to the drill bit to create a closed loop asymmetric with respect to the longitudinal axis of the drill bit, formed by each surface facing the borehole wall of a plurality of calibrating deflecting supports, and the surface facing connected to the wall of the wellbore, which is the surface of the calibrating deflecting supports facing the wall of the wellbore during the drilling procedure. In some aspects, the calibrating deflection support (s) may comprise one or more calibrating cutting elements. A controller capable of adjusting at least one lateral force generating means and deviation means of the generated lateral force can be used to control directional drilling of the drilling system.

Brief Description of the Drawings

In the figures, the same components and / or features may have the same reference position. Additionally, various components of the same type can be distinguished by the position of the dash links and the second position, which distinguish them among similar components. If only the first position is used in the description, the description is applicable to one of the similar components having the same first position regardless of the second position of the link.

The invention will become more apparent from the following description of non-limiting and illustrative embodiments given with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In FIG. 1A schematically shows a directional drilling system.

In FIG. 1B shows the movement of the bottom hole assembly and / or the drill bit of the directional drilling system of FIG. 1A in a drilled wellbore when lateral force is applied to the bottom of the drill string and / or drill bit during the directional drilling process.

In FIG. 2A schematically shows a directional drilling control system in a directional drilling system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 2B is a sectional view of a compliant system for use in a directional drilling control system of FIG. 2A according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 3A-3C schematically illustrate cam control systems for focusing / directing / deviating lateral forces to provide directional directional drilling according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 4A-4C schematically illustrate active gage deflecting support systems for controlling a directional drilling system configured to use lateral force to directionally drill a borehole according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 5 schematically shows a control system for a directional drilling system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a method for controlling a directional drilling system for directional drilling of a wellbore according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The following description provides only exemplary embodiments of the invention and is not intended to limit its scope, applicability, or configuration. Instead, the following description of exemplary embodiments is intended to enable one skilled in the art to implement one or more exemplary embodiments. Various changes in the functions and arrangement of the description elements can be made without departing from the essence and scope of the invention set forth in the attached claims.

Specific details are given in the following description to provide an in-depth understanding of the embodiments. However, one skilled in the art should understand that the embodiments can be practiced practically without these specific details. For example, systems, structures, and other components may be shown as components in block diagram form so as not to obscure embodiments with unnecessary details. In other instances, well-known processes, techniques, and other methods may be shown without unnecessary detail in order to avoid obscuring the embodiments.

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We also note that individual embodiments may be described as a process shown in a flowchart, a flowchart, a flow chart, or a flowchart. Although a flowchart may describe operations as a sequential process, many operations can be performed in parallel or simultaneously. In addition, the order of operations can be changed. Additionally, any one or more operations may not occur in some embodiments. The process ends when its operations are completed, but may have additional steps not shown in the figures. The process may correspond to a method, procedure, etc.

The present invention generally relates to a method and a control system for a directional drilling of a wellbore through a geological formation. More specifically, but not by way of limitation, embodiments of the present invention provide for controlling the movement of the bottom hole assembly and / or the drill bit in the wellbore with lateral force to control the bottom hole assembly and / or the drill bit for drilling the wellbore in the desired direction through geological layer.

In FIG. 1 schematically shows a rotary system for drilling a wellbore. As shown in FIG. 1, the drill string 10 may include a connecting device system 12 and a bottom assembly 17 and may be located in the wellbore 27, where the wellbore 27 is drilled by a rotary drilling system. The bottom hole assembly 17 may comprise a drill bit 20, along with various other components (not shown), such as a sub-depth sub, a downhole hydraulic motor, rigid blade centralizers, heavy drill pipes, thick drill pipe, impact release devices (jars), sub for various forms of thread and / or the like The bottom hole assembly 17 may create a force on the drill bit 20 to destroy the rock, this force may create an axial load on the bit or the like, and the bottom drill string assembly 17 may be configured to withstand harsh environments with high temperatures , high pressures and / or corrosive chemicals. The bottom hole assembly 17 may include a downhole hydraulic motor, directional drilling and measurement equipment, measurement tools while drilling, logging tools while drilling, and / or other specialized devices.

Weighted drill pipe or the like can be connected to the bottom 17 of the drill string, and it can be a weighting component that can be used to create an axial load on the bit to push the drill bit into contact with the bottom of the bottom. Thus, the weighted drill pipe may contain a thick-walled, heavy, tubular component, which may have a cavity in the Central channel to create the passage of drilling fluids through the weighted drill pipe. The weighted drill pipe may be round outside for passage through a borehole 27 of a drilling well and, in some cases, may be machined by a machine tool to create spiral grooves (spiral weighted drill pipes). Weighted drill pipes comprise threaded connections that are plugged in at one end and spanning at the other so that multiple weighted drill pipes can be screwed together with other downhole tools, which together can make up the bottom 17 of the drill string.

In a rotary drilling system, a surface motor is used to rotate the coupler system 12, causing the drill bit 20 to rotate at the bottom of the wellbore 27. In some systems, surface equipment 33 may include a top drive, a rotor, or the like. (not shown), which can transmit rotation through a connecting device system 12, which may include a drill pipe, casing, flexible tubing, or the like, to drill bit 20. In some systems, the top drive may include one or more motors, electric, hydraulic, and / or the like, which can be connected by a suitable gear mechanism to a short section of pipe called a locking spindle. The locking spindle can, in turn, be screwed into a safety sub or drill string, casing or flexible tubing. The top drive can be suspended on a hook to move freely up and down the tower. Pipe, flexible tubing, or the like. can be fastened with top drive, rotor or the like. to transmit rotation down in the wellbore 27 to the drill bit 20.

In a rotary drilling system, gravity acts on the arrangement 17 of the bottom of the drill string, which may contain a significant mass of the weighted drill pipe (s), creating a downward force that can cause drill bit 20 to destroy the rock and drill through the geological formation during rotation. To accurately control the amount of force applied to the drill bit 20, the driller can carefully monitor the weight of the drilling system on the hook, measured when the drill bit 20 is not in contact with the bottom surface 41 of the bottom of the wellbore 27. Then the drill string (and drill bit) can be slowly and carefully lowered until it touches the surface 41 of the bottom of the bottom of the wellbore 27. After this point, as the driller continues to lower the drill string, more weight falls on the drill bit 20 and, accordingly,

- 8 017791 substantially less weight falls on the hook on the surface. For example only, when a surface measurement shows a weight of 20,000 pounds (9080 kg) less than a weight with a drill bit 20 not touching the surface 41 of the bottom of the bottom, then a force of 20,000 pounds (9080 kg) should fall on the drill bit 20 (in a vertical well) . Downhole sensors can be used to more accurately measure the axial load on the bit and transmit data to the surface.

The drill bit 20 may contain one or more cutting elements 23. In operation, the drill bit 20 can be used to destroy and / or cut rock on the surface 41 of the bottom of the bottom for drilling the wellbore 27 through the geological formation 30. The drill bit 20 can be located below system 12 of the connecting device, and the drill bit 20 can be changed when the drill bit 20 becomes dull or becomes incapable of drilling through the geological formation 30. The drill bit 20 and the cutting elements 23 can be performed with different and configurations for creating various interactions with the geological formation and creating various cutting configurations.

A conventional drill bit 20 operates by drilling a borehole slightly larger than the maximum outer diameter of the drill bit 20, where the diameter / gauge of the wellbore 27 is obtained as a result of the radius of action of the cutting elements of the drill bit 20 and the interaction of the cutting elements with the rock being drilled. This drilling of the wellbore 27 with the drill bit 20 is obtained by combining the cutting action of the rotation of the drill bit 20 and the axial load on the bit created by the weight on the drill bit obtained from the mass of the drill string. In general, a drilling system may include a deflecting support (s) that may extend outward into the caliber of a wellbore 27. The calibrating deflecting bearings may comprise deflecting supports located on the bottom assembly of the drill string 17 or deflecting supports at the ends of some cutting elements of the drill bit 20 and / or the like. Calibrating deflection bearings can be used to stabilize the drill bit 20 in the wellbore 27 to create uniform drilling of the wellbore.

The drill bit 20 may contain one or more calibrating cutting elements 24, the calibrating cutting elements 24 can be located around the perimeter of the drill bit connected to calibrating deflecting supports or the like, and can be made to contact the wall 40 of the wellbore 27. In operation, the calibrating cutting elements 24 can be in contact with the wall 40 to create a drill with a rotary system for drilling a borehole with a caliber equal to or slightly greater than the diameter of the drill bit 20.

The connecting device system 12 may comprise pipe (s), such as a drill pipe, casing or the like, a flexible tubing and / or the like. Pipe, flexible tubing, or the like. connecting device systems 12 can be used to connect equipment 33 on the surface to the bottom assembly 17 and drill bit 20. A pipe, flexible tubing, or the like. can serve to pump the drilling fluid to the drill bit 20 and to raise, lower and / or rotate the assembly 17 of the bottom of the drill string and / or drill bit 20.

In some drilling systems, downhole motors (not shown) may be located downhole in the wellbore 27. Downhole motors may include electric motors, hydraulic motors and / or the like. Hydraulic motors can be driven by drilling fluids or other fluids pumped in the wellbore 27 and / or circulated in the drill string. Downhole motors can be used to drive / rotate the drill bit 20 on the surface 41 of the bottom of the bottom. The use of downhole motors can provide for the drilling of a wellbore 27 by rotating the drill bit 20 without rotating the connecting device system 12, which can be held stationary during the drilling process.

The rotation of the drill bit 20 in the wellbore 27, produced by the rotation of the drill pipe and / or the downhole motor, can create the destruction and / or cutting of the rock of the surface 41 of the bottom of the bottom for drilling a new section of the wellbore 27 in the geological formation 30. The rotation of the gauge cutting elements 24 the wall 40 can create a small layer of drilling on the wall 40 around the drill bit 20. Drilling fluids can be pumped into the wellbore 27 through a connecting device system 12 or the like. to drive the drill bit 20, rotate the drill bit 20 or the like, to drill a wellbore 27, to remove cuttings from the surface 41 of the bottom of the bottom and / or the like

In some drilling systems, hammer bits can be used to grind the rock vertically in a manner similar to that used by pneumatic jack hammers at construction sites. In other drilling systems, downhole hydraulic motors can be used to operate the drill bit 20 or associated drill bit or to drive the drill bit 20 in addition to the drive created by the top drive, rotor, drilling fluid and / or the like. Additionally, fluid jets, electrical impulses, and / or the like. can also be used for drilling a wellbore 27 or in combination with a drill bit 17 for drilling a wellbore 27.

- 9 017791

During a drilling operation, forces that can act on the drill bit 20 may include gravity, the torque developed by the drill bit 20, the end load applied to the drill bit 20, bending moment from the drilling system including the connecting system 12 devices and / or the like These efforts, together with the type of the drilling formation and the inclination of the drill bit 20 to the plane of the surface 41 of the bottom of the bottom of the wellbore 27, can create a complex interactive system of applied and reactive forces. In a rotary drilling system for vertical drilling, in general, there should be no application of directional force to the drill bit drilling the vertical wellbore. For non-vertical drilling, the rotary drilling system must drill, in general, with a constant feed direction; however, the supply of gravity should force the drill bit to tend to drill vertically.

To provide directional drilling with the rotary drilling system, a lateral force 15 can be applied to the drill bit 20. A lateral force 15 applied to the drill bit 20 causes the drill bit 20 to perform lateral cutting, for example, when the borehole 27 is moved away from the central axis 39. While maintaining the lateral force 15 in a specific direction in the wellbore 27, the drill bit 20 should result in constant drilling, at least partially, in the direction of the applied lateral force, resulting in the drilling of an oblique directional section of the wellbore (unlike the section of the wellbore, drilled simply with axial load on the bit and with the rotation of the drill bit on the end plane of the bottom of the wellbore).

When a lateral force 15 is applied to the bottom hole assembly 17 and / or the drill bit 20, the lateral force 15 may cause the calibrating cutting elements 24 to contact the wall 40, and this may result in preferred drilling / removal of the 24 pieces of formation from the 40 cutting wall by the calibrating cutting elements. a direction matching the applied lateral force 15, thereby creating and / or adding side cutting to the wellbore 27 in the direction of the applied lateral force. When controlling lateral force 15, drilling speed, axial load on the bit and / or the like the drill bit 20 can drill along the necessary path through the geological formation 30.

They turn to various systems to provide directional drilling with a rotary drilling system by controlling existing forces exerted on drill bit 20 during rotary drilling, or by applying new forces to drill bit 20. These systems address bending / shaping / direction / push of a drill systems for orienting the drilling system in the wellbore and / or relative to the bottom of the bottom of the wellbore 27, guiding the movement of the drill bit 20 at least partially sideways, i.e. away from the central axis 39. Some systems may use / adapt a large force of gravity acting on the drilling system, and / or may include the creation of large reactive forces on the drilling system with the extension from the layout of the bottom of the drill string in the geological formation 30 to orient the drilling system in the wellbore and / or relative to the bottom of the bottom of the wellbore 27 and / or to push the drill bit 20 to guide the drilling system for directional drilling of the wellbore 27. Other systems may bend the drilling system or use curved sections in the drilling system to guide the drill bit to sideways, eccentrically.

In some drilling processes, a curved pipe (not shown), known as a curved sub, or a tilt / swivel mechanism can be positioned between the drill bit 20 and the downhole motor. Crooked sub or the like can be installed in the wellbore to ensure that the drill bit 20 meets the surface plane 41 of the bottom of the bottom in such a way as to drill the wellbore 27 in a specific direction, at a specific angle, along a path and / or the like. The position of the curve of the sub can be adjusted in the wellbore without the need to remove the system 12 of the connecting device and / or layout 17 of the bottom of the drill string from the wellbore 27. At the same time, directional drilling with a curved sub or the like. It can be difficult, because the efforts in the wellbore during the drilling process can impede the maneuver and / or efficient use of the curve sub to guide the drilling system.

When drilling in a straight line with a conventional drilling system, with or without lateral force 15, the applicants determined that the drill bit 20 could substantially vibrate in the wellbore 27, the vibrations containing repetitive movements / stochastic movement of the drill bit 20 in radial directions , i.e. outward from the central axis 39. The terms vibration / oscillation / stochastic movement are used herein to describe repeated / constant movements of the drilling system during drilling, which may have a direction in the wellbore that is different from the direction of drilling, and whose direction and frequency may be entities random.

These vibrations / vibrations of the drilling system can be limited by the action of cutting elements dynamically acting on the surface of the wellbore and expanding it with calibrating deflecting supports or the like, striking the wall of the wellbore 27. As a result of tests by the applicants, it was found that drilling systems containing drill bits without calibrating deflecting supports produce a wellbore with a diameter significantly exceeding the diameter for equi

- 10 017791 valency drilling systems containing drill bits and calibrating deflection bearings. By analyzing the results of these tests, it was determined that during the operation of the drilling system, the bottom of the drill string assembly 17 undergoes cyclical movement, including movement from the central axis 39 of the assembly of the bottom 17 of the drill string and / or drill bit 20, i.e. in the radial direction to the wall 40 of the wellbore 27, during the drilling process. An analysis of various drilling operations found that calibrating deflecting supports limit this radial movement of the assembly 17 of the bottom of the drill string and / or drill bit 20 with the creation of a smaller borehole. Calibrating deflection supports of conventional drilling systems were deployed to minimize / eliminate vibrational movement of the drilling system to create a reduced / standard borehole.

From experimental research and analysis of drilling systems, the applicant found that when drill bit 20 drills a geological formation 30, the cutting elements 23 can interact non-uniformly with the geological formation, for example, they can create small gravel from the geological formation 30, and, as a result, unsteady movement / stochastic movement, which is movement in a direction different from the direction of longitudinal / translational movement of the assembly 17 of the bottom of the drill string and / or drill bits 20, can be created in the layout 1 7 bottom of the drill string and / or drill bit 20.

The applicants analyzed the operation of the drilling system and found that during the operation of the drilling system, the application of force through the system 12 of the connecting device and the drill bit 20 to the geological formation 30 at the bottom of the bottom of the barrel 27 wells, the work / rotation of the drill bit 20, the interaction of the drill bit 20 with the geological formation 30 at the bottom of the bottom of the wellbore 27 wells (while the drill bit 20 can slip, jam, stray from the axis of drilling and / or the like), rotation of the system 12 of the connecting device, operation of the top drive, operation of the rotor, ra from downhole hydraulic motors, the operation of drilling auxiliary systems, such as fluid jets or electrical impulse systems, wellbore 27 (which may have an irregular shape) and / or the like, can create movement in the assembly 17 of the bottom of the drill string and / or the drill bit 20, and this movement can be a repeated, arbitrary, non-stationary, stochastic movement, while at least the stochastic movement component is not directed along the axis of the assembly 17 of the bottom of the drill string and / or drill bit 20 and directed, instead, radially outward from an axis such as longitudinal in the center of the assembly 17 of the bottom of the drill string and / or drill bit 20.

In addition, applicants have found that transient stochastic movement of drill bit 20 and / or bottom assembly 17 can also occur when lateral force 15 is applied to drill bit 20 and / or bottom assembly 17. So, during directional drilling of a borehole, when a lateral force 15 is applied to the drill bit 20 and / or the bottom hole assembly 17, the drill bit 20 and / or the bottom hole assembly 17 undergo stochastic movement and do not interact uniformly with the wall 40 As noted above, the movement of the drill bit 20 and / or the bottom assembly of the drill string 17 is complex due to factors such as the heterogeneous properties of the geological formation 30, various different forces acting on the drill bit 20 and / or the arrangement 17, the BHA and / or the like Therefore, even when the lateral force 15 is applied uniformly, which is extremely difficult to create in practice, the drill bit 20 and / or the bottom assembly of the drill string 17 can be driven by a lateral force 15 that does not coincide with a lateral force 15, which may instead contain movement, which is a combination of the movement created by the lateral force 15 in the direction of the lateral force 15 and the stochastic movement of the drill bit 20 and / or the bottom hole assembly 17. In reality, the lateral force 15, due to the fact that it is created, for example by cyclic application of force to the wall 40 by an actuator or the like, a drilling cutting device, a bending of the drill string, the use of a curve sub and / or the like, is not uniform and may be directed over time in a certain range of azimuthal angles and as a result may cause the movement of the drill bit 20 and / or the layout 17 of the bottom of the drill string in the wellbore 27 in radial directions corresponding to the azimuth range flax corners.

Therefore, during directional drilling operations, the kinetics of the bottom assembly of the drill string 17 may include both longitudinal movement 37 in the direction of drilling and non-stationary radial movements 36A and 36B, while non-stationary radial movements 36A and 36B may contain any movement of the bottom assembly of the drill string 17 directed from the central axis 39 of the wellbore 27 of the drilling well and / or the central axis of the assembly 17 of the bottom of the drill string and / or drill bit 20. And these non-stationary radial movements may not coincide amb with the direction of lateral force 15 and / or lateral force 15 may not be unidirectional and may itself determine transient radial movement arrangement 17, the bottom hole assembly in a certain range of azimuth angles.

- 11 017791

In general, it is determined that the radial movement of the assembly 17 of the bottom of the drill string during the drilling process can be arbitrary, naturally unsteady. Therefore, the assembly 17 of the bottom of the drill string can undergo cyclic arbitrary radial / transient motion during the directional drilling process. For the purposes of this description, the cyclic radial / transient motion of the bottom assembly of the drill string 17 in the wellbore 27 during the drilling process may be referred to as dynamic motion, radial motion, stochastic motion, transient motion, radial dynamic motion, radial transient motion, dynamic or transient motion layout 17 of the bottom of the drill string and / or drill string, cyclic radial movement, cyclic dynamic movement, cyclic tire a new movement, vibration, movement such as vibration and / or the like.

The dynamic and / or unsteady movement of the bottom of the drill string assembly 17 while drilling the borehole 27 may cause / result in the cyclical contact of the bottom assembly of the drill string 17 with the surface of the borehole 27 and / or impact on it during the drilling process. The surface of the wellbore 27 comprises a wall surface 40 and a bottom surface 41 of the bottom of the wellbore 27, i.e. the surface of the geological formation 30, forming the wellbore 27. As discussed above, the dynamic and / or transient movement of the bottom of the drill string assembly 17 may be naturally arbitrary and therefore may cause / result in arbitrary intermittent / cyclic contact and / or impact interaction between the bottom assembly of the drill string 17 and the surface during drilling.

Intermittent / cyclic contact and / or impact interaction between the bottom of the drill string assembly 17 and the surface during the drilling process resulting from the dynamic and / or transient movement of the bottom of the drill string assembly may occur between one or more sections / components of the bottom of the drill string assembly 17 columns and surface. For example, the sections / components may be sections of the bottom of the drill string assembly 17 near the drill bit 20, a component of the bottom of the drill string assembly 17, such as, for example, a weighted drill pipe calibrating deflecting support, a centralizer with rigid blades, an engine body, and a section of the connecting system 12 devices and / or the like For the purposes of this description of the interaction between the bottom hole assembly 17 and the surface due to / resulting from the dynamic and / or unsteady movement of the bottom hole assembly 17 may be referred to as dynamic interactions, transient interactions, radial motion interactions, vibrational interactions, and / or the like. P.

In FIG. 1B, a sectional view of a bottom hole assembly 17 shows a lateral movement of the bottom hole assembly 17 in a well bore under lateral force. As described above, the bottom hole assembly 17 undergoes stochastic movement in the wellbore during the directional drilling process. Moreover, since the lateral force cannot generally be applied to the bottom hole assembly 17, which is unidirectional, when the lateral force 15 is applied to the bottom hole assembly 17, the movement of the bottom hole assembly 17 can be directed in a certain range of azimuthal angles 40A, 40B and 40C, in addition to the movement coinciding with the direction of the lateral force 15, where the range of azimuthal angles can generally lie in the hemisphere with the base 45, with the base 45 perpendicular to the lateral effort 15.

In FIG. 2A schematically shows a lateral force control system for guiding a directional drilling system for a borehole according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 2A, a borehole drilling system may comprise a bottom hole assembly 17, which, in turn, may include a drill bit 20. The drilling system may include drilling a wellbore 50 with a wall 53 and a bottom 54 for drilling.

During the drilling process, the drill bit 20 may be in contact with the face of the drilling 54 and destroy / displace the rock on the face of the drilling 54. In an embodiment of the present invention, the sleeve assembly 55 may be coupled to the bottom hole assembly 17 of the malleable member 57. The sleeve assembly 55 may be a pipe, cylinder, framework, or the like. The coupling arrangement 55 may have an outer surface 55A.

In some aspects, in the event that the coupling assembly 55 comprises a pipe, cylinder and / or the like, the outer surface 55A may include the outer surface of the pipe / cylinder and / or any deflecting supports, protrusions and / or the like connected to outer surface of the pipe / cylinder. The coupling assembly 55 may have sections with a rough surface, coatings, protrusions on the outer surface 55A to create enhanced frictional contact between the outer surface 55A of the coupling assembly 55 and the wall 53. The coupling assembly 55 may comprise a plurality of deflecting supports configured to contact the wall 53.

In some aspects, sleeve assembly 55 may include a system of calibrated deflection supports. In aspects where the coupling arrangement 55 may comprise a number of elements, such as deflecting supports or the like, the outer surface 55A may be formed by the outer surfaces

- 12 017791 of each of the elements (deflecting supports) of the coupling arrangement 55.

The drill bit 20 of the shown drilling system comprises calibrating cutting elements 24. The calibrating cutting elements 24 may interact with and crash into the wall 53 during the drilling process. The lateral force 15 can be used to determine the movement of the drill bit 20 in a certain range of azimuthal directions, generally centered in the direction coinciding with the lateral force 15. In this case, the calibrating cutting elements 24 may tend to directionally drill into the wall 53. However, as indicated above, the contact of the calibrating cutting elements 24 with the wall 53 may contain, in some way, sporadic interactions, where the direction of drilling of the wall is not uniform, but may occur in some Range azimuth directions.

In an embodiment of the invention, the sleeve assembly 55 may be configured with the bottom hole assembly 17 to create engagement, contact, interaction, and / or the like. the outer surface 55A with the wall 53 and / or the bottom 54 of the drilling during the drilling process as a result of the dynamic movement of the assembly 17 of the bottom of the drill string. The design / profile / flexibility of the outer surface 55A and / or the location of the outer surface 55A relative to the cutting contour of the drill bit 20 may provide for the regulation of the interaction between the calibrating cutting elements 24 and the wall 53 and other cutting elements of the drill bit 20 and the bottom 54 of the drilling.

The malleable member 57 may include a structure that allows lateral movement of the coupling assembly 55 relative to the drill bit 20, where the lateral movement is at least partially directed toward the central axis 61 of the assembly 17 of the bottom of the drill string. In some aspects, sleeve assembly 55 may itself be laterally compliant and may couple to bottom hole assembly 17 and / or may be a bottom section assembly 17 without the use of malleable member 57.

In one embodiment of the present invention, malleable member 57 may not be uniformly malleable around the circumference. In such an embodiment, one or more sections of malleable members 57 located around the perimeter of malleable member 57 may be more laterally compliant than other sections of malleable member 57.

As discussed above, during the directional drilling process with lateral force 15, the cutting elements of the drill bit 20 can be driven by the lateral drilling force 15 while moving away from the central axis 61 and / or the calibrating cutting elements 24A and 24B can undergo constant and / or cyclic interactions with the wall 53, while such interactions deviate in the general direction of the lateral force 15, since this lateral force 15 is applied to the layout 17 of the bottom of the drill string so that creates movement of the component ki 17, the bottom hole assembly in a direction lateral force 15.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the lateral compliance of the flexible member 57 may vary around the circumference of the flexible member 57. As a result, the interaction between the coupling assembly 55 and the wall 53 need not be uniform around the circumference of the coupling assembly 55. By way of example only, the flexible member 57 may comprise area of reduced compliance 59B and area of increased compliance 59A.

In some aspects of the interaction between the sleeve assembly 55 and the wall 53 over a section of a compliant member 57 having increased lateral compliance, i.e. area of increased compliance 59A, it is possible to provide an increased displacement of the bottom of the drill string assembly 17 toward the direction of increased compliance area 59A compared with interactions between the sleeve assembly 55 and wall 53 and / or the bottom hole 54 over section of the flexible member 57 with reduced lateral compliance, i.e. . area 59B of reduced compliance. In this case, the movement of the bottom hole assembly 17 in the direction of the increased compliance region 59A is freer than the movement of the bottom hole assembly 17 in the direction of the reduced compliance region 59B, where the reduced compliance region 59B, when in contact with the wall 53, resists the movement of the bottom assembly 17. columns in contrast to the area of increased compliance 59A, plastic deforming in contact with the wall 53, providing movement of the layout 17 of the bottom of the drill string.

As a result of the heterogeneity of the interactions between the sleeve assembly 55 and the wall 53, the movement of the bottom assembly of the drill string 17 under the influence of lateral force 15 can be deflected, focused and / or directed. For example, the movement of the bottom of the drill string assembly 17, when the lateral force 15 is applied towards the reduced compliance area 59B, must meet resistance when the coupling assembly 55 interacts with the wall 53, which in turn causes resistance to any side cutting of the drill bit 20 in this direction. In contrast, the movement of the bottom of the drill string assembly 17 under a lateral force 15 towards the increased compliance region 59A should at least partially provide the suppleness of the increased compliance region 59A, providing greater lateral drilling with the drill bit 20 in this direction. Therefore, the coupling arrangement 55, since it has a

- 13 017791 non-uniform compliance, can deflect, focus, direct the movement of the assembly 17 of the bottom of the drill string under the action of the applied force and as a result can deflect, focus, direct the lateral cutting of the borehole with the drill bit 20 under the influence of the lateral force 15.

In a drilling system where the drill bit comprises a calibrating cutting element 24A and 25B, a calibrating cutting element 24A corresponding to the area of increased compliance 59A should contact with a deeper interaction with the wall 53 when the lateral force 15 is directed towards the area of increased compliance 59A than the interaction that the calibrating cutting element 24B should experience when the lateral force 15 is directed toward the reduced compliance region 59B. Consequently, the flexible member 57 can be used to deflect / focus the lateral force 15 so that the calibrating cutting elements 24 are preferably drilled into the wall 53 in the direction of the increased compliance region 59A, creating a deflection, focusing and / or lateral cutting direction of the borehole under the lateral force 15 .

In a drilling system where the bottom of the drill string assembly 17 or drill bit 20 does not rotate during the drilling process, compliant member 57 may couple to the bottom drill string assembly and / or drill bit 20 and may provide lateral deviation, focusing and / or lateral direction cutting under the action of lateral force 15 in the selected direction, the direction of greater compliance. However, in a drilling system where the bottom of the drill string assembly 17 or drill bit 20 rotates during the drilling process, compliant member 57 may be coupled to the bottom of drill string assembly 17 and / or drill bit 20 so that compliant member 57 remains geostationary during drilling process time. In such aspects of the present invention, by maintaining the compliant member 57 geostationary during the directional drilling process, the direction of deviation, focusing and / or side drilling during the rotary drilling process is maintained.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the size of the area of increased compliance 59A relative to the size of the compliant member 57 may vary to control the amount of deflection / focus / direction of lateral force. However, as should be known to specialists in this field of technology, the implementation of the area 59A of increased flexibility too small may not give the necessary increase in focusing / deviation of the lateral force 15, when the area may be too small to cause the necessary difference in interactions with the wall 53.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the coupling assembly 55 may be configured to couple the coupling assembly 55 to the bottom of the well to position the coupling assembly 55 completely in the cutting circuit 21 of the drill bit 20, the cutting circuit 21 containing a profile of cutting elements from edge to edge of the drill bit 20 In other embodiments of the present invention, the coupling assembly 55, the coupling assembly section 55, the outer surface 55A and / or the outer surface section 55A may extend beyond round 21 cutting.

By way of example only, the sleeve assembly 55 may be coupled to the bottom hole assembly 17 so that the outer surface 55A is located inside the cutting path 21 with an indent of the order of one to tens of millimeters from it. In other aspects, and again by way of example only, the sleeve assembly 55 may be coupled to the bottom hole assembly 17 such that at least a portion of the outer surface 55A is released within tens or more millimeters per cutting path 21. In aspects where the outer surface 55A extends beyond the cutting contour 21, the coupling assembly 55 should prevent the calibrating cutting element from cutting the wall 53 proximal to the point where the outer surface 55A extends beyond the cutting contour 21, even when the calibrating cutting tooth is directed toward the wall 53 under lateral efforts 15.

In FIG. 2B shows a cross-section through a compliant system for use in the guidance system of a drilling system for drilling a wellbore of FIG. 2A according to an embodiment of the present invention. Compliant member 57 shown in cross section in FIG. 2B contains an area of increased compliance 59A and a reduced compliance area 59B. In some aspects, there may be a single area in malleable member 57 having increased or decreased compliance with respect to the remaining area and / or other areas of malleable member 57. In other aspects, malleable member 57 may include any configuration of malleable sections creating non-uniform malleability around malleable member 57.

In FIG. 2B, malleable member 57 is shown as a solid cylindrical structure, however, in various aspects of the present invention, malleable member 57 may include other types of structures, such as a plurality of malleable members, located around the bottom assembly of the drill string 17 and configured to couple the coupling assembly 55 to the assembly 17 bottom of the drill string, the layout of the bearing elements with the possibility of connecting the coupling assembly 55 with the layout of the 17 bottom of the drill string, creating lateral movement of the couplings howl arrangement 55 and / or the like In other aspects of the present invention, the coupling arrangement 55 may

- 14 017791 itself can be a structure with integral compliance, while the integral compliance can be chosen non-uniform around the sleeve assembly 55, and the sleeve assembly 55 may be connected to the bottom assembly of the drill string 17 or may be a section of the bottom assembly of the drill string 17 without a compliant member 57. In additional aspects of the coupling assembly 55 may comprise a plurality of pliable members, such as deflecting supports or the like, with a plurality of pliable members connected to the bottom 17 of the drill Olona, and at least one of the flexible elements with pliability, differs from other flexible elements.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the area of increased compliance 59A may be located on the compliant member 57 so that it is diametrically opposed to the area of reduced compliance 59B. In such an embodiment, malleable member 57 may prevent the sleeve assembly 55 from moving inwardly at the reduced compliance area 59B, but may allow the coupling assembly 55 to move inwardly at the increased compliance area 59A. As a result, the drill bit 20, when undergoing movement during the directional drilling process, can interact more intensely with the wall 53 and / or the gauge cutting elements 24 can cut deeper the wall 53 in the direction of the area of increased compliance 59A and / or towards it (up, as shown in Fig. 2A). In such an embodiment, resulting from the selection of the compliant member 57 with non-uniform flexibility during the drilling process, as a result of the movement of the bottom assembly of the drill string 17 and the drill bit 20 under the lateral force 15 mentioned above, continuous movement or cyclic movement can be obtained, depending on how the lateral force 15 is created, and which is not uniform in direction, but instead is movement in a certain range of azimuthal directions, they are generally centered in the direction of lateral force 15 which may provide a drilling system for drilling a preferred area 59A increased pliability and so condition the drilling guidance system and can create directional drilling barrel 50 wells.

In embodiments of the present invention, any non-uniform circumferential compliance of the coupling assembly 55 or compliant member 57 may provide guidance / control to the drilling system. The amount of differential compliance in sleeve assembly 55 and / or compliant member 57 and / or the heterogeneous compliance profile of sleeve coupling 55 and / or compliant member 57 can be selected to create the desired response to guide and / or control the drill bit 20. Response to guide and / or the response of the drill bit of the drilling system to the difference in compliance and / or the compliance profile around the circumference can be determined theoretically, modeled, derived from experimental studies, calculated by nalysis previous drilling processes and / or the like

In embodiments of the present invention configured for use with a drilling system that does not include the use of a rotating drill bit or where the body of the drilling system, i.e. the bottom hole assembly is non-rotatable; sleeve assembly 55 and / or malleable member 57 may be coupled to the drilling system or housing. In such an embodiment, the drilling system can be positioned in the borehole with an area of increased compliance 59A located with a specific orientation to the drill bit 20 to create a deviation, focus and / or direction of drilling of the wellbore 50 under the influence of lateral force 15 towards the area of increased compliance 59A. To change the direction of drilling through the drilling system, the position of the area of increased compliance 59A can be changed.

In some embodiments, a positioning device 65, which may include a motor, a hydraulic actuator, and / or the like, can be used to rotate / expose the coupling assembly 55 and / or malleable member 57 to allow the wellbore 50 to be drilled by the drilling system in the desired direction .

The positioning device 65 may be coupled to the processor 70. The processor 70 may control the positioning device 65 to provide the necessary directional drilling. The processor 70 can determine the correct position of the coupling assembly 55 and / or compliant member 57 in the wellbore 50 for the desired direction of drilling with operator intervention, the endpoint of the target of the wellbore, the desired drilling path, the required response of the drill bit, the necessary interaction of the drill bit with the geological formation , seismic data, input from sensors (not shown) that can provide data relating to the geological formation, conditions in the wellbore 50, storm data (such as axial load on the bit, drilling speed and / or the like), vibration data of the drilling system, dynamic interaction data and / or the like, data regarding the location / orientation of the drill bit in the geological formation, data, relating to the trajectory / direction of the wellbore and / or the like

The processor 70 may be coupled to a display (not shown) to display the orientation / direction / location of the wellbore 50, the drilling system, the drill bit 20, the coupling assembly 55, the malleable member 57, the drilling speed, the drilling path, and / or the like. The display may be located far from the drilling site, data can be transmitted to it through a connection such as an Internet connection, a web connection, a telecommunication connection and / or

- 15 017791

etc., and can provide remote control of the drilling process. The data of the processor 70 can be stored in a storage device and / or transmitted to other processors and / or systems associated with the drilling process.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the drill bit guidance / functional control system may be implemented for use with a rotary type drilling system in which the bottom hole assembly 17 and / or the drill bit 20 can rotate during the drilling process, while the drill bit 20 and / or the bottom hole assembly 17 may rotate in the wellbore 50. In such an embodiment, the coupling assembly 55 and / or compliant member 57 may be configured such that the movement of the coupling assembly 55 and / or compliant member 57 is independent or at least partially independent of rotation of the drill bit 20 and / or bottom assembly 17 drill string. In this case, the coupling arrangement 55 can be kept geostationary in the wellbore 50 during the drilling process.

In some aspects, clutch assembly 55 and / or compliant member 57 may be a passive system comprising one or more cylinders located around a drilling system. One or more cylinders can, in some cases, be positioned around the drill string assembly 17 of the drilling system. One or more cylinders can be configured to rotate independently of the drilling system. In such aspects, one or more cylinders can be configured to ensure that friction between one or more cylinders and the formation can lock in to prevent rotation of one or more cylinders with respect to the rotating drilling system. In some aspects of the present invention, one or more cylinders can be locked onto the bottom of the drill string assembly when there is no axial load on the bit and therefore no drilling of the wellbore, and orientated and removed from the stop on the bottom assembly of the drill string when axial load is applied to the bit and start drilling; while friction between one or more cylinders and the surface supports the orientation of one or more cylinders. In some aspects of the present invention, one or more cylinders may be coupled to a drill string assembly 17 on a bearing or the like.

In some embodiments of the present invention, it is possible to position one or more cylinders, as in a non-rotating drilling system, using a positioning device 65 that can rotate one or more cylinders to reposition the active region of the cylinder in the wellbore 50 to change the direction of drilling and / or operation drill bit 20. For example, malleable member 57 may include a cylinder and may rotate around the bottom of the drill string assembly 17 to change the location of the area of increased compliance 59A and / or the area of reduced compliance 59B to change the direction of drilling of the drilling system resulting from the dynamic interaction between the coupling assembly 55 and the wall 53. Alternatively, active control can be used to maintain the necessary orientation / position of the coupling assembly 55 and / or malleable element 57 with respect to the layout 17 of the bottom of the drill string during the drilling process. In addition, this type of device can be used in the layout of the engine to replace a curve sub. This can be advantageous from the point of view of layout flights to the wellbore due to restrictions of the tubing and completion and when they are drilled in a straight line in rotary mode.

In FIG. 3A-3C schematically illustrate a cam control system for focusing, tilting and / or moving direction of the bottom of the drill string and / or drill bit under lateral force to guide the drilling system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 3A shows a directional drilling system with a cam control system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 3A, a drilling system is provided for drilling a wellbore 50 through a geological formation. The drilling system comprises an assembly 17 of the bottom of the drill string located at the end of the wellbore 50 to be drilled / drilled. The bottom hole assembly 17 comprises a drill bit 20 in contact with the geological formation and a borehole 50 of the well. Drill bit 20 may include cutting elements 23 that can contact the bottom of the hole / bottom of the bottom of the wellbore 50, and calibrating cutting elements 24, which can contact the wall 53 of the wellbore. Calibrating cutting elements 24 may be connected to the drill bit 20, calibrating deflecting supports or a weighted drill pipe fastened to the drill bit 20 and / or the like.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the calibrating deflector assembly 73 may be coupled to the bottom of the drill string assembly 17 with a compliant coupler 76. The calibrating deflector assembly 73 may include a weighted drill pipe, a cylinder, non-cutting ends of one or more cutting elements of the drill bit 20 and / or etc.

- 16 017791

In FIG. 3B shows an arrangement 73 of a calibrating deflection support of the system of FIG. FOR according to one aspect of the present invention. As shown, the arrangement 73 of the calibrated deflection support may comprise a cylinder 74A with a plurality of deflection supports 74B located on the surface of the cylinder 74A. In some aspects, the plurality of deflecting supports 74B may have ductility, while in other aspects, the plurality of deflecting supports 74B may be unstable and may be metallic. In some embodiments, implementation of the present invention, the assembly 73 of the calibrating deflection support may itself be compliant, and the compliant arrangement of the calibrating deflection support may be connected to the assembly element 17 of the bottom of the drill string without a flexible coupling 76.

In one embodiment of the present invention, cam 79 may be coupled to the bottom hole assembly 17. Cam 79 may be movable on the bottom hole assembly 17. In an embodiment of the present invention, cam 79 may comprise an eccentric / asymmetric cylinder. The cam 79 may be movable to contact the calibrating deflection support assembly 73. The arrangement 73 of the calibrated deflection support can be configured to contact the wall 53 and / or the bottom face 54 of the drilling during the drilling process of the wellbore 50. The calibrating deflection support assembly 73 may be directly connected to the bottom of the drill string assembly 17, coupled to the bottom of the drill string assembly 17 by means of a sleeve 76 or the like. Coupling 76 may include a compliant / resilient type material that can move the assembly 73 of the calibrated deflection support relative to the assembly 17 of the bottom of the drill string.

Cam 79 may be actuated by controller 80. Controller 80 may include a motor, hydraulic system, and / or the like. and may allow cam 79 to move and / or to maintain cam 79 geostationary in wellbore 50 during the drilling process. In some aspects, the cam 79 may comprise a cylinder with an outer surface 81 and a recess 82 in the outer surface 81. In such aspects, during the drilling process, the controller 80 may move the cam 79 to an active position in which the outer surface 81 may be near the calibrating deflector assembly 73 support or in contact with it. In some embodiments of the present invention, the controller 80 may be absent and the cam 79 may, for example, be set to the active position before placing the bottom hole assembly 17 in the wellbore 50.

In one embodiment of the present invention, cam 79 can be used to control interactions between the calibrating deflector assembly 73 and the wall 53 to provide heterogeneous properties of the calibrating deflector assembly 73 around the circumference of the calibrating deflector assembly 73. In further embodiments of the present invention, instead of using cam 79 to change properties, positioning, and / or the like. piezoelectric, hydraulic, and / or other mechanical actuators arrangements 73 of calibrating deflecting support can be used to create heterogeneous properties of calibrating deflecting assembly 73 that can be used to control dynamic interactions between calibrating deflecting assembly 73 and drilling wall 53 and / or bottom hole 54 .

In the active position, i.e. where the cam 79 is in contact with the calibrating deflector assembly 73, the cam 79 may counteract the lateral direction of the calibrating deflector assembly 73 moving, i.e. to the central axis of the assembly 17 of the bottom of the drill string and / or wellbore 50. In the active position, the recess 82 can be separated from the configuration 73 of the calibrating deflecting support by a gap 83, where the gap 83 is larger than the gap between the layout 73 of the calibrating deflecting support and the outer surface 81 at other positions around the system. In this case, part of the arrangement 73 of the calibrating deflecting support above the recess 82 may have more freedom / ability to move sideways in comparison with other sections of the arrangement 73 of the calibrating deflecting support located above the outer surface 81. Therefore, the interaction between the arrangement 73 of the calibrating deflecting support and the wall 53 and / or the bottom 54 of the drilling during the drilling process should not be uniform around the assembly 73 of the calibrating deflection support.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the calibrating cutting elements 24 may contact the borehole wall during drilling. When a lateral force 15 is applied, the gauge cutting elements 24 can be brought into contact with the wall 53 by the lateral force 15 and cut in the direction of the lateral force 15, thereby providing directional drilling. In an embodiment of the present invention, the cam 79 can control the impact of the lateral force 15 on the contact between the calibrating cutting elements 24 and the wall 53.

In such an embodiment, the section of the arrangement 73 of the calibrating deflecting support over the recess 83, which as a result of its location above the recess has more freedom / ability to move sideways in comparison with other sections of the arrangement 73 of the calibrating deflecting support, can be set so that at least drill bit movement section 20

- 17 017791 under the influence of lateral forces 15 is directed to the section of more free movement. In this case, the movement of the drill bit 20 under the action of lateral force 15 should be greater, with less resistance and / or the like, in the direction of the section of more free movement. Therefore, the cutting elements of the drill bit 20 should be able to better sideways cutting in the direction of the freer movement section and sideways drilling due to lateral force should be deflected, focused and / or directed towards the freer movement section.

In some aspects, where the drill bit 20 comprises calibrated cutting elements 24, a section of the calibrating deflection support assembly 73 above the recess 83, which, as a result of its position above the recess, has more freedom / ability to move sideways in comparison with other sections of the calibrating deflection support assembly 73, can be set so that at least a section of the movement of the drill bit 20 under the action of lateral force 15 is directed towards a more loose movement of the section to create a better contact in this the direction between the calibrating cutting elements 24 and the wall 53 in comparison with other directions of movement of the drill bit created by the lateral force 15. In this way, the direction of cutting the wall 53 of the calibrating cutting elements 24 under the influence of the lateral force 15 can be rotated, focused and / or guided by positioning the cam 79. By holding the cam 79 geostationary in the wellbore, the deviation / focus / direction action caused by cam 79 is maintained in a similar geostationary direction during the drilling process, with the creation of a continuous action, the result of which is directional drilling of the wellbore. In some aspects, the cam 79 may rotate to change the direction of deviation / focusing / direction to control the direction of drilling of the wellbore with the drill bit 20 under the influence of lateral force 15.

In some aspects of the present invention, cam 79 may be used to control a sharp change in direction of the assembly 73 of the calibrated deflector, or to create a sharp change in direction of the arrangement 73 of the calibrated deflector to guide the drilling system, or to eliminate a sharp change in direction in the arrangement 73 of the calibrated deflector to allow drilling along straight line. In an embodiment, to control the operation of the drill bit 20, the cam 79 can be used to control a sharp change in the direction of the arrangement 73 of the calibrated deflection support or to create a sharp change in the direction of the arrangement 73 of the calibrated deflection support to create some mode of operation of the drill bit 20 or to eliminate a sharp change in direction in the layout 73 calibrating deflection bearings to create a different mode of operation of the drill bit 20.

Cam 79 may comprise an eccentric cylinder. In operation, the cam 79 may be in contact with the calibrating deflector assembly assembly 73 and may provide at least a section of the calibrating deflector assembly assembly 73 beyond the diameter of the drill bit 20. As a result, the calibrating deflector assembly assembly 73 extended outside the diameter of the bit, may interact nonuniformly with the surface of the wellbore 50. The cam 79 may have a section with a stably varying outer diameter to create a steady change in the pattern / diameter of at least a section of the assembly 73 of the calibrated deflection support during the drilling process.

During the directional drilling process, the bottom of the drill string assembly 17 may undergo dynamic movement in the well bore 50 under the influence of lateral force 15, resulting in dynamic interactions between the bottom of the drill string assembly 17 and the surface of the well bore 50. In an embodiment of the present invention, due to the greater flexibility of the calibrating deflector arrangement 73 of the recess 82 as compared with the flexibility of the calibrating deflector arrangement 73 of the opposite side of the calibrating deflector assembly 73 of the recess, cyclic dynamic interactions between the calibrating deflector assembly 73 and the wall 53 and / or the bottom hole 54 of the drilling should force the drilling system to drill in the direction of drilling 85, while the direction of the drilled I 85 is directed in the direction of the recess 82. When in contact, the cam 79 can prevent the arrangement 73 of the calibrating deflecting support inward (up, as shown in the drawing), but may allow the arrangement 73 of the calibrating deflecting support in the opposite direction (down, as shown in the drawing). As a result, the drill bit 20 must move, vibrate, upward relative to the assembly 73 of the calibrating deflection support and, thus, create drilling with the drilling system in the upward direction, to the recess 82, to create an upwardly directed section of the wellbore 50. In some aspects of the present invention, at least the azimuthal component of the lateral force 15 should be directed to the greater compliance section or the reduced diameter of the calibrating deflection support to create focus / deflection of the lateral force 15.

- 18 017791

In an embodiment of the present invention, cam 79 may create a sharp change in the direction of the axis of the assembly 73 of the calibrating deflection support from the axis of the drill bit 20 in a geostationary plane. In some aspects, a sharp change in direction of the alignment of the gage diverting support 73 by the cam 79 may be created when the alignment of the calibrating diverting bearings 73 rotates with the drill bit 20 and / or the bottom hole assembly 17.

When using a drilling system for drilling a curved section of a wellbore, for example a curved section with a deviation of 10 ° / 100 ft (31 m), the actual wellbore drift to the side may be small; for example, in such a curved section for translational drilling of a wellbore of 150 mm (6 inches), the drift towards the wellbore is 0.07 mm. In embodiments of the present invention, since sidetracking to create curved sections with a deviation of the order of 10 ° / 100 ft (31 m) is small, it may be necessary to create a slight deviation in the system for creating controlled heterogeneous dynamic interactions with the surface of the wellbore during the drilling process. wells. In experiments with embodiments of the present invention, the control of dynamic interactions using couplings / calibrating deflecting supports with an eccentric profile around the circumference relative to the central axis of the bottom assembly of the drill string and / or drill bit, including eccentric profiles protruding beyond the diameter of the drill bit and / or indented from the contour of the drill bit, gave guidance in the curved sections of the wellbore with such necessary curvatures.

In some aspects of the present invention, to minimize the required power, the calibrating deflector assembly 73 can be mounted on a flexible coupling 76 with the axis of the calibrating deflector assembly 73 coinciding with the axis of the drill bit 20 and / or the cutting system, which may include drill bit 20. In an embodiment of the implementation of the present invention, guidance of the drilling system can be obtained using a cam 79 to narrow the direction of compliance of the flexible coupler 76 so that the comp The onovka 73 of the calibrating deflection support can move in one direction, but is very rigid (there is resistance to radial movement) in the opposite direction. In some aspects, in order to guide the drilling system in a straight line, the cam 79 may be in contact to provide stiffness (counteracting radial movement) while moving the alignment system 73 of the calibrating deflection support in all directions.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the calibrating deflection support assembly 73 may comprise a single annular arrangement supporting the calibrating deflection supports in the same gauge with the drill bit 20. In some aspects, some out-going or indenting inward of the contour may be acceptable. In alternative embodiments, the deflecting supports on the calibrating deflecting support assembly 73 may be mounted independently and / or independently in the annular arrangement. The arrangement 73 of the calibrating deflecting support can be mounted on a strong pliable structure and can be moved radially relative to the drill bit 20. The cam 79 can be eccentric and can be made geostationary when the drilling system is hovering and retracted, removed and / or the like, during descent drill string lifting operations or when guidance is not necessary. By holding the cam 79 in a geostationary position, the active part of the cam 79, such as a recess 83 or the like, can be held in a geostationary position relative to the wellbore 50 to allow the wellbore 50 to be drilled in the desired direction, for example, in the direction of the geostationary recess 83. In some aspects of the cam 79 may be geostationary and calibrating deflection bearings or the like. can be freely rotated during the drilling process.

The various methods described above can be used to connect the assembly 73 of the calibrating deflection support to the drill bit 20 and / or the assembly 17 of the bottom of the drill string.

In some aspects, the installation may be radially pliable, but may also be able to transmit torque and axial load to the bottom hole assembly 17. In one embodiment of the present invention, a flexible coupler 76, which may be a holder or the like, may comprise a thin-walled cylinder with grooves cut therein to provide radial flexibility while maintaining tangential and axial stiffness. Other embodiments may include bearing surfaces for weight transfer and / or studs and / or pivot arms that can be used to transmit torque.

Using the configuration of the arrangement 73 of the calibrated deflection support and / or the flexible coupling 76, which can retain the recess 82 (or the section of the cam 79 going beyond the caliber or indented inside the caliber, or the combination of the cam 79 and the arrangement 73 of the calibrating deflecting support or the radially stiff or radially of the flexible section of the assembly 73 of the calibrating deflecting support) geostationary in the well bore 50, the movement of the drilling system can be controlled by applying lateral force 15 for directional drilling and 50 wells.

- 19 017791

In some embodiments of the present invention, a processor 75 may be used to control the controller 80 to allow cam 79 to rotate during drilling operations, or between them, to continuously control direction during drilling. In some embodiments, the recess 82 may have a sloping profile 82A to create a varying depth of the recess 82. In such embodiments, the relative flexibility of the calibrating deflector assembly assembly 73 between the calibrating deflector assembly section 73 above the recess 82 and the calibrating deflecting assembly section 73 not above the recess 82 may vary. In this way, in some embodiments of the present invention, the sharpness of the angle (θ) 86 of the direction of drilling 85 can be controlled with its change.

In some aspects of the present invention, it is possible to create a plurality of recesses in the cam 79 to control interactions between the calibrating cutting elements 24 and the wall 53. The plurality of recesses can be positioned at different positions around the circumference of the cam 79 to allow interaction between the calibrating cutting elements 24 and the wall 53 for obtaining, as a result, the necessary guidance effect. Additionally, a plurality of cams can be used in conjunction with one or more arrangements of calibrating deflection bearings on the assembly 17 of the bottom of the drill string to create various guidance actions during the drilling process.

In FIG. 4A-4C schematically illustrate active gage deflecting support systems for controlling a directional drilling system, configured to use lateral force for directional drilling of a wellbore, according to an embodiment of the present invention. In an embodiment of the present invention, the active calibrated deflection support 100 can be used to control a directional drilling system using lateral force to provide directional drilling. The directional drilling system may include a drill pipe 90 connected to the bottom of the drill string assembly 95. The bottom hole assembly 95 may include a drill bit 97 for drilling a borehole. The active calibrating deflection support 100 may comprise a weighted drill pipe calibrating the deflection support, a bottom hole assembly section, a pipe assembly, a drill bit section and / or the like, which may non-uniformly interact with the surface of the drilled wellbore and, as a result, may to influence the interactions between the calibrating cutting elements 24 of the drill bit 97 and the wall of the wellbore.

The active calibrating deflecting support 100 may comprise a disk, a cylinder, a plurality of individual elements, for example, a series of deflecting supports located around the perimeter around the bottom 95 of the drill string or drill pipe 90, which can connect to the drilling system and can interact with the surface of the drilled borehole during drilling process. In some aspects, to provide cyclic interaction between the active calibrating deflection support 100 or the like. and the surface of the wellbore, the active calibrating deflecting support 100 can be connected to the drilling system so that it is less than 20 feet (6 m) from the drill bit 97. In other aspects, the active calibrating deflecting support 100 can be connected to the drilling system so that it is less than 10 feet (3 m) from the drill bit 97. In other further aspects, the active calibrating deflecting support 100 may be close to or part of the drill bit 97 so that the active calibrating deflecting support 100 may have a maximum the impact on the interaction between the calibrating cutting elements 24 and the wall of the wellbore.

In embodiments of the present invention, the active calibrating deflection support 100 may be moving in the wellbore. In this case, the active calibrating deflecting support 100 can be set in the wellbore using an actuator or the like. for orientation in the wellbore to produce the necessary control of the drilling system as a result of the influence of the calibrating deflecting support 100 on the interactions between the calibrating cutting elements 24 and the wall of the wellbore. Using a processor or the like to control the positioning of the active calibrating deflecting support 100 in the wellbore, the operation and / or guidance of the drilling system can be controlled / controlled, and this monitoring / control may in some aspects of the present invention occur in real time.

In FIG. 4A, the active calibrating deflecting support 100 is connected to the bottom of the drill string assembly 95 to allow for interaction with the surface of the borehole in place near the drill bit 97. In a drilling system in which the drill pipe 90 has a bottom drill string assembly 95 and / or the like. rotate during drilling operations, an active calibrating deflecting support 100 can be made to hold it geostationary during drilling operations. Actuator, friction and / or the like can be used to hold the active calibrating deflecting support 100 geostationary. By way of example only, in one embodiment of the present invention, the active calibrating deflection support may be coupled to the bottom of the drill string assembly 95 above the drill bit 97 at a distance of less than 10-20 feet (3-6 m) from it. In other embodiments, an active calibrating deflection support of 100 mo

- 20 017791 can be connected to drill bit 97 or connected to the bottom of the drill string assembly 95 to be located at a distance of the order of several inches (inch = 25 mm) above the drill bit 97.

In FIG. 4B shows one embodiment of an active calibrating deflection support of the system shown in FIG. 4A. In FIG. 4B according to an embodiment of the present invention, the active calibrating deflection support 100A may comprise an element that is asymmetric. When connecting the asymmetric active calibrating deflecting support with the drill string so that the outer surface of the calibrating deflecting support 100A protrudes beyond the outer surface of the drill string, the outer surface of the asymmetric active calibrating deflecting support can interact with the surface of the drilled wellbore. Since the active calibrating deflecting support 100A has an asymmetric outer surface, the geostationary positioning of the active calibrating deflecting support 100A in the wellbore should cause non-uniform interaction of the cutting elements of the drill bit 97 and / or calibrating cutting elements 24 with the bottom of the bottom of the wellbore and the wall of the wellbore. Therefore, when a lateral force 15 is applied to the bottom 95 of the drill string, directional formation cutting by the cutting elements and / or calibrating cutting elements 24 should depend on the direction of the lateral force 15 and the properties of the active calibrating deflecting support 100A.

By way of example only, the calibrating cutting elements 24 near the sections of the calibrated deflecting support 100A with increased thickness should have the ability to effectively cut, reduced compared with the calibrating cutting elements 24 near the sections of the calibrating deflecting support 100A with smaller thicknesses. Therefore, when a lateral force 15 is applied to the bottom of the drill string assembly 95 and / or drill bit 97, the bottom of the drill string assembly 95 and / or drill bit 97 must undergo a stochastic movement directed under a plurality of azimuthal angles due to reaction with a non-uniform layout response 95 of the bottom of the drill string and / or drill bit 97 to a lateral force 15, interaction of the layout 95 of the bottom of the drill string and / or drill bit 97 with the geological formation surrounding the wellbore, lateral force 15, which is not unidirectional, but instead contains many components of lateral forces with different azimuthal angles and / or the like. As a result, the motion components of the bottom assembly of the drill string and / or of the drill bit 97 under the action of lateral force 15 directed to sections of the calibrating deflecting support 100A with smaller thicknesses should cause the interaction of larger cutting between the calibrating deflecting supports near the sections of smaller thickness than the components of the side forces 15 directed to the sections of the active calibrating deflecting support 100A with a larger thickness. In this case, the drill bit 97 should tend to be directed in the same direction with the movement components of the bottom 95 of the drill string and / or drill bit 97 under the action of lateral force 15, which are directed to sections of the calibrating deflecting support 100A with a smaller thickness. Therefore, the calibrated deflection support 100A can be used to control the movement of the bottom assembly of the drill string 95 and / or the drill bit 97 under the influence of the lateral force 15 and, as a result, the direction of drilling of the drill bit 97 under the influence of the lateral force 15.

By way of example only, the active calibrating deflection bearing 100A may be asymmetric in design and may be configured to connect to the bottom of the drill string as shown in FIG. 4A. In some embodiments, the active gage deflection support 100A may comprise a regular cylinder and may be eccentrically positioned on the bottom of the drill string to create a non-uniform interaction with the surface due to movement of the drill string under lateral force 15.

In some embodiments, the active gage deflecting support 100A may comprise a geostationary pipe and may have a slight indentation in the gauge on one side. In other embodiments, the active calibrating deflecting support 100A may be indented inward of the caliber on one side and out of the caliber on the opposite side. In some aspects, the active gage deflection support 100A may comprise a plurality of geostationary indented / circumferential indented pipes that can be connected around the perimeter of the drill pipe 90 and / or the bottom of the drill string assembly 95. In some embodiments of the present invention, an active calibrating deflection support 100A may be configured to couple the active calibrating deflection support 100A to the drill string such that the active calibrating deflection support 100A is located completely in the cutting contour of the drill bit; moreover, in the cutting contour containing the profile of the cutting elements from the edge to the edge of the drill bit. In other embodiments of the present invention, the section or all of the fully active calibrating deflection support 100A may extend beyond the cutting contour of the drill bit.

By way of example only, the active calibrating deflection support 100A may be coupled to the drill string to ensure that the outer surface of the active calibrating deflection support 100A is located within the cutting contour with a margin of the order of one to tens of millimeters from it. In other aspects, and again only as an example, the active calibrating deflection support 100A

- 21 017791 can be connected with a drill string to ensure that beyond the cutting circuit, at least a portion of the outer surface of the active calibrating deflecting support 100A ranges from tenths to tens of millimeters.

In FIG. 4C shows a further embodiment of the active calibrating deflection support of the system shown in FIG. 4A. In FIG. 4C, the active calibrating deflecting support 100B may comprise a sleeve 105 connected to the extension member 107. The coupling 105 may include a cylinder, a disc, a weighted drill pipe, calibrating the deflecting support, a bottom hole assembly section 95, a drill string section, a drill pipe section and / or etc.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the extension element 107 may be an element that can be controlled to change the circumference of the sleeve 105. The extension element 107 may be controlled / actuated by the controller 110. The controller 110 may include an engine, a hydraulic system and / or the like. In an embodiment of the present invention, the controller 110 may actuate a slide 107 to extend outward from the bottom of the drill string assembly 95 to control interactions between the bottom drill string assembly 95 and / or the drill bit 97 and the surface of the borehole being drilled. Therefore, the retractable element 107 can change the interaction between the cutting elements on the drill bit 97 and / or the calibrating cutting elements 24 and the surface of the wellbore during directional drilling under the influence of lateral forces 15.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the section or all of the extended / partially extended actively calibrating deflecting support 100B may extend beyond the cutting contour of the drill bit so as to limit / reduce interactions between the calibrating cutting elements 24 near the extended element 107 and the wall. By way of example only, the active calibrating deflection support 100B may be coupled to the drill string to provide at least a portion of the outer surface of the active calibrating deflection support 100B when it is extended or partially extended, ranging from tenths to tens of millimeters per cutting contour .

In an embodiment of the present invention, interactions between the calibrating cutting elements 24 and the wall can be controlled by positioning / extending the extension 107, and as a result, the guidance of the drilling system can be controlled by lateral force 15. In some aspects, the processor 70 may receive data regarding drilling directions, data related to the drilling process, data related to the wellbore, data relating to conditions in the wellbore, seismic data data relating to formations surrounding the wellbore and / or the like. and can control the operation of the controller 110 to provide positioning / extension of the extension 107 to control the lateral force 15 on the calibrating cutting elements 24 to guide the drilling system. In some aspects, lateral force direction monitoring can be monitored to provide input to the processor to provide lateral force control 15. In an embodiment of the present invention, the extension member 107 can be extended to adjust interactions between the gauge cutting elements 24 and the wall of the borehole being drilled. This may only require extension of the extension 107 so that the active calibrating deflecting support 100 is asymmetrical around the central axis of the drilling system and / or wellbore and does not require the application of a spacer or a large force on the surface. In fact, it may be necessary to prevent large interaction forces between the extension member 107 and the wall, as this may cause damage to the extension element 107, adversely affect the drilling process and / or the like. Therefore, the drawer can be pivotally mounted, have some form of flexibility and / or the like. to reduce impact-type interaction between the extension 107 and the wall.

In some aspects, however, the extension 107 can be positioned and / or extended to apply force to the surface. By way of example only, in some embodiments, the extension member 107 can transmit a force of less than 1 kN to the surface to provide both the transfer of reactive forces from the surface to the drilling system and the control of dynamic interactions between the drilling system and the surface. Controlling the operation of the extension member 107 to provide a force transfer of less than 1 kN may be preferable since such efforts may not require large power consumption / large power sources of downhole tools, may reduce the size and complexity of the controller 110 and / or the like.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the bottom of the drill string assembly 95, drill bit 97, active calibrating deflection support 100 and / or the like. can be performed with an unevenly distributed mass. The mass of the layout 95 of the bottom of the drill string, drill bit 97, active calibrating deflecting support 100 and / or the like may vary in circumference or the like. to create the movement of the drill bit 97, unstable in direction, under the influence of lateral force 15. In this case, the inhomogeneous weighting of the drilling system can provide control of lateral force 15 so that some components of the direction of lateral force 15 cause stronger interactions between the calibrating cutting elements 24 than others direction components

- 22 017791 lateral force 15. By way of example only, a weighted drill pipe giving an axial load to the bit may be a cylinder with an uneven distribution of weight. In some aspects, the cylindrical weighted drill pipe may rotate to change the profile of the non-uniform weight / mass distribution relative to the wellbore to create the necessary control of the drilling system and / or guidance of the drilling system.

In FIG. 5 schematically shows a system for controlling a directional drilling system 115. In FIG. 5 shows a section along the drill bit 120. The drill bit 120 is connected to a set of calibrating deflecting supports 123, which are also shown in section. In FIG. 5, a set of calibrated deflecting supports 123 comprises a closely joined set of numerous individual calibrating deflecting supports. In embodiments, the set of calibrated deflecting supports 123 may comprise a smaller number of calibrating deflecting supports with a wider spacing. By way of example only, it is possible to have less than 10 calibrating deflecting supports in a set of calibrating deflecting supports 123, you can have less than 5 calibrating deflecting supports in a set of calibrating deflecting supports 123, you can have more than 10 calibrating deflecting supports in a set of calibrating deflecting supports 123, and in some embodiments, the set of calibrated deflecting supports 123 may include one calibrating deflecting support. Drill bit 120 may be coupled to the bottom hole assembly 150.

External faces 126 of a set of calibrating deflecting supports, which can be called external surfaces, surfaces facing the borehole wall, faces facing the borehole walls, calibrating faces, active faces, active surfaces and / or the like, face the borehole wall wells (not shown to simplify the diagram) during the drilling procedure and can form a borehole caliber and / or a combination of drill bit 120 and a set of calibrating deflecting supports 123. I reject the outer edges of 126 calibrating their supports define the perimeter of the circle 129, which can be called a set caliber templating deflecting bearings 123, the outer perimeter kit calibrating deflection perimeter 123 supports a set of deflecting templating supports 123 and / or the like One or more calibrating deflecting supports in the set of calibrating deflecting supports 123 may include a calibrating cutting element for cutting the wall of the drilled wellbore.

During the drilling procedure, the lateral force generating generator 140 may cause the lateral force 143 to act on the drill bit 120. The lateral force generating generator 140 may be a system for repelling the entire arrangement from the well axis, a bit positioning system, and a device for cutting elements on the drill bit 120 with a configuration developing lateral force 143, and / or the like. In some embodiments, circle 129 may be asymmetric. This can be caused by several calibrating deflecting supports, larger calibrating deflecting supports 125A-C, in the set of calibrating deflecting supports 123, having increased radially sizes relative to other calibrating deflecting supports 123 in the set of calibrating deflecting supports. In this case, the radial dimensions are the sizes of the extension of the outer faces of the calibrating deflecting supports 123 of the set from the closed contour of the drill bit 120. In other embodiments, the set of calibrating deflecting supports 123 may be uniform, but may be eccentrically and / or asymmetrically connected to the drill bit 120, while the eccentric and / or asymmetric coupling may comprise a longitudinal axis of a set of calibrated deflecting supports 123 parallel to the longitudinal axis of the drill bit.

In some embodiments, closed loop 129 may be concentric with the outer circumference of drill bit 120, but the compression reaction of a set of calibrated deflection supports 123 or a structure (not shown) connecting a set of calibrated deflected supports 123 to drill bit 120 may vary in a circle. In this way, the set of calibrating deflecting supports 123 should interact non-uniformly with the borehole wall, with heterogeneity varying around the circumference, depending on the elasticity of the set of calibrating deflecting supports 123 in place on the circumference and / or the elasticity of the structure supporting the calibrating deflecting support in place on the circumference. In general, with a change in the circumferential elasticity of the set of calibrating deflecting supports 123 and / or the structure (s) connecting the set of calibrating deflecting supports to the drill bit, it is possible to focus / rotate the lateral force, as described below.

In some embodiments, a set of calibrated deflection supports 123 may be coupled to a drill bit 120 and / or a bottom hole assembly 150 such that a set of calibrated deflection supports may rotate on a drill bit 120 and / or a bottom assembly 150. In some aspects, the set of calibrated deflecting supports 123 can be adjusted on the drill bit 120 and / or the layout 150 of the bottom of the drill string before the drilling process. In other aspects, the set of calibrated deflecting supports 123 can be adjusted on the drill bit 120 and / or the layout 150 of the bottom of the drill string during the drilling process and / or during a break during the drilling process. Manipulations with a set of calibrating deflecting supports 123 can be performed manually or by means of a controller 153 of calibrating deflecting supports.

- 23 017791

In some aspects, a set of calibrated deflection supports 123 may rotate during the drilling process. In such aspects, larger gage deflecting supports 125A-C may act on the surface of the borehole wall in response to a lateral force 143, and focus / improve lateral drilling with directional drilling system 115. In other embodiments, a set of calibrated deflecting supports 123 may be kept geostationary during the drilling process, or may be rotated with multiple, including numerous negative, frequencies from the rotational speed of the drill bit 120. In such aspects, the closed loop section 129 having a greater radial offset relative to the closed the contour of the drill bit 120 can be held in a fixed place relative to the lateral force 143 or rotated so as to spend a longer period in place relative to respect to the lateral force than other locations on the circle 129. As a result, lateral drilling action of lateral force 143 can be deflected in the lateral direction 146 drilling.

In some embodiments, the processor 160 may be capable of communicating with the lateral force generator 140, the bottom hole assembly 150, the calibrating deflection support controller 153, and / or the like. The processor may receive information from sensors monitoring the drilling process, direction of drilling, properties of the formation being drilled, properties of the formation to be drilled, properties of the drilling reservoir, properties of the reservoir to be drilled, and / or the like. The processor can enter the data of the required drilling path, the location of the wellbore and / or the required drilling endpoint. The processor 160 may control the lateral force generator and / or the controller 153 of the calibrated deflectors to control the directional drilling system 115 for drilling the wellbore, as necessary, to achieve the desired goal in the best way, taking into account bit wear, penetration speed, and environmental hazards reservoir, and / or reservoir, and / or the like.

In FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a lateral force control method for guiding a directional drilling system of a borehole according to an embodiment of the present invention. At step 200, a drilling system can be used to drill a section of a wellbore through a geological formation. The drilling system may comprise a drill string fastened to surface equipment, or the like. The drill string may comprise an arrangement of the bottom of the drill string, which, in turn, may include a drill bit for contact with the geological formation and for drilling a section of the wellbore through the geological formation. The drill bit may include cutting elements for cutting the bottom of the bottom of the borehole and / or calibrating cutting elements for cutting the wall of the borehole.

The bottom of the drill string may be connected to equipment on the surface by means of a drill pipe, casing, flexible tubing or the like. The drill bit may be driven by an overhead drive, rotor, motor, drilling fluid and / or the like. During directional drilling, a lateral force is applied to the drill bit, causing the drill bit to cut in a certain direction. Lateral force can be produced by any known method, such as arranging the cutting elements on the drill bit, making the sliding support contact with the wall to produce reactive lateral force on the drill bit, bending the drill string, using a curve sub to create lateral force on the drill bit by axial load on chisel and / or the like

In practice, the lateral force produced by the directional drilling process may not be acting in one direction and may change direction in time, like the variables in its creation, such as the movement of the sliding deflecting support in the wellbore during the drilling process, the position of the drill bit during the drilling process, the reactive forces produced by the wall of the geological formation, the relative position of the curve sub, or the like. relative to the drill bit and / or the like, changing during the directional drilling process. In addition, the movement of the bottom hole assembly and / or the drill bit with lateral force may not be in the same direction, but may instead contain movement in the azimuthal angle range resulting from variation in lateral force direction, interactions between the drilling system and a drilling geological formation, heterogeneous interactions between the cutting elements and the geological formation, variations in the properties of the geological formation, noise associated with the drill process Niya, and / or the like Therefore, during the directional drilling process, the movement of the bottom of the drill string and / or drill bit, especially when a lateral force is applied, is not acting in one direction, but instead changes and / or contains many movements of different directions. The result of this changing direction of movement is also a changing direction of drilling with a drill bit. The more changes in the directional movement of the layout of the bottom of the drill string and / or drill bit, the more changes in the resulting directional drilling.

At 210, it is possible to control the varying directional movement and / or various components of the direction of movement of the bottom of the drill string and / or drill bit. In embodiments of the present invention, the movement of the layout of the bottom of the drill string and / or bu

- 24 017791 a straight bit can be controlled by controlling interactions between the bottom of the drill string and / or drill bit and the surface of the borehole resulting from the movement of the bottom of the drill string and / or drill bit and / or by weighting the bottom of the drill string and / or drill chisels.

In some aspects of the present invention, by controlling the movement of the bottom assembly of the drill string and / or drill bit under lateral force, it is possible to control the cutting interactions between the cutting elements on the drill bit and the drilling geological formation to provide directional cutting.

By way of example only, controlling the movement of the layout of the bottom of the drill string and / or drill bit under lateral force can control cutting interactions between calibrating cutting elements on the drill bit and the wall. When a lateral force is applied to the drill bit, the lateral force causes the calibrating cutting elements to cut the wall in a direction matching the lateral force. By maintaining the direction of lateral force uniform with respect to the desired direction of drilling, directional drilling is obtained. At the same time, as discussed above, lateral force, due to variable values of drilling and variable values in its creation, is not, in general, acting in one direction. As a result, directional drilling of the drilling system under the influence of lateral forces of a changing direction also changes around the desired direction. In some conditions, a feedback effect may occur, and the lateral force may give a drilling direction substantially different from the necessary direction in which the lateral force is directed. In addition, if the lateral force is created by the configuration of the cutting elements on the drill bit, the direction of drilling may be rough and difficult to control.

To provide control over the interactions of cutting and the wall of step 210, at step 212, a geostationary interaction element can be used. The interaction element can be any element that directionally rejects the movement of the bottom of the drill string and / or drill bit under lateral forces and, thus, directionally rejects the ability of the cutting elements to cut the geological formation. By way of example only, the geostationary element may be a cylinder, a sleeve calibrating a deflecting support and / or the like connected to an eccentricity with a bottom hole assembly and / or a drill bit, or it may be an asymmetric cylinder, a coupling calibrating a deflecting support and / or the like, centrally connected to the bottom hole assembly and / or the drill bit.

In some aspects, an eccentrically connected cylinder or an asymmetric cylinder may affect the ability of the calibrating cutting element to cut the wall, and its effectiveness, which should vary around the perimeter of the cylinder, coupling, calibrating deflecting bearings and / or the like. For example, since a cylinder clutch, a calibrating deflection support and / or the like is eccentrically connected or asymmetric, it should contain sections of a cylinder, a sleeve, a calibrating deflecting support and / or the like. (referred to hereinafter as remote sections) located farther from the central longitudinal axis of the bottom of the drill string and / or drill bit than other sections of the cylinder, coupling, calibrating deflection bearings and / or the like. Similarly, since the cylinder clutch calibrates the deflecting support and / or the like. is eccentrically connected or asymmetric, there should be sections of the cylinder sleeve calibrating the deflecting bearings and / or the like. (hereinafter referred to as proximal sections) located closer to the central longitudinal axis of the bottom assembly of the drill string and / or drill bit than other sections of the cylinder sleeve calibrating deflection bearings and / or the like. In some aspects of the present invention, a cylinder coupling, a calibrating deflection support and / or the like. can be connected to the bottom of the drill string and / or drill bit, so that when lateral force is applied to the bottom of the drill string and / or drill bit, the calibrating cutting element (s) closest to the remote sections, or is unable to cut the wall or contact cutting between the nearest calibrating cutting element (s) and the wall is restrained. In such aspects, the calibrating cutting element (s) near the proximal sections should not be obstructed or obstructed by the interactions of cutting with the wall by proximal sections due to the geometry of the cylinder, coupling, calibrating deflecting bearings and / or the like. Therefore, a cylinder clutch, a calibrating deflecting support and / or the like. can provide control of cutting interactions between the calibrating deflecting supports and the wall under the action of lateral forces.

As indicated above, the lateral force to control directional drilling should not be acting in the same direction during the drilling process, but should change direction and / or contain many different direction components due to changing conditions during the drilling process. In an embodiment of the present invention, a cylinder, a coupling, a calibrating deflection support and / or the like. can be connected with the layout of the bottom of the drill string and / or the drill bit, so that the cutting of the bottom of the bottom of the wellbore with cutting elements and / or walls with calibrating cutting elements is deflected by the direction-changing side force

- 25 017791 for coincidence with a force or a small angular range of lateral forces changing in the direction. In this way, the direction of side cutting by the calibrating cutting elements under the action of lateral force can be controlled.

As discussed above, in some embodiments of the present invention, instead of a cylinder sleeve calibrating the deflecting bearings and / or the like, which are asymmetric or coupled to an eccentricity with a bottom hole assembly and / or drill bit, a cylinder, a coupling, a calibrating deflecting support and / or the like may have a flexibility that varies around the circumference, changing the ability of cutting calibrating cutting elements along the contour of the inner diameter of the drilled wellbore. In further embodiments, the bottom hole assembly and / or drill bit may have a weight distribution that varies radially and allows for deviation, focus, and / or direction of movement of the bottom hole assembly and / or drill bit under lateral force. In such embodiments, an uneven weighting of the bottom hole assembly and / or drill bit 97 may deviate / focus / direct the movement of the bottom drill string and / or drill bit, thereby turning / focusing / directing the cutting ability of the cutting elements and / or gage cutting drill bit elements. In some aspects of the present invention, the engagement elements may include a retractable deflecting support that can be pushed outward from the bottom of the drill string and / or drill bit to adjust interactions between the bottom of the drill string and / or drill bit and, as a result, cutting interactions between the cutting elements and / or calibrating cutting elements and the surface of the wellbore.

In a non-rotating drilling system, the interaction element may be coupled to the bottom of the drill string and / or drill bit in such a configuration that, when lateral force is applied to the bottom of the drill string and / or drill bit, the selected drilling direction should prefer / deviate and the drill bit The bit should preferably be cut in the selected direction. In a rotating drilling system according to an embodiment of the present invention, the interaction element is connected to the bottom of the drill string and / or drill bit so that it is geostationary during the rotary drilling process. In this way, the direction of drilling selected with a deviation remains constant when lateral force is applied during rotational drilling of the wellbore. In aspects of the present invention, the interaction member is a retractable member that can be retracted periodically, where periodic extension is multiple during the rotation period of the bottom assembly and / or drill bit, so that the action of the retractable member is geostationary relative to the rotating drilling system.

In general, a drilled wellbore is a wellbore in a geological formation substantially with a cylindrical surface, so in some aspects, the interaction element may comprise an element with a profile that is uneven with respect to the central axis of the drill string and / or wellbore. By way of example only, the interaction element may comprise an eccentric cylinder connected to the bottom of the drill string. Moreover, the central axis of the eccentric cylinder connected to the bottom of the drill string assembly does not coincide with the center axis of the bottom of the drill string. In another example, the interaction element may include a number of deflecting supports located around the bottom of the drill string and configured to contact the cylindrical surface of the wellbore during the drilling process, with at least one deflecting support being able to extend outward from the bottom of the drill string to a lesser or greater extent than other deflecting supports.

In other embodiments, the implementation of the interaction element may contain an element with heterogeneous compliance. By way of example only, a malleable element may comprise an element with some malleability and a section of the element with increased or decreased malleability relative to some malleability of the remaining elements and can be performed to create at least a portion of the region of increased or decreased malleability and at least part of the element with some flexibility can each come into contact with the cylindrical surface during the drilling process as a result of the dynamic movement of the bottom hole assembly bosoms. In some embodiments of the present invention, an actuator may be used to change the characteristics of the interaction element, such as to translate the interaction element from an element that interacts uniformly with the surface of the wellbore to an element that interacts non-uniformly with the surface.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the interaction element, as being an element with a non-uniform profile, non-uniform compliance and / or the like, may not be designed to apply pressure to the surface or to dynamically affect the surface, but, in contrast, may be passive essentially interact with the surface due to the dynamic movement of the drill string during the drilling process. For example,

- 26 017791 interaction element may contain a retractable element that extends outward from the drill string. In some aspects, the forces can be applied by the retractable element to the surface, but for simplicity and for economic reasons, the forces can only be essentially small, i.e. forces of less than 1 kN.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the interaction element may be such that it extends beyond the contour of the cutting elements of the drill bit and / or is located completely in the contour. In other embodiments, the interaction element may have at least a portion that may extend beyond the contour of the drill bit. In some aspects of the present invention, the interaction element may extend beyond the contour of the drill bit and / or cutting elements within a range of one to tens of millimeters, with a range beyond the contour providing guidance / control of the drilling system.

In some aspects of the present invention, where the interaction element contains one or more retractable elements, one or more retractable elements can be extended so as not to extend beyond the contour of the cutting elements of the drill bit and / or lie completely in the contour. In other aspects, one or more of the telescopic elements can be extended to create at least a portion of one or more telescopic elements beyond the contour of the cutting elements and / or the drill bit. Guidance of the drilling system can be provided in some embodiments of the present invention by extending one or more retractable elements in the range of 1-10 mm beyond the contour of the cutting elements and / or drill bit. In such embodiments, unlike directional drilling systems using reactive forces, abutting the borehole wall for guidance, only a small amount of power and / or minimal downhole equipment can be used / may be necessary to actuate and / or maintain the necessary extending the sliding elements beyond the contour of the cutting elements and / or drill bit.

At step 220, the cutting interaction between the drill bit and the geological formation is controlled by the movement of the bottom assembly of the drill string and / or drill bit. In an embodiment of the present invention, the interaction element can be selectively installed in the wellbore to provide selective deviation of the cutting direction by the cutting elements and / or calibrating cutting elements with lateral force. In some aspects, the interaction element can be reinstalled on the bottom of the drill string and / or drill bit before drilling an additional section of the wellbore. In embodiments where an actuator, such as a cam or the like, can be used to change the reaction site provided by the interaction element relative to the layout of the bottom of the drill string and / or drill bit, the cam can be selectively set and / or reinstalled during the drilling process .

In some embodiments of the present invention, means for controlling the position in the wellbore, the orientation in the wellbore, the location and / or orientation of the interaction element on the drill string can be used to move the interaction element during the drilling process. This can provide real-time lateral force control. The control means may comprise an actuator, which may be driven by the engine, hydraulically from the flow of drilling fluid passing in the wellbore and / or the like.

At step 230, the guidance system is drilled to drill the wellbore in the desired direction. In an embodiment of the present invention, the desired direction of the section of the borehole to be drilled can be determined and the interaction element can be connected to the layout of the bottom of the drill string and / or drill bit and installed in the borehole to focus / deviate the direction of wall cutting by means of calibrating cutting elements for guiding the drill systems for drilling a section of a wellbore in the required direction. In some aspects, the processor may control position, orientation, and / or the like. geostationary interaction element used for control. In some embodiments, data from sensors located on the drill string, data from sensors located in the wellbore, data from sensors located in the geological formation near the wellbore, seismic data and / or the like. can be processed by the processor to determine the orientation position of the device used to control dynamic interactions for the desired direction of drilling. Sensors may include accelerometers, gravity meters and / or the like connected to the bottom of the drill string and configured to determine the location, orientation of the bottom of the drill string and the forces acting on the bottom of the drill string and its movement in the wellbore.

Data regarding the operation of the drill string and / or drill bit during the drilling process can be recorded. The data may include items such as axial load on the bit, rotational speed of the drilling system, load on the hook, torque, and / or the like. In addition, data can be collected in the wellbore, on surface equipment, in the formation surrounding

- 27 017791 the wellbore, and / or the like, and you can enter data related to drilling activities / processes that are being executed or to be performed during the drilling process. For example, pressures and / or temperatures in the wellbore and formation can be determined, seismic data can be obtained in the boreholes and / or formation, the properties of the drilling fluid and / or the like can be identified.

Measured data relating to the drilling system and / or data relating to the geological formation and / or conditions in the well being drilled, and / or the like. can be processed. The processing may be definitely / probabilistic in nature and may identify the current and / or potential future states of the drilling system. For example, you can identify the conditions and / or potential conditions of the drilling system, such as indicators of the inefficiency of the drill bit, jamming of the drill bit and / or the like.

In some embodiments of the present invention, a processor receiving measurement data may be used to control lateral force control / direction. For example, magnetometers, gravitometers, accelerometers, hygroscopic systems and / or the like. can determine amplitude, frequency, speed, acceleration, and / or the like. drilling system to create an understanding of any movement of the drilling system and / or the action / direction of lateral effort. Data from the sensors can be sent to the processor for processing, and values relating to the direction of lateral force or the like can be displayed, used in the control system to control the positioning of the interaction element, processed with other data of the geological formation, wellbore and / or so on. p., to ensure the operation of the control system to regulate the direction of cutting by calibrating cutting elements under the action of lateral forces. By way of example only, the transmission of measurement information to the processor can be carried out by means of a telemetry system, fiber optic cables, cable drill pipes, cable flexible tubing, wireless communication and / or the like.

The invention has been described in detail for clarity and understanding. However, it should be clear that some changes and modifications can be made within the scope of the attached claims. Moreover, in the above description, various methods and / or procedures have been described in a specific order to show. It should be understood that alternative embodiments, methods and / or procedures can be performed in an order different from the above.

Claims (21)

CLAIM 1. A method of controlling a rotary drilling system designed for directional drilling of a borehole through a geological formation and comprising a drill string and a bottom hole assembly having a drill bit, according to which lateral force is applied to the bottom hole assembly to create lateral movement of the bottom of the drill stem columns in the wellbore and lateral cutting with a drill bit; control using a direction control element connected to the bottom of the drill string so that its position remains stationary during rotary drilling of the borehole, lateral movement of the bottom of the drill string to direct lateral cutting and provide directional drilling of the borehole in the first direction; and moving the direction control element on the bottom hole assembly during drilling to control the lateral movement of the bottom hole assembly for lateral cutting direction and providing directional drilling of the borehole in the second direction. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the drill bit contains one or more calibrating cutting elements and the direction control element controls the interactions between one or more calibrating cutting elements and the side wall of the wellbore. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the direction control element includes a sleeve connected to the eccentricity with the layout of the bottom of the drill string. 4. The method according to claim 3, in which the sleeve is connected to the layout of the bottom of the drill string with the possibility of rotation around the layout of the bottom of the drill string. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the direction control element comprises a plurality of calibrating deflecting supports connected to the bottom of the drill string. 6. The method according to claim 5, in which one or more of the many calibrating deflecting supports are moving relative to the Central axis of the layout of the bottom of the drill string. 7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the direction control element comprises a cylinder with flexibility that varies around the periphery of the cylinder. 8. The method according to claim 1, in which the direction control element contains a set of calibrating deflecting supports, while one or more calibrating deflecting supports have compliance properties different from the compliance properties of other calibrating deflecting supports in the kit. 9. The method according to claim 1, wherein when a lateral force is applied to the drill bit, the cutting elements are positioned on the drill bit so that a lateral force is applied to the drill bit when it drills the wellbore. - 28 017791 10. The method according to claim 1, wherein when applying lateral force to the drill bit, a flexible element and a plurality of centralizers with rigid blades are used to use the axial load on the bit to create lateral force. 11. The method according to claim 1, wherein when applying lateral force to the drill bit, a fixed bend in the drilling system and a plurality of centralizers with rigid blades are used to use the axial load on the bit to create lateral force. 12. The method according to claim 1, wherein when applying lateral force to the drill bit, the drill bit is manipulated to aim in the direction from the central axis of the wellbore. 13. The method according to claim 1, wherein when applying lateral force to the drill bit, an actuator is used coupled to the bottom of the drill string assembly to apply force to the wall to create reactive lateral force to the bottom of the drill string. 14. The control device of the rotary drilling system for directional drilling of the wellbore through a geological formation containing the layout of the bottom of the drill string having a drill bit; a drill string connected to the bottom of the drill string; a lateral force generator connected to the drill string and designed to create a lateral force acting on the layout of the bottom of the drill string; a directional control element connected to the bottom hole assembly so that its position remains stationary during rotary drilling of the wellbore and configured to interact with the side wall of the wellbore to deflect or focus lateral movement of the bottom hole assembly directed towards the wall and created lateral force, an actuator for moving the control on the layout of the bottom of the drill string and the processor. 15. The device according to 14, in which the direction control element includes a sleeve connected to the eccentricity with the layout of the bottom of the drill string and configured to provide lateral control of the layout of the bottom of the drill string in a certain range of azimuthal angles and provide less containment or lack of restraint for lateral the movement of the layout of the bottom of the drill string in a complementary range of azimuthal angles. 16. The device according to clause 15, in which the sleeve is connected to the layout of the bottom of the drill string with the possibility of rotation. 17. The device according to 14, in which the direction control element contains a lot of calibrating deflecting supports, asymmetrically connected to the layout of the bottom of the drill string and configured to provide directional drilling by restraining the radial movement of the layout of the bottom of the drill string in the range of azimuthal angles. 18. The device according to 17, in which one or more of the many calibrating deflecting supports are moving relative to the Central axis of the layout of the bottom of the drill string and are able to move to change the range of azimuthal angles. 19. The device according to 14, in which the direction control element contains a cylinder with flexibility that varies along the periphery of the cylinder to ensure deviation or focusing lateral movement of the layout of the bottom of the drill string. 20. The device according to 14, in which the direction control element contains a set of calibrating deflecting supports, while one or more calibrating deflecting supports have compliance properties different from the compliance properties of other calibrating deflecting supports in the set, and this set is configured to provide deviation or focusing the lateral movement of the bottom hole assembly. 21. The device according to 14, in which one or more calibrating deflecting supports connected to the drill bit and adapted to interact with the side wall of the wellbore and its cutting.