109 patents
Utility
Side saddle traversable drilling rig
16 Jan 24
A land-based drilling rig includes a drill rig floor and a subfloor, the subfloor supporting the drill rig floor.
Padira Reddy, Denver Lee, Premkumar Mongattil
Filed: 27 Aug 21
Utility
Devices, systems and methods to calculate slide stability
2 Jan 24
Systems, devices, and methods for measuring toolface angles on a drilling rig and calculating a slide stability score are provided.
Colin J. Gillan
Filed: 11 Oct 18
Utility
Collapsible mud bucket
10 Oct 23
A mud bucket system including a base structure and a bellows with a longitudinal internal cavity, the base structure attached to one end of the bellows and a retention ring attached to another end, where the vertical movement of the retention ring lengthens or shortens the longitudinal internal cavity, and a method of using the system that can include coupling a mud bucket to a rig floor, raising a retention ring of the mud bucket, thereby elongating a longitudinal internal cavity of the mud bucket such that a connection of a tubular string is positioned within the longitudinal internal cavity, and unthreading the connection while the connection is positioned within the longitudinal internal cavity, where a tubular is connected to the tubular string at the connection and unthreading the connection disconnects the tubular from the tubular string and expels a fluid from the tubular into the longitudinal internal cavity.
Derek Patterson, David Siljeg
Filed: 30 Nov 21
Utility
Auto-filling tubulars
10 Oct 23
A method for performing a subterranean operation that can include operations of engaging a tubular with a pipe handler, calculating, via a processor, an internal volume of the tubular, determining, via the processor, a number of pump strokes required to fill at least a percentage of the internal volume with fluid, pumping the fluid to the tubular by running a pump the number of pump strokes, and filling the internal volume of the tubular to at least the percentage of the internal volume with the fluid.
David Hasler, Pradeep Annaiyappa, David G. Shackelford
Filed: 25 Feb 22
Utility
Controlling operating parameters of a surface drilling rig to optimize bottom-hole assembly (“BHA”) drilling performance
19 Sep 23
Method(s) and apparatus according to which: a bottom-hole assembly (“BHA”) and a drilling rig together attempt to drill a wellbore segment along a planned trajectory while a test scenario is executed on the drilling rig by varying operating parameter(s) of the drilling rig in a predetermined manner during a predetermined time interval; performance characteristic(s) monitored by sensor(s) of the BHA during the predetermined time interval are then received; the predetermined manner in which the operating parameter(s) of the drilling rig were varied during the predetermined time interval is/are then compared to the received performance characteristic(s) monitored by the sensor(s) of the BHA during the predetermined time interval; and based on said comparison, the operating parameter(s) of a drilling rig (e.g., another drilling rig) are controlled while a BHA (e.g., another BHA) operably associated with the drilling rig attempts to drill a wellbore segment along a similar planned trajectory.
Scott Boone
Filed: 21 Jun 21
Utility
Tubular detection system for a fingerboard
12 Sep 23
A system comprising a rig, a fingerboard, a first sensor, and a second sensor, with the first sensor positioned on an opposite side of the entrance from the second sensor, where the first sensor and the second sensor are used to detect when a tubular enters or exits the fingerboard and to detect a parameter of the tubular, such as diameter of the tubular, speed of the tubular, and an angle of entry of the tubular.
John Patterson, Scott Boone
Filed: 31 Dec 20
Utility
Method and apparatus for identifying a potential problem with a bottom hole assembly (BHA) combination using a feedback control loop system
12 Sep 23
An apparatus for, and method of identifying a potential problem with a bottom hole assembly (“BHA”) combination that is used in a drilling operation.
Austin Groover, Scott Coffey, Drew Curran, Adam Lacroix
Filed: 1 Aug 22
Utility
Method and apparatus for automatically modifying a drilling path in response to a reversal of a predicted trend
15 Aug 23
A system and method of directionally steering a bottom hole assembly (“BHA”) by receiving data indicative of a directional trend of the BHA and a projection to bit depth; determining a location of the BHA based on the received data; comparing the location of the BHA to a planned drilling path to identify an amount of deviation; automatically creating a modified drilling path based on the amount of deviation and a predicted trend of a downhole parameter; detecting a trend of the downhole parameter while drilling along the modified drilling path; and automatically creating a further modified drilling path when the trend of the downhole parameter is a reversal of the predicted trend of the downhole parameter.
Scott Gilbert Boone, Brian Ellis, Colin Gillan, Beat Küttel
Filed: 1 Aug 22
Utility
Modeling friction along a wellbore
8 Aug 23
Systems and methods for subterranean drilling operations comprising: adjusting a wellbore parameter; measuring a time interval between adjustment of the wellbore parameter and a resulting change at a bottom hole assembly of a drill string; using the measured time interval and determining resistance in the wellbore; and modeling the resistance to form a friction model of the wellbore.
Pradeep Annaiyappa
Filed: 23 Aug 19
Utility
Torque measuring tool and method
1 Aug 23
The present disclosure relates to subterranean drilling, and more particularly to tools, systems, and methods used to measure torque applied by subterranean drilling machines, such as iron roughnecks, during the make-up and break out of drill pipe connections.
Hendrik Schalk Le Roux
Filed: 6 May 21
Utility
Automatic pipe doping apparatus
9 May 23
A pipe doping apparatus comprises a bucket assembly including a base and a bucket supported on the base and having an inside volume, a lubricating unit having at least one lubricant applicator inside the bucket; and a source of torque configured to rotate the bucket and/or the lubricating unit relative to a tubular.
Ronald Schanlaub, Keith Hager, Chris Magnuson, Eric Deutsch
Filed: 10 Mar 21
Utility
Automated display of wellbore information
9 May 23
A method is provided that can include collecting, via a processor, operational data about a subterranean operation being performed on a rig, determining, via the processor, a type of the subterranean operation based on the operational data, and automatically updating, based on the type, a user display with display elements associated with the subterranean operation.
Carlos Rolong, Ryan Bott, Mohammad Hamzah, Chandana Koritala
Filed: 9 Jun 21
Utility
Top drive back-up wrench with thread compensation
21 Mar 23
A back-up wrench device of a top drive assembly of a drilling rig comprises a gripper device operable to grip an end of a drill pipe, and at least one fluid actuator operable to compensate for thread travel during makeup or breakout operations.
Faisal Yousef, Tommy Vu
Filed: 30 Jun 20
Utility
Catwalk tubular measurement and method of use
7 Mar 23
A carrier assembly for a catwalk assembly includes a carrier.
Christopher Magnuson, Mario Sazo, Alex Kunec
Filed: 15 Jan 21
Utility
Mast assembly for drilling rig
7 Feb 23
A mast assembly for a drilling rig includes a mast formed from a plurality of mast subunits.
Ashish Gupta, Padira Reddy, Denver Lee
Filed: 22 Apr 22
Utility
Method and apparatus for transitioning between rotary drilling and slide drilling while maintaining a bit of a bottom hole assembly on a wellbore bottom
24 Jan 23
A method of transitioning from rotary to slide drilling while maintaining a bit of a bottom hole assembly (“BHA”) on a wellbore bottom includes (a) recording a first toolface value of the BHA that is coupled to a drill string; (b) identifying a correlation between the first toolface value and a first quill position of a quill coupled to the drill string; (c) identifying a breakover torque for the drill string; (d) performing rotary drilling; (e) recording a second toolface value while the bit remains on the wellbore bottom; (f) receiving, while the bit remains on the wellbore bottom, a target toolface value; (g) calculating, while the bit remains on the wellbore bottom, an unwind amount to unwind the drill string; and (h) unwinding the drill string by the unwind amount to bring the second toolface value closer to the target toolface value while the bit remains on the bottom.
Austin Groover, Scott Coffey, Drew Curran, Adam Lacroix
Filed: 14 Aug 20
Utility
Steerable drilling bi-directional communications system and methods
29 Nov 22
An apparatus and method of operating a drilling system with a directional guidance system and a drilling operation system is described.
Austin Groover, Scott Coffey, Drew Curran, Adam Lacroix
Filed: 13 Aug 20
Utility
Systems, devices, and methods to detect pipe with a gripperhead
22 Nov 22
The systems, devices, and methods described herein relate to tubular detection on a gripperhead system for a drilling rig.
Godwin Simanjuntak, Christopher Magnuson
Filed: 29 Aug 18
Utility
Robotic pipe handler systems
1 Nov 22
A tubular handling system can include a bridge disposed in a horizontal orientation above a horizontal storage area, a tubular lift system that can transport a tubular in a horizontal orientation between the horizontal storage area and an intermediate storage location, and a pipe handler, moveably coupled to the bridge, that can transport the tubular between the intermediate storage location and a rig floor.
Travis Burke
Filed: 14 Jun 21
Utility
Downhole 3D geo steering viewer for a drilling apparatus
18 Oct 22
Systems, devices, and methods for producing a three-dimensional visualization of one or more of a drilled wellbore, a bottom hole assembly, a drill bit, a drill plan, and one or more lithology windows is provided for drill steering purposes.
Colin Gillan, Matt White, Bosko Gajic
Filed: 1 Mar 21