Indenting Member for a Drill Bit

Abstract

A drill bit has a bit body intermediate a working face and a shank end adapted for connection to a downhole drill string. The working face has at least three fixed blades converging towards a center of the working face and diverging towards a gauge of the bit, at least one blade having a cone region adjacent the center of the working face. The cone region increases in height away from the center of the working face and towards a nose portion of the at least one blade. An opening is formed in the working face at the center of the bit along an axis of the drill bit's rotation, the opening leading into a chamber with at least one wall. An indenting member is disposed within and extends from the opening, is substantially coaxial with the axis of rotation, and is fixed to the wall of the chamber.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION[0001]This patent application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11 / 871,644, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11 / 278,935 filed on Apr. 6, 2006 and which is entitled Drill Bit Assembly with a Probe. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11 / 278,935 is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11 / 277,294 which filed on Mar. 24, 2006 and entitled Drill Bit Assembly with a Logging Device. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11 / 277,294 is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11 / 277,380 also filed on Mar. 24, 2006 and entitled A Drill Bit Assembly Adapted to Provide Power Downhole. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11 / 277,380 is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11 / 306,976 which was filed on Jan. 18, 2006 and entitled “Drill Bit Assembly for Directional Drilling.” U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11 / 306,976 is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser....

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent describes a drill bit with a unique design that improves its performance. The bit has a chamber with a fixed indenting member that helps to remove debris and keep the bit clean. The bit also has blades that are designed to improve its cutting ability. Additionally, there is a junk slot with a base and a high pressure nozzle that helps to flush debris away from the cutting surface. Overall, this design makes the drill bit more efficient and effective in drilling wells.

Problems solved by technology

Often drill bits are subjected to harsh conditions when drilling below the earth's surface.

Replacing damaged drill bits in the field is often costly and time consuming since the entire downhole tool string must typically be removed from the borehole before the drill bit can be reached.

Bit whirl in hard formations may result in damage to the drill bit and reduce penetration rates.

Further, loading too much weight on the drill bit when drilling through a hard formation may exceed the bit's capabilities and also result in damage.

Too often unexpected hard formations are encountered suddenly and damage to the drill bit occurs before the weight on the drill bit may be adjusted.

A low whirling frequency accompanied by a high acceleration magnitude based on empirically established values is associated with destructive vibration of the drilling component.

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