Bidirectional Stabilizer with Impact Arrestors

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current drilling technologies lack an effective bidirectional stabilizer that can reduce impact damage, improve wellbore quality, and enhance fluid flow while drilling, especially in bidirectional operations.

Innovation Solution

A bidirectional stabilizer with impact arrestors and helical blades, featuring cutting nodes and inserts made from polycrystalline diamond compacts, is designed to be coupled with a drill string and drill bit, providing torque control, consistent depth, and increased wellbore diameter, while allowing for maximum fluid flow and reducing the need for multiple well trips.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If a conventional stabilizer is used, then the drill string is stabilized, but impact damage to the drill bit increases and wellbore quality deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedrill bit durabilityVSAvoidimpact damage

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The patent incorporates impact arrestors that act as cushioning elements positioned ahead of the drill bit to absorb and dissipate impact forces before they reach the drill bit. This beforehand cushioning prevents impact damage while maintaining drill string stabilization, directly resolving the contradiction between reliability and harmful impact factors.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #11Beforehand cushioning (Prior cushioning)

Solution Approach 2:

The stabilizer employs composite structural design combining different materials with complementary properties - hardened materials for cutting nodes to resist wear, flexible materials for impact arrestors to absorb shocks, and durable materials for the stabilizer body. This composite approach simultaneously improves drill bit protection while maintaining stabilization function.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #40Composite materials

2Productivity

If traditional cutting elements are used, then drilling proceeds, but torque variation increases and depth consistency decreases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedrilling efficiencyVSAvoidtorque variation

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSStability of the object's composition

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements cutting nodes with specific geometric configurations and material properties positioned at critical locations on the stabilizer blades. These locally optimized cutting elements provide consistent cutting action that reduces torque variation while maintaining high drilling efficiency, resolving the contradiction between productivity and operational stability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

3Ease of manufacture

If the stabilizer structure is simplified, then manufacturing is easier, but fluid flow capability and wellbore quality improvement are reduced

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvestabilizer fabricationVSAvoidwellbore quality

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of manufactureVSManufacturing precision

Solution Approach 1:

The stabilizer is divided into modular segments including multiple blades with cutting nodes, impact arrestors, and stabilizing elements that can be manufactured separately and assembled. This segmentation enables easier manufacturing of individual components while the coordinated arrangement of these segments achieves the complex function of wellbore quality improvement and fluid flow optimization.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

4Loss of time

If multiple well trips are avoided, then operational time is reduced, but tool life and stability requirements increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveoperational timeVSAvoidtool life

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of timeVSDuration of action of stationary object

Solution Approach 1:

The impact arrestors are designed as replaceable sacrificial elements that absorb impact forces during operation, protecting the more expensive and critical drill bit and stabilizer body. This beforehand cushioning extends the overall tool life by preventing damage accumulation, enabling continuous operation without multiple trips while maintaining stability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #11Beforehand cushioning (Prior cushioning)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent employs replaceable cutting nodes and impact arrestors that can be worn or damaged during operation but are easily replaced without replacing the entire stabilizer assembly. This discarding and recovering approach maintains tool life by allowing quick replacement of consumable elements, reducing operational downtime while preserving the investment in the main stabilizer body.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #34Discarding and recovering

Data Source

PatentUS9428963B1Bidirectional stabilizer with impact arrestors and blades with wrap angles

Publication Date: 2016.08.30 FRANKS INT

AI summary

A bidirectional stabilizer, which reduces impact damage while rotating into and out of a wellbore. The bidirectional stabilizer can be coupled on a first end to a drill string and on a second end to a drill bit. The bidirectional stabilizer can have an annulus configured for maximum wellbore fluid flow. A cutting portion can be formed on a shaft with a plurality of blades between the first shaft end and the second shaft end. The plurality of blades of the cutting portion can be on a first plane and a plurality of cutting nodes can be on a second plane for smoothing a wellbore. The plurality of blades can have a wrap angle for forming a particle flow path between pairs of the plurality of blades configured with a line of sight parallel to the longitudinal axis.