Drilling Analytics Engine Synchronizes Sensor Timing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current drilling operations face challenges in detecting and mitigating drilling dysfunctions such as excessive torque, shocks, bit bounce, and induced vibrations due to non-synchronized timing data from multiple sensors, which can lead to tool failures and operational inefficiencies.
Innovation Solution
A system utilizing a computer with a processor and memory, along with a network of sensors, applies continuous analytics to time-series data from drilling operations, formatting and synchronizing the data for rapid analysis to determine dynamic rig conditions and detect drilling dysfunctions, enabling timely mitigation through control instructions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If data from multiple sensors are acquired and recorded relative to multiple clocks, then each sensor can operate independently with its own timing, but the timing information becomes non-synchronized creating problems when combining and processing data from various sensors
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a reference clock as an intermediary that all sensors synchronize to. The system includes a reference clock and synchronization circuitry that distributes timing signals from this reference clock to multiple sensors, ensuring all sensors operate on a common time base while maintaining their independent sensing capabilities
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a common timing potential by having all sensors synchronized to the same reference clock. This ensures that all sensors operate at the same timing level, eliminating timing drift and synchronization issues that would otherwise prevent accurate data fusion
2Measurement precision
If sensor timing is corrected or adjusted to account for environmental factors causing variable timing drift, then temporal consistency of sensor information is improved, but the complexity of the data processing system increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary timing correction by having sensors continuously synchronize to the reference clock during operation. This preliminary action of continuous synchronization prevents timing drift accumulation rather than requiring complex post-processing corrections
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the reference clock continuously monitors and adjusts the timing of distributed clocks in real-time. This closed-loop feedback ensures temporal consistency is maintained automatically without requiring complex manual calibration or post-processing
3Productivity
If rapid aggregation and analysis of data from multiple sources is performed to enable timely responses to drilling dysfunctions, then drilling efficiency is improved, but the requirement for synchronized timing information from all sensors becomes more critical
Solution Approach 1:
The patent establishes a common timing potential through the reference clock that all sensors must synchronize to. This ensures that when data is rapidly aggregated for real-time drilling optimization, all data points are temporally aligned, making the rapid analysis reliable for detecting drilling dysfunctions
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to systems, processes and apparatuses for determining a rig-state of a drilling rig during a wellbore drilling operation and detecting and mitigating drilling dysfunctions. These systems, processes and apparatuses provide a computer with a memory and a processor, a plurality of sensors associated with a wellbore drilling operation for acquiring time series data wherein the data are formatted for sample and bandwidth regularization and time-corrected to provide substantially time-synchronized data, a processing graph of data-stream networked mathematical operators that applies continuous analytics to the data at least as rapidly as the data are acquired to determine dynamic conditions of a plurality of rig conditions associated with the wellbore drilling operation and determining a rig-state from the plurality of rig conditions.