Laser Drilling Tool for Simultaneous Wellbore Creation and Casing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional well construction methods are time-consuming and costly, lacking precision and flexibility in drilling and completion stages, particularly in creating holes or windows in casing after installation, which hinders efficient fluid production from formations.
Innovation Solution
The use of a one-stage drilling tool equipped with a laser head, completion sheath, and centralizer that produces a divergent drilling beam to sublimate formations, allowing simultaneous drilling and completion, reducing the need for separate stages and minimizing damage to the formation or wellbore.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If conventional mechanical drilling and completion methods are used, then the wellbore can be drilled and cased, but the process is time-consuming and costly with multiple separate stages
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines drilling and completion operations into a single integrated process. The laser drilling system performs both wellbore creation and casing installation in one continuous operation, eliminating the need for separate mechanical drilling and completion stages. This merging of operations directly addresses the time loss and productivity issues by allowing simultaneous execution of multiple functions that were previously sequential.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces conventional mechanical drilling equipment with a laser-based drilling system. Instead of using mechanical drill bits and rotation systems, the invention employs high-energy laser beams to ablate and remove formation material. This substitution enables a more efficient single-stage process that integrates drilling and completion functions, reducing overall operation time and improving productivity.
2Manufacturing precision
If shaped charged guns are used for perforation, then holes can be created in casing, but precision is limited and orientation cannot be adjusted based on wellbore information
Solution Approach 1:
The laser drilling system incorporates dynamic control capabilities that allow real-time adjustment of drilling parameters and orientation based on wellbore conditions. The system can adapt its beam direction, focus, and intensity dynamically during operation, enabling precision perforation with adjustable orientation that responds to actual wellbore information, unlike fixed mechanical systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces fixed mechanical perforation tools with a controllable laser system. The laser provides precise, programmable beam direction and focus control, enabling accurate perforation placement and orientation adjustment based on real-time wellbore data. This substitution of mechanical systems with optical control achieves superior precision and adaptability in perforation operations.
3Manufacturing precision
If mechanical milling tools are used to create holes in casing, then perforation can be achieved, but the process is time-consuming and not accurate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical milling tools with a laser-based ablation system. The laser beam directly removes material through vaporization and melting, achieving precise hole creation without mechanical contact. This substitution eliminates the time-consuming nature of mechanical milling while simultaneously improving accuracy through programmable beam control and focused energy delivery.
Solution Approach 2:
The laser drilling system utilizes phase transitions of material (solid to liquid to gas) to remove formation and casing material. The high-energy laser beam rapidly heats and vaporizes material, creating precise holes through controlled phase changes rather than mechanical removal. This process achieves both high precision and high speed, resolving the contradiction between accuracy and productivity in hole creation.
4Reliability
If conventional multi-stage drilling and completion is performed, then well construction can be completed, but overall costs are high and production is delayed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges drilling and completion into a single integrated operation performed by the laser system. Both functions are executed continuously in one deployment, eliminating the time delay between stages and enabling production to begin sooner while maintaining reliable well construction through the unified process.
Solution Approach 2:
The laser drilling system performs completion functions during the drilling process itself, rather than as a separate subsequent operation. Casing installation and perforation are accomplished preliminarily within the drilling stage, reducing the overall timeline before production can commence while ensuring proper well construction.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach significantly reduces overall time and costs by enabling precision wellbore creation, uniform shape maintenance, and efficient fluid production, while avoiding incidental damage and allowing for greater wellbore diameters and targeted perforation.
Implementation Method 1
the drilling beam has a divergent shape that includes a base at a distance from a front end of the laser head and an apex proximate to the front end of the laser head, where a diameter of the base of the drilling beam is greater than a diameter of the one-stage drilling tool, and drilling the formation with the drilling beam, where the laser of the drilling beam is operable to sublimate the formation
Implementation Method 2
conducting the laser beam from the laser unit to the laser head through an isolation cable that includes a fiber optic cable configured to conduct the laser beam from the laser unit to the laser head
Data Source
AI summary
A method of drilling a wellbore that traverses a formation, the method comprising the steps of inserting a one-stage drilling tool into the wellbore, the one-stage drilling tool comprising a laser head configured to produce a drilling beam, a completion sheath configured to line the wellbore, and a centralizer configured to support the completion sheath within the wellbore, operating the laser head to produce the drilling beam, wherein the drilling beam comprises a laser, wherein the drilling beam has a divergent shape comprising a base at a distance from a front end of the laser head and an apex proximate to the front end of the laser head, wherein a diameter of the base of the drilling beam is greater than a diameter of the one-stage drilling tool, and drilling the formation with the drilling beam, wherein the laser of the drilling beam is operable to sublimate the formation.