US 12,188,342 B2
Intelligent drilling system with external stationary sensing shield
Guodong Zhan, Dhahran (SA); Chinthaka P. Gooneratne, Dhahran (SA); Abdulwahab Aljohar, Dhahran (SA); Jianhui Xu, Dhahran (SA); and Timothy Eric Moellendick, Dhahran (SA)
Assigned to SAUDI ARABIAN OIL COMPANY, Dhahran (SA)
Filed by SAUDI ARABIAN OIL COMPANY, Dhahran (SA)
Filed on Dec. 9, 2022, as Appl. No. 18/064,105.
Prior Publication US 2024/0191612 A1, Jun. 13, 2024
Int. Cl. E21B 44/06 (2006.01); E21B 21/08 (2006.01)
CPC E21B 44/06 (2013.01) [E21B 21/08 (2013.01)] 17 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An intelligent drilling system, comprising:
an inner drill pipe adapted to rotate around a longitudinal axis in a transversal plane of a wellbore to advance a drill bit during a drilling operation;
an external drill string shield surrounding the inner drill pipe and coupled to the inner drill pipe via at least one bearing system;
the at least one bearing system adapted to decouple the external drill string shield from a rotational motion of the inner drill pipe in the transversal plane such that the external drill string shield remains substantially stationary during the drilling operation; and
an in-situ sensing system disposed on an interior wall of the external drill string shield to measure at least one downhole parameter of the wellbore,
wherein the at least one bearing system comprises:
at least one bypass rib fixed on and protrudes from an interior wall of the external drill string shield; and
a plurality of rolling elements disposed between the at least one bypass rib and an exterior wall of the inner drill pipe,
wherein the at least one bypass rib remains substantially stationary with the external drill string shield during the drilling operation,
wherein the at least one bypass rib defines an opening to allow drilling fluids to flow through the at least one bearing system, and
wherein the external drill string shield is decoupled from the rotational motion of the inner drill pipe via the plurality of rolling elements.