Digital Architecture for an Automated Drilling Rig

The objective of this thesis was to develop the digital architecture for a small-scale drill rig intended for use by the Drillbotics team at the Uni- versity of Stavanger, for an international student competition by the same name. The main goals of the project has been to develop a robust software architecture, data acquisition system, data management system and graphi- cal user interface. The main criteria are the guidelines given by competition organisers, criteria given in the thesis description, and criteria given by the Drillbotics team. We created a system for communication between the computer, programmable logic controller and the drill rig such that we can communicate between platforms using the CAN protocol. With this communication in place, both the data acquisition logging and control system can operate without delay. Any data retrieved is stored in a data management system, as per competition guidelines. The database has been stress tested and has a 15x safety margin between operation- and top speed, ensuring the database will not be a bottleneck. The main human machine interface for the drill rig, the graphical user interface, on the computer was developed using principles researched in advance to ensure an interface that was based on good industry practices. The big focus on researching proper methods of making the interface is due to the competition recently adding human machine interface as a major judging criteria in the competition. A system has also been developed that covers models used for steering the directional drilling according to the industry standard minimum curvature method. The path given by the minimum curvature method is the ideal path that we try to follow. The path also has safety margins given to it to ensure the rig never strays too far from the path. The systems created in this project have had a side-goal of being scalable and using good abstractions such that it is able to be used by future Drill- botics teams, for both future computer science bachelor groups, or the rest of the team as well.The objective of this thesis was to develop the digital architecture for a small-scale drill rig intended for use by the Drillbotics team at the Uni- versity of Stavanger, for an international student competition by the same name. The main goals of the project has been to develop a robust software architecture, data acquisition system, data management system and graphi- cal user interface. The main criteria are the guidelines given by competition organisers, criteria given in the thesis description, and criteria given by the Drillbotics team. We created a system for communication between the computer, programmable logic controller and the drill rig such that we can communicate between platforms using the CAN protocol. With this communication in place, both the data acquisition logging and control system can operate without delay. Any data retrieved is stored in a data management system, as per competition guidelines. The database has been stress tested and has a 15x safety margin between operation- and top speed, ensuring the database will not be a bottleneck. The main human machine interface for the drill rig, the graphical user interface, on the computer was developed using principles researched in advance to ensure an interface that was based on good industry practices. The big focus on researching proper methods of making the interface is due to the competition recently adding human machine interface as a major judging criteria in the competition. A system has also been developed that covers models used for steering the directional drilling according to the industry standard minimum curvature method. The path given by the minimum curvature method is the ideal path that we try to follow. The path also has safety margins given to it to ensure the rig never strays too far from the path. The systems created in this project have had a side-goal of being scalable and using good abstractions such that it is able to be used by future Drill- botics teams, for both future computer science bachelor groups, or the rest of the team as well

Digital Architecture for an Automated Drilling Rig

The objective of this thesis was to develop the digital architecture for a small-scale drill rig intended for use by the Drillbotics team at the Uni- versity of Stavanger, for an international student competition by the same name. The main goals of the project has been to develop a robust software architecture, data acquisition system, data management system and graphi- cal user interface. The main criteria are the guidelines given by competition organisers, criteria given in the thesis description, and criteria given by the Drillbotics team. We created a system for communication between the computer, programmable logic controller and the drill rig such that we can communicate between platforms using the CAN protocol. With this communication in place, both the data acquisition logging and control system can operate without delay. Any data retrieved is stored in a data management system, as per competition guidelines. The database has been stress tested and has a 15x safety margin between operation- and top speed, ensuring the database will not be a bottleneck. The main human machine interface for the drill rig, the graphical user interface, on the computer was developed using principles researched in advance to ensure an interface that was based on good industry practices. The big focus on researching proper methods of making the interface is due to the competition recently adding human machine interface as a major judging criteria in the competition. A system has also been developed that covers models used for steering the directional drilling according to the industry standard minimum curvature method. The path given by the minimum curvature method is the ideal path that we try to follow. The path also has safety margins given to it to ensure the rig never strays too far from the path. The systems created in this project have had a side-goal of being scalable and using good abstractions such that it is able to be used by future Drill- botics teams, for both future computer science bachelor groups, or the rest of the team as well.The objective of this thesis was to develop the digital architecture for a small-scale drill rig intended for use by the Drillbotics team at the Uni- versity of Stavanger, for an international student competition by the same name. The main goals of the project has been to develop a robust software architecture, data acquisition system, data management system and graphi- cal user interface. The main criteria are the guidelines given by competition organisers, criteria given in the thesis description, and criteria given by the Drillbotics team. We created a system for communication between the computer, programmable logic controller and the drill rig such that we can communicate between platforms using the CAN protocol. With this communication in place, both the data acquisition logging and control system can operate without delay. Any data retrieved is stored in a data management system, as per competition guidelines. The database has been stress tested and has a 15x safety margin between operation- and top speed, ensuring the database will not be a bottleneck. The main human machine interface for the drill rig, the graphical user interface, on the computer was developed using principles researched in advance to ensure an interface that was based on good industry practices. The big focus on researching proper methods of making the interface is due to the competition recently adding human machine interface as a major judging criteria in the competition. A system has also been developed that covers models used for steering the directional drilling according to the industry standard minimum curvature method. The path given by the minimum curvature method is the ideal path that we try to follow. The path also has safety margins given to it to ensure the rig never strays too far from the path. The systems created in this project have had a side-goal of being scalable and using good abstractions such that it is able to be used by future Drill- botics teams, for both future computer science bachelor groups, or the rest of the team as well

Digital Architecture for an Automated Drilling Rig

The objective of this thesis was to develop the digital architecture for a small-scale drill rig intended for use by the Drillbotics team at the University of Stavanger, for an international student competition by the same name. The main goals of the project has been to develop a robust software architecture, data acquisition system, data management system and graphical user interface. The main criteria are the guidelines given by competition organisers, criteria given in the thesis description, and criteria given by the Drillbotics team. We created a system for communication between the computer, programmable logic controller and the drill rig such that we can communicate between platforms using the CAN protocol. With this communication in place, both the data acquisition logging and control system can operate without delay. Any data retrieved is stored in a data management system, as per competition guidelines. The database has been stress tested and has a 15x safety margin between operation- and top speed, ensuring the database will not be a bottleneck. The main human machine interface for the drill rig, the graphical user interface, on the computer was developed using principles researched in advance to ensure an interface that was based on good industry practices. The big focus on researching proper methods of making the interface is due to the competition recently adding human machine interface as a major judging criteria in the competition. A system has also been developed that covers models used for steering the directional drilling according to the industry standard minimum curvature method. The path given by the minimum curvature method is the ideal path that we try to follow. The path also has safety margins given to it to ensure the rig never strays too far from the path. The systems created in this project have had a side-goal of being scalable and using good abstractions such that it is able to be used by future Drillbotics teams, for both future computer science bachelor groups, or the rest of the team as well

Design, Construction, and Analysis of a Pilot-Scale Automated Drilling Platform

This project and the associated research investigates automation techniques for drilling operations, along with the analysis involved in building an automated pilot-scale drilling platform. The outcome from this research investigates feasible technologies and techniques that can be used to automate a pilot-scale drilling rig, with the intent that these practices may provide insight into the construction or procedures of full scale rigs. Both the theory and lab exercise components of this research were completed in association with the Drillbotics competition sponsored by the Drilling Systems Automation Technical Section (DSATS) committee of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE). This study includes all calculations and research conducted during Phase 1 of the competition, which included the design and justification of a lab-scale drilling rig, as well as the construction and testing of the rig during Phase 2.;As drilling automation continues to expand within the industry, testing new technologies in a reliable and transferable manner will be extremely important to the development of a fully automated drilling platform. The intention of this research is focused less on the structural analysis of industry drilling rigs, which has been conducted numerous times in detail, and more on design and construction process for inexpensive, lab-scale rigs that companies could use to assess new automation techniques and technologies. The rig that was designed and tested for the 2015-2016 Drillbotics competition was a success, allowing the West Virginia University team to test four different drilling bits and eight different rock types, and also winning the competition by drilling the provided rock sample with the highest Rate of Penetration (ROP). As such, the Drillbotics competition served as a platform to allow this research to demonstrate the process involved in constructing a fully automated drilling rig

Trajectory Control Optimization Using the RSS Model

Master's thesis in Petroleum EngineeringDirectional drilling has become a standard method to drill a well since the last decades, mainly caused by directional technologies and methods developments. The next step that the drilling industry is ready to take is to increase its automation levels to reduce their cost and increase the safe environment for field crews. Moreover, the use of computers has allowed the creation of virtual tools that help drilling staffs visualize and foresee the issues and advantages through different phases from planning to post-analysis. Therefore, the present MSc thesis work focuses on developing a new approach (an in-house directional drilling simulator) to automatically and precisely estimate and control bit positions in real time. This simulator is called Rotary Steerable System (RSS) Simulator and is based on the Trajectory Control Optimizer (TCO) and the RSS Model. The TCO was developed to plan the optimal trajectory, set the simulation targets, detect the bit deviations and create a correction path to return to the planned trajectory. Each of those processes is fulfilled without any human interaction during the simulation. The second element makes the simulation’s calculations on physics including Newton’s third law, beam bending analysis, bit force analysis, rate of penetration (ROP) to determine the bit position and then conduct RSS control to steer the bit accordingly. Such model is an upgraded version of the RSS Model developed by the University of Stavanger in 2020. Besides, the RSS Simulator is a new tool that could interact with external models to interchange data and generate simulations closer to reality according to the factors involved. Furthermore, the simulator considers some uncertainty analysis and adds some noises (systematic and random) to the input data to give a more realistic behaviour to the results. Thus, the RSS Simulator is the potential tool that might help the drilling industry walk towards automating most of its processes in the future

Optimization of an Intelligent Autonomous Drilling Rig: Testing and Implementation of Machine Learning and Control Algorithms for Formation Classification, Downhole Vibrations Management and Directional Drilling

Master's thesis in Petroleum EngineeringIn recent years, considerable resources have been invested to explore applications for- and to exploit the vast amount of data that gets collected during exploration, drilling and production of oil and gas. Such data will potentially become a game changer for the industry in terms of reduced costs through improved operational efficiency and fewer accidents, improved HSE through strengthened situational awareness, ensured optimal placement of wells, less wear on equipment and so on. While machine learning algorithms have been around for decades, it is only in the last five to ten years that increased computational power along with heavily digitalized control- and monitoring systems have been made available. Considering the state of art technology that exists today and the significant resources that are being invested into the technology of tomorrow, the idea of intelligent and fully automated machinery on the drill floor that is capable of consistently selecting the best decisions or predictions based on the information available and providing the driller and operator with such recommendations, becomes closer to a reality every day. This thesis is the result of research carried out on the topic of drilling automation. Its basis has been improvements and upgrades conducted on a laboratory-scale drilling rig developed at the University of Stavanger, as part of the multi-disciplinary project; UiS Drillbotics. Main contribution of the thesis is a study on how machine learning can be used to develop models that are capable of accurately predicting what rock formation is being drilled using an autonomous control system, along with detecting some common drilling incidents in real-time on the laboratory rig. Methodology is also applied to field data from the Volve field. Furthermore, research and implementation of search algorithms to ensure optimal drilling speed (ROP), safety to personnel and environment (HSE), and efficiency along with a digitalized drilling program for directional drilling, gets presented. Finally, rig upgrades for directional drilling and research into downhole sensors that get used in a closed-loop steering model is elaborated on.submittedVersio

Integration of modeling and drilling incident management of a real-time lab-scale autonomous drilling rig

Master's thesis in Petroleum engineeringThe basis of this thesis is an attempt to design, construct, and implement a fully autonomous lab scale drilling rig with real time optimization and capable of drilling detection and subsequent mitigation. Two simplified drill-string models are applied to be used in ROP models for drilling optimization. Several drilling problems pertinent to a small-scale rig are discussed with solutions to identify and mitigation procedures are proposed. This thesis also goes in to the necessity control system and data acquisition tools, such as filtering, system coordination, human machine interface (HMI), etc.… required to create a real-time lab scale autonomous rig

Study of medical image data transformation techniques and compatibility analysis for 3D printing

Various applications exist for additive manufacturing (AM) and reverse engineering (RE) within the medical sector. One of the significant challenges identified in the literature is the accuracy of 3D printed medical models compared to their original CAD models. Some studies have reported that 3D printed models are accurate, while others claim the opposite. This thesis aims to highlight the medical applications of AM and RE, study medical image reconstruction techniques into a 3D printable file format, and the deviations of a 3D printed model using RE. A case study on a human femur bone was conducted through medical imaging, 3D printing, and RE for comparative deviation analysis. In addition, another medical application of RE has been presented, which is for solid modelling. Segmentation was done using opensource software for trial and training purposes, while the experiment was done using commercial software. The femur model was 3D printed using an industrial FDM printer. Three different non-contact 3D scanners were investigated for the RE process. Post-processing of the point cloud was done in the VX Elements software environment, while mesh analysis was conducted in MeshLab. The scanning performance was measured using the VX Inspect environment and MeshLab. Both relative and absolute metrics were used to determine the deviation of the scanned models from the reference mesh. The scanners' range of deviations was approximately from -0.375 mm to 0.388 mm (range of about 0.763mm) with an average RMS of about 0.22 mm. The results showed that the mean deviation of the 3D printed model (based on 3D scanning) has an average range of about 0.46mm, with an average mean value of about 0.16 mm

EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECTS OF ROTATIONAL SPEED AND WEIGHT ON BIT ON DRILLSTRING VIBRATIONS, TORQUE AND RATE OF PENETRATION

Experimental investigation was carried out on an automated drilling rig fabricated for the Drillbotics competition. The effects of rotational speed and weight on bit were observed on drillstring vibrations, torque and rate of penetration for two different sandstone samples

Real-time Control and Vibrations Analysis of a Completely Automated Miniaturized Rig

Drilling Automation has become an important research effort in the Oil and Gas Industry since the fall of Oil prices in 2008. The cyclical nature of our industry and the fierce competition is pushing operators and drilling service companies to either be more efficient, or fade. A miniaturized autonomous drilling machine was built for the Society of Petroleum Engineering – (SPE) DSATS 2016 Drillbotics™ International Competition with the objective of performing optimal operations in terms of rate of penetration and energy efficiency. The miniaturized rig uses state-of-the-art sensors, control algorithms, and innovative instrumentation solutions, leading to a significant amount of data to be analyzed in real-time. High-frequency data was acquired using LabVIEW and analyzed in real-time using the MATLAB programming environment. The results of the analysis are used in a closed-loop control algorithm to optimize the rate of penetration, energy efficiency and mitigate drilling equipment failures. Using real-time instrumentation data an automated step-test procedure was implemented to optimize drilling parameters on the fly. Remote control and surveillance is possible through an in-house developed web server and smartphone app. During the initial testing phase, vibration-induced dysfunctions were mitigated and a 110% rate of penetration improvement was observed compared to initial tests. In addition, control structure was enhanced with stand-alone micro controller driven controllers that improved weight on bit (WOB) and RPM control accuracy by 305%