System and method for locating, measuring, counting, and aiding in the handling of drill pipes

Disclosed embodiments relate to systems and methods for locating, measuring, counting or aiding in the handling of drill pipes 106. The system 100 comprises at least one camera 102 capable of gathering visual data 150 regarding detecting, localizing or both, pipes 106, roughnecks 116, elevators 118 and combinations thereof. The system 100 further comprises a processor 110 and a logging system 114 for recording the gathered visual data 150. The method 200 comprises acquiring visual data 150 using a camera 106, analyzing the acquired data 150, and recording the acquired data 150.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments described herein relate to systems and methods for locating, measuring, counting, and aiding in the handling of drill pipes.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY

Modern drilling involves scores of people and multiple inter-connecting activities. Obtaining real-time information about ongoing operations is of paramount importance for safe, efficient drilling. As a result, modern rigs often have thousands of sensors actively measuring numerous parameters related to vessel operation, in addition to information about the down-hole drilling environment.

Despite the multitude of sensors on today's rigs, a significant portion of rig activities and sensing problems remain difficult to measure with classical instrumentation and person-in-the-loop sensing is often utilized in place of automated sensing.

By applying automated, computer-based video interpretation, continuous, robust, and accurate assessment of many different phenomena can be achieved through pre-existing video data without requiring a person-in-the-loop. Automated interpretation of video data is known as computer vision, and recent advances in computer vision technologies have led to significantly improved performance across a wide range of video-based sensing tasks. Computer vision can be used to improve safety, reduce costs and improve efficiency.

Handling and counting of drill pipes on a rig is typically accomplished using primarily human-in-the-loop techniques. For example, a person is responsible for maintaining an accurate log of the types, diameters and lengths of pipes entered into the well-bore as drilling progresses and responsible for counting pipes as they are removed from the well-bore. Although a relatively simple human endeavor, errors in pipe tallying can and do occur, and these errors can cause significant disruptions to drilling activities.

Classical instrumentation for pipe tallying is either time-consuming (e.g., manual measurement of each pipe) or not suitable for harsh down-well conditions (e.g., RFID tagging). In contrast, computer vision technologies can be utilized to perform many of the activities currently undertaken manually, providing significant savings in drilling time and cost and reducing the risk from pipe tally errors. These techniques provide a more accurate technique for generating pipe tallies and can significantly reduce rig down-time due to pipe tally errors; potentially saving millions of dollars per year. Therefore, there is a need for an automated computer vision based technique for measuring pipe lengths and diameters, and counting pipe segments as they enter into or are removed from the well-bore.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The “Pipe Tally System” system, PTS, consists of several parts. In one preferred embodiment, one or more video cameras102positioned so as to be able to see the drilling pipe106as it is attached to, or removed from the drill-string107. Depending on requirements, one camera102at sufficient distance from the bore-hole108to view the entire pipe106segment at once may be sufficient, otherwise two or more cameras102may be used, each of which may only see part of the pipe106as it is entered into the drill-string107, but information or data150can be aggregated across the different cameras using the known camera positions and poses.

Each camera102may contain or be connected to a computer110which detects and localizes pipes106, the iron roughneck116, the elevator118, or other relevant components. Different regions of interest for each object type can be defined using the known camera102geometry, or using user-inputs. Since the cameras102are at known distances from the bore-hole108, camera transform information can be used to calculate the pipe lengths and diameters as they are tracked into and out of the well-bore108. Information about the well-state, including the number of pipe stands and pipe segments106in the well may be accumulated on a central computing resource110. In an alternative embodiment involving multiple cameras102, pipe length, diameter, location and tracking information may be calculated by accumulating information150about the pipe106across multiple camera feeds.

Pipes106on a rig may be marked with paint or other marking system to make them easier to detect (e.g., a colorful stripe of paint near either end of the pipe106can help in detection, localization and length estimation).

In certain embodiments, the resulting information150about pipes106may be amalgamated into an automatically generated well-state report which may include a pipe tally (information about the pipe lengths and diameters, time the pipe106was added to or removed from the drill-string107, or any other pipe106specific information). Automatic alarms120may be raised to the attention of the drill team (1) if at any time the automatic pipe tally does not match a manually generated pipe tally, (2) if a new piece of pipe106being added to the drill-string107is not commensurate with the current drill-string107(e.g., wrong pipe diameter), or (3) any other condition arises in which an alarm120is desired.

InFIG. 1, cameras102are mounted around the drill-string107, oriented to be able to see new segments of pipe106as they are added to the drill-string107, or as they are removed from the drill-string107. If the rig design allows it, one camera102may be sufficient. Alternatively, multiple cameras102, each of which may only be able to see part of the pipe106can also be utilized. In some embodiments, cameras102may also be able to see well-bore108, rough neck116and elevator118. Processor110is connected to cameras102and capable of analyzing the visual data150gathered by the cameras102.

InFIG. 2, a potential configuration of the disclosed system is shown. Cameras102are connected to processor110. Processor110may be connected to a logging system122, an alarm120and/or a display device124. It will be appreciated that many embodiments may contain greater or fewer cameras102, processors110or other components than specifically shown inFIG. 2.

FIG. 3shows the steps involved in a potential method for locating, measuring, counting, and/or aiding in the handling of drill pipes. The method includes acquiring visual data202, analyzing visual data204, recording data206, displaying data208, alerting staff210and interrupting operations212.

Specific regions of the scene (region of interest) may be identified during installation to specify the location of the vertical region above the well-bore108, the location of the iron roughneck116, or other relevant locations in each camera's102field of view.

During installation, the locations and poses of each camera102may be recorded. Camera locations can be finely estimated using standard camera calibration techniques (e.g., fiducial objects of known size and location in each camera's102field of view) immediately after installation, or whenever the cameras102have moved enough to require re-calibration.

In the case of multiple cameras102, at least one camera102should be able to see the top and another camera102see the bottom of the pipe106at the same time when the pipe106is directly above the drill-string107.

Pipe106, roughneck116and/or elevator118detection may be accomplished using a combination of techniques. In an alternative embodiment, adaptive background estimation and subtraction models (e.g., adaptive Gaussian mixture models) may be applied to perform foreground and/or background segmentation. Since the background should be relatively stable over the time-frames during which each object is in-frame, adaptive background updating can be halted when a specific object is detected. This prevents the background estimation from “learning” the pipe106as part of the background. Furthermore, shape and size constraints can be applied to reduce false-alarms due to other non-pipe related changes in the scene. Pipes106used in drilling are long and narrow, and the diameters of the pipes106under consideration are tightly constrained. As a result, object aspect ratio and object size (given known camera102location relative to the drill-string107) can be used to reduce non-pipe false alarms.

Changes in the background that are approximately the correct size and shape are then sent to a confirmation step, which takes into account features extracted from the detected regions. These features include pixel values, color histograms, and texture features, since each of these is indicative of the material composition of the object under consideration. A support vector machine trained to recognize pipe106, roughneck116, and/or elevator118like regions is then applied to the features extracted from each foreground region. The detections may be input into a finite state machine (FIG. 4).

Finite state machine logic systems may be used to ensure that the pipe tally is accurate by ensuring that the computer vision system100only increments the pipe tally when a suitable series of events has transpired.FIG. 4shows a finite state machine which may be used for incrementing the pipe tally during tripping out of the hole.

In each state, state specific variables may be calculated and recorded. For example, the pipe tracker uses a combination of point-matching (using Harris features and SIFT and BRIEF descriptors) within the pipe region, as well as Lucas-Kanade optical-flow techniques to estimate the per frame velocity of the pipe106. If the aggregate motion of the pipe106is “in well” (down), the pipe106is considered added to the drill-string107, and this is marked in the pipe tally. If the aggregate motion of the pipe106is “out of well” (up), the pipe106is considered removed from the drill-string107, and this is marked in the pipe tally.

Once a pipe106is tracked, its length and diameter may be constantly estimated and updated over time as long as the pipe106is in-frame. Estimation of the pipe length and diameter are possible since the aggregate change detection and pipe detection steps described above result in a bounding-box in image space containing the projection of the pipe106into the frame. Given the pixels comprising the pipe106, and the camera102location and pose information, it is possible to measure the pipe diameter and length. These measurements are refined over time to reduce uncertainty and noise due to inter-pixel variance.

When the pipe106exits the scene (whether into or out of the well), the average measured pipe length and diameter may be provided to the pipe tally. For pipes106exiting the well, if these values do not agree with the same values measured when the pipe106entered the well, an alarm120may be raised. For pipes106entering the well, if these values are outside the normal bounds, or are not commensurate with the previous pipe106to enter the well, an alarm120may be raised.

Embodiments disclosed herein may relate to a system for locating, measuring, counting or aiding in the handling of drill pipes106. The system may include at least one camera102which is operably connected to at least one processor110. The camera102may be capable of gathering visual data150regarding detecting and/or localizing components of a drilling rig which may include pipes106, drill pipes, roughnecks116, elevators118, drill-string components and combinations thereof. The processor110may be configured to analyze the visual data and may also be operably connected to the pipe elevator118. The processor may be configured to halt elevator118operations when the visual data is outside of a pre-determined set of conditions. The system may also include at least one logging system124connected to said processor110for recording said visual data150and any analyzed data.

Certain embodiments may also include a display system122for displaying the collected and/or analyzed data. Embodiments may include a camera102which also comprises the processor110. Embodiments of the system may also include an alarm120for alerting staff to the occurrence of a predetermined condition.

Disclosed embodiments may also relate to a method for locating, measuring, counting or aiding in the handling of drill pipes. The method includes acquiring visual data from at least one camera102, analyzing said visual data150, recording said analyzed data and disrupting the operations of a pipe elevator in response to a pre-determined condition.

Certain embodiments may also include displaying the acquired, analyzed or recorded data on a display device122. Embodiments may also include alerting staff to any occurrence of a pre-determined condition or any measurement that falls outside of a pre-determined range using an alarm120.

Additional embodiments relate to a system for assisting in the handling of drill pipe segments. The system may include a well-bore108which is being worked by a drill-string107. The drill-string107may comprise a plurality of drill pipe106segments. The system may also contain at least one camera102configured to observe the addition or subtraction of drill pipe106segments to the drill-string107and gathering visual data150. The camera102may be operably connected to a processor110. The process110may be capable of analyzing the visual data150.

Certain embodiments may also include a logging system124connected to the processor110. Embodiments may also include a display system122for displaying the collected and/or analyzed data. Some embodiments may include a camera102which includes a processor110. Embodiments may also contain an alarm120for alerting staff of the occurrence of a pre-determined condition.