Patent Document ID: 10108155
Application ID: 14449407
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for controlling an automated hydrocarbon industrial process to drill a wellbore through an earth formation having a desired wellbore trajectory and at least one controllable parameter of drill bit rotational speed and weight-on-bit, wherein the automated process is subject to at least one dynamic constraint, the method comprising: receiving a stream of measurement data indicative of depth-of-cut, weight-on-bit, drill bit rotational speed, azimuth, and inclination from a sensor system comprising at least one sensor configured to measure a property from which a functional relationship between the desired wellbore trajectory and the at least one controllable parameter of drill bit rotational speed and weight-on-bit is determined; postulating that the stream of measurement data is segmented according to a plurality of possible segmentations each possible segmentation comprising a plurality of segments divided by changepoints, wherein each changepoint is indicative of a change in an operating condition; fitting one or more portions of the stream of measurement data corresponding to each segment in the plurality of segments in each of the plurality of possible segmentations to a model corresponding to the each segment; evaluating each of the plurality of possible segmentations by determining how well the model corresponding to the each segment in the plurality of segments in the plurality of possible segmentations fits the one or more portions of the stream of measurement data corresponding to the each segment; using at least one of a most likely segmentation and the models corresponding to the segments of the most likely segmentation to determine the at least one dynamic constraint and the functional relationship between the desired wellbore trajectory and the at least one controllable parameter of drill bit rotational speed and weight-on-bit, wherein the most likely segmentation comprises a one of the plurality of possible segmentations having a best fit between the models corresponding to the segments in the one of the plurality of possible segmentations and corresponding one or more portions of the stream of measurement data for the one of the plurality of possible segmentations; using the functional relationship between the desired wellbore trajectory and the at least one dynamic constraint to determine a suggested parameter setting for the at least one controllable parameter of drill bit rotational speed and weight-on-bit, wherein the suggested parameter setting is determined such that according to the determined functional relationship between the at least one controllable parameter of drill bit rotational speed and weight-on-bit and the desired wellbore trajectory an improved performance is achieved using the suggested parameter setting while operating within the at least one dynamic constraint; controlling the automated process by adjusting the controllable parameter to the suggested parameter setting; determining operating constraints defining a safe operating envelope as a function of drill bit rotational speed and weight-on-bit; determining rotational speed and weight-on-bit parameters that provide the desired wellbore trajectory within the safe operating envelope; and outputting a combination of drill bit rotational speed and weight-on-bit to move the drill bit rotational speed and weight-on-bit toward the rotational speed and weight-on-bit parameters for the desired wellbore trajectory.