Well monitoring and analyzing system

Claim 1

A system for monitoring a well being drilled with a drill string and drill bit comprising: a. input measuring and recording means for measuring and recording the input values of one or more parameters of drilling fluid and/or matter included in said drilling fluid before such fluid is injected into the well bore through said drill string and drill bit; b. output measuring and recording means for measuring and recording the output values of one or more parameters of said drilling fluid and/or matter included in said drilling fluid after said fluid is ejected from the drill bit into the well bore; c. display means for forming a visible display representative of said input and output parameter values; d. lag means responsive to the drill bit location and to the volume of fluid injected into the well for automatically relating the display of the input and output parameter values for a selected sample of said drilling fluid and/or matter included in said drilling fluid; e. a first strip chart included in said input measuring and recording means which is advanced by one incremental chart unit, representative of a unit of drill bit advance, each time the drill bit drills through a selected interval of the formation; and f. a second strip chart included in said output measuring and control means which is advanced by one incremental chart unit under the control of said lag means after said selected sample, comprising all of the drilling fluid injected into the well bore during the drilling of said selected formation interval, has been pumped past a selected location in said output measuring and recording means.

Claim 2

A system for monitoring a well being drilled with a drill string and drill bit comprising: a. input measuring and recording means for measuring and recording the input values of one or more parameters of drilling fluid and/or matter included in said drilling fluid before such fluid is injected into the well bore through said drill string and drill bit; b. output measuring and recording means for measuring and recording the output values of one or more parameters of said drilling fluid and/or matter included in said drilling fluid after said fluid is ejected from the drill bit into the well bore; c. display means for forming a visible display representative of said input and output parameter values; d. lag means responsive to the drill bit location and to the volume of fluid injected into the well for automatically relating the display of the input and output parameter values for a selected sample of said drilling fluid and/or matter included in said drilling fluid; e. a first strip chart included in said input measuring and recording means which is advanced by one incremental chart unit, representative of a unit of drill bit advance, each time the drill bit drills through a selected interval of the formation; and f. a second strip chart included in said output measuring and control means which is advanced by one incremental chart unit under the control of said lag means after said selected sample, comprising all of the drilling fluid injected into the well bore during the drilling of said selected formation interval, has been pumped past a selected location in said output measuring and recording means.

Claim 6

A system for monitoring a well being drilled with a drill string and drill bit comprising: a. input measuring and recording means for measuring and recording the input values of one or more parameters of drilling fluid and/or matter included in said drilling fluid before such fluid is injected into the well bore through said drill string and drill bit; b. output measuring and recording means for measuring and recording the output values of one or more parameters of said drilling fluid and/or matter included in said drilling fluid after said fluid is ejected from the drill bit into the well bore; c. display means for forming a visible display representative of said input and output parameter values; d. lag means responsive to the drill bit location and to the volume of fluid injected into the well for automatically relating the display of the input and output parameter values for a selected sample of said drilling fluid and/or matter included in said drilling fluid; and e. sampling means for automatically sampling material included in said selected sample of said drilling fluid.

Claim 7

A system for monitoring a well being drilled with a drill string and drill bit comprising: a. input measuring and recording means for measuring and recording the input values of one or more parameters of drilling fluid and/or matter included in said drilling fluid before such fluid is injected into the well bore through said drill string and drill bit; b. output measuring and recording means for measuring and recording the output values of one or more parameters of said drilling fluid and/or matter included in said drilling fluid after said fluid is ejected from the drill bit into the well bore; c. display means for forming a visible display representative of said input and output parameter values; d. lag means responsive to the drill bit location and to the volume of fluid injected into the well for automatically relating the display of the input and output parameter values for a selected sample of said drilling fluid and/or matter included in said drilling fluid; and e. sampling means for automatically sampling material included in said selected sample of said drilling fluid.

Claim 9

A system for monitoring a well being drilled with a drill string and drill bit comprising: a. input measuring and recording means for measuring and recording the input values of one or more parameters of drilling fluid and/or matter included in said drilling fluid before such fluid is injected into the well bore through said drill string and drill bit; b. output measuring and recording means for measuring and recording the output values of one or more parameters of said drilling fluid and/or matter included in said drilling fluid after said fluid is ejected from the drill bit into the well bore; c. display means for forming a visible display representative of said input and output parameter values; d. lag means responsive to the drill bit location and to the volume of fluid injected into the well for automatically relating the display of the input and output parameter values for a selected sample of said drilling fluid and/or matter included in said drilling fluid; and e. signalling alarm means for automatically signalling the presence of said selected sample at a predetermined location in said output measuring and recording means.

Claim 10

A system for monitoring a well being drilled with a drill string and drill bit comprising: a. input measuring and recording means for measuring and recording the input values of one or more parameters of drilling fluid and/or matter included in said drilling fluid before such fluid is injected into the well bore through said drill string and drill bit; b. output measuring and recording means for measuring and recording the output values of one or more parameters of said drilling fluid and/or matter included in said drilling fluid after said fluid is ejected from the drill bit into the well bore; c. display means for forming a visible display representative of said input and output parameter values; d. lag means responsive to the drill bit location and to the volume of fluid injected into the well for automatically relating the display of the input and output parameter values for a selected sample of said drilling fluid and/or matter included in said drilling fluid; and e. signalling alarm means for automatically signalling the presence of said selected sample at a predetermined location in said output measuring and recording means.

Claim 11

A system for monitoring a well being drilled with a drill string and drill bit comprising: a. input measuring and recording means for measuring and recording the input values of one or more parameters of drilling fluid and/or matter included in said drilling fluid before such fluid is injected into the well bore through said drill string and drill bit; b. output measuring and recording means for measuring and recording the output values of one or more parameters of said drilling fluid and/or matter included in said drilling fluid after said fluid is ejected from the drill bit into the well bore; c. display means for forming a visible display representative of said input and output parameter values; d. lag means responsive to the drill bit location and to the volume of fluid injected into the well for automatically relating the display of the input and output parameter values for a selected sample of said drilling fluid and/or matter included in said drilling fluid; e. second display means connected with said output measuring and recording means for forming a visual display representative of said output parameter values; and f. lag responsive means connected with said second display means for automatically relating the visual display on said second display means representative of parameter values for a particular sample with the bore depth at which such sample was ejected from said drill string into the well bore.

Claim 12

A system for monitoring a well being drilled with a drill string and drill bit comprising: a. input measuring and recording means for measuring and recording the input values of one or more parameters of drilling fluid and/or matter included in said drilling fluid before such fluid is injected into the well bore through said drill string and drill bit; b. output measuring and recording means for measuring and recording the output values of one or more parameters of said drilling fluid and/or matter included in said drilling fluid after said fluid is ejected from the drill bit into the well bore; c. display means for forming a visible display representative of said input and output parameter values; d. lag means responsive to the drill bit location and to the volume of fluid injected into the well for automatically relating the display of the input and output parameter values for a selected sample of said drilling fluid and/or matter included in said drilling fluid; e. second display means connected with said output measuring and recording means for forming a visual display representative of said output parameter values; and f. lag responsive means connected with said second display means for automatically relating the visual display on said second display means representative of parameter values for a particular sample with the bore depth at which such sample was ejected from said drill string into the well bore.

Claim 16

A system for monitoring a well bore being drilled with a drill string, drill bit and drilling fluid comprising: a. output measuring and recording means for measuring and recording the output values of one or more parameters of said drilling fluid and/or matter included in a given sample of said drilling fluid after said fluid sample is ejected from said drill string and bit into the well bore and circulated to the well surface; b. display means for forming a visual display representative of said output parameter values; c. lag means responsive to the drill bit depth within the well bore and to the volume of fluid injected into the well bore for automatically relating the visual display of parameter values for a particular sample with the bore depth at which such sample was ejected from said drill string into the well bore; and d. a strip chart recorder means included in said display means which is driven at a constant rate independent of the drill bit penetration rate.

Claim 17

A system for monitoring a well bore being drilled with a drill string, drill bit and drilling fluid comprising: a. output measuring and recording means for measuring and recording the output values of one or more parameters of said drilling fluid and/or matter included in a given sample of said drilling fluid after said fluid sample is ejected from said drill string and bit into the well bore and circulated to the well surface; b. display means for forming a visual display representative of said output parameter values; c. lag means responsive to the drill bit depth within the well bore and to the volume of fluid injected into the well bore for automatically relating the visual display of parameter values for a particular sample with the bore depth at which such sample was ejected from said drill string into the well bore; and d. a strip chart recorder means included in said display means which is driven at a constant rate independent of the drill bit penetration rate.

Claim 20

A system for automatically measuring, graphically recording and correlating input and output data where said input data is representative of the parameter values of drilling fluid before it is injected into a well bore from a drill string and attached drill bit and said output data is representative of the parameter values of the same drilling fluid after it is ejected from the drill bit and circulated to the well surface comprising: a. input measuring means for measuring the parameter values of the drilling fluid before it is injected into said well bore; b. input strip chart means connected with said input measuring means for graphically recording the parameter values measured by said input measuring means; c. well depth measuring means for automatically providing an output signal each time the drill bit has drilled a predetermined length of bore hole; d. direct chart drive means controlled by the output signals of said well depth measuring means for selectively advancing said input chart means by a representative amount each time said predetermined length of bore hole has been drilled; e. output measuring means for measuring the parameter values of the drilling fluid when it is circulated to the well surface after being ejected from the drill bit into said well bore; f. output strip chart means connected with said output measuring means for graphically recording the parameter values measured by said output measuring means; g. lag means responsive to the volume of fluid injected into said well bore and to the output signals of said well depth measuring means for forming an output signal, after the lag volume has been injected, each time an additional volume of fluid equal to that injected between each sequentially occurring output signal from said depth measuring means is injected into said well bore; and h. lagged chart drive means controlled by the output signals of said lag means for selectively advancing said output chart means by said representative amount each time one of said lag means output signals is produced.

Claim 21

A system for automatically measuring, graphically recording and correlating input and output data where said input data is representative of the parameter values of drilling fluid before it is injected into a well bore from a drill string and attached drill bit and said output data is representative of the parameter values of the same drilling fluid after it is ejected from the drill bit and circulated to the well surface comprising: a. input measuring means for measuring the parameter values of the drilling fluid before it is injected into said well bore; b. input strip chart means connected with said input measuring means for graphically recording the parameter values measured by said input measuring means; c. well depth measuring means for automatically providing an output signal each time the drill bit has drilled a predetermined length of bore hole; d. direct chart drive means controlled by the output signals of said well depth measuring means for selectively advancing said input chart means by a representative amount each time said predetermined length of bore hole has been drilled; e. output measuring means for measuring the parameter values of the drilling fluid when it is circulated to the well surface after being ejected from the drill bit into said well bore; f. output strip chart means connected with said output measuring means for graphically recording the parameter values measured by said output measuring means; g. lag means responsive to the volume of fluid injected into said well bore and to the output signals of said well depth measuring means for forming an output signal, after the lag volume has been injected, each time an additional volume of fluid equal to that injected between each sequentially occurring output signal from said depth measuring means is injected into said well bore; and h. lagged chart drive means controlled by the output signals of said lag means for selectively advancing said output chart means by said representative amount each time one of said lag means output signals is produced.

Claim 26

A system for monitoring a well drilling operation in which a well bore is being drilled through a subsurface formation with a drill string, drill bit and drilling fluid comprising: a. well depth measuring means for automatically providing an output signal each time the drill bit has drilled a predetermined length of bore hole through the formation; b. lag means responsive to the volume of drilling fluid injected into said well bore and to the output signals of said well depth measuring means for forming an output signal, after the lag volume of drilling fluid has been injected, each time an additional volume of drilling fluid equal to that injected during the interval between each sequentially occurring output signal from said depth measuring means is injected into said well bore; and c. signalling means responsive to the output signals from said lag means for automatically signalling the arrival at the well surface of drilling fluids and/or cuttings emitted from the drill bit or cut away from the formation at a given subsurface well location whereby samples of fluids and/or cuttings taken at the surface at times indicated by said signalling means may be correlated with such given subsurface well location.

Claim 27

A system for monitoring a well drilling operation in which a well bore is being drilled through a subsurface formation with a drill string, drill bit and drilling fluid comprising: a. well depth measuring means for automatically providing an output signal each time the drill bit has drilled a predetermined length of bore hole through the formation; b. lag means responsive to the volume of drilling fluid injected into said well bore and to the output signals of said well depth measuring means for forming an output signal, after the lag volume of drilling fluid has been injected, each time an additional volume of drilling fluid equal to that injected during the interval between each sequentially occurring output signal from said depth measuring means is injected into said well bore; and c. signalling means responsive to the output signals from said lag means for automatically signalling the arrival at the well surface of drilling fluids and/or cuttings emitted from the drill bit or cut away from the formation at a given subsurface well location whereby samples of fluids and/or cuttings taken at the surface at times indicated by said signalling means may be correlated with such given subsurface well location.