True Shot

Mud pulse telemetry is one of the many interesting technologies used in modern boring. Here's how it works. What Is Mud Pulse Telemetry? Mud pulse telemetry  is a technology used in  True Shot's M1 Unmanned MWD tool . The technology is used to communicate drill bit orientation data through the earth. The data is received by engineers who fine-tune and maneuver the drill bit accordingly.  What Does Mud Pulse Telemetry Do The measurement while drilling (MWD) system is vital in directional drills. The  downhole tool precisely measures the azimuth (horizontal orientation) and the drill bit's inclination (virtual orientation). This tells the drill operators which direction the drill is going and allows them to make desired changes in direction accordingly.  The problem is that the measurement data cannot be transferred through radio waves or other electromagnetic waves. The earth interacts with electromagnetic waves, and they can't get through. The solution is mud pu...

To most people, boring sounds, well, pretty boring. However, the actual science behind modern oil and gas exploration is far from that. Boring today involves advanced devices working collectively, called downhole tools . These tools go into the ground  with the drill bit to serve all sorts of functions. This article explains what modern boring technologies are in a layperson's language. Here's the interesting science behind boring.   Directional Drilling For most of history, we've dug for water and drilled for fuel straight down. There are many problems with this. For example, if an oil reserve is located under a lake, it's more expensive to build an oil rig directly on top. There are also often obstacles in the way, such as layers of rock and gas pockets. Drilling through these to get to the hydrocarbon reserve is costly and risky. This is why most hydrocarbon drilling projects today use directional drilling . Directional drilling uses complex drill bits that can chang...

The M1 Unmanned MWD  is a highly precise downhole tool  that measures the three-dimensional orientation of the drill bit. The tool has an accuracy of +/-0.1° for inclination and +/- 0.25 for azimuth .    Here are the technologies that make these accurate readings possible. Accelerometers In 1915, Einstein published his theory of general relativity ,  showing that gravity is indistinguishable from acceleration. When you accelerate your car really fast and feel a pushback towards your seat, that force is naturally the same as gravity. This is how artificial gravity  will be created in future space stations.  The drill bit doesn't accelerate much, so placing accelerometers in the M1 Unmanned MWD  doesn't make sense initially. However, the accelerometers are there to measure the direction of gravity. This allows the downhole tool to establish a "downwards" direction and measure its inclination (horizontal orientation) relative to that direction. Magne...