CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Application No. 13/855406, filed on April 2, 2013, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

1. Field of the Disclosure

[0002] The present disclosure relates to determining a wear on a component and, in particular, to determining wear from an effect on an oscillating member due to particles worn from the component and accumulated at the oscillating member.

2. Description of the Related Art

[0003] Many oil-filled systems include moving parts that experience wear. Over the course of time, particles are worn away from a surface of the moving parts and are carried away via a fluid surrounding the moving part. While the particles may clutter the system if left in the fluid, the amount of particles is related to the amount of wear that has been experienced by the moving part. Thus, determining accumulating the particles and determine their amount may be useful in determining a wear of the system. Understanding the wear of the system enables having a suitable maintenance schedule.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

[0004] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a method of a determining wear on a component, the method including: receiving a particle freed from the component as a result of the wear on the component onto an oscillating member; measuring a change in a parameter of the oscillating member resulting from receiving the particle; and determining the wear on the component from the measured change in the parameter.

[0005] In another aspect the present disclosure provides an apparatus for determining wear on a component, the apparatus including: an oscillating member configured to receive a particle freed from the component as a result of the wear on the component; a measuring device configured to measure a change in a parameter of the oscillating member resulting from receiving the particle; and a processor configured to determine the wear on the component from the change in the parameter.

[0006] In another aspect, the present disclosure provides a drilling system that includes: a component of a drill string; an oscillating member in the fluid passage configured to receive a particle freed from the component as a result of wear on the component; a measuring device configured to measure a change in a parameter of the oscillating member indicative of a change in mass resulting from receiving the particle at the oscillating member; and a processor configured to determine the wear on the component from the change in the parameter.

[0007] Examples of certain features of the apparatus and method disclosed herein are summarized rather broadly in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood. There are, of course, additional features of the apparatus and method disclosed hereinafter that will form the subject of the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008] For detailed understanding of the present disclosure, references should be made to the following detailed description of the exemplary embodiment, taken in

conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like elements have been given like numerals and wherein:

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary drilling system suitable for employing an exemplary wear measurement device of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 shows a detailed view of a section of the exemplary drilling system;

FIG. 3 shows a detailed view of the exemplary wear measurement device in one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 shows a detailed view of an active end of the exemplary wear measurement device of FIG. 3 in an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 5 shows a detailed view of an active end of the wear measurement device of FIG. 3 in an alternate embodiment; and

FIG. 6 shows a lateral vibrational mode produced at an active end of the wear measurement device in the alternate embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE

[0009] FIG. 1 shows an exemplary drilling system 100 suitable for employing an exemplary wear measurement device 128 of the present disclosure. The exemplary drilling system 100 includes a derrick 102 and hook 104 supporting a drill string 110 disposed in a borehole 108 penetrating formation 106. The drill string 110 includes a drill bit 112 at a bottom end. Pumps 114 circulate drilling fluid through a standpipe 116 and flexible hose 118, down through an interior of the hollow drill string 110 to exit at the drill bit 112. The drilling fluid is returned to the surface via an annular space 120 between the drill string 110 and a borehole wall 122. The drill string 110 may include a bottomhole assembly 124 that may include various components 126 such as moving parts or parts that experience wear in the downhole environment of the borehole 108. The drill string 110 may further include the exemplary wear measurement device 128 within a suitable proximity of the exemplary component 126 for measuring a parameter indicative of the wear on the component 126. A processor 130 conveyed downhole by the drill string 110 may perform calculations on the parameters obtained at the exemplary wear measurement device 128 to determine wear on the component 126. Alternatively, the processor 130 may be at a surface location and data measurements may be telemetered uphole for wear calculations. In alternate embodiments, the component 126 and the wear measurement device 128 may be at any location along the drill string 110.

[0010] FIG. 2 shows a detailed view 200 of a section of the exemplary drilling system 100. The exemplary system 200 includes a housing 202 that houses a component 204 that experience wear during operation of the drilling system 100. A fluid 206 in the housing 202 flows in a direction indicated by flow arrow 208 from the component 204 towards an exemplary wear measurement device 210 of the present disclosure. Although discussed herein with respect to a drilling system, the exemplary wear detection device 210 may be used with other devices, such as a downhole submersible pump, an oil-filled system, a gearbox, a hydraulic system, etc. As a result of wear on the component 204, various particles may be worn away or freed from a surface of the component. The particles are carried by the fluid 206. The wear measurement device 210 is downstream of the component 204 and thus may receive or accumulate the particle. As described in further detail below, the reception of the particle at the wear measurement device 210 may change a parameter of the wear measurement device 210. The change in the parameter may be measured in order to determine the presence of the particle at the wear measurement device 210 and thus the wear on the component 204 from which the particle is worn. In particular, a plurality of particles may be accumulated at the wear measurement device 210 over a selected time interval.

Measurement of the change of the parameter of the wear measurement device 210 over the selected time interval may be used to determine the rate of wear on the component 204.

[0011] A control unit 220 may be coupled to the wear measurement device 210. The exemplary control unit 220 may include a processor 222, a memory location 224 for storing various data such as measurements and calculations performed by the processor 222, and a set of programs 226 including instructions that may be used by the processor to determine a wear on the component 204. The control unit may be further configured to actuate the wear measurement device 210 by directing a current through a coil 212 proximate the wear measurement device 210. In addition, the control unit 220 may operate the coil 212 in one of an actuation mode and a pickup mode. An electrical measurement device 214 may also be coupled to the coil 212 to measure various electrical parameters such as current, voltage, etc. in a pickup mode of the coil. The various electrical parameters may be used to determine wear on the component using the processor 222 and the various programs 226. Additionally, the wear measurement device 210 may further include an electromagnet 216 that may be turned on and/or off in order to provide a magnetic field that disengages the particles from the wear measurement device 210, thereby preparing a clean wear measurement device once a parameter of the wear measurement device 210 has been determined.

[0012] FIG. 3 shows a detailed view of the exemplary wear measurement device 210 in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. The wear measurement device 210 includes a fixture element 302 configured to couple the wear measurement device 210 to the housing (202, FIG. 2). The fixture element 302 is coupled to one end of a decoupling stem 304. An opposing end of the decoupling stem 304 is coupled to a base 306. The base 306 supports a first tine 308 and a second tine 310. A constrained end 308a of the first tine 308 is coupled to the base 306, and a constrained end 310a the second tine 310 is coupled to the base 306. A free end 308b of the first tine 308 includes a first magnetic field 312, and a free end 310b of the second tine 310 includes a second magnetic field 314. In an exemplary embodiment, a first magnet 316 is secured to the free end 308b of the first tine 308 in order to provide the first magnetic field 312, and a second magnet 318 is secured to the free end 310b of the second tine 310 in order to provide the second magnetic field 314. The first magnet 316 and the second magnet 318 may be permanent magnets. The first magnetic field 312 is substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal axis 320 of the first time 308. The second magnetic field 314 is substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal axis 322 of the second tine 310. In an exemplary embodiment, the first magnetic field 312 and the second magnetic field 314 have anti-parallel orientations. In one embodiment, the first magnetic field 312 may be directed toward the free end 310b of the second tine 310 and the second magnetic field 314 may be directed toward the free end 308b of the first tine 308, as shown in FIG. 4. In an alternate embodiment, the first magnetic field 312 may be directed away from the second free end 310b and the second magnetic field 314 may be directed away from the first free end 308b. In general, the orientations of the first magnetic field 312 and the second magnetic field 314 are such that an external magnetic field interacts with the first magnetic field 312 and the second magnetic field 314 to produce opposing oscillations on the first tine 308 and the second tine 310, as discussed below.

[0013] FIG. 4 shows a detailed view of an active end 400 of the exemplary wear measurement device 210 in an exemplary embodiment. The active end 400 includes the free end 308b of the first tine 308 and the free end 310b of the second tine 310 as well as one or more coils 402a and 402b disposed at a selected location with respect to the first and second free ends 308b and 310b so as to have a magnetic interaction with the first and second free ends 308b and 310b. The exemplary coils 402a and 402b are disposed on opposite sides of a plane substantially defined by the first tine 308 and the second tine 310. Each of the one or more coils 402a and 402b are oriented so as to induce a magnetic field 404 directed substantially normal to the plane when a current is conducted through the one or more coils 402a and 402b. The one or more coils 402a and 402b may be used as both excitation coils and pickup coils. As an excitation coil, a current is conducted through the one or more coils 402a and 402b in order to induce magnetic field 404. In particular, an alternating current in the one or more coils 402a and 402b induces an oscillating magnetic field 404. As a pickup coil, changes in the magnetic field due to vibration of the first and second tines 308 and 310 induce a current in the coils 402a and 402b which may be measured to determine an oscillation parameter such as frequency of oscillation, phase of the oscillation, damping of the oscillation and/or amplitude of oscillation of the first and second tines 308 and 310.

[0014] When exposed to the induced magnetic field 404 of the coils 402a and 402b operating in the excitation mode, the magnetic fields 312 and 314 rotate to align with the induced magnetic field 404. Therefore, for the configuration shown in FIG. 4, the first magnetic field 312 rotates in a counter-clockwise direction as indicated by rotational arrow 412, thereby causes a counter-clockwise rotation of the free end 308b of the first tine 308. The second magnetic field 314, being anti-parallel to the first magnetic field 312, rotates in a clockwise direction as indicated by rotational arrow 414, thereby causes a clockwise rotation of the free end 310b of the second tine 310. When the current in the coil is reversed, the direction of the induced magnetic field 404 is also reversed, thereby causing a clockwise rotation of the free end 308b of the first tine 308 and a counter-clockwise rotation of the free end 310b of the second time 310. Therefore, an alternating current in the one or more coils 402a and 403b produces torsional oscillations of the first and second tines 308 and 310. The oscillations occur at an eigenfreuqency that is determined in part by the mass of the first and second tines 308 and 310. The eigenfrequency therefore changes when the mass of the first and second times 308 and 310 increases due to the accumulation of particles. The amplitude and frequency of the torsional oscillations may be controlled by controlling the frequency and amplitude of the current in the one or more coils 402a and 402b.

[0015] When operated in the pickup mode, the one or more coils 402a and 402b may be used to measure a parameter of the oscillation of the tines 308 and 310, such as a frequency, amplitude, phase and/or damping of the oscillations. The oscillation of the first magnetic field 312 and the second magnetic field 314 induce a current in the one or more coils 402a and 402b. An electrical measuring device (214, FIG. 1) is coupled to the one more coils 402a and 402b to measure an electrical property of the one or more coils 402a and 402b, such as a current in the one or more coils 402a and 402b or a voltage corresponding to the induced current.

[0016] FIG. 5 shows a detailed view of an active end 500 of the wear measurement device in an alternate embodiment. Coil 502 is disposed with respect to the first and second tines so that a current in the coils induces a magnetic field 504 that is oriented substantially along a longitudinal axis of the first tine and/or the second tine. The free end 308b of the first tine 308 is shown for illustrative purposes only. Current in coil 502 induces magnetic field 504. Magnetic field 312 is perpendicular to the induced field 504 and attempts to orient itself along the induced field 504. This tendency of the magnetic field 312 to align with the induced field 504 produces a rotation 508 about a torque vector 510 that is orthogonal to both the direction of the induced field 504 and the direction of the magnetic field 312.

[0017] FIG. 6 shows a lateral mode produced at an active end of the wear

measurement device in the alternate embodiment. First tine 308 undergoes a rotation as indicated by rotational arrow 508. For second tine 310, the direction of the magnetic field 314 is anti-parallel to the direction of the magnetic field 312 of the first tine 308. Therefore, the direction of rotation of the second tine 310 is opposite the direction of rotation of the first tine, as shown by rotational arrow 512. Therefore, the first and second tines 308 and 310 undergo a lateral oscillation within the plane of the first and second tines 308 and 310.

[0018] Referring back to FIGS. 2 and 3, in operating the wear measurement device 210, a particle is received at one of the magnets 316 and 318, thereby altering an oscillation parameter of the first and second tines 308 and 310, such as a frequency of oscillation and/or an amplitude of oscillation. For example, increase the mass while maintaining the same excitation decrease the frequency of oscillation of the first and second tines 308 and 310 as well as decrease the amplitude of oscillation of the first and second tines 308 and 310. The alteration in the oscillation parameter at the coil 212 by an electrical measurement device 214 which may measure a change in frequency and/or magnitude from current flowing through the coil 212. The determined change in the oscillation parameter may therefore be used to determine an amount or mass of particles accumulated at the tines 308 and 310 and therefore and amount of mass lost or worn away from the component 204. This determined lost mass may provide a determination of the wear on the component. Additionally, the change in the oscillation parameter may be measured over a selected time interval over which a plurality of particles are accumulated at the magnets 316 and 318 The change in the oscillation parameter over the selected time interval may then determine a rate of wear of the component 204.

[0019] In another aspect of the present disclosure, the wear measurement device 210 may be removed from the housing 202 to remove the particles accumulated at the magnets from the fluid. Therefore, the wear measurement device 210 also may be used to keep the fluid 206 clean from wear particles and magnetic debris.

[0020] While the foregoing disclosure is directed to the preferred embodiments of the disclosure, various modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art. It is intended that all variations within the scope and spirit of the appended claims be embraced by the foregoing disclosure.