Improvement of Safety with Ai Applied on a Rig Continuous Circulation System

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to illustrate the development of the innovative system of continuous circulation drilling. With an important contribution of a cameras system an Artificial Intelligence, the drilling operation are much more accurate and fully automated. The presence of personnel on the drillfloor is not required and controlling it takes place remotely from inside the driller cabin. The automated system is composed of a: Clamp, Trolley, Mud Diverter Manifold, Vision System, HMI and PLC Control Skid. The trolley and clamp are remotely controlled from the driller cabin. With the aid of the vision system, the driller is able to align the clamp with the external valve on the sub and move forwards or backwards as needed. With an angle of +/- 10 ° to the right and left, the alignment can take place in the three directions of the space.The software is set up to minimize human and system error. The CCS technology has evolved to be used on the last generation drilling rigs. The implementation of a fully automated system that makes use of artificial intelligence allows remote control and creates the possibility of carrying out operations safely without operators on the drilling floor. The technology allows operations to be carried out continuously and in compliance with safety standards. The cameras allow to operate in the most critical conditions, using a lighting system with a setting that has been tested and set in the worst operating conditions. The valve detection and alignment of the system to the sub allows to start the continuous circulation. The use of AI allows for drastic enhancement in drilling efficiency and safety standards reducing the number of humans needed inputs. The human-machine interaction represents a competitive advantage over traditional systems. The automation of drilling improves the way to drill wells, producing benefits in terms of optimizing the critical analytical decision and, more generally, returns significant operative savings. Another key benefit of AI-infused drilling is safety: less people involved in operations, with an increased skill set. The paper's goal is to show the world a new frontier of drilling.