A Technical Approach to Safe Mode Management for a Smooth Transition from Automatic to Manual Drilling

Abstract

Abstract Unexpected situations and system failures during well construction operations are always possible. In the context of drilling automation, or even autonomous drilling, proper automatic management of these situations is of critical importance as the situation awareness of the human operator is very much reduced. The proper management of the transition between automatic and manual modes is necessary to improve the safety of automation solutions. An important characteristic of drilling automation solutions is their ability to cope with unexpected situations. This also encompasses, placing the drilling system in a state that is easy and intuitive for the human operator when manual control is required. Our approach to safe mode management is dependent on a good state estimation of the current conditions of the process. If for any reason, manual control must be regained, then the automated function itself triggers the necessary actions that will ensure a stable current state. In case of a drilling problem or a system failure, the human operator may have to regain control when the context might be totally different from the one left when the automation or autonomous function was enabled. It may even be a different human operator that has to take control, if a crew change has taken place. To make the transition from the automated/autonomous context to manual control, the automation/autonomous system sets the drilling machines in a so-called safe transition state. A safe transition state is one for which leaving the current setpoints of drilling machines untouched for a reasonable amount of time, will not immediately jeopardize the safety of the drilling operation. A safe transition state is contextual as it is not necessarily the same sequence of actions that must be performed to reach the safe transition state every time. The novel safe modes management method is integrated into existing drilling automation solutions. In a drilling automation context, the situation awareness of the human operator is considerably reduced as the automated functions control the process and the human operator is not actively driving the drilling machines. Without active safe mode management, there is a risk that drilling automation solutions may lead to serious situations as the driller may be totally unprepared to regain control in the middle of a critical situation. When it is needed to return to manual mode in the middle of the execution of an automatic procedure, an adequate procedure is executed. The choice of the procedure and its parameters depend on the current state of the process and system.