DETAILED ACTION
This communication is a first office action on the merits. All currently pending claims have been considered below. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Information Disclosure Statement
No IDS has been filed in the present case. If applicable, the Examiner respectfully notes Applicant's duty to submit to the Office information which is material to patentability, as per MPEP §609, and the time limits for such a filing set forth under 37 CFR 1.97.
Election/Restrictions
The examiner notes that there are several groups of species disclosed in the present case. The drilling patterns of figs 1A vs 1B. The material variations in figs 3A-3D. The umbilical variations of figs 3E & 3F. The fluid separators of figs 5 & 6. The bundle & insulation variations of figs 8A & 8B and the resulting flow regime variations of figs 9A & 9B, for examples.
In light of the 102 rejections below, the present "unity of invention" embodied by most of the claims is questionable as making a contribution over the prior art necessary to provide a "special technical feature" per MPEP 1893.03(d): "A group of inventions is considered linked to form a single general inventive concept where there is a technical relationship among the inventions that involves at least one common or corresponding special technical feature. The expression special technical features is defined as meaning those technical features that define the contribution which each claimed invention, considered as a whole, makes over the prior art."
That said, the examiner does not make a restriction requirement for lack of unity of invention at this point as most of the details do not appear to be claimed, and those different species that are claimed are obvious (again, in light of the prior art rejections below). Applicant is respectfully informed that amendments which significantly diverge the claims into different species may warrant a restriction requirement in the future.
Priority
The examiner acknowledges the preset case's claim of priority to PCT/IB2024/053640 (filed 4/13/2024) and provisional application PRO 63/500,835 (filed 5/8/2023). However, the present application is not the same as the provisional application. The figures and claims are different between these documents and the provisional application. Present figures 2A-2C, 3C-9B+, and 12 are all new from the provisional document. Present figures 3A & 3B are similar to figures 3A &3B in the provisional document but are different in final assessment. As such, the present claims are respectfully afforded the filing date of the WIPO priority document, 4/13/2024.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the following features must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
The structure / configuration for flowing cooling fluid out of the second tubing above the BHA of claims 11 & 20 is not shown.
The refrigeration cycle and the structure therefore of claim 13 is not shown.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5-10, 14-16, 18, 19, & 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 2009/0260823 (Prince-Wright). The independent claims will be addressed first so that similar dependent claims may be addressed together.
Independent claim 1. Prince-Wright discloses A method, comprising:
flowing a drilling fluid ("Liquid drilling fluid flows down drilling string 312 as indicated by arrow 372" - ¶ 600 & fig 29) through a bore (fig 29) of a first coiled tubing ("center drilling string" - ¶ 610 & fig 29; coiled tubing is discussed in ¶s 492, 495, 499, 501, 625, among many other places) to a bottom hole assembly ("BHA 314" - fig 28; ¶s 492, 501; Not individually numbered in fig 29) comprising a drill bit ("drill bit 318" - ¶ 608, figs 28 & 29) and into a wellbore being drilled ("drilling fluid and cuttings may flow upwards to the surface in the direction indicated by arrow 378" - ¶ 608); and
flowing a cooling fluid toward the drill bit ("Cooling fluid may flow down the annular region between center drilling string and the middle drilling string in the direction indicated by arrows 388" - fig 29 & ¶ 610) through a second tubing residing in the wellbore (drawn to either the outermost string or the middle drilling string", both of which 388 "flows through" - fig 29; "down the annular region between center drilling string and the middle drilling string..." - ¶ 610) with the first tubing (fig 29), the cooling fluid having different thermal characteristics than the drilling fluid ("The cooling fluid may be water or another type of cooling fluid that is able to change from a liquid phase to a vapor phase and absorb heat." - ¶ 611).
Independent claim 14. Prince-Wright discloses A system, comprising:
a first coiled tubing ("center drilling string" - ¶ 610 & fig 29; coiled tubing is discussed in ¶s 492, 495, 499, 501, 625, among many other places) coupled to a bottom hole assembly (BHA) ("BHA 314" - fig 28; ¶s 492, 501; Not individually numbered in fig 29) comprising a drill bit ("drill bit 318" - ¶ 608, figs 28 & 29) and comprising drilling fluid ("Liquid drilling fluid flows down drilling string 312 as indicated by arrow 372" - ¶ 600 & fig 29) flowing through a bore of the first tubing (fig 29) to the BHA and out into a wellbore being drilled ("drilling fluid and cuttings may flow upwards to the surface in the direction indicated by arrow 378" - ¶ 608 & fig 29); and
a second coiled tubing residing in the wellbore with the first coiled tubing (drawn to either the outermost string or the middle drilling string", both of which 388 "flows through" - fig 29; "down the annular region between center drilling string and the middle drilling string..." - ¶ 610), the second coiled tubing comprising a cooling fluid ("Cooling fluid may flow down the annular region between center drilling string and the middle drilling string in the direction indicated by arrows 388" - fig 29 & ¶ 610) having different thermal characteristics than the drilling fluid ("The cooling fluid may be water or another type of cooling fluid that is able to change from a liquid phase to a vapor phase and absorb heat." - ¶ 611).
2 & 15. The method of claim 1 / system of claim 14, comprising supplying an electric signal to the BHA through a cable in the wellbore bundled with the first and second tubing, where the electric signal comprises one or more of power or communication [claim 2] / an umbilical cable bundled with the first and second coiled tubing, the umbilical cable configured to communicate one or more of power or communication to the BHA [claim 15] ("The composite coiled tubing may include integral power lines for providing electricity to downhole tools. The composite coiled tubing may include integral data lines for providing real time information regarding downhole conditions to the computer control system and for sending real time control information from the computer control system to the downhole equipment. The primary computer control system may be downhole or may be at surface." - ¶ 626).
3 & 16. The method of claim 2 / system of claim 14, comprising supplying the electric signal to a pulsed power drill bit in the BHA / where the umbilical cable is coupled to a pulsed power drill bit in the BHA ("the signal is continuously sensed using sensor 344. "Continuous" or "continuously" in the context of sensing signals (such as magnetic, electromagnetic, voltage, or other electrical or magnetic signals) includes sensing continuous signals and sensing pulsed signals repeatedly over a selected period time. The continuously sensed signal may be used to continuously and/or automatically adjust the drilling of wellbore 340B by drillbit 318" - ¶ 546. The drill bit is operated responsive to pulsed signals. The claim is not worded narrowly enough to exclusively require a contactless bit like a plasma bit, for example, as described in present ¶ 48).
5. The method of claim 1, comprising flowing the cooling fluid through a third tubing (The "first tubing" was drawn the "center drilling string" - fig 29 & ¶ 610. The "second tubing" was drawn to "either the outermost string or the middle drilling string, both of which 388 "flows through" - fig 29" in claim 1 above. Therefore the present "third tubing" is drawn to the other one of "the outermost string or the middle drilling string", both of which 388 "flows through" - fig 29) residing in the wellbore with the first and second tubing (fig 29).
6. The method of claim 5, comprising flowing the cooling fluid toward the terranean surface ("The vaporized cooling fluid may flow to the surface in the annular region between the middle drilling string and the outer drilling string in the direction indicated by arrows 390" - ¶ 610) through the third tubing (the "outer drilling string" for the purposes of claim 6).
7. The method of claim 5, where the second and third tubings are coiled tubing bundled with the first tubing (all three tubings are bundled together: fig 29).
8. The method of claim 5, where the first ("center drilling string" - ¶ 610 & fig 29) and second tubings ("middle drilling string" - ibid) are within the third tubing ("outer drilling string" - ibid) and the third tubing defines a sheath over the first and second tubings (fig 29).
9 / 18 / 19. The method of claim 1 / system of claim 14 / system of claim 18, comprising a sheath ("out drilling string" - ¶ 610 & fig 29) over the first ("center drilling string" - ibid) and second tubings ("middle drilling string" - ibid), and comprising insulating the first and second tubings with an insulation in spaces between the first and second tubings and the sheath ("The vaporized cooling fluid may flow to the surface in the annular region between the middle drilling string and the outer drilling string in the direction indicated by arrows 390" - ¶ 610).
10. The method of claim 1, comprising a sheath ("out drilling string" - ¶ 610 & fig 29) over the first ("center drilling string" - ibid) and second tubings ("middle drilling string" - ibid), and comprising maintaining a fluid ("The vaporized cooling fluid may flow to the surface in the annular region between the middle drilling string and the outer drilling string in the direction indicated by arrows 390" - ¶ 610) that is less dense ("vaporized") than the cooling fluid in spaces between the first and second tubings and the sheath ("cooling fluid 388" is not yet vaporized - ¶ 610).
21. The system of claim 14, comprising a support cable bundled with the first and second coiled tubing ("The composite coiled tubing may include integral power lines for providing electricity to downhole tools. The composite coiled tubing may include integral data lines for providing real time information regarding downhole conditions to the computer control system and for sending real time control information from the computer control system to the downhole equipment. The primary computer control system may be downhole or may be at surface." - ¶ 626. This supports and enables the drilling operation).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 4, 12, & 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2009/0260823 (Prince-Wright) in view of WO 2022/043947 (Toews). A copy of Toews is included with this action.
4 & 17. Prince-Wright discloses all the limitations of the parent claims, but only teaches a somewhat generic "composite coiled tubing" (¶ 626) and does not teach the limitations of the present claims.
However Toews discloses a method / system of drilling (title) wherein the tubing comprise polymer tubing ("main body 802 can comprise an aluminum alloy, a titanium alloy, and/or fiber composite (e.g., a composite of polymer binder with carbon fiber, aramid fiber, fiberglass, e- glass and/or other structural fiber), as described in more detail below. Inner coating layer 804 at least partially covers the inner circumferential surface of tubular" - ¶ 77; "...inner coating layer 804 comprises one or more of epoxy novolac resins, TK340XT and CP -2060, and epoxy phenolic resins, TK34XT and CP-2050. The TK products are available from NOV, Inc. while the CP products are available from Aremco products Inc. The thickness of inner coating layer 804 comprising the epoxy phenolic resin can range from 150 to 250 pm while the thickness inner coating layer 804 comprising the epoxy novolac resins can range from 400 to 1270 pm. The epoxy phenolic resins can have an average thermal conductivity of ~ 0.8 K/w m while the epoxy novolac resin can have an average thermal conductivity of ~ 0.4 k/w m. Insulating particles can be added to these resins, or others, to further reduce the thermal conductivity" - ¶ 79) having a length normalized bulk thermal resistance to heat transfer of 0.05 m K/W (Toews teaches the same materials in the same combination with the same thickness for the same purposes as the present case. Compare Toews at ¶s 77 & 79 to the present specification at ¶s 93 & 95. Therefore the tubing materials taught by Toews must also read on the limitation of "having a length normalized bulk thermal resistance to heat transfer of 0.05 m K/W" for the same reasons as in the present case. The thermal resistance is a material property, so if the prior art teaches the same material, the property per MPEP 2112.01. If PHOSITA can see the present disclosure and recognize what disclosed combination of materials results in exactly 0.05 m K/W, the same is true of the prior art which teaches the same materials in the same combination with the same thickness).
Therefore it would have been obvious to PHOSITA at the time of filing to make the composite coiled tubing taught by Prince-Wright out of the polymer composite materials taught by Toews. These provide excellent thermal resistance / protection for the tools on the string (¶s 73, 74) and help keep the circulating fluid in the desired temperature ranges (¶s 94, 95, 106, etc), both of which are goals of Prince-Wright (¶s 592, 593, 595, 601, 608).
12. Prince-Wright discloses all the limitations of the parent claim and further discloses that the cooling fluid is a water based drilling fluid ("The cooling fluid may be water..." - ¶ 611). However the composition of the primary drilling fluid is not disclosed, therefore forcing the reader to look elsewhere for a more detailed disclosure. However Toews discloses the use of an oiled based drilling fluid ("A system design especially suited for electro-pulse drilling would be to utilize a Managed Pressure Drilling system and an oil-based drilling fluid with high electrical resistance and an equivalent circulating density below hydrostatic" - ¶ 114).
Therefore it would have been obvious to PHOSITA at the time of filing to use an oil based drilling fluid as taught by Toews as the primary drilling fluid taught by Prince-Wright. First, as discussed above, the composition of the primary drilling fluid is not disclosed by Prince-Wright, therefore forcing the reader to look elsewhere for a more detailed disclosure. The use of an oil-based drilling fluid, beyond just being well known in the art as PHOSITA would readily appreciate, "enable[s] flexibility in controlling downhole pressure yet still supplying a suitable drilling fluid for electrocrushing" (¶ 114).
Claim(s) 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2009/0260823 (Prince-Wright) in view of GB 2553489 (Shiach). A copy of Shiach is included with this action.
13. Prince-Wright discloses all the limitations of the parent claim and further discloses that the cooling fluid is delivered downhole as a liquid and vaporized downhole (¶ 611) as it cools the BHA (ibid). Therefore the cooling fluid can reasonably be called a refrigerant, especially with the phase change ("The cooling fluid may be water or another type of cooling fluid that is able to change from a liquid phase to a vapor phase and absorb heat." - ¶ 611).
While the introduction as a liquid, the vaporization downhole, and the circulating uphole as a vapor is clearly half of a refrigeration cycle, being cooled by a refrigeration cycle at the surface is not expressly taught. However Shiach discloses a drilling fluid cooling system (abstract) where the fluid is cooled in a refrigeration cycle at the terranean surface (in "heat exchanger 30 for facilitating heat exchange between a heat transfer medium and a drilling fluid and a cooling vessel 42" - abstract).
Therefore it would have been obvious to PHOSITA to cool the cooling fluid taught by Prince-Wright via a refrigeration cycle at the surface as taught by Shiach. This allows the fluid taught by Prince-Wright to be re-used and circulated downhole again.
Claim(s) 11 & 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2009/0260823 (Prince-Wright) in view of US 2010/0314174 (Denoix).
11 & 20. Prince-Wright discloses all the limitations of the parent claim but discloses flowing fluid out of the second tubing into a surrounding annulus via the drill bit (¶ 608) and not "above the BHA" as in claims 11 & 20.
However Ring discloses a flow diverter for drilling (title) where fluid used in drilling can be diverted to the space surrounding the tubular that is conveying it downhole (abstract; figs 5-8).
Therefore it would have been obvious to PHOSITA at the time of filing to divert, at least occasionally / in part, the cooling fluid taught by Prince-Wright as taught by Denoix. First, Prince-Wright already teaches this diversion, just not above the BHA (¶ 608). Second, the diversion taught by Denoix allows the operator to control the pressure of the circulating fluid (¶s 36, 43, 45), which is a stated goal of Prince-Wright (¶s 610 & 611).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Blake Michener whose telephone number is (571)270-5736. The examiner can normally be reached Approximately 9:00am to 6:00pm CT.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Tara Schimpf can be reached at 571.270.7741. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BLAKE MICHENER/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3676
Prosecution Insights