Bottomhole assembly orienting sub

摘要

A mechanism for arients and maintains a key in a sub for guiding directional measurement equipment of a directional drilling assembly with respect to the drillbit. The orienting sub has an outer sleeve which is supported on an inner shoulder in the orienting sub. An inner sleeve which holds the key has an outer wedged profile which follows the shape of the outer sleeve. The outer sleeve can be longitudinally, obliquely, or spirally segmented and has a thread on one end so that a jam nut can be installed to advance the inner sleeve with the key until a wedging action occurs between the inner and outer sleeves and the sub. At that point, the key is oriented without any bores through the wall of the sub. Provisions can be made in the assembly to provide a biasing force on the inner sleeve which holds the key to compensate for vibrational loads on the assembly.