Abstract: The cyclic angular dependence of the output of gravitational inclinometers and magnetometers is used to communicate from the well surface to a microprocessor downhole. The microprocessor controls an arbitrary downhole function. Information is communicated to the microprocessor via the inclinometer and magnetometer by selectively rotating the drill string during a data time interval through a predetermined magnitude of angular displacement or angular velocity. Each additional multiple of angular displacement or angular velocity is interpreted as a distinguishable unit of information. A command word is assembled from a sequential plurality of units of information in the microprocessor and a downhole function is executed according to the command word.

Abstract: A well instrument is isolated from the high temperatures of a surrounding earth formation by enclosing the instrument within a heat insulative jacket structure, preferably a dewar having spaced walls with a vacuum therebetween, with a heat sink contained in the jacket above the instrument assembly, and with a heat pipe extending upwardly from the instrument assembly to the heat sink and containing a fluid which by evaporation at a lower point and condensation at a higher point will conduct heat upwardly from the instrument assembly to the heat sink but not downwardly therebetween. The heat pipe preferably projects upwardly beyond a top portion of the insulating jacket to the location of a convector element which is exposed to the temperature of fluid or air at the outside of the insulating jacket to transmit heat from within the jacket to its exterior but not in a reverse direction.

Abstract: A system providing economical redundant strap-down inertial measurement capability in a space navigation system. By appropriate orientation of two-degree-of-freedom dry tuned rotor gyros, the system is able to achieve complete redundancy utilizing only three gyro units. With this orientation, both orthogonal and skewed rate data are available. Not only are the necessary computations materially simplified, but this system also provides the necessary conditions for failure detection and isolation.