US Patent 11041381 Systems and methods for measuring rate of penetration

Systems and methods for measuring rate of penetration (ROP) and well depth of a drill string are disclosed. As the drill string is constructed, a pair of rangefinders are positioned near the well site and are configured to measure a distance to points on the drill string without human intervention. The rangefinders calculate a length of drill string segments the measured distances and from the length and an elapsed time calculate an accurate, automatically generated ROP.