Patent attributes
A shaped cutter has a plurality of ridges extending in parallel across a cutting face to enhance drilling. The cutting table is also multi-tapered, being convex along a first cross-section perpendicular to the ridges and concave along a second cross-section parallel with the ridges. The shaped cutter may enhance rock failure modes in addition to shearing, such as by indentation, impacting, scraping and grinding. The plurality of ridges may also exploit vibrations in the drill string to enhance rock failure. The cutting table may be positioned on a drill bit to define an internal back rake angle with respect to a slope angle where the cutting table is concave. The cutting table may include a flared periphery, resulting in a sharper indentation angle and/or larger radius of contact with the formation.
