Not Applicable.
Not Applicable.
Not Applicable.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a brake, shear and cable management system and method, and in particular to a brake, shear and cable management system attachable adjacent to a rotatable drum and having a cable management assembly, a cable brake assembly and a cable cutting assembly used in conjunction to manage, retain and sever a spent portion of cable upon the drum.
2. Description of the Related Art.
The major components of a drilling rig hoisting system consists of a mast or derrick, a crown block, a traveling block, wire rope and a drawworks. The drawworks is used to lift or lower the drill pipe assembly into or out of the hole being drilled. The drawworks is essentially a large winch, having a drum to spool (wrap) or unwrap wire rope for the purpose of lifting or lowering the drill pipe assembly. Thus, the drum is able to rotate in either direction and is controlled and powered by a drive motor.
The wire rope is supplied to the drilling site on a large spool and is typically 1-to-2 inches in diameter. Initially, in setting-up the drilling rig, the wire rope is pulled from the supply reel through the deadline anchor and then sequentially threaded through the sheaves in the crown block and traveling block to achieve the number of lines required to support the drilling assembly planned for the wellbore. When the wire rope end has been strung over the final crown block sheave, this wire rope end is pulled down to the drawworks drum at the rig floor where it is threaded into the dogknot hole and clamped. Then the drum is rotated to pull the wire rope through this system of sheaves in order to wind-up several layers of wire rope onto the drum. The wire rope is unspooled from the supply reel. Finally, the deadline anchor is tightened, which holds the wire rope fixed at that end and then the traveling block can be raised or lowered by the rotation of the drawworks drum. The wire rope is never cut between the supply reel and the deadline anchor.
During the drilling of the wellbore, the traveling block moves up and down many times while lifting large loads (can be 250-tons or more). The wire rope bends around the sheaves and is spooled onto the drum under load many times, which causes wear. The rig crew monitors this wear using an instrument that tracks the ton-miles of use for this section of wire rope from the supply reel. When a threshold number of ton-miles has been reached (set by their cut-and-slip program for wire rope maintenance), the used section of wire rope must be retired from service.
To perform the wire rope cut and slip, the traveling block is suspended by a “hang-line” and the deadline anchor clamp is loosened. Then a predetermined number of feet of wire rope is spooled onto the drawworks drum, thereby pulling fresh unused wire rope from the supply reel and into the system of sheaves. The place where the spent wire rope is to be cut is bound with tape and cut with either a manual or hydraulic cutting tool. This is done on the rig floor. The spent wire rope is removed from the drum and rig floor and the new wire rope end is threaded through the dogknot hole and clamped. Then the drum is rotated to spool several layers of wire rope, before the deadline anchor is re-clamped. Finally the crown block hang-line is removed and drilling can resume.
It is therefore desirable to provide a brake, shear and cable management system mounted adjacent to the rotating drum in order manage, retain and sever a spent portion of cable upon the drum.
It is further desirable to provide a brake, shear and wire rope (cable) management system mounted to a drawworks housing (or rig floor) to safely and quickly move the wire rope through the crown and traveling block sheave system, clamp and cut the wire rope and control the wire rope movement and pull tension on the wire rope when spooling the drum.
It is yet further desirable to provide a brake, shear and cable management system having a cable management assembly, a cable brake assembly and a cable cutting assembly for maintenance and operation in a secure and more safe manner.
It is still further desirable to provide a brake, shear and wire rope (cable) management system that incorporates a remote wired or wireless control system that can allow the operator to be stationed in front of the drawworks drum, thereby reducing the risk of injury to rig floor personnel.
In general, in one aspect, the invention relates to a brake, shear and cable management system attachable adjacent to a rotatable drum to manage, retain and sever a spent portion of cable. The system includes a movable truck mounted to a support structure. The support structure is constructed to laterally move the movable truck between a parked position and a refracted position and to longitudinally move the movable truck between the retracted position and an engaged position. The system also includes a cable management assembly mounted to the movable truck. The cable management assembly has a plurality of crawler assemblies with drive chains engaged with oppositely rotating gears. The gears engage gear shafts that are powered by a motor. In addition, a cable brake assembly is mounted to the movable truck, and a cable cutting assembly is also mounted to the movable truck intermediate of the cable brake assembly and the cable management assembly. The system also has a plurality of guide rollers attached to the movable truck.
The support structure of the system can include a lateral guide assembly and a longitudinal guide assembly. A truck assembly engaged with the lateral guide assembly allows for lateral movement of the movable truck between the parked position and the retracted position. The lateral guide assembly can be constructed from I-beam, square tubing, rounded tubing or the like. The longitudinal guide assembly can include powered actuators and/or screw drives, such as a motor engaged with a telescoping tube, for longitudinal movement of the movable truck between the retracted position and the engaged position. In addition, the longitudinal guide assembly can be hingedly connected to the movable truck.
The plurality of guide rollers of the system can include an upper set of guide rollers and a lower set of guide rollers separated by the cable management assembly, the cable brake assembly and the cable cutting assembly. The guide rollers can be at least one wedge roller and at least one cylindrical roller, such as a pair of cylindrical guide rollers angled in relation to the wedge roller to form a generally V-shaped opening.
The crawler assemblies of the cable management assembly can have brass or bronze U-blocks or rubber blocks attached to the drive chain. In addition, a gear reducer, a friction clutch and drive shaft couplers can be engaged with the motor, while the gears are engaged with drive shafts, which are engaged with drive sprockets, which in turn are engaged with the drive chains of the crawler assemblies. In addition, the drive shafts and/or the gear shafts can be respectively journaled in bearings mounted to the movable truck. Moreover, idler sprockets, chain tensioners and/or return sprockets can be engaged with the drive chains of the crawler assemblies.
The crawler assemblies can be constructed as a pair of opposing crawler assemblies mounted to the movable truck intermediate of the guide rollers and the cable cutting assembly, and an actuator could engage a linkage to cause one crawler assembly to move with respect to the other crawler assembly. For example, the linkage can be a four bar linkage or a linear linkage.
Additionally, the cable brake assembly can be mounted to the movable truck intermediate of the guide rollers and the cable cutting assembly, while the cable cutting assembly may be mounted to the movable truck intermediate of the cable management assembly and the cable brake assembly. The cable brake assembly can be constructed as protruding brake arms having a cable gripper, and the brake arms may be actuated by a powered screw drive journaled in bearings mounted to the movable truck. Moreover, the cable cutting assembly can be constructed as protruding cutter arms having a cable severer, which are actuated by a powered screw drive journaled in bearings mounted to the movable truck.
Other advantages and features of the invention will be apparent from the following description and from the claims.
The systems and methods discussed herein are merely illustrative of specific manners in which to make and use the invention and are not to be interpreted as limiting in scope.
While the systems and methods have been described with a certain degree of particularity, it is to be noted that many modifications may be made in the construction and the arrangement of the structural and function details disclosed herein without departing from the scope of the invention. It is understood that the invention is not limited to the embodiments set forth herein for purposes of exemplification.
The description of the invention is intended to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings, which are to be considered part of the entire written description of this invention. In the description, relative terms such as “front,” “rear,” “lower,” “upper,” “horizontal,” “vertical,” “inward,” “outward,” “up,” “down,” “top” and “bottom” as well as derivatives thereof (e.g., “horizontally,” “downwardly,” “upwardly” etc.) should be construed to refer to the orientation as then described or as shown in the drawings under discussion. These relative terms are for convenience of description and do not require that the device be constructed or the method to be operated in a particular orientation. Terms, such as “connected,” “connecting,” “attached,” “attaching,” “join” and “joining” are used interchangeably and refer to one structure or surface being secured to another structure or surface or integrally fabricated in one piece.
The invention relates to a brake, shear and cable management system and method, which is attachable adjacent to a rotatable drum. The system includes a cable management assembly, a cable brake assembly and a cable cutting assembly used in conjunction to manage, retain and sever a spent portion of cable upon the drum. A remote wired or wireless control system can allow the operator to be stationed in front of the drum, thereby reducing the risk of injury to personnel. For purposes of exemplification and not limitation, the drum is discussed and illustrated in the figures of the drawings as a drawworks mounted to a floor in an oil field drilling rig. In addition to drilling line, the inventive system and method can be used with line boring, electrical wire and cable, fiber optic cable or the like. The system and method disclosed herein are capable of pulling approximately 2,000 pounds (approximately 907 kg) at a rate of about 1 foot of cable per second, and provides an immediate and safe assembly to retain a cable wound upon the drum, a separate assembly for shearing the cable at a specific location upon the cable, and an assembly for managing the cable during periodic maintenance.
Referring now to the figures of the drawings, wherein like numerals of reference designate like elements throughout the several views, and initially to
In addition to the lateral guide assembly 20, the support structure 12 includes a longitudinal guide assembly 32 for the movable truck 22 of the system 10. As can be clearly seen in
The movable truck 22 of the system 10 includes the cable management assembly 42, the cable brake assembly 44 and the cable cutting assembly 46 mounted to a movable truck support plate 48. The movable truck 22 includes an upper set of guide rollers 50 and a lower set of guide rollers 52 separated by the cable management assembly 42, the cable brake assembly 44 and the cable cutting assembly 46. As exemplified in the figures of the drawings, each of set of guide rollers 50, 52 includes a wedge roller 54 positioned intermediate of a pair of cylindrical rollers 56, which are angled in relation to the wedge roller 54 in order to form a generally V-shaped opening. The upper set of guide rollers 50 and the lower set of guide rollers 52 aid in aligning and positioning the cable 18 in the cable management assembly 42, the cable brake assembly 44 and the cable cutting assembly 46 in order to effectively manage, retain and sever a spent portion of the cable 18.
Turning now to
The crawler assemblies 60, 62 include drive chains 66, 68 engaged with oppositely rotating spur gears 70, 72 to turn the crawler assemblies 60, 62. A motor 70 with a gear reducer 72, a friction clutch 74 and drive shaft couplers 76 power gear shafts 78, 80 that engage the spur gears 70, 72. The rotation of the spur gears 70, 72 is transmitted to drive shafts 82, 84 using roller chain sprocket assemblies 86, 88. A person having skill in the art will appreciate that each drive shaft 82, 84 could be separately powered by a motor or an actuator. Each of the rotating gear shafts 78, 80 and drive shafts 82, 84 may be respectively journaled in bearings 90, such as flange or pillow block bearings, which are mounted to the movable truck support plate 48 and/or sprocket plates 92, 94 in a parallel, spaced relation. As exemplified in the drawings, the drive chains 66, 68 are double link drive chains respectively engaged with upper drive sprockets 96, 98, which in turn are respectively engaged with the rotating drive shafts 82, 84. The crawler assemblies 60, 62 also include lower idler sprockets 100, 102 respectively engaged with the drive chains 66, 68. The upper drive sprockets 96, 98 are in a parallel, spaced relation with the lower idler sprockets 100, 102, which are separated by return sprockets 104, 106 that are engaged with the drive chains 66, 68. In addition, the crawler assemblies 60, 62 can include chain tensioners 108, 110 engaged with the drive chains 66, 68 and are respectively mounted to the sprocket plates 92, 94 using tensioner brackets 112, 114. The chain tensioners 108, 110 can be positioned intermediate of and offset from the drive sprockets 96, 98 and the idler sprockets 100, 102.
In order to open and close the crawler assemblies 60, 62 about the cable 18, a worm gear drive 116 with a screw shaft 118 powered by an electric motor or the like (not shown) is engaged with a linkage 120 to cause one crawler assembly 62 to move with respect to the other crawler assembly 60. As illustrated in the drawings, the linkage 120 is a four bar linkage that pivots one of the crawler assemblies 62 about an arc using a first rocker arm 122 and a second rocker arm 124. The first rocker arm 122 is engaged with an idler shaft 126, which in turn is engaged with the idler sprocket 102 of the movable crawler assembly 62. Similarly, the second rocker arm 124 is engaged with the drive shaft 84 journaled with the drive sprocket 98 and the roller chain sprocket assembly 88. The inventive system and method 10 is not limited to a four bar linkage and other types of linkages can be utilized; for example, the linkage 120 can be any mechanical or linear linkage, such as utilizing screw drives to control the tension along the cable 18 or a linkage that pivots the crawler assemblies 60, 62 at forty-five (45) degree angles in relation to the cable 18 so that when the cable 18 is pulled downwardly, the crawler assemblies 60, 62 are tightened for additional grip of the cable 18. As such, while the system 10 is exemplified in the drawings with the crawler assembly 60 being fixed and the crawler assembly 62 being movable, this arrangement could be reversed or both crawler assemblies 60, 62 could be movable in keeping with the scope of the system and method 10 disclosed herein.
As can be seen in
In addition, the cable cutting assembly 46 is mounted to the movable truck support plate 48 intermediate of the crawler assemblies 60, 62 and the brake assembly 44. With the cable 18 being engaged on the rig side of the system 10 by the crawler assemblies 60, 62 and held on the drum side of the system 10 by the cable brake assembly 44, the cable 18 may be securely severed and the worn cable 18 wrapped about the drum 14 can be replaced. Similar to the brake assembly 44, the cable cutting assembly 46 may include a pair of opposing cutter arms 136 protruding from the front portion 128 of the movable truck 22 and actuated by a powered screw drive 138 that is journaled in bearings 140 attached to the rear portion 38 of the movable truck support plate 48. The cutter arms 136 may include a formed notch and an opposing shear cutting blade, which is forced against and within the formed notch to completely sever the entire diameter of cable 18 at a selected point.
A method for using this brake, shear and cable management system 10 is also contemplated within the scope of this disclosure. During operation, the movable truck 22 is moved from the parked position shown in
Whereas, the system and methods have been described in relation to the drawings and claims, it should be understood that other and further modifications, apart from those shown or suggested herein, may be made within the scope of the invention.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/742,147, entitled “Brake, Shear and Cable Management System for a Drawworks Assembly,” filed Aug. 4, 2012, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20140034887 A1 | Feb 2014 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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61742147 | Aug 2012 | US |