Patent Application
20230001537
This invention relates generally to devices for burnishing a surface on an object (e.g., in pipe used in the natural gas industry), and, more particularly, to improved cold root-rolling devices that are adapted for use with smaller diameter threaded pipes.
In the petroleum and natural gas industries, lengths of pipe are threaded together to form a drill-string (i.e., a length of series-connected pipes). However, with the increasing popularity of extended-reach drilling, multi-lateral wells, and horizontal well applications, the stress and bending moments that are placed on the threaded connections in a drill-string are increased. The increased number of pipe connections and increased stresses contribute to an increased chance of a downhole failure of the drill-string. The cost of repairing a single downhole failure may exceed one million dollars.
Cold root-rolling is the process of burnishing the root radius of a freshly-cut or previously-cut thread in a rotary shouldered connection. A hardened roll, similar in profile to the thread being burnished, is forced into contact with the thread. Pressure is applied to cause the hardened roll to penetrate into the surface of the thread. This deforms and cold-works the material, imparts an improved surface finish to the thread, and compacts and displaces the grains of the thread material.
Industry experience has suggested that cold root-rolling may increase the fatigue life of a threaded connection from three to five times over a similar unrolled threaded connection under the same working conditions. One industry study has noted laboratory results suggesting that an improvement in fatigue life of up to twenty-seven times may result from the cold root-rolling process. See, e.g., Knight, M. J., Brennan, F. P. and Dover, W. D., “Fatigue Life Improvement of Threaded Connections by Cold Rolling”, Journal of Strain Analysis, vol. 40, pp. 83-93 (Sep. 30, 2004). This study has attributed the increase in fatigue life to one or more of the following factors:
(1) Cold root-rolling creates a thin zone of residual compressive stress in the root region of the thread. This residual compressive stress may offset tensile stresses produced in service, and may lower the overall stress in the critical stress region of the thread root.
(2) The burnishing effect of the smooth and hardened roll causes small scratches and ridges left by the thread-cutting operation to flatten into a more-uniform surface. These scratches may have small tip radii, and are believed to be the source of considerable stress concentrations. As a result, these scratches appear to be crack propagation starting points for fatigue failures.
(3) Scratches provide prime locations for chemical erosion. The microscopic surface of a scratch is very jagged and porous. This exposes a large surface area, and numerous molecular bonding sites, to the corrosive effects of liquids and gasses used in a drill-string environment. Burnishing smoothes the scratched surface, and reduces outcroppings and inclusions. It tends to reduce the area of the surface, and densely compresses the same.
(4) Cold root-rolling has a work-hardening effect of the surface of the material. On an atomic scale, compressive displacement of the crystalline lattice within the steel grain structure is believed to cause the crystal structure to change from a repetitive and uniform atomic structure to one with many dislocations in the pattern. These dislocations are believed to cause the crystal structure to interlock, and to become more resistant to further deformation. This increased resistance to further deformation helps to prevent cracks from starting, and helps to arrest microscopic cracks from growing into structural flaws that might threaten the integrity of the threaded joint. In laboratory studies, cracks that have occurred in cold root-rolled threaded joints have exhibited significantly-lower crack aspect ratios (i.e., the ratio of crack length to crack depth). A 30%-50% reduction in this ratio suggests that cracks that have occurred in cold root-rolled joints are more likely to be deep and short, rather than long and shallow. A long and shallow crack is believed to be more likely to lead to a sudden and complete structural failure of the threaded joint. A deep crack that partially penetrates the section wall is detectable via the pressure drop of circulating drilling fluids, and allows for an early recovery of a damaged drill-string prior to a complete structural failure of the joint.
Because of the foregoing advantages, cold root-rolling is now commonly performed on many freshly-cut and re-cut threads used on drill-string pipes used in the petroleum and natural gas industries. It is a money-saving process. It can dramatically increase the fatigue life of each rotary-shouldered threaded connection in a typical drill-string. It can also reduce the frequency of repairing connections in the field, and of having to fish for downhole drill-string failures.
One line of cold root-rolling products is the 11069 Series Internal Thread Bar-Style Tools, available from Brinkman Products, Inc., 167 Ames Street, Rochester, N.Y. 14611. Such tools are designed for root-rolling pipes having an inner diameter as small as about 3½ inches. However, even smaller diameter pipes are commonly used in the natural gas industry.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,539,697 B2, which is assigned to the assignee of the present application, discloses cold root-rolling devices that are adapted for use with relatively large diameter pipes typically used in the off-shore petroleum industry. While these devices are very useful in cold root-rolling threads of larger diameter pipes (e.g. those having diameters on the order of 3½ to 8⅝ inches), the physical size of such devices preclude their use on internal threads of smaller diameter pipes (e.g., those having diameters on the order of 2⅜ to 2⅞ inches), such as those used in on-shore gas drilling operations.
Accordingly, it would be generally desirable to provide improved devices that are particularly adapted for use in, but not limited to, cold root-rolling freshly-cut or re-cut threads on objects having smaller diameters.
With parenthetical reference to the corresponding parts, portions or surfaces of the disclosed embodiment, merely for purposes of illustration and not by way of limitation, the present invention provides improved devices (10) for burnishing, and, more particularly, for cold root-rolling, a surface (111, 112) on a smaller diameter object (108), such as threaded surface in a pipe used in an on-shore gas drilling operation.
In one form, the improved device (10) broadly includes a body (11) having a passageway (25), and having a cylindrical opening (41) communicating with the passageway; an accumulator piston (65) mounted on the body for sealed sliding movement within the passageway; a coarse adjustment screw (13) threadedly mounted on the body; a resilient member (14) acting between the coarse adjustment screw and the accumulator piston; a lever (12) pivotally mounted on the body, with the lever having a forward portion (49) extending beyond the body and having a rearward portion (48) generally aligned with the cylindrical opening; a chamber (32) communicating with the accumulator piston; an actuator piston (78) mounted on the body for sealed sliding movement within the cylindrical opening toward and away from the rearward portion (48) of the lever; and a roll (15) rotatably mounted on the forward portion (49) of the lever. The chamber is completely filled with liquid. The position of the coarse adjustment screw relative to the body may be selectively adjusted to controllably vary the fluid pressure within the chamber. The device may be mounted on a machine tool and selectively moved toward the object to burnish a surface (111, 112) with controllable force along a length of the surface when the object and device are rotated relative to one another.
The roll (15) may be a thread roll for burnishing the threads of an object, or the roll may be configured to burnish a non-threaded surface on an object. The non-threaded surface may be adjacent to a threaded surface. The roll may have an asymmetric configuration. The forward portion of the lever may have a pocket adapted to receive a holder (16) for the asymmetric roll. The roll holder may have an asymmetric configuration complementary to the asymmetric configuration of the roll such that the roll may only be inserted into the holder when the roll is in a proper orientation relative to the actuator piston.
The object may be configured to have an internal thread with an inner diameter of between about 2⅜ inches and about 2⅞ inches. However, this size range should not be viewed as a limitation to the scope of the appended claims unless a range to that effect appears explicitly therein.
The device may further comprise a pressure gauge (18) arranged to measure and indicate the liquid pressure (in psi) within the chamber. The device may be arranged such that the lever is so dimensioned and configured that the pressure gauge will also indicate the force (in lbf) exerted by the roll on the object.
The body and/or lever of the improved device may have a slot (38), and the other of the body and lever may have a pin (40) arranged in the slot to limit pivotal motion of the lever relative to the body. The lever may be an intermediately-pivoted lever.
The resilient member may be a Belleville spring stack. The Belleville spring stack may be preloaded to a range having a substantially-constant force-to-displacement characteristic.
Accordingly, the general object of the disclosure is to provide improved devices for burnishing a surface on an object. In some embodiments, the devices may be configured and arranged to burnish approximately the entire length of the surface of the object.
Another object is to provide improved device for cold root-rolling a thread on a smaller diameter pipe.
These and other objects and advantages will become apparent from the foregoing and ongoing written specification, the drawings, and the appended claims.
At the outset, it should be clearly understood that like reference numerals are intended to identify the same structural elements, portions or surfaces consistently throughout the several drawing figures, as such elements, portions or surfaces may be further described or explained by the entire written specification, of which this detailed description is an integral part. Unless otherwise indicated, the drawings are intended to be read together with the specification, and are to be considered a portion of the entire written description of this invention. As used in the following description, the terms “horizontal”, “vertical”, “left”, “right”, “up” and “down”, as well as adjectival and adverbial derivatives thereof (e.g., “horizontally”, “rightwardly”, “upwardly”, etc.), simply refer to the orientation of the illustrated structure as the particular drawing figure faces the reader. Similarly, the terms “inwardly” and “outwardly” generally refer to the orientation of a surface relative to its axis of elongation, or axis of rotation, as appropriate.
Referring now to the drawings and, more particularly, to
Referring now to
As best shown in
Surface 33 is part of a cross-piece between two prong-like fork members 35, 35 that extend further rightwardly. Fork members 35 each include two aligned transverse holes 36, 38. Holes 36 accommodate passage of intermediate portions of a pivot pin 39, and holes 37 accommodate passage of intermediate portions of a stop pin 40, as described in greater detail below.
Another hole 41 extends downwardly and rightwardly from chamber 32 and forms a cylindrical opening in body 11. This cylindrical opening 41 is generated about axis y-y, as shown in
Another tapped hole 45 extends downwardly from body surface 23 to communicate with chamber 32. This hole 45 accommodates the threaded margin 46 (shown in
Still referring to
The lower surface of the lever sequentially includes (again from left to right) a downwardly-facing horizontal surface 59 extending rightwardly from the outer margin of left end 50, a downwardly- and rightwardly-facing surface 60, a horizontal surface 61, and a downwardly- and rightwardly-facing inclined surface 62 continuing rightwardly therefrom to join the lower margin of right end 51.
The lever has two transverse holes 63, 64, which are adapted to be aligned with body holes 36, 38 when the left marginal end portion of the lever is inserted between the body forks 35. Aligned holes 36, 63 will accommodate passage of the intermediate portion of pivot pin 39 (shown in
Referring now to
Still referring to
Still referring to
As best shown in
The surface area of the actuator piston 78 and the configuration of the lever 12 may be chosen such that the value of the force exerted on the roll 15 in pounds of force (lbf), and the value of the pressure (in psi) of the hydraulic circuit, are numerically equal. Thus, the value of pressure displayed on the gauge 18 in psi can also be read as the force (lbf) exerted by the roll on the surface of an object, without the need for numerical conversion or scaling.
As depicted in
The left end surface of roll axle 84 engages a rightwardly-facing vertical surface 85 of roll holder 16, and the right end surface of roll axle 84 engages a leftwardly-facing vertical surface 86 of fastener 82. A semi-cylindrical surface 87 on the right end of the roll axle 84 enables the close engagement of the roll axle with the cylindrical head of the roll holder fastener 82 at surface 86. Thus, the movement of roll axle 84 linearly along axis x-x is restricted and the roll axle is secured to the roll holder.
Turning to
Now referring to
Upper portion 89 has an outwardly-facing horizontal top face 94 that extends from the top of left end face 91 to a rightwardly-facing vertical surface 95. Two corresponding cylindrical surfaces 96 extend downwardly and outwardly from top face 94, continuing around hole 93 to join with lower portion 90 and an outwardly-facing cylindrical surface 97. Upper portion 89 further includes two transverse holes 98 that extend generally along axis x-x and are configured to receive roll axle 84.
As best shown in
Lower portion 90 has a horizontal lower surface 99 and an outer surface that sequentially includes (again from left to right) left end face 91, two corresponding outwardly-facing vertical surfaces 101, and two additional outwardly-facing vertical surfaces 102 that join right end face 92. Fastener hole 80 extends through lower portion 90, perpendicular to the roll axle holes 98.
The lower portion 90 further comprises a narrow key 103 that extends outwardly from the left margin of top face 94, downwardly along left end face 91, and rightwardly along lower surface 99 to join the lower margin of right end face 92. Key 103 is configured to mate with slot-like keyway 88 of the lever. Thus, when the roll holder is attached to the lever and secured with fastener 82, the roll holder will be properly aligned, and movement of the roll holder relative to the lever is restricted.
Due to design constraints related to burnishing the surfaces on certain kinds of smaller diameter objects, such as pipes having internally-threaded surfaces, rolls may have to be tilted at an angle (e.g., corresponding to the helix of the thread to be rolled). Accordingly, the present disclosure provides for devices configured and arranged with specially-configured roll holders. Still referring to
The device 10 is assembled as shown in the drawings. The chamber is entirely filled with liquid. The coarse adjustment screw is threaded onto the body to vary the pressure of the liquid within the chamber. The pressure of the liquid in the chamber pushes the actuator piston downwardly along axis y-y to engage the rearward (i.e. leftward in
The operation of the devices is illustrated in
More particularly,
The roll may be a thread roll if it is desired to engage the threaded surface 111, as in rolling those threads, or may have some other configuration if it is desired to engage surfaces 112 or some other surface of the object 108. Thus, the roll is urged into engagement with the surface on the object. At the same time, the object is rotated about axis x-x, to cause the roll to burnish the surface against which the roll engages. Machine tool 105 may subsequently move the device leftwardly or rightwardly along axis x-x to burnish adjacent portions of surfaces 111.
The improved devices 10 may be configured and arranged to apply a substantially constant burnishing force to a surface on an object through use of a lever 12 and appropriately-sized actuator piston 78 to a achieve a ratio of force applied to hydraulic pressure out equal to 1 lbf=1 psi. In some embodiments, the devices 10 may operatively provide for the cold root-rolling of an internally threaded surface 111 of an object 108 (such as a pipe), with controllable and verifiable force, with such object 108 having a relatively small diameter opening. In some embodiments, the inner diameter of the object 108 to be burnished is between two and four inches. In particular cases, the devices 10 may be configured to engage an object having about a 2⅞ inch inner diameter or another object having about a 2⅜ inch inner diameter.
Each roll holder 16 is preferably equipped with an asymmetric roll loading configuration, allowing for substantially error-free installation of rolls into a roll holder. In particular, Applicants' improved attachment uses an asymmetric roll holder, along with asymmetric hub geometry on the rolls themselves, to insure that the rolls will only mount on the attachment in the proper orientation. The preferred embodiment uses a slight step in the lateral wall of roll mounting hole 93 of approximately 0.015 inch, located at some radial distance away from the centerline of the roll mounting axis. The opposing wall has no such step. The preferred embodiment uses a roll 15 with two different hub diameters on its opposite faces. One hub has a radius slightly less than the radial distance. The other hub has a radius slightly greater than radial distance. When a roll with these asymmetric hubs is inserted into a hole with the step, the roll will only align properly with the roll pin axis if the smaller hub is adjacent to the step. If the roll is inserted such that the larger hub is adjacent the step, the hub will make contact with the step prior to alignment of the roll axis with the roll pin hole axis, thus preventing the roll pin form being inserted improperly.
While the preferred embodiment uses two differently-sized hubs on the opposite faces of the roll, persons skilled in this art will readily appreciate that other forms might achieve the same objective; namely, of preventing the roll from being improperly inserted into the pocket. Some alternatives might include, but are not limited to, the provision of two steps in the roll mounting hole at different radial distances, a tapered roll bore to be used in conjunction with a tapered roll axle, a stepped roll bore to be used with a stepped roll axle, a roll mounting hole with a minimally-enlarged profile similar to the asymmetric thread form on the roll, and the like.
The present invention expressly contemplates that many changes and modifications may be made. For example, the materials of construction are not deemed critical. The length of any part, and its proportion and degree relative to another part, is not deemed critical. The passageway and the chamber may be formed by other techniques than that shown. The object is not limited to being a length of pipe.
As earlier described with reference to
Different roll holder embodiments may yield slightly different pressure readings based on where the roll 15 sits in relation to the lever 12. When taken into account with other areas of potential loss in the disclosed system, this change in force is negligible.
In some embodiments of the device, the roll holder may be permanently integrated with the lever. In one preferred embodiment, the roll holder 16 is modular, replaceable by similar but different components, each designed to accommodate various sizes of rolls 15, objects 108 having different geometries, and changeable thread 111 helix angles. Roll holders may be cut to the approximate angle of the thread they are needed for.
Key 103 may be comprised of a plurality of spaced-apart keys instead of being a single continuous projection. The resilient member 14 can be a Belleville spring, a Belleville spring stack, a die spring, a machined spring, a bellows, or a pneumatic device filled with a charge gas, such as nitrogen.
One roll holder embodiment may allow the devices to be configured to root roll an object having about a 2⅜ inch NPT (or American Petroleum Institute, “API”) connection, while another embodiment of the roll holder may be used for an object having about a 2⅞ inch NPT/API connection.
The surface area of the actuator piston 78 may be approximately one square inch, or it may be other than approximately 1 square inch. In either case, the ratio of the lever 12, as defined by the length of the forward end 49 divided by the length of the rearward end 48, may be calculated to match the numerical value of the surface area of the actuator piston 78, such that the value (in lbf) exerted upon the roll 15, and the value of the pressure (in psi) of the hydraulic circuit are numerically equal. Thus, the value displayed on the pressure gauge 18 in psi can be read as the lbf exerted by the roll 15 on the object 108 surface 111 without the need for numerical conversion or scaling.
The coarse adjustment screw 13 may be adjusted to allow a user to tune the device 10 pressure to within approximately one hundred pounds of force. Plug 34 may be replaced with a fine adjustment screw (not shown), such that the pressure within chamber 32 may be controlled with a greater degree of precision. For example, a user may be able to further tune the device pressure to within approximately ten pounds of force.
The device 10 is shown in
The coarse adjustment screw 13 may be threaded into the body 11 to selectively vary the preload of the Belleville spring stack 14. In the preferred embodiment, the Belleville spring stack 14 operates in the linear portion of its force-to-displacement characteristic. Optionally, the Belleville spring stack 14 can be preloaded such that it is substantially in the horizontal range of its force-to-displacement characteristic, regardless of its displacement. This means, for all intents and purposes, that when the Belleville spring stack 14 is so preloaded, it exerts substantially constant force on the accumulator piston 65. Otherwise stated, the accumulator piston 65 may be displaced leftwardly against the urging of the Belleville spring stack 14 with substantially constant force, regardless of the spring stack displacement.
The space-saving design of the preferred embodiment has minimal fasteners, to allow for its use in smaller workplaces. The single threaded fastener 82 of the roll holder 16 has the triple function of (i) attaching the roll holder to the lever 12, while also (ii) providing a means to retain the roll axle 84, and (iii) to prevent the non-axial rotation of the roll 15.
The lever 12 may be mounted on the body 11 such that the pivot pin 39 is positioned directly between the roll 15 and the actuator piston 78. This may be done to preserve the use of the current gauges and hydraulic parts found in other cold roll tools. Also, when combined with a one square inch actuator piston 78, the numerical values of pressure as read on the pressure gauge 18 will be the numerical value of pounds of force, with no scaling factor or conversion required. One psi of pressure will be equal to one lbf. This simplifies the operation of the devices, and eliminates a potential source of calculation error.
Therefore, the present invention broadly provides improved devices adapted to be mounted on a machine tool and burnish a surface on an object with controllable force along the required length of the surface. The surface may be the thread of a pipe and areas adjacent thereto. The devices may include a body having a passageway, and having a cylindrical opening communicating with the passageway; an accumulator piston mounted on the body for sealed sliding movement within the passageway; a coarse adjustment screw threadedly mounted on the body; a resilient member acting between the coarse adjustment screw and the accumulator piston; a lever pivotally mounted on the body, the lever having a forward portion extending beyond the body and having an rearward portion aligned with the cylindrical opening; a chamber communicating with the accumulator piston; an actuator piston mounted on the body for sealed sliding movement within the cylindrical opening toward and away from the rearward portion of the lever; a roll rotatably mounted on the forward portion of the lever; wherein the chamber is completely filled with liquid; wherein the position of the coarse adjustment screw relative to the body may be selectively adjusted to controllably vary the fluid pressure within the chamber; and whereby the devices may be selectively moved toward the object to burnish the surface with controllable force along a length of the surface when the object and device are rotated relative to one another.
Upon information and belief, the present invention has a number of points of patentable distinction over the prior art root-rolling devices for smaller diameter pipes. These include: (i) a combination of a lever arm and hydraulics to impart rolling pressures on surfaces of smaller diameter objects, and (ii) the use of a lever from the tip of the roll to the actuator piston that is configured and arranged to provide gauge measurements that directly correspond to what the roll sees, while utilizing a self-contained pressurization system, thus allowing for conversion-free force measurement.
As to the first point, no known item of prior art uses a self-contained pressure generation device, or a self-contained fluid accumulator, in a device designed to root-roll threads of smaller diameter objects. This obviates the need for an external pressure pump, an external accumulator, and various hose connections, disconnect fittings, and valves. This simplifies installation and use, and removes considerable clutter from the work zone of the machine tool.
As to the second point, no known item of prior art is constructed in such a way as to obviate the need to convert the numerical value of indicated pressure into pounds of burnishing force. The standards governing this cold root-rolling operation, specifically the T. H. Hill specification DS-1, require that a minimum force be applied for each of the various thread sizes. However, since the prior art devices for root-rolling smaller diameter threads have no means for measuring force directly, they usually measure the hydraulic pressure instead, and then use a chart to convert the pressure recorded to the calculated force. In Applicants' devices, pressure is also recorded. However, the working piston has been sized such that its surface area is exactly one square inch, combined with the use of a lever that is configured and arranged such that the numerical values of pressure will also be the numerical value of pounds of force, with no scaling factor or conversion required. One psi of pressure (as measured by the pressure gauge) will be equal to one pound of force (applied by the roll to the surface of an object). This simplifies the operation of the devices, and eliminates a potential source of calculation error.
Therefore, while the presently-preferred form of the devices have been shown and described, and several modifications and alternatives discussed, persons skilled in this art will readily appreciate that various additional changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention, as defined and differentiated by the following claims.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/US19/31809 | 5/10/2019 | WO |
