Patent Application
20200115970
The present disclosure relates generally to mobile drilling machines, and more particularly, drill pipe racks for such machines.
Mobile drilling machines, such as blasthole drilling machines, are typically used for drilling blastholes for mining, quarrying, dam construction, and road construction, among other uses. The process of excavating rock, or other material, by blasthole drilling comprises using the blasthole drill machine to drill a plurality of holes into the rock and filling the holes with explosives. The explosives are detonated causing the rock to collapse and rubble of the collapse is then removed and the new surface that is formed is reinforced. Many current blasthole drilling machines utilize rotary drill rigs, mounted on a mast, that can drill blastholes anywhere from 6 inches to 22 inches in diameter and depths up to 180 feet or more. The mast of blasthole drills may also include a drill carousel which is structured and adapted to add pipe segments (e.g., drilling pipes, drill rods, drill extenders, etc.) to the drill string.
The drill carousel is typically used to selectively add the pipe segments to the drill string for drilling a hole having a desired depth. The drill carousel is intended to allow a drilling operation to progress into the drill hole by making readily available a continuous string of pipe segments as needed for advancing a drill bit into the drill hole. The drill carousel may include a drill pipe rack that stores pipe segments before being added to the drill string. The drill carousel may be rotated such that a selected pipe segment in the drill pipe rack is put into alignment with the drill string. The drill pipe rack typically includes a plurality of tubular receptacles, or cups, for receiving ends of the pipe segments. The tubular receptacles of current drill pipe racks are welded to a top surface of the drill pipe rack and are of one size and, thus current drill pipe racks allow for only a singular pipe diameter size to be stored. Further, current tubular receptacles may wear out due to continuous use or by drilling pipe segments hitting the tubular receptacles or otherwise placing the tubular receptacles out of alignment. As such, to replace worn tubular receptacles or to allow for drilling pipe segments of different diameters to be stored in the drill pipe rack, the tubular receptacles of current drill pipe racks require significant work, such as by cutting the tubular receptacles from the rack and welding on new, different-sized tubular receptacles.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,913,753, issued to Swartz et al. on Oct. 21, 1975 (“the '753 patent”), describes a drill carousel having a drill pipe rack for moving a section of drill pipe into alignment with a string of drill pipes. The drill pipe rack of the '753 patent includes a plurality of openings having a configuration complementary to flattened portions of the drill pipe sections. The '753 patent further discloses that the drill pipe rack includes a cylindrical flange that is welded or otherwise attached to the upper surface of the drill pipe rack about each of the openings. The flange is slightly larger than the diameter of the drill pipe sections and is adapted to receive and guide the lower end thereof. Thus, the '753 patent discloses a conventional drill pipe rack capable of receiving drill pipes of only a singular size. The '753 patent does not disclose that each opening of the drill pipe rack is adapted to receive bushings of different sizes to allow for pipes of various sizes to be stored in the drill pipe rack. The present disclosure may solve one or more of the problems set forth above and/or other problems in the art. The scope of the current disclosure, however, is defined by the attached claims, and not by the ability to solve any specific problem.
In one aspect, a drill pipe rack for a mobile drilling machine is disclosed. The drill pipe rack may comprise: a plurality of tubular receptacles extending from a base of the drill pipe rack to form a cup configuration; and a set of bushings, each bushing of the set of bushings: being received in a respective receptacle, and having the same inner diameter, the inner diameter corresponding to an outer diameter of a drilling pipe segment of the mobile drilling machine.
In another aspect, a bushing configured to be inserted into a receptacle of a drill pipe rack of a mobile drilling machine is disclosed. The bushing may comprise an outer surface that defines an outer diameter of the bushing; and an inner surface that defines an inner diameter of the bushing, the inner surface corresponding to a standard diameter of a drilling pipe segment for use in the mobile drilling machine.
In yet another aspect, a drill pipe rack for a mobile drilling machine is disclosed. The drill pipe rack may comprise: a plurality of tubular receptacles extending from a base of the pipe rack to form a cup configuration; a first set of bushings, each bushing of the first set of bushings: being received in a respective receptacle, and having the same inner diameter, the inner diameter corresponding to an outer diameter of a drilling pipe segment of the mobile drilling machine; and a second set of bushings configured to replace the first set of bushings, each bushing of the second set of bushings: being received in a respective receptacle, and having the same inner diameter, but a different inner diameter than the first set of bushings, the inner diameter of the second set of bushings corresponding to a different outer diameter of a drilling pipe segment of the mobile drilling machine.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate various exemplary embodiments and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.
Both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the features, as claimed. As used herein, the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “having,” including,” or other variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements, but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such a process, method, article, or apparatus. Further, relative terms, such as, for example, “about,” “substantially,” “generally,” and “approximately” are used to indicate a possible variation of ±10% in a stated value.
As further shown in
The drill pipe rack 30 may include a plurality of tubular receptacles 34 extending from a base of the drill pipe rack 30 to form a cup configuration. Each of the plurality of tubular receptacles 34 may be configured to hold drill components, such as the drilling pipe segments 28. For clarity, only one tubular receptacle 34 is shown to be holding a drilling pipe segment 28 in
Bushing 36 may be configured to receive a bottom end of a drilling pipe segment 28. As such, the diameter of the inner surface 44 of bushing 36 may correspond to a diameter of the drilling pipe segments 28, such that the drilling pipe segment 28 may fit into each of the plurality of bushings 36 with minimal clearance (e.g., between 0 millimeters and approximately 4 millimeters). For example, the inner surface 44 of bushing 36 may correspond to a standard diameter of a drilling pipe segment 28. As used herein, the standard diameter of drilling pipe segments 28 may be, for example, 4.0 inches, 4.5 inches, 5.0 inches, 5.5 inches, 6.0 inches, 6.5 inches, 7.0 inches, 7.625 inches, 8.0 inches, 8.625 inches, 9.25 inches, 10.75 inches, 12.75 inches, or 13.375 inches. As shown in
The exemplary bushing 36 may be part of a set of bushings 36, with each bushing 36 of a set having the same size and shape. In the exemplary embodiment, each set of bushings 36 may include four identical bushings 36, corresponding to the four tubular receptacles 34 of the drill pipe rack 30. However, each set of bushings 36 may include any number of bushings 36, as necessary, corresponding to the number of tubular receptacles 34 on drill pipe rack 30. While each bushing 36 of a set may be identical, each set would include bushings having a different inner diameter than another set, so that each bushing set would correspond to drilling pipe segments 28 of a different diameter. For example, at least eight different bushing sets may be provided, with each bushing set having different inner diameter sizes, such that a first bushing set includes a first inner diameter size, a second bushing set includes a second inner diameter size different than the first diameter size, a third bushing set includes a third inner diameter size different than the first and second diameter sizes, and so forth. Each bushing 36 of a bushing set may be selectively secured in a respective tubular receptacle 34 so as to allow for replacement of the bushings 36. Therefore, the plurality of tubular receptacles 34 of the drill pipe rack 30 may receive a first set of bushings 36 having a first inner diameter for receiving drilling pipe segments 28 of a first diameter. The first set of bushings 36 having a first inner diameter may be replaced with a second set of bushings 36 having a second inner diameter for receiving drilling pipe segments 28 of a second diameter, and so forth. Additionally, each bushing 36 may have a height generally the same as a height of each of the plurality of tubular receptacles 34 when the bushing 36 is located in a respective tubular receptacle 34.
Referring to
At a third step, the method may include inserting a second set of bushings 36 having a second inner diameter into respective tubular receptacles 34. The second inner diameter of the second set of bushings 36 may be different than the first inner diameter of the first set of bushings 36. Each bushing 36 of the second set of bushings 36 may include one or more holes 46 that may align with respective one or more bosses 38 and holes 39 of each tubular receptacle 34 when each bushing 36 is inserted into a respective tubular receptacle 34. The second set of bushings 36 may be secured and prevented from rotating in the respective tubular receptacles 34 by inserting a removable fastener 40 into the holes of the one or more bosses 38 of each tubular receptacle 34 and respective one or more holes 46 of each bushing 36. The second set of bushings 36 having a second inner diameter may selectively receive drilling pipe segments 28 having a second standard pipe diameter size corresponding to the second inner diameter of the second set of bushings 36. The second standard pipe diameter size may be different than the first standard pipe diameter size. Thus, drill pipe rack 30 may be reconfigured to receive drilling pipe segments 28 having different diameters.
The disclosed aspects of the drill carousel 26 may be used by any mobile drilling machine 10 having a drill carousel 26 with a drill pipe rack 30 for storing drilling pipe segments 28. Referring to
If the operator of the mobile drilling machine 10 desires drilling pipe segments 28 of a different diameter, the set of bushings 36 may be removed from the plurality of tubular receptacles 34 and replaced. Likewise, if any of the bushings 36 have worn out, the respective worn out bushing 36 may be removed and replaced. When removing a bushing 36 or a set of the bushings 36 from the plurality of tubular receptacles 34, the removable fasteners 40 may be removed and the bushings 36 may then be removed from the receptacles 34. Replaceable bushings 36 being new or having a different inner diameter size may then be placed into the plurality of receptacles 34. The removable fasteners 40 may be re-inserted into the one or more bosses 38 of the plurality of tubular receptacles 34 and the corresponding one or more holes 46 of each bushing 36. Therefore, the drill pipe rack 30 of the present disclosure is capable of receiving bushings 36 having different inner diameters for receiving drilling pipe segments 28 of various diameters and/or lengths.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the disclosed system without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Other embodiments of the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the invention being indicated by the following claims.
