The invention relates to the manipulation and control of pipe stands used in for instance the petrochemical industry. In particular, the invention relates to the control of pipe stands, as they are disengaged from drill strings on extraction from a well bore.
On the completion of the drilling of a well bore, which maybe up to several hundred metres deep, the removal of pipes can be a time consuming exercise. Further, as the pipes are of a considerable size, for instance up to 200 mm (9⅝″) in diameter and up to 9.1 metres (30′) long these pipes also present problems in handling in an efficient and safe manner. This is particularly so for applications where a pipe stand (that is 3 pipes joined) are stored, and so having a section 27.4 metres (90′) in length.
As the pipes are withdrawn, one method of controlling and storing the pipe stand is to individually lift them into a rack as the drill string is extracted. However, the time taken for each pipe to be moved in such a manner, can be a considerable. Further it is a logistically difficult exercise to both lift and move a pipe into a rack particularly for the first pipe within the rack as the lateral distance to be moved maybe significant. It follows that during this activity accidents may occur during replacement within the rack and therefore present a safety problem.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to improve either speed of handling or safety, as compared to systems of the prior art.
In a first aspect the invention provides a racking assembly for receiving and storing at least one pipe, the racking assembly comprising a setback assembly including a selectively rotatable member having a plurality radial slots sized to receive a first portion of the at least one pipe in sliding engagement, and a base placed distal from the selectively rotatable member and coupled thereto so as to permit mutual rotation, said base arranged to support the at least one pipe on a support face of said base; a barrier located about a peripheral edge of the base, such that the setback assembly rotates relative to the barrier, said barrier arranged to prevent the at least one pipe from moving radially from said base, said barrier having a gap sized to permit selective lateral movement of the at least one pipe; wherein mutual rotation of the selectively rotatable member and the base permit alignment of the gap and a selected slot of said selectively rotatable member, and so permitting the pipes stands to be moved laterally into said setback assembly.
In a second aspect the invention provides a method of receiving and storing at least one pipe, the method comprising the steps of: providing a setback assembly, said setback assembly including a selectively rotatable member with a plurality radial slots and a base placed distal from the selectively rotatable member and coupled thereto so as to permit mutual rotation; engaging the pipe in any of said slots and; moving the pipe laterally so as to slide along said slot and be placed on said base.
In a third aspect the invention provides a guide assembly for receiving a pipe and moving said pipe to an outlet position, the assembly comprising a first and second support assembly for engaging the pipe, said assemblies in spaced relation to engage distal portions of said pipe; said support assemblies arranged to rotate as a single entity so as to rotate the pipe from an engaging position to the outlet position.
In a fourth aspect the invention provides a method for receiving a pipe and moving said pipe to an outlet position, the method comprising the steps of: engaging the pipe with a first and second support assembly, said assemblies in spaced relation to engage distal portions of said pipe; rotating said support assemblies and so rotating the pipe from an engaging position to the outlet position.
In a fifth aspect the invention provides a pipe delivery system comprising a base to which pipes are delivered; a support block for supporting a plurality of pipe; said base having at least one slot sized to allow the support block to project from or retract into said base, said slot further sized to prevent said pipe to pass there through; wherein the support block is arranged to move along said slot, projecting from said slot with said pipe and to selectively retract below said base so as to position the pipe on said base.
In a sixth aspect the invention provides a method of delivering a plurality of pipes to a base, the method comprising the steps of: supporting the plurality of pipes on a support block; projecting the support block from a slot in said base; moving the support block along said slot whilst projecting from said slot with said pipes and; selectively retracting below said base so as to position the pipes on said base.
In one aspect, the invention provides for a more direct lateral placement of the pipe or pipe stand, instead of, for instance, a lift and drop system. This may increase the speed of positioning; as well avoid injury during the dropping step.
In a further aspect the lateral movement or delivery of the pipe into the rack may be provided as array of pipes (or pipe stands) with the delivery system moving several pipe stands in one movement into the rack in a controlled environment.
It will be noted that the invention is equally applicable to the storage of both pipes and pipe stands. Accordingly, these terms may be interchanged without limiting the scope of the invention, unless specifically identified as such.
It will be convenient to further describe the present invention with respect to the accompanying drawings to illustrate possible arrangements of the invention. Other arrangements of the invention are possible and consequently the particularity of the accompanying drawings is not to be understood as superceding the generality of the preceding description of the invention.
Each pipe can be up to 6 meters (30′) long and up to 200 mm (9⅝″) in diameter, with a pipe stand typically relating to 3 pipes connected in series and so 3 times the length. Further the wall thickness of the pipe may be considerable such as up to 25 mm and therefore each pipe stand will be of significant weight. The target rate of disengaging each pipe stand and storing ready for further withdraws of the drill string is 60 stands an hour, or one minute per stand. It will be appreciated that this is a significant rate and may not be achieved by many, if any, existing systems. Accordingly the present invention seeks to accelerate the rate of processing of the pipe stands and therefore includes features arranged to either accelerate such processing or maintain acceptable rates at far higher levels of safety than are currently available according to the prior art.
The fingerboard 25a, 25b is connected to the corresponding base 20a, 20b by a vertical shaft 45a, 45b. The shaft ensures that each fingerboard and base rotates together, that is mutual rotatability.
The racking assembly 5 further includes a pair of racker arms 35, 40 which engage an upper and lower portion of a pipe stand (not shown) and deliver the pipe stand to the fingerboard and base. In this embodiment a guide assembly, in this case slot machine assembly 30, 32 are included however the racking assembly according to the present invention does not require the intermediate guide assembly.
For convenience the racker arms 35, 40 are mounted to a guide assembly shaft 50. In a further embodiment the racker arms may be conveniently place elsewhere and in fact for further convenience additional pairs of racker arms may be included so as to further engage pipe stands as they become available, subject to the speed and availability of the racking assembly to accommodate such pipe stands, at a faster rate.
Further shown in this embodiment are fingerboard pushers 26a, 26b which act to facilitate positioning of the pipe stands once engaged, should this be required.
Further included is a recess in which the top guide assembly 30 is located with an inlet 65 through which the upper part of the pipe stand enters the guide assembly as manipulated by the upper racker arm 35. As will be explained in greater detail later, the guide assembly 30 engages the pipe stand as it enters the inlet 65 and rotates so as to deliver the pipe stand to a slot 60 which has been rotated to correspond to the outlet 75. As will further be discussed later, in this embodiment a pipe delivery system such as a cam lifter 55 may act to facilitate the more rapid placement of each pipe stand by the guide assembly placing several pipe stands on the cam lifter 55 before said pipe stands are delivered as an array of pipes into the corresponding slot 60.
By comparison, the racking assembly according to the present invention merely slides each pipe into place and thus eliminating the “lift and drop” approach of the prior art. Each pipe stand or array of pipe stands located within individual slots of the top fingerboard 25a, 25b are maintained in position by the fingerboard plate 11 at the top and by the barrier 21a, 21b at the lower portion. A further advantage includes the ease of manufacture of the base as compared to a lower fingerboard according to the prior art, having several slots formed to accommodate the respective pipe stands.
The use of racker arms for engaging a pipe stand is known and is a useful way of engaging a pipe or pipe stand during detachment from the drill string. After detachment of the pipe or pipe stand from the string, the racker arms may also be used for placement, albeit an inaccurate, given the size and weight of such an object. To better control the placement and storage of the pipe stand, the guide assembly, has fewer degrees of freedom and a shorter lever arm and so having a better design both in terms of strength and accuracy. Accordingly, placement of a pipe stand may be more accurate and faster than the use of the racker arms of the prior art. Thus whilst the guide assembly in one embodiment may provide an intermediate step, the speed by which pipe stand can be placed accurately as compared to the use of racker arms provides a distinct advantage over the prior art.
As mentioned whilst the invention is broad enough to include one setback assembly, the arrangement shown in
In a further aspect of the present invention, a further device which acts to increase the speed of placement of pipe stand both safely and accurately is shown in
With regard to the process of insertion into the setback assembly,
Thus the delivery system includes the block 205 which in this embodiment is placed upon a series of vertically oriented actuators (such as hydraulic rams) 220. The extension of the actuators 220 allows the block to move up and down relative to the base which is important in the means of delivery of the pipe stand. The block and actuators are located upon a trolley 230 which includes rollers 235. When the block has reached its capacity (either by weight of length) of pipe stands the delivery system moves into slots 215 within the base so as to bring the pipe stands into a closely packed arrangement on the base directed radially from the center. In a further embodiment, the block will be of sufficient size to contain a sufficient number of pipe stands to completely fill each radial line of storage of the base which of course must correspond to slots within the corresponding fingerboard.
Once the block has reached the inner position as shown in
In one embodiment the block may retract through the base so as to allow free rotation of the base without inference from the block. Alternatively, the trolley may permit the block to move completely out of the base so again may permit the base to rotate without interfering with the block.
In an alternative embodiment, the actuators may be replaced by upstands which are rotatable about a hinge. On rotation of the upstands, the block retracts beneath the support face, in a similar manner to the retraction of the actuators.
This is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/364,230, filed Feb. 2, 2009, now abandoned, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/006,809, filed on Jan. 31, 2008.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20120093614 A1 | Apr 2012 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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61006809 | Jan 2008 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 12364230 | Feb 2009 | US |
Child | 13294788 | US |