Patent Application
20220228454
The disclosure relates to pipe removal systems and methods and associated components thereof that include a washover tool for underground pipe removal.
Pipelines are designed to transport products, such as sewage, water, or petroleum products, including oil and gas, between two different locations. These pipelines are typically steel or plastic tubes which may be buried underground. Processes and tools currently used in the art require craftsmen to sequentially dig up and cut out sections of the pipe from beneath the ground. Accordingly, these processes and tools used to remove these pipelines are extremely time consuming and often require highly skilled labourers, costly equipment, and dangerous conditions.
These pipelines are often installed using the Horizontal Directional Drilling method (or “HDD”). Drilling machines utilize drilling rods or drill pipe that sometimes become stuck in the ground during the HDD process. When the drilling rods or pipe become stuck, in most cases, the rods or pipe are abandoned and a new pilot hole is created, because as stated above the processes and tools required to remove the suck rods or pipe are extremely burdensome.
Therefore, there is a need for a new and improved tools for underground pipe removal.
Implementations of the present disclosure relate to pipe removal systems, and methods of using pipe removal systems to remove underground pipes.
So that the manner in which the above-recited features of the disclosure can be understood in detail, a more particular description of the disclosure, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only typical embodiments of this disclosure and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the disclosure may admit to other equally effective embodiments.
To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have been used, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common to the figures. It is contemplated that elements disclosed in one implementation may be beneficially utilized on other implementations without specific recitation.
Aspects of the disclosure relate to pipe removal systems, and methods for using pipe removal systems to remove underground pipes. In one aspect, the disclosure relates to a washover tool system, and methods of using the washover tool system.
The outer housing 110 is a cylindrical pipe having an outer diameter d1a, an inner diameter d1b (illustrated in
The inner housing 120 is a cylindrical pipe having an outer diameter d2a, and inner diameter d2b (illustrated in
The outer housing 110 is larger in diameter than the inner housing 120. The difference in diameters of the outer and inner housings 110, 120 creates an annulus 220 (illustrated in
In operation, the washover tool 100 is positioned circumferentially around the pipe 130 such that the pipe 130 extends through the inner housing 120. The washover tool 100 is moved along the length L3 of the pipe 130 while spraying a wash fluid to washover the pipe 130 to remove dirt, debris, and/or the ground surrounding the pipe 130. The pipe 130 may be any type or size used to transport fluids, solids, and/or mixtures of fluids and solids, including but not limited to oil and gas. The pipe 130 may also be any type or size of drill rod or drill pipe utilized by an HDD or road boring machine.
The inner diameter d1b of the outer housing 110 is greater than the outer diameter d2a of the inner housing 120, as to form an annulus 220 between the outer housing 110 and the inner housing 120. The difference between the inner diameter d1b of the outer housing 110 and the outer diameter d2a of the inner housing 120 determines the width of the annulus 220. The width of the annulus 220 may be within a range of 2 inches to 24 inches. The width of the annulus 220 may be large enough to provide sufficient fluid flow to washover the pipe 130.
The outer housing 110 has a thickness 215. The thickness 215 of the outer housing 110 may be within a range of 0.10 inches to 2.0 inches. Additionally, the inner housing 120 has a thickness 225. The thickness 225 of the inner housing 120 may be within a range of 0.10 inches to 2.0 inches. In some embodiments, the thickness 215 and the thickness 225 are the same. In some contemplated embodiments, the thickness 215 and the thickness 225 are different. The thickness of the outer housing 110 and the inner housing 120 may be thick enough to allow proper welds to be made to assemble the washover tool 100.
The washover tool 100 further includes a plurality of centering members 210 disposed between the outer housing 110 and the inner housing 120 to center the outer and inner housings 110, 120, and to provide structural support to the washover tool 100 and the annulus 220. In some embodiments, the centering members 210 are metal blocks welded to the inner housing 120 and the outer housing 110 and disposed within the annulus 220. The centering members 210 may be radially spaced within the annulus 220 and may only extend along a portion of the length of the inner and/or outer housings 110, 120.
The washover tool 100 may similarly include a back face plate, which is disposed at an opposite end of washover tool 100 from the front face plate 230. The back face plate may be welded in a similar manner as the front face plate 230. Together, the front face place 230 and black face plate enclose the annulus 220 between the outer housing 110 and the inner housing 120.
The front face plate 230 includes a plurality of openings 240 formed through the front face plate 230, through which several jets or streams of wash fluid may flow through. The openings 240 may be radially positioned about the center axis 205 on the front face plate 230. The front face plate 230 includes enough openings 240 to allow for adequate fluid flow through the washover tool 100 to properly wash, loosen, and/or remove any material surrounding the pipe 130. For example, the front face plate 230 may include between four and five hundred openings 240 (although any number, orientation, and/or arrangement of openings 240 may be used) formed through the front face plate 230 radially about the center axis 205. Each opening 240 may be drilled, or drilled and tapped to allow for threaded opening inserts to be installed into the front face plate 230. The openings 240 and/or the threaded opening inserts may be sized to achieve a certain pressure of washover spray. For example, the openings 240 and/or the threaded opening inserts could be between 0.0001 inches and 1 inches. Each opening 240 and/or threaded opening insert could provide for an angle of spray between 0 degrees and 360 degrees. Each opening 240 allows fluid supplied to the washover tool 100 to spray from the washover tool 100 over the buried pipe 130. The wash fluid flowing out of the plurality of openings 240 washes over the pipe 130, thereby allowing the pipe 130 to be easily removed from the ground.
The washover tools 100a, 100b may further include a cap 330a, 330b coupled to the fixed end 325 of the rod member 320 and the outer housing 110. As illustrated in
In some embodiments, the elongated body 327 of the rod member 320 is disposed on and coupled directly to the outer housing 110 as illustrated in the washover tool 100a of
In some embodiments, the elongated body 327 of the rod member 320 is coupled to the outer housing 110 via a connection member 450 as illustrated in the washover tool 110b of
The rod member 320 of the washover tool 100 connects to the control source 510 to receive a fluid, such as washover water, from the control source 510. As discussed, the rod member 320 is coupled to the top side 117 of the outer housing 110 so that the opening 115 of the outer housing 110 and the opening 315 of the rod member 320 are aligned. The bore of the rod member 320 and the annulus 220 are in fluid communication, allowing pressurized fluid to be supplied to the washover tools 100a, 100b from the control source 510. The fluid flows through the rod member 320, into the annulus 220, and out of the plurality of openings 240 to washover the pipe 130.
The washover system 500 removes the pipe 130 embedded in the ground 520. The ground 520 may be any earth-like material, such as a sand or soft clay. The pipe 130 may extend some distance into the ground 520, thus requiring the washover tool 100a to be moved along the pipe 130 and into the ground 520 to remove any earth material surrounding the pipe 130. As the washover tool 100 extends farther into the ground 520, additional pipe members may be fastened the rod member 320 by the control source 510 to provide continuous fluid communication between the control source 510 and the washover tool 100a. As each additional pipe member is added to the washover system 500, the control source 510 supplies power to move the washover tool 100 along the length of the pipe 130 by pushing the pipe members connected to the rod member 320, while simultaneously providing pressurized fluid to washover the pipe 130.
The pressurized fluid is carried by the pipe members and the rod member 320 into the annulus 220 and ejected from the annulus 220 through the plurality of openings 240 formed in the front face plate 230. The plurality of openings 240 form a plurality of water jets W, which remove any ground 520 surrounding the pipe 130. The water jets W loosen the ground 520 around the pipe 130 and allow the source 510 to remove the pipe 130.
In some embodiments, the outer edge 260 and front surface 265 of the inner housing 120 remove additional ground 520 surrounding the pipe 130 as they contact the ground 520. As the washover tool 100 is moved along the pipe 130, the front surface 265 extending past the front face plate 230 loosens the ground 520 immediately surrounding the pipe 130. Simultaneously or after, pressurized fluid is supplied to the washover tool 100a to washover the pipe 130 and remove additional ground 520 around the pipe 130. This process repeats along the length of the pipe 130 until the pipe 130, or a section thereof, can be removed from the ground 520.
At operation 604, pressurized water is injected into the washover tool. The pressurized water is supplied from the control source 510 through the rod member 320, or through a series of additional pipe members coupled between the rod member 320 and the control source 510. At operation 606, the pressurized water is ejected from the washover tool through a plurality of openings 240 formed in the washover tool to washover the pipe 130. During operation 606, the pressurized water may be continuously ejected from the washover tool until a requisite amount of the ground 520 is removed from the area surrounding the pipe 130 while the washover tool remains in a stationary position.
At operation 608, the washover tool is then moved along the length of the pipe 130 to washover the pipe 130 with the pressurized water to remove the ground 520 surrounding the pipe 130. In some embodiments, the front surface 265 of the inner housing 120 also removes the ground 520 surrounding the pipe 130 as the washover tool is moved along the length of the pipe 130.
Finally, at operation 610, the pipe 130 is removed from the ground 520. Operation 610 includes disconnecting the washover tool system from the control source 510 by decoupling the rod member 320, or the series of pipe members coupled to the rod member 320, from the control source 510. The control source 510 is then coupled (such as by a threaded coupling) to the starting end 530 of the pipe 130. The control source 510 then applies a pulling force on the pipe 130 to remove the pipe 130 from the ground 520. If the pipe 130 is not sufficiently loosened from the ground 520, the control source 510 is recoupled to the washover tool system, and operations 602 through 610 are repeated until the pipe 130 may be removed from the ground 520.
The embodiments of the washover tools 100, 100a, 100b, the washover system 500, and the method 600 of using the washover tools and system can be equally used to remove pipes, such as drill pipe, that gets stuck in a wellbore when drilling oil and gas wells from a drilling rig. The washover tools 100, 100a, 100b can be placed over the stuck pipe, which may be oriented vertically, and moved along the pipe down into the wellbore while spraying high pressure fluid to remove any dirt, debris, or the materials from around the pipe. The pipe can then be removed and the drilling operation resumed. The embodiments of the washover tools 100, 100a, 100b, the washover system 500, and the method 600 of using the washover tools and system are not limited to use in pipeline and oil and gas drilling operations, but can equally be used in any other type of applications and industries where pipe removal may be needed.
It is contemplated that one or more of the embodiments disclosed herein may be combined. Moreover, it is contemplated that one or more of these embodiments may include some or all of the aforementioned benefits.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the preceding embodiments are exemplary and not limiting. It is intended that all modifications, permutations, enhancements, equivalents, and improvements thereto that are apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings are included within the scope of the disclosure. It is therefore intended that the following appended claims may include all such modifications, permutations, enhancements, equivalents, and improvements. The disclosure also contemplates that one or more aspects of the embodiments described herein may be substituted in for one or more of the other aspects described. The scope of the disclosure is determined by the claims that follow.
This application claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 63/140,146, filed Jan. 21, 2021, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63140146 | Jan 2021 | US |
