Boring or penetrating the earth – With below-ground tool drive prime mover – With positive connection between tool and support shaft for...
Patent
1997-03-21
1998-11-17
Bagnell, David J.
Boring or penetrating the earth
With below-ground tool drive prime mover
With positive connection between tool and support shaft for...
1753253, 175327, E21B 400, E21B 1704
Patent
active
058364072
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The intention relates to a tool for drilling oil, gas or geothermal wells, driven in rotation either from the surface by a rotating system of drill rods and collars, or by an underground engine.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The tool is comprised of two main components. The first is a hollow shaft which is connected by one of its ends either to the last rod in the column, or to the shaft of the engine through which the drilling mud must be led. In either case, for purposes of unity of language, the rod or the shaft of the engine to which the hollow shaft belonging to the tool is connected will be called the "driving element." It is also through this driving element that the forward thrust is transmitted to the tool. The second main component of the tool is a blind tubular body, hereinafter called the "tool body," the closed end of which externally carries the cutting edges, and the open end of which allows the passage of the hollow body.
The main components are spherically connected, and this connection is provided by a ball joint; the common center of the two spherical surfaces that it places in contact is called the "center of the ball joint". The-existence of this spherical connection requires the use of a second connection which allows the drilling torque to be transmitted from the hollow shaft to the tool body while maintaining the relative clearances of these two components stemming from their spherical connection.
An articulated tool which corresponds to this definition exists in the prior art (patent GB-A-2.190.411). The tool described by this patent is designed for use in deviated drilling; because of this, the tool body is as short as possible, the ball joint is located above the tool body (GB-A-2.190.411), the hollow shaft is almost entirely outside the tool body and the transmission system is integrated into the ball joint, to the detriment of the area of the spherical contact surfaces.
The tool which is the subject of the present invention is preferably intended for drilling in a straight line. This tool has a relatively slender body, the ball joint is located at the very bottom of the blind end of the tool body, which carries a stabilizer at its other end, and the transmission system, which is separate from the ball joint, is located on the same side of this ball joint as the stabilizer. The distance between the center of the ball joint and the stabilizer, or more precisely between this center and the plane perpendicular to the axis of the tool situated at the mid-height of this stabilizer, must be at least on the order of 2.5 times the diameter of the tool body, and even greater when the lateral aggressiveness of the cutting edges of the tool is greater.
The transmission systems used in the tool which is the subject of the invention are distinguished from those used in the known articulated tools by the fact that they are outside the ball joint, and thus avoid reducing its supporting surfaces, and by the fact that they comprise, between the hollow shaft and the tool body, an intermediate element which surrounds the hollow shaft. This element is connected to each of the main components by a particular toothing when this element is rigid, or by a joint when it is deformable (flexible shell). In any case, it is called a "variable configuration" transmission.
Any comparison between the behavior of the tool which is the subject of the invention and the articulated tools cited in the prior art is difficult, since their preferred fields of application are different.
As compared to the known monolithic tools, the advantages offered by the tool which is the subject of the invention reside in its dynamic behavior. This behavior is rendered largely independent from the parasitic movements of the driving element, without this independence preventing the tool itself from reacting to the most troublesome vibrations caused by the cutting movement and without allowing its two main components to enter into a buttressing configuration. These advantages resu
REFERENCES:
patent: 5472057 (1995-12-01), Winfree
Bagnell David J.
Feeney William L.
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