Material or article handling – Apparatus for moving intersupporting articles into – within,... – Stack forming apparatus
Patent
1983-10-06
1986-11-11
Paperner, Leslie J.
Material or article handling
Apparatus for moving intersupporting articles into, within,...
Stack forming apparatus
414 22, 414745, E21B 1914
Patent
active
046219749
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an automated system for use in the drilling industry and, in particular, to a system for removing pipe from and providing additional pipe to a drill string, as well as for monitoring desired parameters and conditions associated with the drilling operation.
BACKGROUND ART
In drilling operations, it is common practice to remove thousands of feet of pipe from a well hole in order to replace a worn drill bit. The pipe is uncoupled and stacked as it is removed. In order to reduce the time for accomplishing the repetitive task of uncoupling and storing pipe, automation of various steps involved in the uncoupling process has resulted. Remotely controlled racking arms have been devised for gripping portions of pipes. A power torque winch has come into use for breaking the tight connection between two adjacent sections of pipe rather than applying mechanical wrenches requiring a number of workmen to do the same job. A power spinning wrench has recently come into use for rapidly rotating the pipe to be removed with respect to the drill string so that the pipe can be uncoupled and moved to temporary storage. Finger board sections have been employed on the derrick to receive upper portions of pipe stands to permit vertical storing of the pipe stands. In addition, a computerized system has been proposed which monitors the position of racker arms for grabbing pipes and controls the movement of the racker arms, as well as detecting whether jaws of the arm are open or closed.
Although the foregoing contributions to the task of uncoupling, as well as coupling, pipe stands have improved the efficiency of the drilling operation, some significant deficiencies still remain. None of the prior art systems is fully automated since verification of each step of the system operation is not automatically done before a next step is initiated. In this regard, the present invention utilizes sensing means, such as transducers, for use in indicating to a programmable controller whether a pipe stand has actually been grasped by a racking arm. There is no need for a drill rig operator to check whether this grasping step has occurred since the system itself can make such a determination. In addition, the present invention incorporates newly devised controllable arms and a transport assembly for grabbing and holding pipe stands during the uncoupling and coupling operations. These devices can be used with presently available drilling equipment which has been modified in a novel manner to provide an automatic pipe handling system.
STATEMENT RELATING TO PRIOR ART
U.S. Pat. No. 4,042,123 to Sheldon et al. issued Aug. 16, 1977 describes a digital computer system incorporated with a hydraulically powered pipe handling apparatus. The system controls and monitors the operations of pipe racking and unracking and includes sensors for use in the pipe handling process. However, it does not teach the use of transducers for providing an indication that a pipe was actually grasped. Rather, this prior art system only knows whether jaws were closed, not whether there was a pipe within the jaws when they closed.
Publication entitled "Automated Pipe Handling On Floating Drill Vessels" from Automation In OffShore Oil Field Operation by W. F. Roberts, Jr., J. A. Howard, H. E. Johnson (1976), also describes a pipe handling system which utilizes digital computer control. The computer is able to determine the position of controlled devices, such as pipe racking arms, using a servo system. Depending upon the determined positions of such controlled devices, the computer is able to control further operations thereof. However, this proposed system does not include, among other things, verifying means for providing information to the computer as to whether a racker arm has, in fact, grasped a pipe stand. Like the Sheldon et al. patent, this system only knows that the jaws, for example, were activated to graps a pipe stand, not whether a pipe stand was actually grasped.
U.S. Pat. No, 3,501,017 to Johnson et al
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InPro Technologies, Inc.
Paperner Leslie J.
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