Drill pipe handling

Details Drill pipe handling Drill pipe handling

1992-12-21

1994-10-04

Bui, Thuy M.

Boring or penetrating the earth

With above-ground means to feed tool

175 85, 175203, E21B 1900

Patent

active

053517679

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention pertains to oil field drill pipe handling procedures and equipment. More particularly, it pertains to procedures for making up multi-joint stands of drill pipe by use of a rotary mousehole during top drive drilling operations.


BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Oil well drilling procedures are now well developed and known. Typically, a rotating string of drill pipe, composed of individual sections (also called "joints") of drill pipe each typically 30 feet in length, carries at its lower end a drill bit which bores into the earth. As the bit bores deeper, additional joints of pipe are added to the string. Until relatively recently, the drill string typically was rotated about its axis by use of a rotary table located on a drilling platform in combination with a special section of drill string called a kelly joint or, more simply, a kelly. The rotary table typically is located in the platform floor directly below the path of vertical movement of a traveling block suspended in a derrick erected over the platform. The kelly is a non-round, often hexagonal, section of heavy-wall drill pipe, typically 42 feet in length, which forms the uppermost section of the drill string during drilling operations using a rotary table. The rotary table includes a power driven annular collar configured to slidably mate with the non-round configuration of the kelly, thereby to rotate the drill string and to power the drill bit.
When drilling with a rotary table and a kelly, the pipe string is drilled "kelly down", i.e., the length of the kelly joint, after which the kelly is raised above the rotary table. The drill string then is secured from downward movement in the rotary table, and the kelly is disconnected from the drill string. An additional 30 foot joint of drill pipe is added to the string and the kelly is then reconnected to the drill string. The string then is lowered through the rotary table to enable the kelly to engage, adjacent its lower end, in driving relation to the rotary table collar. Drilling operations are then resumed and continued to extend the well bore another 30 feet or so, at which time it is necessary to add another joint to the drill string. A new joint of drill pipe is added to the drill string each time the well bore is extended 30 feet or so, and each such addition requires performance of the operations described above.
In connection with oil and gas well drilling by use of rotary table equipment, additional features of the drilling equipment were developed, notably a mousehole and a rathole. A mousehole is a substantially vertically disposed tubular sleeve located in the drilling rig with its upper end at the platform closely adjacent the rotary table center. The mousehole is used to hold the next joint of drill pipe which is to be added to the drill string. The rathole is a somewhat larger diameter and often longer length tubular sleeve or the like also located in the drilling rig floor; it serves as a receptacle for the kelly.
Recently, a form of mechanism different from a rotary table has gained widespread acceptance in the oil and gas drilling industry for rotating a drill pipe string. That new equipment is known as a top drive. A top drive drilling mechanism and related equipment is supported by and below the traveling block for movement vertically along the well bore axis and for connection directly to the drill string. The top drive mechanism includes a motor, such as a DC electric motor, which operates to turn a coupling to which the upper end of the pipe string can be connected. Use of top drive drilling procedures eliminates the need for the long kelly joint and the need for disconnecting the kelly joint from the drill string each time it becomes necessary to increase the length of the drill string. Also, drill pipe can be added to the drill string in units of two or three joint "stands", i.e., multi-joint increments of drill string 60 or 90 feet in length, with a corresponding reduction in man hours expended in drilling a well of specified dept

REFERENCES:
patent: 3719238 (1973-03-01), Campbell et al.
patent: 4610315 (1986-09-01), Koga et al.
patent: 4738321 (1988-04-01), Oliver
patent: 4843945 (1989-07-01), Dinsdale
patent: 4854400 (1989-08-01), Simpson

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