Boring or penetrating the earth – With below-ground tool drive prime mover – Fluid rotary type
Patent
1981-03-27
1984-06-12
Leppink, James A.
Boring or penetrating the earth
With below-ground tool drive prime mover
Fluid rotary type
175227, 277 29, 277 70, 415502, E21B 402
Patent
active
044536046
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to drilling equipment and more specifically, to turbodrills.
Description of the Prior Art
A turbodrill used in prospecting for and developing oil and gas deposits occurring under complex geological conditions must meet certain requirements assuring its effective performance.
Firstly, said turbodrill must incorporate means of assuring positive control of the bit orientation in the course of drilling.
Secondly, the service life of the turbodrill must be sufficiently extended, contributing to a decrease in the operating costs.
The turbodrill in use nowadays employs the series pattern of drilling fluid flow movement. It comprises a shell, a solid shaft, a multistage turbine, radial and thrust bearings. The shell is attached to the drilling string, and the shaft carries a bit. The thrust bearing is separated from the drilling fluid by seals and is provided with a space filled with a lubricant. (Cf. USSR Inventor's Certificate No 373383 published Mar. 12, 1973 in a bulletin "Discoveries, Inventions, Industrial Samples and Trade Marks" No 14).
When the drilling fluid flows in accordance with the series pattern the entire flow of this fluid is fed into the multistage turbine where the differential pressure is developed, causing the rotation of the shaft integrally with the bit. The outflow of the drilling fluid from the multistage turbine is admitted into holes of the bit where the existing differential pressure is converted into an additional load coming on the seals provided in the space of the thrust bearing with the result that the rate of wear of said seals is speeded up.
Under the conditions of intensive drilling and also when the contact surfaces of the seals are of a rigid character, the lubricant contained in the space of the thrust bearing is consumed at a high rate. The bit quite frequently runs short of the lubricant before the drilling cycle is completed.
All attempts to obtain a reliable sealing effect by increasing the number of seals have proved to be of no avail because of a failure to ensure the specified distribution of the contact pressure the seals are exposed to.
Apart from that, the known turbodrill is incapable of assuring positive control of the bit orientation in the course of drilling, i.e., fails to meet an indispensable requirement.
A turbodrill wherein the flow of drilling fluid follows the parallel pattern dispenses with said disadvantage.
Said turbodrill incorporates a shell with an opening in its side surface, a multistage turbine and a shaft with a bore (Cf. USSR Inventor's Certificate No 121102 published in a bulletin "Discoveries, Inventions, Industrial Samples and Trade Marks" No 14, 1959 see page 6). Said shaft is supported by radial bearings and a thrust one which are arranged in the space between the shell and shaft.
The fact that the shaft is provided with a bore ensures positive control of the bit orientation in the course of drilling.
Yet the presence of the thrust bearing having a space filled with the drilling fluid containing abrasives is a factor bringing about rapid wear of said bearing.
Summary of the Invention
The main object of the present invention is to provide a turbodrill having a constructive unit adapted to reliably separate the space of the thrust bearing from the drilling fluid containing abrasives, owing to which the thrust bearing operates under conditions providing a slow rate of wear thereof.
Said and other objects are attained with the aid of a turbodrill the shell whereof has an opening in the side surface enabling the drilling fluid to escape therefrom and contains a multistage turbine with an inlet chamber hydraulically linked up with the drilling string and also with an outlet chamber connected to an annular space between the shell and the wall of the well by way of the opening in the shell and also contains a shaft which is provided with a bore and is supported inside said shell by radial bearings and thrust bearing; said shaft bore being hydraulically linked up with the drilling string
REFERENCES:
patent: Re30257 (1980-04-01), Fox
patent: 1896706 (1933-02-01), Grimeo
patent: 3107951 (1963-10-01), Palm
patent: 3133603 (1964-05-01), Lagacherie et al.
patent: 3882946 (1975-05-01), Ioannesian et al.
Ioanesian Jury R.
Popko Valery V.
Subkhangulov Radik S.
Dang Hoang C.
Leppink James A.
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