US3447652A - Telescoping drilling device - Google Patents

Description

June 3, 1969 J. D. TIPTON 3,447,652

TELESCOPING DRILLING DEVICE Filed March 13. 1968 INVENTOR. J05 D. 77Pr0/v BY ATTORNEY June 3, 1969 J. D. TIPTON TELESCOPING DRILLING DEVICE Filed March 15, 1968 I l l l I I 1 1 It IWIME- 4 United States Patent U.S. Cl. 192-85 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A telescoping drill pipe assembly comprising an inner pipe, an outer pipe, and a frictional hydraulically actuated coupling device for holding the two pipe members in any desired position between and including the maximum extended and collapsed positions. The inner pipe member has sleeved about its lower end a stack of alternate resilient rings and rigid rings adapted to be compressed by a hydraulic piston and cylinder assembly. A hydraulic fluid supply tube extends the length of the inner pipe and is connected to the cylinder. Pressurizing the cylinder will cause the piston to compress the ring assembly axially thereby deforming the resilient rings radially outwardly into frictional gripping contact with the inner wall of the outer pipe for holding the inner and outer pipes fixed relative to each other.

Background of the invention? This application is a continuation-in-part of applicants prior copending application Ser. No. 673,066, filed Oct. 5, 1967, now abandoned.

Drilling devices of the type used for drilling blast holes for quarrying, mining, and geophysical exploration are usually mounted on wheeled or tracked vehicles for portability. Also, in the interest of portability, the drill mast is limited in length and usually hinged for erection at the drill site to a substantially vertical position prior to commencing the drilling operations. Consequently, the depth to which a hole may be drilled without adding extension lengths of drill pipe is limited by the mast height. Moreover, the use of extension pipe sections requires pipe storing and handling apparatus on the mast with the penalty of additional weight and bulk which is undesirable from the standpoint of ease in raising nad lowering the mast.

To overcome the aforementioned problems associated with the operation of portable drilling rigs, telescoping drilling members have been developed which permit the drilling of holes having a depth greater than the height of the drill rig mast without the use of extension sections and the associated handling equipment.

For example, US. Patent 3,255,612 issued to I. R.- Mayer and J. D. Tipton discloses a telescoping drill pipe or kelly for use with a drilling rig equipped with a rotary table drive, and which can be operated either in the fully extended or fully collapsed condition. However, it is desirable to have telescoping drilling devices for use with drilling rigs employing drive units attached to the top end of the drill pipe, and it is also desirable to be able to extend the telescoping members to any desired position intermediate the fully collapsed or extended positions.

Summary of the invention The principal object of the invention is the provision of a telescoping drill pipe assembly capable of being operated and held in any position intermediate the extreme extended or collapsed positions.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a telescoping drill pipe assembly that is simple and provides ease of operation from a remote location such as the drillers operating station, and may be stored on the mast in a collapsed condition when not in use.

A further object of the invention is the provision of an extensible drill pipe assembly for a drilling rig having a top drive unit slida-bly mounted on the drill mast which drives the drill pipe from one end only.

The invention lies in the provision of a telescoping drill pipe assembly having a novel means for coupling one pipe section relative to the other in any selected position between the totally collapsed or telescoped condition and the maximum extended position.

The preferred embodiments of the invention contemplate not only retention of the inner and outer telescoping members to prevent relative axial movement, but also the provision of coupling means capable of transmitting substantial torque from one member to the other without rotational slippage of one member relative to the other.

The hydraulically actuated resilient gripper rings form a simple and positive locking means between the inner and outer pipe sections. The coupling rings are also responsive to increased axial loading of the drill pipe to grip the pipe member with a progressively greater frictional force thereby being, to a degree, self-energized. Since the hydraulic actuating mechanism is essentially automatically operable, it can be remotely controlled and requires virtually no physical effort on the part of the drill operating personnel in order to achieve rapid and precise positioning of the telescoping pipe members.

The novel features of the invention as well as additional objects and advantages thereof will be understood more fully from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

Brief description of the drawings FIG. 1 is a view of a typical rotary drill rig mounted on a tracked vehicle and employing the subject telescoping drilling device which is shown in a partially extended condition. Included in FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of a control system for the hydraulically actuated coupling.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view of a hole cleansing fluid inlet pipe illustrating the components whereby the coupling pressure fluid and the drill hole cleansing fluid are introduced to the upper portion of the telescoping drill pipe assembly.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of a portion of the telescoping drill pipe assembly showing the torque transmitting splines.

FIG. 4 is a partial longitudinal section of the hydraulically actuated coupling assembly in the non-gripping condition.

FIG. 5 is a partial longitudinal sectional view of the coupling assembly in the gripping condition.

FIG. 6 is a transverse sectional view taken along the line 6-6 in FIG. 3.

FIG. 7 is a transverse sectional view taken along the line 7-7 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 8 is a transverse sectional view taken along the line 88 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary view of the telescoping drill pipes connected by a mechanical coupling.

FIG. 10 is a longitudinal sectional view of a portion of an alternate embodiment of the telescoping drill pipe assembly.

FIG. 11 is a partial longitudinal section of the hydraulically actuated coupling assembly of the embodiment of FIG. 10.

FIG. 12 is a transverse sectional view taken along the line 1212 of FIG. 10.

FIG. 13 is a transverse sectional View taken along the line 1313 of FIG. 11.

FIG. 14 is a transverse sectional view taken along the line 1414 of FIG. 11.

Description of the preferred embodiments In the drawings a preferred form of the telescoping drilling device is shown as a telescoping drill pipe assembly for driving a rotary bit. In FIG. 1 the drill pipe assembly is shown in drilling position mounted on a portable drilling rig having a track laying undercarriage carrying a mast 12 which is hinged at 14 for allowing the mast 12 to be lowered to a substantially horizontal position when the drilling rig is to be moved from. one drilling site-to another. The particular type of rotary drill rig illustrated has what is commonly known as a top drive assembly comprising a hydraulic motor 16 drivably connected to a gear box 18. The top drive assembly is mounted on a carrier 20 suitably retained on a mechanism, not shown, but well known to those familiar with the art which powers the top drive assembly along the mast 12 for feeding and retracting the drill pipe assembly.

The telescoping drill pipe assembly includes an outer tubular drill pipe 22 having a rotary bit 24 attached to the lower end thereof, an inner tubular drill pipe 26 telescopically disposed within the outer pipe 22, and a hydraulically actuated coupling assembly generally designated by 28 and explained herein later in detail.

The upper end of the inner drill pipe 26 is drivably connected to the top drive gear box 18 by a drive coupling- 30 which is also connected to the top drive output shaft 32.

Drill pipe stabilizers 34 and 36 are mounted on the mast 12 to journal the drill pipe assembly and stabilize respectively the inner drill pipe 26 and the outer drill pipe 22 about their axis of rotation.

Also shown in FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of a typical hydraulic control system for actuating the coupling assembly 28 and will be explained herein later in detail. The control system could logically be mounted on a drill control panel, not shown, and operated from the drill operators platform 40.

In FIG. 2 a fragmentary section of a drill hole cleansing fluid inlet pipe 42 is shown. The pipe 42 is rigidly fixed to the top drive gear box 18 (FIG. 1) but is also sealably in communication with the hollow drive shaft 32. Hole cleansing fluid such as compressed air may be introduced to the interior 44 of the pipe 42 via a hose 48 (FIG. 1) from a suitable source The hole cleansing fluid may then flow down through the hollow drive shaft 32 (FIG. 1) and via the drive coupling 30 into the inner drill pipe 26, down through the outer drill pipe 22, and through the bit 24 for blowing drill chips from the drill hole. In applications using a down-the-hole drill (not shown) attached to the lower end of the outer drill pipe, the hole cleansing fluid also serves as the drill working fluid.

FIG. 2 also illustrates the means for introducing hydraulic actuating fluid to the coupling assembly 28. A rotating union 48 of a well known type is disposed within the pipe 42 and the cap 50 and is also coupled to a hydraulic fluid supply tube 52 which extends through the hollow drive shaft 32 and down through the interior of the inner drill pipe 26 to the coupling assembly 28. Hydraulic fluid is thereby suitably conducted to the coupling assembly 28 which rotates with the inner drill pipe member 26 as does the tube 52.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 6, in a preferred form of the telescoping drill pipe assembly, driving torque is transmitted from the inner drill pipe 26 to the outer drill pipe 22 through internal splines 54 on the outer drill pipe 22 disposed to slide in complementary grooves 56 formed on the circumference of the inner drill pipe 26. The splines 54 extend only over a small portion of the length of the outer pipe 22; however, to make the inner pipe 26 fully telescopic within the outer pipe 22, the grooves 56 extend substantially the full length of the inner pipe 26.

thetic rubber. The ring assembly is retained at the uppe end by a shoulder 70 on theinner drill pipe 26;

Threadably attached to the extreme lower end of a-sec- 0nd reduced diameter portion 72 of the inner pipe 26 is .a hydraulic cylinder head 74. A-cylinderbarrel 76 extends upwardly from the cylinder head 74 and ,is affixed to the head 74.by a pin 78. An.O-ring 80 forms a circumferentialseal between the head 74 and-the barrel 76. In theannular space formed-by the cylinder-barrel 76 surr0und.

ing the reduced diameter 72 of the inner pipe 26"is axial-J. ly slidably housed a piston 82 having a head 84 and: an elongated skirt 86. O- rings 88 and 90 prevent leakage of hydraulic fluid past the piston head 84. The-upper end of the piston skirt 86 engages one of the metal force transmitting rings 64 thereby retaining the lower end coupling assembly 28.

Hydraulic fluid is admitted to the cylinder by means of the elongated tube 52 which, as previously described, extends down through the interior 92 of the inner pipe26 from the upper end attached to the rotating union 48 (see FIG. 2).

The lower end of the tube 52 is pressed into the fitting 94 which in turn is suitably secured in the cylinder head 74 as by welding at 96. Hydraulic fluid flows to the cylinder from the tube 52 through passage 97, and radial extending passages 98 in the fitting 94 into a cavity 100 in the cylinder head 74 and then through passages 102 and longitudinally extending passages 104 as shown in FIG. 7. Referring to FIGS. 4 and 8, additional passages 106 are in communication with the bore 108 of the head 74 for receiving drill holes cleansing fluid from the interior 92 of the inner pipe 26 and transmitting the same to the interior 110 of the outer drill pipe 22.

In the deenergized condition of the coupling assembly 28, as shown in FIG. 4, the resilient coupling members.

66 have an outside diameter 67 slightly less than the inside diameter of the wall 69 of the outer drill pipe 22 so that the inner and outer drilling members are .free to slide.

FIG. 5 illustrates the energized condition of the coupling assembly 28. Hydraulic fluid underpressure acting against-the piston 82 willcause axial displacement and forceable engagement against the first force transmitting ring 64 and successive transmittal of force through each resilient ring 66 causing elastic deformation as shown so that each resilient ring 66 fills the annular spaceformed between each force transmitting ring64, the outer diameter 68 of the inner drill pipe.26,- and the. inner wall 69 of the outerdrill pipe 22. Particularly significant in the embodiment shown is thatthe outer-diameter 67 of each resilient ring 66 is now inpositive engagement withthe inner wall 69 of the outerdrill pipe 22 thereby establishing at riction coupling between the inner. pipe-26 and the outer pipe 22 preventing longitudinal displacement of; one.

relative to the other even .under a substantial, axial load. I

In fact, a degree of self-energization is experienced'due to the fact that an increase in axial force on the inner drill pipe 26 tends to cause additional elastic deformation-of the rings 66 and resulting in greater forces exerted on the pipe wall 69 which establishes greater frictional resistance to axial displacement of the inner pipe 26 relative .to-

the outer pipe 22. 1

The frictional holding force of the coupling assembly is also. proportional to the area of contactbetween the resilient rings 66 and the wall 69 so that increasing the of the l total number of rings will increase the holding capacity of the coupling assembly. By way of example, a coupling assembly having a total of twelve synthetic rubber rings one inch long used on a 3.75 inch diameter drill pipe as sembly will support an axially applied force on the inner drill pipe sufiicient to raise a typical drilling rig on the ground at the mast end of the undercarriage.

In operation, drilling would begin with the inner and outer pipe members in the fully telescoped condition. The coupling assembly 28 would be energized by operating a control valve 112 (FIG. 1) to valve hydraulic fluid from a supply pump 113 mounted on the drill rig through conduits 114 and 116, a pilot operated check valve 118, and conduit 120 to the rotating union 4'8 and supply tube 52. An axially applied drill feeding force from the top drive carrier 20 could then be transmitted from the inner pipe 26 through the coupling 28 to the outer pipe 22, to put sufiicient pressure on the bit 24 for effective drilling.

After drilling the maximum depth in the telescoped condition, the control valve 112 would be operated to deenergize the coupling by supplying hydraulic fluid via the pump 113 to the conduit 122 and the check valve pilot operator 124 to open the check valve 118. Hydraulic fluid would then be forced out of the coupling assembly 28, via conduits 120, 116, and 121, to the sump 126, as the resilient rings 66 resumed their relaxed condition of FIG. 4. The top drive carrier 20 could then be operated to pull the inner drill pipe 26 up the mast 12 at least the distance equal to the additional depth of hole desired while the outer pipe 22 would remain in the hole due to its own weight. After again energizing the coupling assembly 28, as described, drilling operations could be resumed with the inner and outer pipe members securely coupled in an extended position.

At the completion of drilling operations the extended assembly is withdrawn from the drill hole by raising the carrier 20 up the mast 12 until a grooved portion 130 near the top end of the outer drill pipe 22 is just above the lower stabilizer 36. In this position a somewhat C-shaped retaining member (not shown) is inserted in the grooved portion 130 and also rests on the stabilizer 36 thereby supporting the pipe 22 when the coupling assembly 28 is deenergized. The drill pipe assembly can then be collapsed and after energizing the coupling assembly 28, once again, the telescoped pipe assembly can be withdrawn completely from the hole.

In the event of hydraulic supply pressure failure, or a seal failure in the coupling assembly, the outer drill pipe 22 could be withdrawn from the hole by collapsing the drill pipe assembly until the groove 128 on the inner drill pipe 26 was adjacent the grooved portion 130 on the outer drill pipe 22 whereupon as shown in FIG. 9, a mechanical coupling 132 could be inserted in the grooves to couple the drill pipes for raising or lowering the telescoped assembly.

In the aforedescribed embodiment it can be appreciated that due to the fact that elastic deformation of the re silient rings 66 causes them to frictionally grip the reduced diameter portion 68 of the inner drill pipe 26 as well as the inner wall 69 of the outer pipe 22 the coupling assembly could be used to transmit a limited amount of driving torque such as required for rotary indexing of percussion drills and down-the-hole type drills.

An alternate embodiment of the telescoping drill pipe assembly is illustrated in FIGS. through 14. Referring particularly to FIGS. 10 and 11, portions of an outer tubular drill pipe 222 are shown telescopically disposed over an inner tubular drill pipe 226. The outer drill pipe 222 has a grooved portion 230 near the top end serving the same purpose as the grooved portion 130 of the drill pipe 222. The top end of tubular pipe 222 has a cap 223 threadedly disposed thereon. The cap 223 houses a circumferential sealing member 225 in a groove 227. The sealing member 225 functions to prevent drill chips and dust from falling down into the annular space 229 between the inner and outer drill pipes when the top end of the outer drill pipe is below ground level. The lower end of the outer tubular drill pipe 222 (FIG. 11) terminates with a threaded sub 258 having a plurality of holes 260 for conducting pressure fluid for hole cleaning when using a drilling tool (not shown) such as a rotary bit, or for energizing a down-thehole drill attached to the sub 258.

In FIGS. 10 and 11, the lower end of the inner drill pipe 226 is shown with a hydraulically actuated coupling assembly 228 attached thereto. The coupling assembly consists of a plurality of alternately stacked metal force transmitting ring members 264 and resilient ring members 266 disposed on a reduced diameter portion 268 of the inner drill pipe 226. As shown in FIG. 10, the reduced diameter portion 268 may be formed as a separate member and suitably fastened to the inner drill pipe 226 such as by welding at 271. As shown in FIGS. 10-14, the reduced diameter portion 268 has straight sided splines 273 for engaging complementary grooves in the force transmitting rings 264 and the resiilent rings 266. The ring assembly is retained at the upper end of the reduced diameter portion 268 by a shoulder 270.

Threadably attached to the extreme lower end of a second reduced diameter portion 272 of the inner pipe 226 is a hydraulic cylinder head 274. A cylinder barrel 276 extends upwardly from the cylinder head 274 and is aflixed to the head 274 by welding at 278. In the annular space formed by the cylinder barrel 276 surrounding the reduced diameter 272 of the inner pipe 226 is axially slida-bly housed a piston 282 of the same configuration as the piston 82. The upper end of the piston 282 engages one of the metal force transmitting rings 264 thereby retaining the lower end of the coupling assembly 228.

Hydraulic fluid is admitted to the cylinder by means of a flexible elongated tube 252 which, as in the embodiment of FIGS. 1 through 9, extends down through the interior 292 of the inner pipe 226.

The lower end of the tube 252 terminates in a threaded connector 293 which is pressed into a fitting 294. The fitting 294 is suitably secured in the cylinder head 274 by a retaining ring 296. Hydraulic fluid flows to the cylinder from the tube 252 through passage 297, and radial extending passages 298 in the fitting 294 into a cavity 210 in the cylinder head 274 and then through passages 202 and longitudinally extending passages 204 as shown in FIG. 11. Additional passages 206 are in communication with the bore 208 of the head 274 for receiving pressure fluid from the interior 292 of the inner pipe 226 and transmitting the same to the interior 211 of the outer drill pipe 222.

The operation of the coupling assembly 228 is similar to the coupling assembly 28 previousl described. However, as will be noted from FIGS. 10 and 12, the complem'entary torque transmitting splines and grooves have been eliminated from the outer drill pipe 226 and the inner drill pipe 222, respectively. In the energized condi tion (not shown) of the coupling assembly 228, the axial compressive force exerted on the stacked rings by the piston 282 will cause the resilient and elastically deformable ring members 266 to deform radially to frictionally grip the inner wall 269 of the outer drill pipe 226. Due to the fact that the resilient n'ngs 266 are splined to the inner telescoping drill pipe and are in frictional engagement with the metal force transmitting rings 264 over respective transverse surfaces 283 and 285, the coupling assembly 228 is able to sufficiently transmit all the torsional effort required in rotary drilling as well as maintaining the fixed axial relationship of the inner and outer telescoping members.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 10 through 14, the resilient ring members 266 can be suitably made of a polyurethane elastomer of approximately -100 durometer hardness. Replacement of worn rings is facilitated by providing a radial split 299 in the rings 266 (see FIG. 13) to enable the rings to be forcibly spread for insertion over and removal from the reduced diameter portion 268 without complete disassembly of the coupling.

Although in the embodiments described herein the illustrative drilling rig is a top drive rotary rig, it will be appreciated that the invention could be used to equal advantage with various types of drilling equipment such as percussion, down-the-hole, and auger drills to extend the depth of hole drilled without resorting to adding and removing extension drill string members.

What is claimed is:

1. In a drilling device including drive means for rotating a drill pipe, a telescoping drill pipe assembly com prising:

(a) an elongated outer tubular member having attachment means adjacent its lower end for attaching a drill bit or the like;

(b) an elongated inner tubular member operable to be rotatively driven by said drive means and dimensioned for longitudinal telescopic movement with respect to said outer tubular member; and

(c) frictional coupling means mounted on said inner tubular member adjacent the lower end thereof for telescopic movement therewith and operable to releasably couple said tubular members in fixed longitudinal relationship, said coupling means comprising:

(1) at least one elastically deformable ringlike member surrounding said lower end of said inner tubular member, said ringlike member in its nondeformed condition being movable with respect to the inner wall of said outer tubular member and in its deformed condition being in frictional gripping engagement with said inner wall of said outer tubular member; and

(2) pressure fluid operable actuator means attached adjacent said lower end of said inner tubular member, including cylinder and piston component means, one of said component means being extendable in response to operation of said actuator means to deform said resilient member into frictional gripping engagement with said inner wall of said outer tubular member thereby to hold said outer and inner tubular members in fixed longitudinal relationship.

8 2. The invention set forth in claim 1 wherein: said ringlike member in its nondeformed condition being movable with respect to the outer wall of said inner tubular member and in its deformed condition being in frictional gripping engagement with said outer Wall of said inner tubular member, whereby, in response to operation of said actuator means, said inner tubular member and said outer tubular member are held against relative rotation. 3. The invention set forth in claim 1 wherein: said coupling means includes at least one substantially 'rigid ringlike force transmitting member surrounding said lower end of said inner tubular member and engageable with said elastically deformable member over respective transverse surface means, said lower end of said inner tubular member includes longitudinal external splines formed on its outer wall, said ringlike members include complementary grooves for engaging said splines, and in response to operation of said actuator means said resilient member is forced into frictional gripping engagement with said transverse surface means on said rigid member thereby to hold said outer and inner tubular members against relative rotation. 4. The invention set forth in claim 1 wherein: said outer tubular member includes inwardly projecting longitudinal spline members disposed on its inner wall and said inner tubular member includes complementary longitudinal grooves disposed in its outer wall whereby-said outer tubular member is operable to be rotatively driven by said inner tubular member.

9/1962 Gidge. 12/1964 Baver et a1 285338 X 40 BENJAMIN W. WYCHE, III, Primary Examiner.

U.S. C1. X.R.

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