Wired pipe coupler connector

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10116036-B2
Application number	US-201414460425-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 15, 2014
Priority date	Aug 15, 2014
Publication date	Oct 30, 2018
Grant date	Oct 30, 2018

Abstract

A wired pipe segment includes a body extending from a box end to a pin end and a coupler located in one of the box and pin ends. The coupler includes a carrier having at least one electrical component disposed therein and one or more antennas supported by and spaced from the carrier and being electrically coupled to the carrier through at least one of the electrical components, the antennas being formed in the carrier in a same molding machine. The segment also includes a transmission line extending away from the coupler towards the other of the box and pin end and in communication with the one or more antennas.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of forming a wired pipe coupler including:
molding with plastic in a molding machine a plastic carrier ring that includes one or more recesses;
injecting metal into the one or more recesses while the plastic carrier ring is in the molding machine to form a metal ground plane, the melting point of the metal not exceeding the melting point of the plastic;
connecting an electrical connector to the ground plane;
forming a metal antenna in the molding machine while the plastic carrier ring is in the molding machine and that are in electrical contact with the electrical connector; and
covering the plastic carrier ring, the metal ground plane and the antenna with a plastic covering;
wherein molding, injecting, forming and covering are all done in a single molding machine.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
disposing one or more spacers between the metal ground plane and the one or more antennas that hold the metal antenna a fixed distance from the metal ground plane.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the one or more spacers are formed at least partially of a ceramic.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising directly electrically connecting a coupler connector to the metal antenna.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plastic material is polyether ether ketone (PEEK).

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein forming the antenna includes forming a first antenna and a second antenna.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
connecting the first antenna to a first coupler connector; and
connecting the second antenna to a second coupler connector.

Assignees

• Mueller Stephan
• Buda Robert
• Roders Ingo
• Rahn Henning
• Baker Hughes A Ge Co Llc

Inventors

• Mueller Stephan
• Buda Robert
• Roders Ingo
• Rahn Henning

Classifications

• B29C70/885

  with incorporated metallic wires, nets, films or plates (as lost heating elements B29C35/0272, B29C61/0625) · CPC title

• B22D19/04

  for joining parts · CPC title

• B29L2031/24

  Pipe joints or couplings (B29L2031/26 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B29K2505/00

  Use of metals, their alloys or their compounds, as filler · CPC title

• E21B17/003

  with electrically conducting or insulating means (E21B17/028 and E21B17/023 take precedence) · CPC title