Drilling rig comprising tubular stand handling system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10975638-B2
Application number	US-201816608787-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 26, 2018
Priority date	Apr 28, 2017
Publication date	Apr 13, 2021
Grant date	Apr 13, 2021

Abstract

The invention relates to a drilling rig comprising: a tubular stand support tower, tubular stand storage rack, slip device for supporting multiple tubular stands, and a tubular stand connecting device. According to the invention the rig is provided with a tubular stand handling system, adapted to move a tubular stand between the storage rack and a position in the firing line above the tubular string slip device, and adapted to rotatable support the tubular stand in the firing line during spinning in, to allow for connecting the tubular stand with the tubular string, and during spinning out, to allow for disconnecting the tubular stand from the tubular string, the tubular stand handling system comprising. The tubular stand handling system comprises vertical rails and a lower motion arm assembly and an upper motion arm assembly comprising grippers, mounted on said vertical rails. Also provided is a weight compensation control system.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A drilling rig, the drilling rig comprising:
a tubular stand support tower, the tubular stand support tower defining a firing line;
a tubular stand storage rack adapted for storage of tubular stands in vertical orientation therein, and wherein the tubular stand storage rack holds a plurality of tubular stands;
a tubular string slip device, the slip device being adapted to support the weight of a tubular string suspended therefrom in the firing line;
a tubular stand connecting device adapted to connect a lower pin end of one of the plurality of tubular stands to an upper box end of a tubular string supported in the firing line by the slip device, to extend the tubular string during tripping in, and/or to disconnect the lower pin end of the one of the plurality of tubular stands from the upper box end of the tubular string, to shorten the tubular string during tripping out; and
a tubular stand handling system, adapted to move one of the plurality of tubular stands between the storage rack and a position in the firing line above the tubular string slip device, and adapted to rotatably support the one of the plurality of tubular stands in the firing line during spinning in, to allow for connecting the one of the plurality of tubular stands with the tubular string, and during spinning out, to allow for disconnecting the one of the plurality of tubular stands from the tubular string, the tubular stand handling system comprising:
vertical rails, mounted to the tubular stand support tower along at east part of the firing line; and
a lower motion arm assembly and an upper motion arm assembly, mounted on said vertical rails for respectively engaging one of the plurality of tubular stands at a lower region and an upper region thereof, wherein each motion arm assembly comprises:
a mobile base, the mobile base being supported by the vertical rails, and being vertically mobile along said vertical rails by a vertical drive including a motor, the vertical drive being positioned on said mobile base;
a motion arm being connected to said mobile base; and
a tubular gripper member being connected to the motion arm, wherein the gripper member comprises:
grippers for engaging a tubular section of one of the plurality of tubular stands, the grippers being movably supported for movement relative to the mobile base in a compensation direction directed parallel to the firing line, and the grippers being provided with rollers to enable the grippers to support the tubular section of the one of the plurality of tubular stands along a longitudinal axis of the one of the plurality of tubular stands while allowing rotation of the tubular section about the longitudinal axis;
one or more compensator pistons, for moving the grippers relative to the mobile base in the compensation direction, wherein the one or more compensator pistons are configured to support the weight of the grippers and at least part of the weight of the one of the plurality of tubular stands engaged by the grippers; and
a weight compensation control system, the control system controlling the compensator pistons of the lower motion arm assembly and the upper motion arm assembly, and the control system being adapted to increase the pressure in the compensator pistons when the one of the plurality of tubular stands is landed on the tubular string, by moving the lower motion arm assembly and the upper motion arm assembly and/or the grippers of the respective motion arm assemblies supporting the one of the plurality of tubular stands downward, to prevent the full weight of the one of the plurality of tubular stands from being transferred onto the tubular string.

2. The drilling rig according to claim 1 , wherein the weight compensation control system is adapted to control the pressure in the compensator pistons, such that by an increase of the pressure the grippers are moved upward relative to the mobile base of the respective motion arm, to enable only part of the weight of the one of the plurality of tubular stands to be transferred onto the tubular string.

3. The drilling rig according to claim 1 , wherein the grippers are supported by the compensator pistons, and the compensator pistons are configured to move the grippers along a weight support trajectory that extends parallel to the firing line and to a line of action of the compensator pistons.

4. The drilling rig according to claim 1 , wherein the weight compensation control system is adapted to allow the one of the plurality of tubular stands to land on the tubular string by moving the motion arm assemblies in a downward direction along the vertical rails, and is adapted to actuate the compensator pistons when the one of the plurality of tubular stands contacts the tubular string such that not all of the weight of the one of the plurality of tubular stands is transferred onto the tubular string, and to keep the weight of the one of the plurality of tubular stands transferred onto the tubular string constant while the one of the plurality of tubular stands contacts the tubular string and the motion arm moves further downwards.

5. The drilling rig according to claim 4 , wherein the weight compensation control system is adapted to stop the downward movement of the motion arm when the one of the plurality of tubular stands contacts the tubular string and the grippers are at a predetermined spinning height relative to the respective motion arm.

6. The drilling rig according to claim 1 , wherein the weight compensation control system is adapted to position the pin end of the one of the plurality of tubular stands adjacent the box end of the tubular string, by lowering the motion arm, to land the one of the plurality of tubular stands on the tubular string by lowering the grippers relative to the motion arm, and to stop lowering the pressure in the compensator pistons when a predetermined tubular stand weight support pressure is reached to prevent the full weight of the one of the plurality of tubular stands to be transferred onto the tubular string.

7. The drilling rig according to claim 1 , wherein the weight compensation control system is configured to reduce the pressure in the compensator pistons to lower the pin end of the one of the plurality of tubular stands into the box end of the tubular string during spinning in, and to increase the pressure in the compensator pistons to lift the pin end of the one of the plurality of tubular stands out of the box end of the tubular string during spinning out.

8. The drilling rig according to claim 1 , wherein the weight compensation control system is configured to keep the pressure in the compensator pistons at a constant predetermined spinning in pressure during spinning in, and at a constant predetermined spinning out pressure during spinning out.

9. The drilling rig according to claim 1 , wherein the weight compensation control system is linked to a spinner and/or a torque wrench for securing the one of the plurality of tubular stands to the tubular string, to receive torque data, and wherein the pressure in the compensator pistons is controlled based on the torque data.

10. The drilling rig according to claim 9 , wherein the weight compensation control system controls the pressure in the compensator pistons based on spinning data received from the gripper member.

11. The drilling rig according to claim 1 , wherein the tubular stand handling system further comprises a tubular stand rotation device for rotating the one of the plurality of tubular stands in order to facilitate connection of the one of the plurality of tubular stands to the tubular string.

12. A method for landing the one of the plurality of tubular stands

Assignees

• Itrec Bv

Inventors

• Roodenburg Joop
• Van Duivendijk Pieter Dirk Melis

Classifications

• E21B19/165 Primary

  Control or monitoring arrangements therefor · CPC title

• E21B19/146

  Carousel systems, i.e. rotating rack systems · CPC title

• E21B19/10

  Slips; Spiders {; Catching devices (rotary tables with master bushing or kelly bushing E21B3/04)} · CPC title

• E21B19/20

  Combined feeding from rack and connecting, e.g. automatically · CPC title

• E21B19/161

  using a wrench or a spinner adapted to engage a circular section of pipe (E21B19/168 takes precedence) · CPC title