Pipe spooling deployment equipment systems and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11242217-B1
Application number	US-202117329429-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	May 25, 2021
Priority date	Jul 16, 2020
Publication date	Feb 8, 2022
Grant date	Feb 8, 2022

Abstract

Techniques for implementing and/or operating a system that includes a pipe drum, which has a drum shaft and a drum body that enables a pipe segment to be spooled on the pipe drum, and pipe deployment equipment. The pipe deployment equipment includes a brake disc, which has a shaft socket that is keyed to matingly interlock with the drum shaft to facilitate tying rotation of the pipe drum with rotation of the brake disc, and a spooling assembly that includes a motor shaft, in which the spooling assembly ties rotation of the motor shaft with the rotation of the brake disc to enable the pipe deployment equipment to actively rotate the brake disc in a first direction to facilitate spooling the pipe segment off of the pipe drum, to actively rotate the brake disc in a second direction to facilitate spooling the pipe segment onto the pipe drum, or both.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a pipe drum, wherein the pipe drum comprises a drum shaft and a drum body configured to enable a pipe segment comprising tubing that defines a pipe bore and a fluid conduit within an annulus of the tubing to be spooled on the pipe drum; and
pipe deployment equipment on which the pipe drum is configured to be loaded, wherein the pipe deployment equipment comprises:
a brake disc, wherein the brake disc comprises a shaft socket that is keyed to matingly interlock with the drum shaft of the pipe drum to facilitate tying rotation of the pipe drum with rotation of the brake disc; and
a spooling assembly comprising:
a motor with a motor shaft, wherein the spooling assembly is configured to tie rotation of the motor shaft with the rotation of the brake disc to enable the pipe deployment equipment to actively rotate the brake disc in a first direction to facilitate spooling the pipe segment off of the pipe drum, to actively rotate the brake disc in a second direction to facilitate spooling the pipe segment onto the pipe drum, or both; and
a gear box, wherein the gear box comprises:
an input wheel connected to the motor shaft of the motor;
an output wheel, wherein rotation of the output wheel is configured to be tied to the rotation of the brake disc; and
a plurality of intermediate gears that are selectively connected between the input wheel and the output wheel of the gear box.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the spooling assembly of the pipe deployment equipment comprises:
a disc wheel secured directly to the brake disc; and
a looped member secured around the output wheel of the gear box and the disc wheel secured to the brake disc.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the pipe deployment equipment comprises a brake pad that is implemented proximate to the brake disc of the pipe deployment equipment, wherein the pipe deployment equipment is configured to actuate the brake pad against the brake disc to facilitate resisting rotation of the pipe drum that is matingly interlocked with the brake disc.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the pipe deployment equipment comprises a pipe deployment trailer that comprises:
an equipment frame, wherein the brake disc and the spooling assembly are secured to the equipment frame;
one or more trailer wheels secured to the equipment frame; and
a tongue assembly secured to the equipment frame, wherein the tongue assembly of the pipe deployment trailer is configured to be secured to a hitch assembly on a tow vehicle to enable the tow vehicle to tow the pipe deployment trailer.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the pipe deployment trailer comprises a lifting assembly secured to the equipment frame of the pipe deployment trailer, wherein the lifting assembly is configured to lift the pipe drum such that the drum shaft of the pipe drum matingly interlocks with the shaft socket on the brake disc, lower the pipe drum such that the drum shaft of the pipe drum disengages from the shaft socket on the brake disc, or both.

6. The system of claim 1 , comprising:
a sensor configured to determine sensor data indicative of one or more operational parameters of the pipe deployment equipment; and
a control sub-system communicatively coupled to the sensor, wherein the control sub-system is configured to control operation of the pipe deployment equipment based at least in part on the sensor data determined by the sensor.

7. The system of claim 6 , comprising:
a power sub-system communicatively coupled to the control sub-system; and
one or more power conduits coupled between the power sub-system and the spooling assembly of the pipe deployment equipment, wherein the control sub-system is configured to instruct the power sub-system to supply power to the motor in the spooling assembly that causes the pipe drum that is matingly interlocked with the brake disc of the pipe deployment equipment to rotate in the first direction to facilitate spooling the pipe segment off of the pipe drum or in the second direction to facilitate spooling the pipe segment onto the pipe drum.

8. A method of operating pipe deployment equipment in a pipe deployment system comprising:
determining, using a control sub-system of the pipe deployment system, a target operation to be performed by the pipe deployment equipment, wherein a pipe drum and a pipe segment spooled on the pipe drum are loaded on the pipe deployment equipment;
instructing, using the control sub-system, a braking assembly of the pipe deployment equipment to actuate a brake pad against a brake disc that is matingly interlocked with the pipe drum to facilitate slowing deployment of the pipe segment from the pipe deployment equipment in response to determining that the target operation to be performed by the pipe deployment equipment is a braking operation; and
in response to determining that the target operation to be performed by the pipe deployment equipment is a pipe spooling operation:
instructing, using the control sub-system, a power sub-system in the pipe deployment system to supply power to a spooling assembly of the pipe deployment equipment to enable the pipe deployment equipment to actively rotate the brake disc of the braking assembly in a first direction to facilitate spooling the pipe segment off of the pipe drum that is matingly interlocked with the brake disc or to actively rotate the brake disc of the braking assembly in a second direction to facilitate spooling the pipe segment onto the pipe drum that is matingly interlocked with the brake disc;
determining, using the control sub-system, tension exerted on the pipe segment due to the pipe segment being actively spooled by the pipe deployment equipment;
instructing, using the control sub-system, the pipe deployment equipment to connect a first intermediate gear that has a larger diameter between an input wheel and an output wheel of a gear box in the spooling assembly of the pipe deployment equipment in response to determining that the tension being exerted on the pipe segment due to spooling by the pipe deployment equipment is greater than an upper tension threshold;
instructing, using the control sub-system, the pipe deployment equipment to connect a second intermediate gear that has a smaller diameter between the input wheel and the output wheel of the gear box in the spooling assembly of the pipe deployment equipment in response to determining that the tension being exerted on the pipe segment due to spooling by the pipe deployment equipment is not greater than a lower tension threshold; and
instructing, using the control sub-system, the pipe deployment equipment to maintain a current intermediate gear connected between the input wheel and the output wheel of the gear box in the spooling assembly of the pipe deployment equipment in response to determining that the tension being exerted on the pipe segment due to spooling by the pipe deployment equipment is greater than the lower tension threshold and not greater than the upper tension threshold.

9. The method of claim 8 , comprising determining, using the control sub-system, whether the target operation to be performed by the pipe deployment equipment is an unspooling operation in response to determining that the target operation is not the braking operation, wherein instructing the power sub-system to supply power to the spooling assembly of the pipe deployment system comprises:
instructing the power sub-system to supply fluid to a motor in the spooling assembly of the pipe deployment equipment to facilitate activity rotating the brake disc of the braking assembly in the first direction such that the pipe segment is spooled off of the pipe drum that is matingly interlocked with the brake disc in resp

Assignees

• Trinity Bay Equipment Holdings Llc

Inventors

• Leger John Paul
• Savoie Todd Steven
• Srivastava Ashesh

Classifications

• B65H2701/33

  Hollow or hose-like material · CPC title

• B65H75/4489

  Fluid motors · CPC title

• B65H75/425

  attached to, or forming part of a vehicle, e.g. truck, trailer, vessel · CPC title

• B65H75/30 Primary

  Arrangements to facilitate driving or braking · CPC title

• B65H2406/40

  Fluid power drive; Fluid supply elements · CPC title