Pipe cutting tool

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11426809-B2
Application number	US-202117173410-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 11, 2021
Priority date	Jan 14, 2019
Publication date	Aug 30, 2022
Grant date	Aug 30, 2022

Abstract

An example pipe cutting tool includes a plurality of actuators and a plurality of cutters. Each of the plurality of cutters is connected to at least one separate actuator of the plurality of actuators. The at least one separate actuator is configured to move the cutter between a pre-deployed and deployed position. The deployed position is beyond the pre-deployed position. The plurality of cutters may include a first and second cutter, with the at least one separate actuator connected to the second cutter moving based, at least in part, on one or more cutting conditions. An example method of cutting a pipe includes extending a first cutter to contact the pipe, cutting at least a portion of the pipe using the first cutter, detecting a cutting condition, extending a second cutter based, at least in part, on the cutting condition, and resuming the cutting using the second cutter.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A pipe cutting tool comprising:
a plurality of cutters;
an actuator connected physically to the plurality of cutters, the actuator being configured to extend and to retract to move each of the plurality of cutters between a deployed position and a pre-deployed position, respectively;
one or more sensors for monitoring one or more conditions associated with the plurality of cutters;
a control system for outputting one or more signals to control extending or retracting the actuator based on the one or more conditions; and
a housing to hold the one or more actuators and the plurality of cutters,
where, for each of the plurality of cutters, (i) the cutter is disposed entirely within the housing in the pre-deployed position and (ii) the cutter extends at least partially outside of the housing in the deployed position.

2. The pipe cutting tool of claim 1 , where the plurality of cutters comprise a first cutter and a second cutter; and
where, the second cutter is configured to move from the pre-deployed position to the deployed position automatically based, at least in part, on the one or more conditions.

3. The pipe cutting tool of claim 1 , where each of the plurality of cutters is associated with a respective one or more of the one or more sensors.

4. The pipe cutting tool of claim 1 , further comprising:
a cutter imaging monitor configured to monitor at least one of the plurality of cutters during operation, where the cutter imaging monitor comprises at least one of an x-ray imaging monitor, an optical camera, or an acoustic camera.

5. The pipe cutting tool of claim 4 , where the cutter imaging monitor is configured to send a monitoring signal to a remote computing system, the monitoring signal representing real-time operation of one or more of the cutters.

6. The pipe cutting tool of claim 1 , where, for each of the plurality of cutters, the cutter lies at least partially in a common horizontal plane when in the deployed position.

7. The pipe cutting tool of claim 1 , where, for each cutter of the plurality of cutters, the cutters comprises a rotatable blade, a blade hub, and an arm, where (i) the blade hub is configured to cause the rotatable blade to rotate about a central axis of the blade hub, (ii) the blade hub is connected to the arm at a first end of the arm, and (iii) the arm is connected to the actuator at a second end of the arm opposite the first end.

8. The pipe cutting tool of claim 1 , further comprising:
a housing to hold the actuator and the plurality of cutters;
where the housing has an outer diameter of less than 3 inches.

9. The pipe cutting tool of claim 1 , where a radial extent of a cutter from a central axis of the pipe cutting tool is less than 3 inches when the cutter is in the pre-deployed position.

10. The pipe cutting tool of claim 1 , where a radial extent of a cutter from a central axis of the pipe cutting tool is at least 4.5 inches when the cutter is in the deployed position.

11. The pipe cutting tool of claim 1 , where the actuator is configured to provide at least 750 psi of outward pressure to each cutter making a cut during cutting.

12. The pipe cutting tool of claim 1 , where the actuator comprises a piston.

13. A pipe cutting tool comprising:
a plurality of cutters;
an actuator connected physically to the plurality of cutters, the actuator being configured to extend and to retract to move each of the plurality of cutters between a deployed position and a pre-deployed position, respectively;
one or more sensors for monitoring one or more conditions associated with the plurality of cutters; and
a control system for outputting one or more signals to control extending or retracting the actuator based on the one or more conditions,
where the control system is configured to set the deployed position based on a radius of a pipe to be cut.

14. A pipe cutting tool comprising:
a plurality of cutters;
an actuator connected physically to the plurality of cutters, the actuator being configured to extend and to retract to move each of the plurality of cutters between a deployed position and a pre-deployed position, respectively;
one or more sensors for monitoring one or more conditions associated with the plurality of cutters; and
a control system for outputting one or more signals to control extending or retracting the actuator based on the one or more conditions,
where the plurality of cutters comprise a first cutter and a second cutter,
where, the second cutter is configured to move from the pre-deployed position to the deployed position automatically based, at least in part, on the one or more conditions, and
where the one or more conditions comprise a first cutter pressure that exceeds an initial or preset first cutter pressure by a predetermined amount.

15. A pipe cutting tool comprising:
a plurality of cutters;
an actuator connected physically to the plurality of cutters, the actuator being configured to extend and to retract to move each of the plurality of cutters between a deployed position and a pre-deployed position, respectively;
one or more sensors for monitoring one or more conditions associated with the plurality of cutters; and
a control system for outputting one or more signals to control extending or retracting the actuator based on the one or more conditions,
where, in the deployed position, one or more of the cutters is angled relative to the common horizontal plane.

16. A pipe cutting tool comprising:
a plurality of cutters;
an actuator connected physically to the plurality of cutters, the actuator being configured to extend and to retract to move each of the plurality of cutters between a deployed position and a pre-deployed position, respectively;
one or more sensors for monitoring one or more conditions associated with the plurality of cutters; and
a control system for outputting one or more signals to control extending or retracting the actuator based on the one or more conditions,
where the plurality of cutters comprise a first cutter, a second cutter, and a third cutter and the third cutter is redundant to the first cutter and to the second cutter.

17. A pipe cutting tool comprising:
a plurality of cutters;
an actuator connected physically to the plurality of cutters, the actuator being configured to extend and to retract to move each of the plurality of cutters between a deployed position and a pre-deployed position, respectively;
one or more sensors for monitoring one or more conditions associated with the plurality of cutters; and
a control system for outputting one or more signals to control extending or retracting the actuator based on the one or more conditions,
where the one or more signals cause the actuator to supply a controlled cutting pressure.

Assignees

• Saudi Arabian Oil Co

Inventors

• Sehsah Ossama R
• Muqeem Muhammad
• Waluyo Fauzia

Classifications

• E21B29/005 Primary

  with a radially-expansible cutter rotating inside the pipe, e.g. for cutting an annular window · CPC title

• B23D45/003

  for particular purposes · CPC title

• B23D45/10

  with a plurality of circular saw blades {(B23D45/143, B23D45/165 take precedence)} · CPC title

• B23D59/002 Primary

  for the position of the saw blade (mounting for swiveling or tilting a circular saw blade B27B5/36; portable power-driven circular saws with adjustment for cutting depth or amount of tilting B27B9/02) · CPC title

• B23D59/008

  comprising computers · CPC title