Auto-collapsible pore pressure probe device and operating method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11788409-B2
Application number	US-202318180233-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 8, 2023
Priority date	Sep 30, 2021
Publication date	Oct 17, 2023
Grant date	Oct 17, 2023

Abstract

An auto-collapsible pore pressure probe device, including a support system, a penetration system and a measurement system. The support system includes a first support frame, a second support frame, a separation mechanism, a ring clamp, a fixing nut, a fixing bolt, support legs, slots, a support base, and a third support frame. The penetration system includes a rod storage wheel, a motor, a tightening mechanism, a penetration drive motor, a gear, a fixing bracket, a fixing bolt, and a friction wheel. The measurement system includes a pore pressure probe, a control cabinet, a CPTU probe, a pore pressure sensor, a probe connector, an external thread, an internal thread, a fastening strip, a connecting bolt, a connector, a data transmission and power supply cable, a displacement sensor, and a deck unit. An operating method of the pore pressure probe device is also provided.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An auto-collapsible pore pressure probe device, comprising:
a support system;
a penetration system; and
a measurement system;
wherein the support system comprises a first support frame, a second support frame, four separation mechanisms, an upper support leg, a lower support leg, an upper clamping slot, a lower clamping slot, a support base, and a third support frame; the first support frame is octagonal; and the third support frame is configured to support a rod storage wheel;
the first support frame is configured as a support mechanism of the auto-collapsible pore pressure probe device; and the second support frame is welded into a bottom frame of the first support frame, and is configured to support the penetration system;
the four separation mechanisms are located around a bottom of the first support frame; each of the four separation mechanisms comprises a support leg ring clamp, a support fixing nut, and a support leg fixing bolt; the support leg ring clamp is located between the upper support leg and the lower support leg; the upper support leg is welded to a middle of the first support frame; the lower support leg is welded to an upper surface of the support base; the upper support leg and the lower support leg are detachably connected through the support leg ring clamp; the support base is located at a bottommost end of the first support frame; and the third support frame is welded to an upper end of the second support frame;
the penetration system comprises the rod storage wheel, a rod storage wheel motor, a tightening mechanism, a penetration drive motor, a primary transmission gear, two fixing brackets, a fixing bolt, and two friction wheels;
the tightening mechanism comprises a probe limit barrel, a rotating shaft, a hydraulic press, a rotary drive hydraulic press, a hydraulic transmission rod, a connector, a rotatable fixing frame, a fixing frame, four support columns, and a rotary frame;
a first end of the rotary drive hydraulic press is welded to the second support frame, and a second end of the rotary drive hydraulic press is connected to the hydraulic transmission rod; an upper end of the rotating shaft is connected to the hydraulic transmission rod, and a lower end of the rotating shaft is welded to the rotary frame; the rotary drive hydraulic press is configured to drive the hydraulic transmission rod to move horizontally to drive the rotary frame to rotate; an upper surface of the rotary frame is fixedly provided with the hydraulic press; an end of the hydraulic press is connected with the hydraulic transmission rod, and is connected to the rotatable fixing frame through the connector; the hydraulic press is configured to drive the hydraulic transmission rod to move horizontally to drive the rotatable fixing frame to rotate; a modular pore pressure probe at a lower end is clamped by the two friction wheels; and the probe limit barrel is connected to the upper surface of the rotary frame through the four support columns;
the rod storage wheel has a regular pentagonal steel-frame structure, and comprises a fixing chain and a limit plate; the fixing chain is welded to the rod storage wheel; a first end of the fixing chain is fixed to the rod storage wheel, and a second end of the fixing chain is fixed to an end of the modular pore pressure probe; the limit plate is provided at individual corners of the regular pentagonal steel-frame structure; and a center of the rod storage wheel is connected to the third support frame through a wheel axle of the rod storage wheel for storing the modular pore pressure probe;
the rod storage wheel motor is welded to a side of the third support frame, and is connected to the rod storage wheel through a rotating shaft of the rod storage wheel motor, and the rod storage wheel motor is configured to drive the rod storage wheel to rotate;
the penetration drive motor comprises two electric-drive motors which are respectively welded to both sides of the second support frame; the two electric-drive motors are connected to the primary transmission gear through rotating shafts thereof to provide power for rotation of the two friction wheels; the two fixing brackets are the same in size, and are respectively fixed at both ends of the second support frame through the fixing bolt; and each of the two fixing brackets is connected to a plurality of transmission gears to realize reverse rotation of the two friction wheels;
the measurement system comprises the modular pore pressure probe, a control cabinet, a pore pressure static penetration test (CPTU) probe, a pore pressure sensor, a probe connector, a connector external thread, a connector internal thread, a fastening strip, a connecting bolt, a watertight plug-in male, a watertight plug-in female, a data transmission and power supply cable, a displacement sensor, and a deck unit;
the modular pore pressure probe has five sections each having a length of 1 m; each of the five sections is provided with the pore pressure sensor; wherein when not working, the pore pressure sensor is stored in the rod storage wheel; the watertight plug-in male is located at a top of the modular pore pressure probe, and the watertight plug-in female is located at a bottom of the modular pore pressure probe; and the modular pore pressure probe is configured to perform data exchange and power transmission through the watertight plug-in male and the watertight plug-in female;
the control cabinet is welded to a side of the third support frame; the five sections of the modular pore pressure probe are connected in sequence through the probe connector; the CPTU probe is located at a bottommost end of the modular pore pressure probe, and the displacement sensor is located at a middle of the modular pore pressure probe; the rod storage wheel motor and the two electric-drive motors are connected to an on-board power supply through the data transmission and power supply cable; the deck unit is in communication connection with the rod storage wheel motor and the two electric-drive motors through the data transmission and power supply cable; and the modular pore pressure probe passes through the probe limit barrel, such that the probe limit barrel is capable of limiting horizontal displacement of the modular pore pressure probe; and
the two fixing brackets consist of a first fixing bracket and a second fixing bracket; each of the first fixing bracket and the second fixing bracket is fixedly provided with a secondary transmission gear, a tertiary transmission gear, and a friction transmission gear; when penetrating, the penetration drive motor drives the primary transmission gear to rotate, and through engagement between the secondary transmission gear, the tertiary transmission gear, and the friction transmission gear, the transmission rod and the two friction wheels connected to the transmission rod are driven to rotate; the second fixing bracket is further provided with a quaternary transmission gear with the same size as the tertiary transmission gear; and the quaternary transmission gear is capable of changing rotation direction of the friction transmission gear on the second fixing bracket, such that the two friction wheels rotate in opposite directions, and the modular pore pressure probe is penetrated to a predetermined depth by friction.

2. The auto-collapsible pore pressure probe device of claim 1 , wherein the first support frame is formed by welding of hollow stainless-steel cylindrical tubes.

3. The auto-collapsible pore pressure probe device of claim 1 , wherein the support base consists of four circular plates with the same size.

4. The auto-collapsible pore pressure probe device of claim 1 , wherein each of the four separation mechanisms further comprises the support leg fixing nut, the support leg fixing bolt, the upper clamping slot, and the lower c

Assignees

• Powerchina Huadong Engineering Corp Ltd
• Ocean Univ China

Inventors

• Shan Zhigang
• Sun Miaojun
• Wang Wei
• Yu Heyu
• Liu Xiaolei

Classifications

• E21B49/006 Primary

  Measuring wall stresses in the borehole · CPC title

• G01L11/00 Primary

  Measuring steady or quasi-steady pressure of a fluid or a fluent solid material by means not provided for in group G01L7/00 or G01L9/00 · CPC title

• E21B19/002 Primary

  specially adapted for underwater drilling (E21B19/09, E21B19/143 take precedence) · CPC title

• Y02E30/30

  Nuclear fission reactors · CPC title

• E21B49/001

  specially adapted for underwater installations · CPC title