Wellbore drilling system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9752395-B2
Application number	US-201414889380-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 3, 2014
Priority date	May 6, 2013
Publication date	Sep 5, 2017
Grant date	Sep 5, 2017

Abstract

An aspect of the present invention relates to a wellbore drilling system comprising a drilling tower and a tubular racking device having at least a lower first tubular racker assembly and at least a second tubular racker assembly operable at a greater height than the first tubular racker assembly. The system further comprises one or more well center tools, each adapted for operation above the well center of the drill floor, e.g. an iron roughneck tool for making up and breaking out of threaded tubular joints. According to the present invention, the tubular racking device comprises a third tubular racker assembly which is vertically mobile and which is operable for tubular transfer between the firing line and the drilling tubulars storage rack in combination with the second tubular racker assembly, e.g. in case of failure of the first tubular racker assembly, and wherein at least one well center tool is adapted to be connected to the motion arm of the third tubular racker assembly, which well center tool is operable above the drill floor, whilst the first and second tubular racker assemblies are operable in combination for tubular transfer between the firing line and the drilling tubulars storage rack.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A wellbore drilling system comprising:
a drilling tower;
a drill floor having a well center through which a drill string passes along a firing line;
a drilling tubulars storage rack adapted to store multiple drilling tubulars in vertical orientation; and
a tubular racking device having at least a lower first tubular racker assembly, a second tubular racker assembly operable at a greater height than the first tubular racker assembly and a third tubular racker assembly, each tubular racker assembly comprises a base, a motion arm connected to said base, and a tubular gripper member connected or connectable to the motion arm and adapted to grip a tubular,
wherein said tubular racking device is adapted to grip and retain a drilling tubular by the tubular racker assemblies, and wherein said tubular racking device is adapted to place a tubular in and remove a tubular from the drilling tubulars storage rack,
wherein said tubular racking device has a reach at least allowing to transfer a tubular gripped by said first and second tubular racker assemblies between the drilling tubulars storage rack and a position of the tubular aligned with the firing line above the well center so as to allow for building and disassembly of a tubulars string, wherein the system further comprises one or more well center tools, each adapted for operation above the well center of the drill floor, wherein the base of the first tubular racker assembly is vertically mobile between a lower operative position —wherein the corresponding gripper member can place a tubular in and remove a tubular from the drilling tubulars storage rack —and a raised position,
wherein the base of the third tubular racker assembly is vertically mobile at least between a well center servicing position, that is below the lower operative position of the base of the first tubular racker assembly, and said lower operative position of the base of the first tubular racker assembly if said first tubular racker assembly is moved to a raised position,
wherein —with the base of the third tubular racker assembly in said lower operative position of the base of the first tubular racker assembly and with a tubular gripper member connected to the motion arm —the third tubular racker assembly is operable for tubular transfer between the firing line and the drilling tubulars storage rack in combination with the second tubular racker assembly, wherein at least one of the one or more well center tools is adapted to be connected to the motion arm of the third tubular racker assembly,
wherein a first well center tool of the at least one of the one or more well center tools is a first iron roughneck device for making up and breaking out of threaded tubular joints, and
wherein —with the base of the third tubular racker assembly in the well center servicing position —a well center tool of the at least one of the one or more well center tools is connected to the motion arm thereof and is operable above the drill floor, whilst the first and second tubular racker assemblies are operable in combination for tubular transfer between the firing line and the drilling tubulars storage rack.

2. The wellbore drilling system according to claim 1 , wherein the system further comprises a well center tools storage structure that is adapted to store therein the at least one of the one or more well center tools that are connectable to the motion arm of the third tubular racker assembly.

3. The wellbore drilling system according to claim 2 , wherein the well center tools storage structure is adapted to store well center tools therein at least at multiple levels above one another.

4. The wellbore drilling system according to claim 2 , wherein said well center tools storage structure is arranged such that said at least one of the one or more well center tools stored therein are within reach of the third tubular racker assembly so as to allow connection of a well center tool to the motion arm while the well center tool is stored in the well center tools storage structure.

5. The wellbore drilling system according to claim 1 , wherein a first and a second drilling tubulars storage rack is provided on opposite sides of the drilling tower, and wherein said tubular racking device is a first tubular racking device and is arranged to transfer tubulars between the first drilling tubulars storage rack and the firing line, and wherein a second tubular racking device is arranged to transfer tubulars between the second drilling tubulars storage rack and the firing line.

6. The wellbore drilling system according to claim 5 , wherein the system further comprises a well center tools storage structure that is adapted to store therein the at least one of the one or more well center tools that are connectable to the motion arm of the third tubular racker assembly,
wherein the well center tools storage structure is adapted to store well center tools therein at least at multiple levels above one another, and
wherein said well center tools storage structure is arranged such that said at least one of the one or more well center tools stored therein are within reach of the third tubular racker assembly so as to allow connection of a well center tool to the motion arm while the well center tool is stored in the well center tools storage structure, the wellbore drilling system further comprising a first well center tool storage structure arranged such that said one or more well center tools stored therein are within reach of said first tubular racking device, and comprising a second well center tool storage structure arranged such that one or more well center tools stored therein are within reach of the second tubular racking device.

7. The wellbore drilling system according to claim 6 , wherein a second well center tool of said one or more well center tools comprises a second iron roughneck device, wherein the first and second iron roughneck devices are adapted for different diameter tubular strings, and
wherein the first iron roughneck device is stored in the first well center tool storage structure and wherein the second iron roughneck device is stored in the second well center tool storage structure.

8. The wellbore drilling system according to claim 1 , wherein the bases of the first, second and third tubular racker assemblies are guided along a common vertical rail.

9. The wellbore drilling system according to claim 1 , wherein the drilling tubulars storage rack is a drilling tubulars rotary storage rack that is rotatable about a vertical axis and has storage slots for storage of multiple tubulars in vertical orientation, the drilling tubulars rotary storage rack includes a drive to rotate the drilling tubulars storage rack about its vertical axis.

10. The wellbore drilling system according to claim 9 , wherein the drilling tubulars rotary storage rack comprises a central vertical post and multiple discs at different heights on the post, at least one disc being a fingerboard disc having tubulars storage slots, each slot having an opening at an outer circumference of the fingerboard disc allowing the introduction and removal of a tubular from the storage slot, and
wherein the at least one fingerboard disc is composed of multiple fingerboard disc members that are releasably connected to the central post.

11. The wellbore drilling system according to claim 10 , wherein at least one fingerboard disc member is provided with a latching device adapted to latch each individual tubular held in a slot of the fingerboard disc member.

12. The wellbore drilling system according to claim 10 , wherein at least one tubular racker assembly is vertically mobile and is configured to reta

Assignees

• Itrec Bv

Inventors

• Roodenburg Joop
• Wijning Diederick Bernardus
• Hessels Hendrik

Classifications

• E21B19/155

  Handling between horizontal and vertical position · CPC title

• E21B19/20 Primary

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

• E21B15/02

  specially adapted for underwater drilling (E21B15/04 takes precedence) · CPC title

• E21B19/14

  Racks, ramps, troughs or bins, for holding the lengths of rod singly or connected; Handling between storage place and borehole (E21B19/20, E21B19/22 take precedence) · CPC title

• E21B15/00 Primary

  Supports for the drilling machine, e.g. derricks or masts · CPC title