Mast assembly for drilling rig
AssigneeNabors Drilling Technologies USA, Inc.
InventorsAshish Gupta, Padira Reddy, Denver Lee
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A mast assembly for a drilling rig includes a mast formed from a plurality of mast subunits. The mast assembly includes a lower drilling machine, upper drilling machine, and upper mud assembly, each of which is coupled to and movable vertically relative to the mast. The mast subunits are separable when the mast is in a transport configuration such that the LDM is positioned in a first subunit and the UDM is in a second subunit of the mast when the mast is in the transport configuration. The mast assembly may be used during a continuous drilling operation.
Claims18
A mast assembly for a drilling rig comprising:
- a mast, the mast formed from a plurality of mast subunits;
- a lower drilling machine (LDM), the LDM coupled to and movable vertically relative to the mast;
- a continuous drilling unit (CDU) mechanically coupled to the LDM, the CDU including an inverted slips assembly, the inverted slips assembly including a slips bowl and one or more wedges positioned to grip a tubular member;
- an upper drilling machine (UDM), the UDM coupled to and movable vertically relative to the mast;
- and
- an upper mud assembly (UMA), the UMA coupled to and movable vertically relative to the mast;
- wherein the mast subunits are separable when the mast is in a transport configuration such that the LDM is positioned in a first subunit and the UDM is in a second subunit of the mast when the mast is in the transport configuration.
A method comprising:
- positioning a drilling rig at a well site, the drilling rig including:
- a mast assembly, the mast assembly including:
- a mast, the mast formed from a plurality of mast subunits;
- a lower drilling machine (LDM), the LDM coupled to and movable vertically relative to the mast;
- a continuous drilling unit (CDU) mechanically coupled to the LDM, the CDU including an inverted slips assembly, the inverted slips assembly including a slips bowl and one or more wedges positioned to grip a tubular member;
- an upper drilling machine (UDM), the UDM coupled to and movable vertically relative to the mast;
- and
- an upper mud assembly (UMA), the UMA coupled to and movable vertically relative to the mast, the UMA including a drilling mud supply pipe adapted to supply drilling fluid to a tubular member gripped by the UDM defining an upper flow path;
- wherein the mast subunits are separable when the mast is in a transport configuration such that the LDM is positioned in a first subunit and the UDM is in a second subunit of the mast when the mast is in the transport configuration;
- and
- continuously drilling a wellbore using the drilling rig.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.