Core sample handling device
AssigneeCoremax Limited
InventorsGregory Donald West, Peter Evan Powell
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A device for handling core samples during a core sample drilling operation is disclosed. In use the core sample is received in a string of inner tubes within a drill string. The device includes a clamp and a coupling mechanism. The clamp is configured to grip a lower inner tube below a joint between the lower inner tube and an adjacent upper inner tube of the string of inner tubes, with the lower tube received in the drill string and with the joint exposed above a top end of the drill string. The coupling mechanism is configured to engage the upper inner tube and/or the joint and operate to uncouple the upper inner tube from the lower inner tube.
Claims15
A drill rig which manipulates drill rods and a drill bit to advance a bore, comprising:
- an inner tube handling system for the capture and retrieval of long core samples, via the use of a connected string of inner tubes located in the drill rods and which are connected and separated from one another in a hands free manner, the inner tube handling system comprising:
- at least one clamp configured to either grip a lower or an upper inner tube on one side, of a joint between the lower inner tube and an adjacent upper inner tube of the string of inner tubes;
- and
- a cutting or breaking mechanism;
- and
- a coupling mechanism configured to:
- engage the upper-or lower inner tube on either side of the joint, depending on which side of the joint the clamp is/are gripping an inner tube;
- and
- operate to uncouple the upper inner tube from the lower inner tube or vice versa depending on whether the upper or the lower inner tube is clamped;
- wherein once the upper inner tube is uncoupled from the lower inner tube at least one positioning apparatus moves the coupling mechanism relative to the at least one clamp (or vice versa) to enable at least one of the inner tubes to move so as to allow a portion of the core sample held within the inner tubes to be exposed to enable cutting of the core sample by the cutting or breaking mechanism.
A method for drilling and recovering core samples from a formation, the method comprising:
- i) providing a drill rig with a drill string for drilling into a formation to extract a core sample;
- ii) a device for advancing an inner tube into the drill string to be received therein with an upper end of the inner tube exposed above a top end of the drill string;
- iii) the device connects a next inner tube to the upper end of the inner tube received in the drill string to form a string of inner tubes comprising at least an uppermost inner tube and an adjacent second-uppermost inner tube;
- iv) using the device to feed the connected string of inner tubes into the top of the drill string;
- v) drilling into the formation to a depth greater than the length of a single inner tube of the string of inner tubes and less than or equal to a length of the string of inner tubes to receive the core sample within the string of inner tubes;
- vi) recovering the string of inner tubes with core sample received therein and withdrawing the string of inner tubes to expose a lower end of the uppermost inner tube and an upper end of the adjacent second uppermost inner tube coupled thereto above the top end of the drill string with the second upper most inner tube received in the drill string;
- vii) uncoupling and separating the uppermost inner tube from the adjacent second uppermost inner tube with the device to expose a portion of the core sample therebetween;
- viii) cutting or breaking the core sample with the device through the exposed portion of the core sample by providing a cutting or breaking mechanism and operating the cutting or breaking mechanism to cut the exposed portion of the core;
- ix) using the device to remove the uppermost inner tube with a corresponding portion of the core sample therein from the drill rig while holding the core sample securely within the inner tube;
- and
- x) using the device to recover the second uppermost inner tube with a corresponding portion of the core sample therein from the drill string and removing from the drill rig.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.