Removing mill scale from a tubular
AssigneeSaudi Arabian Oil Company
InventorMishal M. Alashrah
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A mill scale removal system includes adjustable stands including vertical arms, horizontal arms coupled to the vertical arms, and rollers coupled to the horizontal arms and configured to support a tubular by contacting engagement with an inner radial surface or an outer radial surface at or near terminal ends of the tubular; a laser ablation system that includes at least one laser sub-assembly mounted to a rod and a first motor drivably coupled to the rod; and a rotation assembly including a second motor, a drive rod coupled to the second motor, and a rotation roller coupled to the drive rod and configured to contactingly engage the outer radial surface of the tubular.
Claims20
A mill scale removal system, comprising:
- a first adjustable stand comprising at least one first vertical arm, at least one first horizontal arm coupled to the at least one first vertical arm, and at least one first roller coupled to the at least one first horizontal arm and configured to at least partially support a tubular by contacting engagement with an inner radial surface at or near a first terminal end of the tubular;
- a second adjustable stand comprising at least one second vertical arm, at least one second horizontal arm coupled to the at least one second vertical arm, and at least one second roller coupled to the at least one second horizontal arm and configured to at least partially support the tubular by contacting engagement with the inner radial surface at or near a second terminal end of the tubular;
- a laser ablation system that comprises at least one laser sub-assembly mounted to a rod and a first motor drivably coupled to the rod, the at least one laser sub-assembly comprising a laser source configured to output a laser having a laser intensity sufficient to remove at least one mill scale layer formed on the outer radial surface at a particular laser ablation threshold;
- and
- a rotation assembly comprising a second motor, a drive rod coupled to the second motor, and at least one rotation roller coupled to the drive rod and configured to contactingly engage the outer radial surface of the tubular, the second motor configured to drivably rotate the drive rod to facilitate rotation of the tubular about a centerline axis through rotation of the at least one rotation roller by the drive rod.
A method for removing mill scale from a tubular, comprising:
- at least partially mounting the tubular on a first adjustable stand comprising at least one first vertical arm, at least one first horizontal arm coupled to the at least one first vertical arm, and at least one first roller coupled to the at least one first horizontal arm such that the at least one first roller contactingly engages an inner radial surface of the tubular at or near a first terminal end of the tubular;
- at least partially mounting the tubular on a second adjustable stand comprising at least one second vertical arm, at least one second horizontal arm coupled to the at least one second vertical arm, and at least one second roller coupled to the at least one second horizontal arm such that the at least one second roller contactingly engages the inner radial surface at or near a second terminal end of the tubular;
- operating a first motor to drive a rod coupled to the first motor and to at least one laser sub-assembly to linearly move the at least one laser sub-assembly on the rod between the first and second terminal ends;
- during linear movement of the at least one laser sub-assembly, operating a laser source of the laser sub-assembly to output a laser having a laser intensity sufficient to remove at least one mill scale layer formed on an outer radial surface of the tubular at a particular laser ablation threshold;
- and
- during linear movement of the at least one laser sub-assembly, operating a second motor to drive a drive rod coupled to the second motor and to at least one rotation roller contactingly engaged with the outer radial surface of the tubular to facilitate rotation of the tubular about a centerline axis through rotation of the at least one rotation roller by the drive rod.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.