Horizontal Stand Builder and Catwalk
OwnerGus Rusinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and method for horizontally building stands of tubulars and transferring them to a rig floor. The system has a horizontal stand builder which assembles double or triple stands of tubulars. A catwalk and V-door are positioned alongside the horizontal stand builder. A skate is able to push either single, double, or triple stands along the catwalk and up the V-door to a position whereby an elevator on the rig can grip the stand and move it onto the rig. For transferring single stands of tubular, there is a carrier at the upper end of the V-door which can grip the single stand and lift it to the position for the elevator to grip it and move it onto the rig.
Claims17
A method for horizontally building tubular stands and for transferring single, double, or triple tubular stands to a rig, said method comprising:
- providing a catwalk having a catwalk floor, and a V-door, both positioned alongside a rig;
- providing a carrier, disposed at an upper end of said V-door and operable to lift a single stand of tubular from said V-door;
- providing a skate disposed on said catwalk floor and operable to travel along said catwalk floor and up said V-door;
- providing a horizontal stand builder disposed alongside said catwalk and comprising at least one powered wrench operable to connect stands of tubular to one another;
- in the case of transferring a single tubular stand:
- transferring said single tubular stand from a rack to said catwalk;
- advancing said skate to push said single tubular stand along said catwalk floor, up said V-door, and into said carrier;
- said carrier gripping and lifting said sing tubular stand into position for an elevator on said rig to grip said single tubular stand and transfer said single tubular stand to said rig;
- in the case of building and transferring a double tubular stand:
- transferring first and second single tubular stands from respective first and second racks to said stand builder;
- connecting said first and second tubular stands with said powered wrench to form a double stand;
- transferring said double stand to said catwalk;
- advancing said skate to push said double stand along said catwalk floor, up said V-door, and into position for an elevator on said rig to grip said double stand and transfer said double stand to said rig;
- in the case of building and transferring a triple tubular stand:
- transferring first and second single tubular stands from respective first and second racks to said stand builder;
- connecting said first and second tubular stands with said powered wrench to form a double stand;
- moving said double stand forward along said stand builder using at least one set of powered rollers;
- transferring a third tubular stand from said first rack to said stand builder in position behind said double stand;
- connecting said third single tubular stand to said double stand with said powered wrench to form a triple stand;
- transferring said triple stand to said catwalk;
- advancing said skate to push said triple stand along said catwalk floor, up said V-door, and into position for an elevator on said rig to grip said triple stand and transfer said triple stand to said rig.
A system for horizontally building tubular stands and for transferring single, double, or triple tubular stands to a rig, said system comprising:
- a catwalk having a catwalk floor, and a V-door, both positioned alongside a rig;
- a horizontal stand builder disposed alongside said catwalk and comprising:
- at least one powered wrench operable to connect tubular stands to one another to form double or triple tubular stands;
- at least one set of rollers for moving said tubular stands along said stand builder;
- at least one kicker for moving said double or triple tubular stands from said stand builder to said catwalk floor;
- a skate disposed on said catwalk floor and operable to push single, double, or triple tubular stands along said catwalk floor and up said V-door to a position whereby an elevator on said rig can grip said single, double, or triple tubular stand and transfer it to said rig.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.