Tong assembly with swiveling trunnions
AssigneePetol Gearench Division of Orbix Corporation
InventorsPatrick Johnson, Ben Stenmark
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A tong assembly for use in the make up or breakout of a threaded connection between adjacent tubulars in a tubular string includes jaws that engage the tubulars, handles for rotating the jaws, and a actuation assembly for exerting a force to the handles. The actuation assembly applies the force to the handles along a path intersecting the handles, which avoids creating torsion in the handles. The connection between the actuation assembly and the handles includes trunnion assemblies that swivel about ends of the handles to align the force with the handles.
Claims17
A tong assembly for relative rotation of tubulars comprising:
- a first tong member rotationally engaged with a first tubular;
- a second tong member rotationally engaged with a second tubular that is threaded to the first tubular;
- an actuation assembly coupled between first and second handles of the first and second tong members respectively, so that when the actuation assembly is operated, a force is applied from the actuation assembly to the first and second tong members that creates oppositely directed torques in the first and second tubulars;
- and
- couplings pivotingly mounted on the first and second handles, so that a path of the force intersects axes of the first and second handles with relative movement of the first and second handles.
A method of rotating tubulars attached by a threaded connection, the method comprising:
- engaging a first tubular with a first jaw assembly of a tong assembly;
- engaging a second tubular with a second jaw assembly of a tong assembly;
- exerting a first torque in the first tubular and a second torque in the second tubular by applying a force between a first and second handle of the tong assembly;
- and
- minimizing torsion in the first and second handles by maintaining a direction of the force to be along a path that intersects an axis of the first handle and an axis of the second handle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.