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US 5,803,193 AGranted
Drill pipe/casing protector assembly
AssigneeWestern Well Tool, Inc.
InventorsR. Ernst Krueger, N. Bruce Moore
Life of this patent
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AssigneeWestern Well Tool, Inc.
InventorsR. Ernst Krueger, N. Bruce Moore
Estimating the term…
A drill pipe/casing protector assembly for an underground drilling system comprises a well bore in an underground formation, a fixed tubular casing installed in the well bore, a rotary drill pipe extending through the casing and having an O.D. spaced from an I.D. of the casing (or well bore) during normal drilling operations, and a protective sleeve mounted around the drill pipe and spaced from the I.D. of the casing, and upper and lower thrust bearings affixed to the drill pipe above and below the sleeve to retain the sleeve in a fixed axial position on the drill pipe. The sleeve contacts the I.D. of the casing when the drill pipe deflects off-center to protect the casing from contact with the drill pipe or its tool joints during rotation of the drill pipe. Axial grooves in an I.D. wall of the sleeve allow fluid under pressure to circulate through a space formed between the I.D. of the sleeve and the O.D. of the drill pipe. Generally flat bearing surface regions on the I.D. wall of the sleeve between adjacent grooves are arranged in a polygon configuration for tangentially contacting the O.D. of the drill pipe around the sleeve I.D. The sleeve separates from the O.D. of the drill pipe upon circulation of a fluid film under pressure between the sleeve and drill pipe to produce a fluid bearing effect with reduced frictional drag. End slots at the top and bottom annular end walls of the sleeve provide enhanced fluid bearing effects in the clearance regions between the sleeve and the adjacent thrust bearings.
An underground drilling system comprising:
For use inside a bore in an underground formation or in a tubular casing installed in the formation, in which a rotary drill pipe extends through the bore or the casing so the drill pipe is surrounded by a wall surface of the bore or casing, a drill pipe protector assembly comprising:
A protective sleeve for installation around a drill pipe used to drill a well bore in an underground formation, the protective sleeve preferentially contacting the I.D. of a well casing or bore when the drill pipe deflects off center in the casing or bore to protect the casing or bore from contact with the drill pipe or its tool joints during rotation of the drill pipe, in which the protective sleeve has a generally cylindrical configuration with an internal I.D. for contact with the O.D. of the drill pipe, in which the protector sleeve is made of an elastomeric material and including a generally cylindrical metal reinforcing cage embedded in a cylindrical wall of the elastomeric protector sleeve to reinforce the wall of the cylindrical axially, the sleeve wall having a pattern of holes through which the elastomeric material of the sleeve wall passes between opposite faces of the cylindrical reinforcing cage, and a curved flanged extension of the reinforcing cage projecting laterally away from and extending generally around the periphery of the reinforcing cage wall structure while embedded in the cylindrical, said curved flanged extension increasing the shear strength and resultant load capacity of the protector sleeve while improving resistance to delamination between the cage and the sleeve elastomeric material.
A protective sleeve for installation around a drill pipe used to drill a well bore in an underground formation, the protective sleeve preferentially contacting the I.D. of a well casing or bore when the drill pipe deflects off center in the casing or bore to protect the casing or bore from contact with the drill pipe or its tool joints during rotation of the drill pipe, in which the protective sleeve has a generally cylindrical configuration with an internal I.D. for contact with the O.D. of the drill pipe, in which the protector sleeve is made of an elastomeric material and including a generally cylindrical metal reinforcing cage embedded in a cylindrical wall of the elastomeric protector sleeve to reinforce the wall of the sleeve axially, the cylindrical wall having a pattern of holes through which the elastomeric material of the sleeve passes between opposite faces of the cylindrical reinforcing cage, and a curved flanged extension of the reinforcing cage projecting laterally away from and extending generally around the periphery of the reinforcing cage, said flanged extension increasing the shear strength and resultant load capacity of the protector sleeve while improving resistance to delamination between the cage and the sleeve elastomeric material in which an annular end section of the protector sleeve has a tapered end configuration for compensating for large applied loads to the sleeve, the tapered end configuration including an annular tapered outer surface tapering inwardly toward the rotational axis of the sleeve in a direction extending toward the sleeve end, and an annular tapered inner surface tapering outwardly away from the rotational axis of the sleeve in a direction toward the sleeve end, said annular end section of the elastomeric sleeve being capable of deflecting inwardly under applied side loads to a neutral position without applying abrasion damage to the adjacent drill pipe.
A protective sleeve for installation around a drill pipe used to drill a well bore in an underground formation, the protective sleeve preferentially contacting the I.D. of a well casing or bore when the drill pipe deflects off center in the casing or bore to protect the casing or bore from contact with the drill pipe or its tool joints during rotation of the drill pipe, in which the protective sleeve has a generally cylindrical configuration with an internal I.D. for contact with the O.D. of the drill pipe in which an annular end section of the protector sleeve has a tapered end configuration for compensating for large applied loads to the sleeve, the tapered end configuration including an annular tapered outer surface tapering inwardly toward the rotational axis of the sleeve in a direction extending toward the sleeve end, and an annular tapered inner surface tapering outwardly away from the rotational axis of the sleeve in a direction toward the sleeve end, said annular end section of the elastomeric sleeve being capable of deflecting inwardly under applied side loads to a neutral position without applying abrasion damage to the adjacent drill pipe.
A protective sleeve for installation around a drill pipe used to drill a well bore in an underground formation, the protective sleeve preferentially contacting the I.D. of a well casing or bore when the drill pipe deflects off center in the casing or bore to protect the casing or bore from contact with the drill pipe or its tool joints during rotation of the drill pipe, in which the sleeve includes a cylindrical reinforcing cage embedded in a wall of the protector sleeve to reinforce its strength and including spaced-apart wear pads rigidly cage, the wear pads comprising a material having an abrasion resistance greater than the sleeve, the wear pads embedded in the elastomeric material of the sleeve and extending through the cylindrical wall of the elastomeric sleeve to the vicinity of an annular end of the sleeve to a position in which the wear pads preferentially receive wear from applied loads and thereby extend the working life of the sleeve.
A protective sleeve for installation around a drill pipe used to drill a well bore in an underground formation, the protective sleeve preferentially contacting the I.D. of a well casing or bore when the drill pipe deflects off center in the casing or bore to protect the casing or bore from contact with the drill pipe or its tool joints during rotation of the drill pipe, in which the protective sleeve is made from an elastomeric material, and including a cylindrical reinforcing cage embedded in a wall of the protector sleeve to provide reinforcement to improve the load strength of the elastomeric sleeve material, and including low-friction, narrow, axially extending runners circumferentially spaced apart and extending lengthwise generally parallel to one another around the outer periphery of the cylindrical sleeve, and fastening means rigidly securing the runners to the reinforcing cage structure, the low-friction runners reducing sliding friction of the sleeve.
A protective sleeve for installation around a drill pipe used to drill a well bore in an underground formation, the protective sleeve preferentially contacting the I.D. of a well casing or bore when the drill pipe deflects off center in the casing or bore to protect the casing or bore from contact with the drill pipe or its tool joints during rotation of the drill pipe, in which the protector sleeve includes circumferentially spaced-apart grooves facing outwardly and forming flow channels over an annular end of the sleeve, and intervening low-pressure suction reservoirs formed as relief areas and spaced between the flow channels to improve the fluid bearing effect at the end of the sleeve adjacent a collar retained on the drill pipe as a fixed thrust bearing to resist the axial movement of the sleeve along the drill pipe.
A protective sleeve for installation around a drill pipe used to drill a well bore in an underground formation, the protective sleeve preferentially contacting the I.D. of a well casing or bore when the drill pipe deflects off center in the casing or bore to protect the casing or bore from contact with the drill pipe or its tool joints during rotation of the drill pipe, in which the sleeve is made of a polymeric material and the sleeve has an annular end and further including an annular wear plate removably secured over the annular end of the elastomeric sleeve, the wear plate having a hardness and abrasion resistance greater than the polymeric material of the sleeve, and means releasably fastening the wear plate to the annular end of the sleeve for removability and replacement.
A protective sleeve for installation around a drill pipe used to drill a well bore in an underground formation, the protective sleeve contacting the I.D. of the well bore when the drill pipe deflects off center in the bore to protect the bore from contact with the drill pipe or its tool joints during rotation of the drill pipe, in which the sleeve is made of metal and the sleeve has replaceable annular bearing pads made of abrasion resistant material located at and secured to each end of the sleeve.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.