Thread protector drive mechanism
AssigneeJmp Engineering Inc.
InventorsKenneth Douglas McLaughlin, Brent Thomas Bell, Kevin Wade Ackerman
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A drive mechanism for installing thread protectors on threaded pipe ends having a servo motor, a housing, a shaft assembly, and a gripper with a plurality of jaws. The shaft assembly has a hollow shaft, rotationally mounted within the housing, and a solid shaft slidably mounted within the hollow shaft. The hollow shaft and solid shaft are coaxial and rotationally coupled. The gripper is mounted on the end of the solid shaft, outside of the housing, and is biased away from the housing. A sensor monitors the relative axial motion between the solid shaft and the hollow shaft.
Claims13
A drive mechanism for installing thread protectors on threaded pipe ends, comprising:
- a servo motor;
- a housing;
- a gripper;
- a coaxial rotationally coupled shaft assembly operationally connecting the servo motor and the gripper, wherein the gripper is mounted to the shaft assembly outside of the housing;
- a plurality of gripper jaws mounted on the gripper;
- a first contact plate mounted to the shaft assembly and a second contact plate mounted to the gripper, wherein the first and second contact plates are biased away from one another;
- and
- a sensor mounted on the housing to monitor the motion of the shaft assembly.
A drive mechanism for installing thread protectors on threaded pipe ends, comprising:
- a servo motor;
- a housing;
- a shaft assembly having a hollow shaft, rotatably mounted within the housing and operatively engaged with the servo motor to receive rotation therefrom, and a solid shaft, slidably mounted within the hollow shaft and rotationally coupled with the hollow shaft to permit relative axial motion between the solid shaft and the hollow shaft;
- a gripper mounted to the solid shaft outside of the housing;
- a plurality of gripper jaws mounted on the gripper;
- a first contact plate mounted to the hollow shaft and a second contact plate mounted to the gripper, wherein the first and second contact plates are biased away from one another;
- and
- a sensor mounted on the housing to monitor the relative axial motion between the solid shaft and the hollow shaft.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.