Classifications

• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F03—MACHINES OR ENGINES FOR LIQUIDS; WIND, SPRING, OR WEIGHT MOTORS; PRODUCING MECHANICAL POWER OR A REACTIVE PROPULSIVE THRUST, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • F03C—POSITIVE-DISPLACEMENT ENGINES DRIVEN BY LIQUIDS
  • F03C2/00—Rotary-piston engines
  • F03C2/30—Rotary-piston engines having the characteristics covered by two or more of groups F03C2/02, F03C2/08, F03C2/22, F03C2/24 or having the characteristics covered by one of these groups together with some other type of movement between co-operating members
  • F03C2/308—Rotary-piston engines having the characteristics covered by two or more of groups F03C2/02, F03C2/08, F03C2/22, F03C2/24 or having the characteristics covered by one of these groups together with some other type of movement between co-operating members having the movement defined in F03C2/08 and having a hinged member
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F01—MACHINES OR ENGINES IN GENERAL; ENGINE PLANTS IN GENERAL; STEAM ENGINES
  • F01C—ROTARY-PISTON OR OSCILLATING-PISTON MACHINES OR ENGINES
  • F01C11/00—Combinations of two or more machines or engines, each being of rotary-piston or oscillating-piston type

Definitions

• the invention relates to a hydraulically or pneumatically driven wing motor especially but not exclusively for use as a drilling tool in the oil, mining or civil engineering industry for directional including horizontal as well as straight hole drilling or as a top drive to drive a "Drill String”.
• Down hole motors as generally used in the oil and mining industries suffer from the disadvantages "that they are very long, heavy and expensive to manufacture.
• a motor suitable for use in down-hole drilling applications characterised in that said motor is a wing motor and comprises a generally tubular casing and a rotor mounted for rotation within said casing and substantially radially spaced therefrom so as to define a chamber therebetween, said casing being provided with angularly spaced apart inlet means and outlet means for ingress of pressurised working fluid from inlet conduit means in.
• said casing into said chamber and egress of said fluid from within said chamber, to outlet conduit means separated from said inlet conduit means by wall means, in use of the motor, said casing having generally radially extending wall means extending substantially into contact with said rotor at an angular position between said outlet means and said inlet means, said rotor having a plurality of angularly spaced apart wing means, one of said radially extending walls means and said wing means being displacable from a generally radially projecting configuration in substantially sealing engagement with said rotor or said casing respectively, to a generally retracted configuration when traversing the other of said radially extending wall means and said wing means, said wing means and inlet and outlet means being formed and arranged and relatively angularly disposed so that/ in use of said motor, a flow of pressurised fluid into said chamber acts against an upstream side of a first said wing means so as to rotate said rotor while venting fluid from its downstream side until said wing means traverses said outlet
• the casing is in the form of inner and outer casings with the inlet and outlet conduit means defined therebetween.
• the inlet and outlet conduit means are longitudinally spaced at opposite sides of an annular wall.
• the wing means of the rotor are formed and arranged so as to be displacable from a generally radially projecting configuration in substantially sealing engagement with the casing, to a generally retracted configuration when traversing the radially extending wall means; and in another form of the invention, the generally radially extending wall means of the casing are formed and arranged so as to be displacable from a generally radially projecting configuration in substantially sealing engagement with the rotor, to a generally retracted configuration when traversing the wing means.
• pressurised working fluid acts against the upstream side of the wing means thereby to rotate the rotor while venting at the downstream side.
• the motor of the present invention may thus be of quite short, light and inexpensive construction and can be produced using more or less conventional manufacturing techniques.
• said rotor and casing are provided with, directly or indirectly, inter-engagable drive transmission means formed and arranged to allow the rotor to be driven by the casing in the case of wing failure.
• the motor casing may be, for example, rotated by the drill pipe or "string”.
• the non-retractable form of the generally radially extending wall means or wing means comprises longitudinally extending cams along the interior wall surface of the casing or the outer wall surface of the rotor so as to provide progressive displacement of the wing means or radially extending wall means from their projecting positions to their retracted positions.
• the inlet and outlet means comprise a plurality of discretely formed inlet and outlet ports in the inner casing.
• the rotor or casing is provided with a plurality of slot means formed and arranged for containing respective ones of the wing means or radially extending wall means, in their retracted position in preferred embodiments.
• the retractable wings may be formed and arranged so as to be angularly retractable from a generally radially extending configuration to a generally circu ferentially extending configuration. Preferably though they are formed and arranged so as to be generally radially retractable.
• the angularly retractable wing means or radially extending wall means are made from vulcanised neoprene or other suitable resiliently deformable polymeric material, desirably with metal reinforcement.
• the rotor has an odd number of wings ⁇ in order to avoid 'dead spots and possible 'stalling' of the rotor in a symmetrically disposed position relative to the inlet and outlet ports.
• Fig. 1 is a sectional side view of a first embodiment ⁇ ⁇ f a wing motor in accordance with the present invention
• Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the wing motor of Fig. 1 taken along line I - I with modified inlet and outlet ports;
• Fig. 3 is a sectional view of a typical bearing assembly and thrust block of the wing motor of Figs. l and 2;
• Fig. 4 is a sectional view corresponding to that of Fig. 2 of a modified embodiment (outer casing not shown) .
• Fig. 5 is a sectional view corresponding to Fig. 2 of a further embodiment
• Fig. 6 is a detail sectional view corresponding to Fig. 5 showing a first hydraulically operated wing
• Fig. 7 is a detail sectional perspective view showing a wing similar to that of Fig. 6; and Fig. 8 is a detail sectional view generally similar to
• Fig. 6 of a modified form of hydraulically operated wing.
• a first embodiment of a wing motor in accordance with the present invention comprises a tubular outer casing 1, a concentric inner casing running-liner 2 with generally radially inwardly projecting wall means in the form of longitudinally extending wing deflector cams 3 (see Fig. 2) which form a stator for the wing motor, and a rotor 4 running in low friction plastics material bearings 5 at either end 4a, b.
• Suitable plastics include PTFE (e.g. Teflon and polyamide-polyimide (e.g. TorIon) .
• a drive end 6 of the motor 4 is connected by a splined coupling sleeve 7 to a stub shaft 8 on which a split ring 9 is mounted to contain the bearing races and transfer axial forces from the shaft 8 to a bearing assembly housing 10.
• the stub shaft 8 is mounted in the bearing housing 10 which also acts as the thrust block for the wing motor and forms an extension of a drive member 11 containing a drill bit or other tool engagement socket 12.
• the rotor 4 is rotatably supported in the outer casing 1 via the low friction bearings " 5 which are mounted in bearing housings 14 which are in turn disposed in -5-
• the rotor is provided with two pairs of diametrically opposed and circumferentially spaced slots 16, along one, leading, longitudinal edge 16a_ of which is secured an edge 15a of an elongate longitudinally extending wing 15 which projects generally radially outwardly from the rotor 4 to contact the inner casing 2 with its distal edge 15b.
• Each wing 15 is fashioned from a vulcanised neoprene or other resiliently deformable polymeric material reinforced by a metal insert strip 17 at its trailing side 15c.
• a generally annular space 18 is defined between the rotor 4 and inner casing 2 and is divided by the two diametrically opposed wing deflector cams 3 into first and second chambers 18a, 18b.
• Each of said chambers 18a., 18b is provided at a longitudinally upstream end 18c. with inlet means in the form of several inlet ports 19 and at a longitudinally downstream end 18d, with outlet means in the form of several outlet ports 20 for the passage of pressurised working fluid there ⁇ through as indicated by the arrows thereat.
• the illustrated motor is mainly utilised in down-hole applications and is particularly useful for directional drilling.
• Pressurised drilling fluid or mud is used to rotate the motor rotor 4 and thereby to drive the drill member 11.
• the fluid enters the chambers 18a, b through the inlet ports 19 and exits through outlet ports 20.
• two first wings 15 2 projecting across respective ones of the chambers 18a, b are exposed to high pressure working fluid entering through the inlet ports 19 at their trailing sides 15c thereby exerting a clockwise (as viewed in Fig. 2) turning moment on the rotor 4.
• the other pair of wings 15 is pressed down into their retra ed positions in the slots 16 by the wing deflector cams 3.
• the retracted wings 15 will clear the wing deflector cams 3 and be resiliently restored into their projecting positions with their trailing sides 15c exposed to the hydraulic pressure of the working fluid entering through the inlet ports 19 and so in turn exerting a turning moment on the rotor 4 thereby ensuring a continuous rotating and driving force on the rotor 4 with a torque substantially directly proportional to the pressure of the working fluid.
• the exhausted working fluid at the leading faces 15e of the wings 15 is compressed between the advancing leading faces 15e and the respective opposed wing deflector cams 3 and displaced longitudinally along the chamber to be expelled out of the outlet ports 20 at the longitudinally downstream end of the inner casing 2, into an annular outlet conduit means 20a . defined between the inner and outer casings 2, 1 and separated from inlet conduit means 19a . , between the inner and outer casings 2, 1 at their upstream ends adjacent the inlet ports 19, by an annular bearing seal 21.
• the wing deflector cam means 3 could be inclined slightly so as to wind helically clockwise as viewed in Fig. 1 towards the lower outlet end of the motor so as to facilitate progressive longitudinal displacement of exhausted working fluid towards the outlet ports as the rotor wings 15 advance.
• the wings 15 could be formed with a slight helical twist so as to provide a similar effect.
• the bearing housings 14 have a notched or castellated circumferential portion 22 connecting the inlet and outlet conduits 19a, 20a with main inlet 23 and outlet 24 of the motor, respectively. From main outlet 24, the exhausted working fluid flows through channels 25 in the splined coupling 7 to a further channel 26 and thence to the drill bit mount 12 where it finally leaves the drill string and may be used as coolant and lubrication means for the drill bit or other tool driven by the motor.
• the splined coupling 7 contains a seal 27 preventing exhausted working fluid from entering a bearing lubricant space 28 and so contaminating the lubricant contained by this space to lubricate tool holder 12 bearings 29. A further seal 30 prevents lubricant loss by seepage from the bearing lubricant space 28.
• pawl means 31 may be included in line with the wings 15 for engagement • with steep end faces 3a of the wing deflector cams 3 adjacent the inlet ports 19 so that when the motor casing 1, 2 is driven in a clockwise direction the pawl means 31 will lock against the wing deflector cam end faces 3a thereby transmitting torque to the rotor 4 and thereby to the drive shaft 11 and tool mount 12 to rotate the drill bit or other tool.
• the motor is thus in effect self locking.
• Fig. 1 shows generally radially extending inlet and outlet ports 19, 20, Fig. 2 shows modified, near-tangentially, extending ports for improving the flow of the working fluid therethrough during rotation of the rotor 4.
• the inlet and outlet ports are relatively large and that they are longitudinally spaced and separated by a generally annular wall means providing a relatively large cross-sectional area annular flow passage for the fluid between the inner and outer casings, and a large cross-sectional area flow passage through the ports.
• a central axial bore 32 which allows part of the fluid flow from the main inlet 23 to by-pass- the -rotor chambers 18a., b_ and pass directly to the drill-bit holder 12 via a suitable throttle or nozzle means 33.
• the latter could be disposed at the upper end 34 of the rotor 4 in the bearing housing 14 thereat whereby there could be used a drop nozzle which could be more or less readily changed with the aid of, for example, a wire line overshot fishing tool, to allow variation of the distribution of the drilling mud flow between the rotor chambers 18a., b and the by-pass passage 32, e.g. for rotor speed control.
• Another modification that may advantageously be made to the abovedescribed embodiment is the use of a larger number of wings relative to the number of angularly differently disposed inlet and outlet ports, in order to reduce wear on the wings arising from subjecting of the wing 15 coming into engagement with the deflector cam 3 to the full fluid pressure entering the chamber 18a . , b_ behind it, by ensuring that at least one wing 15 is always disposed between the inlet ports 19 and the wing 15 coming into engagement with the cam 3.
• the P.T.F.E. bearings 5 in which the rotor ends 4a_, b_ are rotatably supported also act as seals preventing leakage of fluid from the main inlet 23 directly into the chambers 18a, b bypassing the inlet ports 19 etc. thereby resulting in loss of drive efficiency.
• additional conventional sealing means such as '0' rings 34 on the annular end face 35 of the main body of the rotor 4 to improve sealing in view of the practical limits on manufacturing tolerances as they affect the interfacing of the rotor and the P.T.F.E. bearing 5.
• Fig. 4 The embodiment of Fig. 4 is generally similar to that of Figs 1 to 3, like parts corresponding to those of the latter embodiment being indicated by like reference num- bers.
• the generally radially inwardly projecting wall means of the inner casing running-liner 2 are in the form of elongate long ⁇ itudinally extending resiliently deformable polymeric e.g. rubber, blades 36 which are receivable in parallel adjacent circumferentially spaced slots 37 in generally similar manner to the from and arrangement of the flexible wings 15 of the first embodiments.
• the wings of the rotor 4 are in the form of generally rigid longitudinally extending radially outwardly projecting deflector cams 38 which deflect the blades 36 into their slots 37 as they tra ⁇ verse the cams 38. In order to avoid dead spots in the rotational movement of the rotor 4, the latter is provided with three or another odd number of wings 38.
• Fig. 5 is a view corresponding to that of Fig. 2 of yet another embodiment showing an alternative form of retractable wing means 39.
• the wing means of this embodiment are in the form of generally rigid strips 40 of a polymeric or metallic material located in radially inwardly extending slots 41-which extend generally longitudinally along the outer face 42 of the rotor 4.
• the radially inner edges 43 of the strips 40 are engaged by resilient biasing means conveniently in the form of helical springs 44 which seat against the base 45 of the respective slot 41 so as to urge the strip 40 outwardly into sealing engagement with the liner 2.
• resilient biasing means conveniently in the form of helical springs 44 which seat against the base 45 of the respective slot 41 so as to urge the strip 40 outwardly into sealing engagement with the liner 2.
• the strips 40 traverse the wing deflector cams 3 they are urged inwardly of the slots 41 to their retracted positions therein.
• the slots 41 are provided at their trailing sides 46 with fluid passage means in the form of grooves 47 leading from the outer face 42 of the rotor 4 to the base 45 of each slot 41 thereby exposing the radially inner edge 48 of each strip 40 to substantially full pressure working fluid.
• the outer edge 49 of the strip 40 will mostly be in sealing engagement with the liner 2 this will not be exposed to the same pressure whereby the strip 40 will be subjected to a differential pressure tending to urge it outwardly into sealing engagement with the liner.
• the strips 40 are subjected to centrifugal forces which also tend to increase sealing against the liner 2. These forces are however relatively small due to the generally low speeds at which the motor is normally operated.
• Fig. 6 shows a modified form of rotor 4 in which the base 45 of the slot 41 in which the wing 49 is mounted, is connected to central axial bore bypass passage 32 by a plurality of radial bores 50 in which are slidably mounted small piston elements 51.
• Fig.7 shows part of a rotor 4 generally similar to that of Fig.6 with the wing 49 in its radially outwardly projecting configuration with the grooves 55 clearly visible on the trailing face 56 of the wing 49.
• Fig.8 shows another rotor 4 with hydraulically operated wings 57.
• the radially outer edge face 52 of the metal wing 57 has mounted in a trailing side recess 58, a flexible plastics sealing element 59 and the wing 57 has an enlarged width base 60 which abuts stop shoulders 61 at the mouth 62 of the wing mounting slot 50 so as to limit the radially outward movement of the wing 57 and hold the metal outer edge face 52 clear of the inner casing 2 whilst permitting sealing contact therewith by the sealing element 59 thereby preventing undue wear in the motor and allowing the use of harder metals e.g. high performance steels, in the wings, though' hard plastics e.g.
• the sealing elements may be made of any suitable plastics material including for example high temperature nitrile rubber or PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) .
• the latter arrangement is however preferred though from the point of view of manufacturing convenience and also because it helps to maximize the cross-sectional area of the inlet and outlet conduits 19a,20a thereby reducing resistance to fluid flow through the motor and facilitating maximum fluid flow through the motor thereby maximizing torque etc.
• This in turn helps to minimize the overall diameter of the motor required to achieve a given torque which is particularly significant in the context of the small diameter of boreholes and the like in which the motor may be used.
• the radially extending wall means 3 are also conveniently formed separately and connected to the inner casing by any suitable means preferably releasable ones e.g. bolts, which also allows for replacement thereof when required e.g. as a result of wear.
• the wall 21 is desirably fixed securely to both the inner and outer casings 2,1 e.g. using bolts or radially extending pins, so as to prevent relative rotation therebetween and absorb the reactive forces during running of the motor.
• the wall means 21 is desirably provided with suitable high performance seals 64 e.g. high temperature silicon rubber seals.
• suitable high performance seals 64 e.g. high temperature silicon rubber seals.
• various numbers of radially extending walls 3 and wings 15 may be used.
• at least two wings are used for each wall so that there are usually at least two wings 15 between successive walls 3.
• the wings should desirably be made as light as possible to minimize their inertia and the driving force on them maximized (e.g. by using hydraulically operated drive means as described above) .
• the motors of the invention may be used for various purposes with various working fluids including gases such as compressed air.
• gases such as compressed air.
• the motors of the invention are particularly suitable for use in downhole applications such as drilling and coreing and the present invention includes with its scope drilling and coreing apparatus wherein the motor is a motor of the present invention, as well as methods of driving drilling and coring apparatus using a motor of the present invention.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Combustion & Propulsion (AREA)
• Hydraulic Motors (AREA)

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• 1990
  • 1990-02-07 AU AU50314/90A patent/AU5031490A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1990-02-07 WO PCT/GB1990/000183 patent/WO1990009510A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1990-02-07 EP EP19900902649 patent/EP0457796A1/de not_active Withdrawn

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