JPH0358037B2 - - Google Patents

Abstract

1. Device for maintaining a boring machine in a vertical position, comprising a suspended frame (1) on which is mounted a drill head (3), characterised by the fact that said drill head is fixed to a coupling plate (7) normally in contact with a support plate (6) fixed to the frame, means (19) being provided for moving the coupling plate apart from the support plate in a selected direction.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a device for ensuring the verticality of an excavator during excavation, and more particularly to a device for adjusting the verticality of such an excavator, which comprises a hanging frame on which a drilling head is mounted. It relates to a device for.

For example, this type of excavator, suspended by cables, flexible shafts or joints, or by rods, is used in particular in oil field work and in laying foundations on all kinds of hard and soft ground. . At the beginning of excavation, the guide frame and/or gravity itself guarantees the verticality of the excavator. However, when this frame is completely submerged below the ground,
Furthermore, when attempting to displace the frame due to changes in the hardness of the ground, there is no direct mechanical means to check the verticality of the excavator and therefore the verticality of the excavation.

It is an object of the present invention to avoid this disadvantage by providing a device that allows the verticality of the excavator to be adjusted at any time, including when the excavator is completely submerged below the surface.

To this end, the invention provides a device for guaranteeing the verticality of an excavator with a suspended chassis on which a drilling head is mounted, the drilling head being rotatable on a support means integral with the frame. A device is provided, characterized in that the device is secured to a coupled connecting member.

Verticality of excavation is thus ensured by proper orientation of the excavation head with respect to the frame by relative movement of the connecting member to the support means.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the coupling member and the support means are two metal plates, usually in contact with each other, and a device is provided for separating the coupling plate from the support plate in a predetermined direction.

These plates may, for example, be substantially horizontal.

In a particular embodiment of the invention, the connecting plate is attached to the support plate by at least two elastic members each facing a jack in the direction of orientation.

Thus, when one of the jacks is actuated to properly orient the connecting plate relative to the support plate, the resilient member located on the same side as the jack deforms in the first direction to enable separation of the plates; while the other elastic member deforms in the second direction, thereby forming a hinge.

The elastic member has play in one of the two plates.
It is advantageous to have a pin passing through one plate and screwed into the other plate with a compressible element interposed therebetween.

The pin may pass through either the connection plate or the support plate with play and be screwed into the support plate or the connection plate, respectively, and the compressible element may be connected to the head of the pin and the pin may have play. It is preferable that the space between the two plates is interposed between the two plates.

The compressible element may for example consist of a set of conical washers.

Preferably, the maximum possible compression of the compressible element is limited by a sleeve engaging a pin parallel to said element.

The body of the jack is advantageously formed by a hole made in one of the plates, in which the piston is arranged, said hole terminating in the surface of this plate opposite the other plate.

This construction minimizes bulk as the jack is integrated into one of the plates, thereby allowing the jack to be protected from the surrounding media.

This protection is also ensured by a skirt of elastic material, such as rubber, placed around the two plates to prevent the ingress of digging mud when the plates are apart.

The device according to the invention is particularly adapted to adjust the verticality of an excavator whose drilling head has a pair of tools rotating in opposite directions, so that the verticality of the excavator can be adjusted by adjusting the difference in the rotational speed of the tools. guaranteed in the plane of rotation of the tool.

In this case, the coupling member may be arranged relative to the support means so as to be pivotable about at least one horizontal axis parallel to the plane of rotation of the tool.

Thus, in order to adjust the verticality of the excavator in a direction perpendicular to the plane of rotation of the tool, the drilling head can be tilted on either side of the plane of rotation of the tool.

In this case, the device may comprise two rows of elastic members arranged on either side of a central plane of the device parallel to the plane of rotation of the tool.

The cutting head is then tilted about one or the other axis defined by the rows of elastic members, depending on its direction.

Certain embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the accompanying schematic drawings, in which: FIG.

The excavator shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 is, as is known per se, suspended by a device 2 provided on the lifting device and carrying an excavating wheel 3 consisting of two pairs of tools 4, 4'. It has a supporting frame 1 and each pair of tools is driven by a hydraulic motor supplied with pressurized fluid from above by a pipe 5.

The two pairs of tools 4, 4' rotate in opposite directions as indicated by the arrows in FIG.

By varying the relative rotational speeds of the paired tools 4, 4', the movement of the excavator in the plane of rotation of the tools can be varied. If, for example, the excavator is to be moved in the direction +x (FIG. 2), one excavation tool 4' will be rotated faster than the other excavation tool 4.

The device which allows verticality of the lowering of the excavator in the direction Y perpendicular to the plane of rotation of the tool will now be described in detail with reference to FIG.

A plate 6 supporting the digging head 3 is fixed to the lower part of the frame 1.

The connecting plate is attached to plate 6 in the following manner.

Two rows of screw holes 8 are provided in the plate 7 on either side of the axis of symmetry XX of the structure. Corresponding to these screws, holes 9 are formed in the plate 6 with a diameter larger than the nominal diameter of the screw holes 8.

A threaded pin 10 is screwed into the screw hole 8 and passes through the hole 9 and the plate 6 with play. A set of conical washers 11 is interposed between the head 12 of each pin 10 and the top surface of the plate 6. The outside of this set of washers is protected by a rubber sheath 13.

Due to the resiliency of the set of washers 11, the upper surface of plate 7 normally engages the lower surface of plate 6. However, this set of washers is compressible so that the two plates can be separated from each other. However, this separation is limited by a sleeve 14 placed between the pin 10 and the washer 11, which limits the separation to a value e as shown in FIG.

Furthermore, due to the fact that the pin 10 passes through the hole 9 with play, the plate 7 can move away from the plate 6 forming an angle, as is evident in FIG. In Figure 5, it can be seen that the pin and hole 9 are not aligned.

Pin 15 engaging in screw hole 15' (Fig. 6)
Another set of plates 26 is fixed to the connecting plate 6, and said plate 2
6 is itself a mounting body 1 for fixing the drilling head;
It is one with 6.

The excavation head itself is not shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, but in FIG. 5 it can be seen that there is a suction nozzle 17 for removing the cuttings and a pipe 18 for conveying the cuttings to the ground.

The support plate 6 and the connecting plate 7 have two rows of hydraulic jacks 1 aligned respectively with screw holes 8 in each of the rows of holes.
It is released by actuating 9.

The jack 19 is formed directly by drilling a hole in the plate 7, the drill hole terminating on the side of this plate opposite the plate 6. Piston 2 movable by pressure oil supplied by pipes 21, 21' which simultaneously lubricate all jacks 19 of the same row.
0 are placed in these drill holes.

Thus, if the pipe 21' is fed with hydraulic oil, the plate 7 will be tilted as shown in FIG. It will be moved to.
Conversely, if pressure oil is sent to pipe 21, the drilling head will be tilted by an angle -α, so that the excavator will be oriented in the -Y direction.

During separation of the plates 6 and 7, an extensible skirt 22 is placed completely around both plates 6, 7 to prevent digging mud from entering the device.
Further, annular gaskets 23, 23' are provided in the hollowed out areas of the plates 6, 7, and these gaskets are compressed as shown in FIG. 4 when the plates 6 and 7 come into contact, and when the plates 6 and 7 are separated. and expand as shown in Figure 5.

Finally, a check valve 24 is used to equalize the pressure when the two separate plates 6,7 gradually come into contact with each other.
is provided.

The apparatus thus described has frame 1 (first
It can be easily operated according to the instructions from the inclinometer 25 located in the figure. The difference in speed of the tools 4, 4' is adjusted to orient the excavator in plane X, while in order to change the verticality in plane
and supplies it to Jatuki 19.

Various modifications and variations may, of course, be made in the embodiments described above without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 is a front view of an excavator equipped with a device for monitoring vertical conditions according to the invention; FIG. Second
The figure is a top view of the excavator shown in FIG. Third
The figure is a side view. FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the - line in FIG. 1. FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the - line in FIG. 1, and is a smaller scale view than FIG. 4. FIG. 6 is a top view of the connecting plate. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Frame, 3... Drilling head, 6... Support means, 7... Connecting member, 10... Pin, 11... Compressible element, 20... Piston.

Claims (1)

Claims: 1. A device for ensuring the verticality of an excavator, comprising a suspension frame and an excavation head consisting of at least a pair of tools mounted on the frame and rotating in opposite directions, a coupling member having a drilling head attached thereto; a support member secured to the frame; means for controlling the orientation of the coupling member relative to the support member about at least one horizontal axis; The member and support member are typically two substantially horizontal metal plates in contact with each other, and the means for controlling the orientation of the connecting member relative to the support member angularly moves said plate about said axis. A device characterized in that it is adapted to cause separation. 2. The connecting plate is elastically attached to the support plate by at least two elastic members, each facing a jack substantially perpendicular to the axis. The device described. 3. The device according to claim 2, wherein the elastic member comprises a pin 10 that passes through one plate with a gap between them and is screwed into the other plate with a compression element 11 interposed therebetween. . 4. Device according to claim 3, characterized in that the compression element consists of a set of conical washers. 5. Device according to claim 4, characterized in that the compression of the compression element is limited by a sleeve engaging a pin parallel thereto. 6. The main body of the jack is attached by a hole drilled in one plate, a piston is arranged in one plate, and the hole terminates in the surface of the one plate opposite to the other plate. Any one of claims 3 to 5, characterized in that:
The device described in. 7. Claim No. 7, characterized in that a skirt of elastic material, such as rubber, is arranged around the plates to prevent the penetration of drilling mud by a drilling rod when the two plates are separated. Items 3 to 6
Apparatus according to any one of clauses. 8. Any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the connecting member is pivoted to the support means about at least one horizontal axis parallel to the plane of rotation of the tool. The device described in. 9. The device according to any one of claims 3 to 8, characterized in that it comprises two rows of elastic members arranged on both sides of the central plane of the device parallel to the plane of rotation of the tool. .