JPH07102416B2 - A method of expanding the end of a pipe outward to form a conductor guide - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to the manufacture of marine jackets used in drilling operations, and more particularly to molding conductor guides for marine jackets.

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In offshore drilling operations, structures commonly referred to as jackets are used to support the drilling equipment, its associated equipment, and the platform on which the living and working buildings are installed. A jacket is usually composed of at least four legs and horizontal and bracing members that connect the legs, with the bottom of the jacket or structure sitting on the seabed above the surface of the water. It is wider than the protruding top. The jacket and platform may house equipment for drilling one or more wells. When drilling, a drill string for drilling a well is thrust into the soil on the seabed between the legs of the structure. It is necessary to guide and support the drill bit and drill string against the effects of the waves and tidal currents normally encountered in the open sea during the lowering of the drill bit to begin drilling and during drilling operations. It is done by using conductors that extend vertically along the length of the structure. A conductor guide is used to guide the conductor into position within the jacket. The conductor guide is molded from tubular steel having an inner diameter that is larger than the outer diameter of the conductor. The upper portion of the conductor guide is preferably conical with an upper edge having a larger inner diameter than the lower tubular portion. The conical flared shape that flares upward and outward expands the tolerance range of the alignment error between the conductor and the conductor guide when lowering the conductor. Depending on the depth of water and the number of wells to be drilled, 100 or more conductor guides may be required on the structure.

Conductor guides are typically manufactured by either of two methods: segmented manufacturing or press manufacturing. The segment type manufacturing method is to cut three separate metal pieces into a predetermined size, shape them one by one using a press to form a proper conical shape, and make these three metal pieces (segments) into conductors. It is a method of forming a conical portion of the conductor guide by welding to the tubular portion of the guide. With the press manufacturing method, the cylindrical part of the conductor guide is heated in an oven and transferred to the press,
This is a method of forming a conductor guide using a tool and a die in a press. A force of 2-3 thousand tons is required during this operation. Both methods are time consuming, labor intensive and require extra material and tools to mold conductor guides of various sizes. In general, the segment type manufacturing method uses two conductor guides.
You need it when you are zero. Also, the use of the press is limited to a few specific cone sizes, as the metal pieces may wrinkle in forming the cone. Also, the press is 30
Since it weighs 0 tons, it must be permanently installed and supported by a suitable foundation.

[0004]

As can be seen from the above description, conductor guides of various different cone angles and sizes can be molded without the need for permanent installation, which is necessary for manufacturing conductor guides. There is a demand for a conductor guide molding apparatus that can save time, labor, and materials, and the present invention aims to satisfy such a demand.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a method for expanding the end of a pipe outward to form a conductor guide, which comprises: a. Heating a portion of the pipe to be expanded, heating the pipe in a heating pattern such that it gradually heats to the outermost end of the end to be expanded, b. A method comprising rotating a forming tool while inserting a plurality of rollers rotatably mounted on the forming tool into the heated end of the pipe and abutting an inner surface of the end. To do.

[0006]

According to the present invention, a heater movably mounted on the base is used to heat the end of the pipe to be shaped into a conical conductor. Once the pipe has been heated to the desired temperature, the rotating means (eg an electric motor) is activated to rotate the forming tool. Then, the moving means (for example, a hydraulic cylinder) is operated to move the tool carriage toward the pipe. While moving the tool carriage and the forming tool toward the pipe, the heated end of the pipe is expanded outward by bringing a pair of rotatable rollers of the forming tool into contact with the inner surface of the pipe. You can During this forming process, the outermost edge of the end of the pipe to be expanded will be the thinnest, so in order to increase the thickness of the outermost edge, which is the thinnest, A set of edge forming rollers may be provided for contacting and compressing the edges. After cooling the pipe formed in this way, cut the pipe at an appropriate length from the expansion part, remove the expansion part and the pipe part (pipe section) of a fixed length following it from the machine, and Position the pipe section in place for molding. The forming tool is preferably water cooled so as to damage the forming rollers and bearings during the forming process in contact with the pipe.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to the accompanying drawings, a conductor guide molding machine 10 according to the present invention basically comprises a base 12, a tool carriage 14, a molding tool 16 and a molding tool 16 for driving the molding tool 16. Drive or rotation means 18
And a moving means 20 for moving the tool carriage 14 along the base 12, and a heater 22.

The base 12 is composed of four support members 24. Only two support members 24 are shown in FIG. Each of the support members 24 has a first and second plate 26,
It is connected to 28 to form a substantially rectangular frame. As can be seen in FIG. 1, the plates 26, 28 are vertical and are supported on the foundation at their lower ends and the support member 24 is horizontal. Support member 24 is cylindrical in the preferred embodiment, but may be of any other suitable shape, such as an I-beam.

The tool carriage 14 comprises four hollow support arms 30 having an inner diameter larger than the outer diameter of the support member 24 of the base 12. Thereby, the tool carriage 14 can be slid on the base 12 between the first retracted position and the second conductor guide molding position. The first retracted position is shown in FIG. 1 and the second conductor guide molding position is shown in FIGS. In order to facilitate the movement of the tool carriage 14,
The wheel is attached to the support arm 30, and the tool carriage 1
It is also possible to rotatably support 4 on the base 12. Vertical plate 3 between support members 24 and 24
2, 34 and 36 are fixed by any suitable means such as welding. The first and second vertical plates 32 and 34 extend over the entire width of the tool carriage 14, and the third vertical plate 36 extends through a horizontal bed plate 54 extending along the longitudinal axis of the tool carriage 14. It is fixed to the second vertical plate 34.

The forming tool 16 is carried on the tool carriage 14 and rotatably mounted on the first vertical plate 32.
The forming tool 16 includes a substantially circular plate 38, a plurality of conical guide forming rollers (rollers for forming a conductor guide) 40, and a plurality of edge forming rollers (forming the outermost edge of the conductor guide). Roller) 42 for As seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, the rollers 40 and 42 are rotatably mounted on a frame 44 fixed to the circular plate 38. The frame 44 guides the guide forming roller 40 to the circular plate 38 by approximately 45
Angled so that the leading edge of the guide forming roller 40 projects into the conductor guide 46 as it moves the tool carriage 14 and forming tool 16 to the second conductor guide forming position into a third conductor guide 46.
As seen in the figure, it expands into a trumpet shape and conical portion 48
To form. Guide forming roller 40 is preferably conical as shown. This is because when the roller 40 has a conical shape, the peripheral speed at the contact portion with the inner edge of the expanded portion 48 of the conductor guide of the roller 40 and the outer edge of the expanded portion 48 of the conductor guide of the roller 40. This is because the peripheral speed at the contact portion becomes equal. Thereby, the friction of the roller 40 with respect to the conductor guide is minimized and the roller is prevented from being worn. The conical shape of the roller 40 has the formula R ₁
/ R ₂ = r ₁ / r ₂ (where R ₁ is the radius of the inner edge of the expanded portion of the conductor guide, R ₂ is the radius of the outer edge of the expanded portion of the conductor guide, and r ₁ is the conductor guide The radius r ₂ of the roller at the contact point with the inner edge of the expanded portion can be determined by the radius of the roller at the contact point with the outer edge of the expanded portion of the conductor guide). Non-conical rollers could be used, but would require more power and would result in greater roller wear. The edge forming roller 42 has a conductor guide 46.
Contacts the outer edge of the conical portion 48 and slightly compresses it, thereby compensating for the wall thickness of the outermost edge that is thinnest by the forming process of the diverging portion.

The drive or rotation means for driving the forming tool 16 is in the form of a spindle or drive shaft 52 for the electric motor 50 in the illustrated embodiment. As seen in FIG. 1, the electric motor 50 includes a second vertical plate 34.
And a third vertical plate 36 between them and a horizontal support plate 54, and the forming tool 16 is mounted via a drive shaft 52 supported by a bearing 56 in the vicinity of the vertical plates 32 and 34.
Operatively engages.

The tool carriage 14 is moved to its first position and second position.
A moving means 20 for moving between positions is fixed on the base 12 in the preferred embodiment and is a tool carriage 14.
It is in the form of a hydraulic cylinder 58 attached to. Hydraulic fluid is
Supply from a hydraulic fluid source (not shown) to the hydraulic cylinder 58 through a hydraulic fluid conduit 60.

In the preferred embodiment, heater 22 is an induction heater that heats conductor guide 46 without contacting it. A magnetic field is generated around the coil by the electric current passed from the power line 62 to the electric coil of the heater 22, and the magnetic field induces an electric current in the conductor guide 46, which is caused by a high electric resistance in the steel pipe which is the material of the conductor guide. Generates heat. To facilitate molding, the heater 22 can be appropriately designed to exhibit a particular heating pattern such that the end of the conductor guide to be expanded is the hottest. In the preferred embodiment, this heating pattern is as follows. That is, about 13.8 mm (4.5 in) long from the end of the conductor guide to be expanded.
Heated to 260 ° C (2300 ° F), followed by about 139.7 mm (5.5 in) length of about 98
Heated to 2 ° C (1800 ° F), followed by about 2
The length of 5.4 mm (1 in) is approx.
Heated to 00 ° F), followed by about 25.4
The length of mm (1 in) is approximately 260 ° C (500 °
Heat to F). The expansion is performed in a portion of a length of 266.7 mm (10.5 in) from the heated end.

As seen in FIG. 1, the second plate 2
8 has a hole for inserting a pipe or a conductor guide which is passed through the central opening of the heater 22. A clamp 64 is used to hold the pipe in place during the molding operation. The clamp 64 may be attached to the second plate 28 or may be a separate member.

In operation, a pipe of a certain length to be used as the conductor guide 46 is inserted through the second plate 28 and the heater 22 and fixed in place by the clamp 64. The heater 22 is then positioned in position by rolling its moveable base plate 66 along the lower support member 2424, and the end of the conductor guide 46 is about 1260 ° C. (2300 ° F.) due to induction heating.
Heat to. For a conductor guide made of 12.5 mm (0.5 in) thick steel and having an outer diameter of 711.2 mm (28 in), this heating takes about 4 minutes.
Once the desired temperature and heating pattern is achieved, the electric motor 50 is activated to rotate the forming tool 16. Then, the hydraulic cylinder 58 is operated to operate the tool carriage 14,
The forming tool 16, the electric motor 50, and the drive shaft 52 are moved toward the conductor guide 46 from the first retracted position separated from the conductor guide 46. The movement causes the guide forming roller 40 to contact the inner surface of the conductor guide 46, expanding the heated end of the conductor guide 46 outwardly to form a conical portion 48 of the conductor guide 46. At that time, the edge forming roller 42 contacts the edge of the conical portion 48 and slightly compresses the edge radially inward along the same axis as the expanding portion, thereby forming the expanding portion. Compensates for the thickness of the outermost edge that is thinnest by. This molding process is performed for about 5 seconds while the heated end of the conductor guide 46 is held in a plastic state and a pressure of about 40 tons is applied by the hydraulic cylinder 58. In the preferred embodiment, the entire forming tool 16 is approximately 550 RPM.
Rotate at the speed of. The rollers 40 and 42 have a diameter smaller than that of the inner surface of the conductor guide 46.
It can be rotated at RPM speed. In the preferred embodiment, the frame 4 is provided with a heat shield 68 over the front of the rollers 40, 42 to protect them from heat.
Attach to 4. The bearings of the rollers 40, 42 can also be water cooled. After molding, the pressure in the hydraulic cylinder 58 is reversed to retract the tool carriage 16 to its first retracted position, causing the molding tool 16 to disengage from the hot conductor guide 46. After cooling the conductor guide 46 and its conical portion 48, such as by pouring water, the conductor guide 46 is cut from the conical portion 48 at an appropriate length. The conductor guide having the one-piece structure completed in this way is taken out of the machine, and the next pipe portion (pipe section) having an appropriate length is extended to the right as viewed in FIG. 1, and the above-mentioned forming process is repeated. In this way, the conductor guides can be successively molded.
During this molding process, rods 70 or stoppers mounted on the plate 32 of the tool carriage 14 to prevent interference between the heater 22, the expanded end of the conductor guide, and the molding tool 16. A slicer abuts heater 22 and keeps the heater away from the end of the conductor guide to be expanded. Since the rollers 40, 42 are arranged at an angle, various sizes of conductor guides can be molded without having to change the device. Although only one drive motor 50 is shown in the figure, it is also possible to use two drive motors connected to the drive shaft via drive belts or drive chains.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the structures and forms of the embodiments illustrated herein, and deviates from the spirit and scope of the present invention. It should be understood that various embodiments are possible and that various changes and modifications can be made.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a conductor guide molding machine of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a detailed view of the forming tool, showing the forming tool in a position before contacting the end of the pipe to be expanded.

FIG. 3 is a detailed view of the forming tool, showing the forming tool in contact with the end of the pipe to be opened.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10: Conductor guide molding machine 12: Base 14: Tool carriage 16: Molding tool 18: Rotating means (driving means) 20: Moving means 22: Heater 24: Support member 26, 28: Plate 38: Circular plate 40: Guide molding Roller 42: Edge forming roller 46: Conductor guide 48: Conical portion 50: Electric motor 58: Hydraulic cylinder

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A method of expanding an end of a pipe outward to form a conductor guide, comprising: a. Heating a portion of the pipe to be expanded, heating the pipe in a heating pattern such that it gradually heats to the outermost end of the end to be expanded, b. A method comprising rotating a forming tool while inserting a plurality of rollers rotatably mounted to the forming tool into the heated end of the pipe and abutting an inner surface of the end.