WO2000055470A1

WO2000055470A1 - Drilling rig with pipe handling means

Info

Publication number: WO2000055470A1
Application number: PCT/DK2000/000115
Authority: WO
Inventors: Knud Fauerholm Christensen; Søren SØE
Original assignee: Knebel Drilling A/S
Priority date: 1999-03-15
Filing date: 2000-03-15
Publication date: 2000-09-21
Also published as: EP1165932A1; AU3273400A

Abstract

A mobile drilling rig for drilling holes into the earth is disclosed. The mast (41) is hinged so that it can be moved from a transporting position to a drilling position. The drill drive (42) may be shifted to a position in which tools may be loaded onto and removed from the drill drive horizontally from the frame part (44) of the rig. Thus, the drill drive is placed on the side of the mast so that it is possible to gain free access to the tools and to the mast from the rig. Arrangements for moving tools to and from the drill drive may easily be implemented and the drilling process may even be partly or fully automated. The drill drive is attached to the drill drive holder with two attachments, so that it can be shifted to a position in which the drill drive pivots freely about the first attachment. The drill drive will thus be moved horizontal if the drill drive holder is rotated.

Description

DRILLING RIG WITH PIPE HANDLING MEANS

The present invention relates to a drilling rig for drilling holes into the earth, in particular a smaller and mobile or movable rig being suitable for lighter drilling, such as, e.g., for taking samples of the strata of the earth, for exploring the physical properties of the earth or for drilling minor wells. The rig has a drill mast mounted with a hinge to a frame part. The drill drive that holds and rotates the tools is arranged movable along the mast and may be shifted from the operating position to a position in which tools may be loaded onto and removed from the drill drive horizontally from the frame part of the rig. Thus, the drilling process requires less manual work and especially less work that involve lifting of heavy tools compared to known drilling rigs. Arrangements for moving tools to and from the drill drive may easily be implemented and the drilling process may even be partly or fully automated.

The invention further relates to a driiiing rig having two parallel masts with the drill drive arranged in between, the movement of the drill drive along the masts being driven by a linear actuator mounted in each mast. The forces on the actuators and on the masts are balanced and the travel of the actuators are synchronised by letting both actuators act on both sides of the part on which the drill drive is mounted.

The invention yet further relates to a drilling rig having a drill drive that is attached to the drill drive holder with two attachments, one which the drill drive is able to pivot about and one that can be shifted between a locking position an a position in which the drill drive is allowed to pivot freely about the first attachment. This will cause the drill drive to be moved horizontal if the drill drive holder is rotated and the second attachment is allowing free rotation around the first attachment.

BACKGROUND

It is known to have smaller movable or mobile drilling rigs having drill masts connected to a platform, wherein the masts can be tilted from an operating position that is vertical or has an angle to vertical to a horizontal transport position on top of the platform. The platform is used for storage of tools for the driiiing process, the tools being placed vertically in a rack, such as drill heads or bits, casings for the bore hole and/or instruments for measuring properties of the earth strata and/or for collecting samples of the strata. The

CONFIRMATION COFV tools are loaded onto the drill drive from the side of the masts which is opposite to the platform besides which the masts are placed in the operating position, because the masts are located between the drill line along which the drill drive moves and the bore hole is formed and the platform, and block or impede the access from the platform to the drill drive. Thus, the tools must be moved manually to and from the tool rack on the platform, around the mast and from and to the drill drive. Alternatively, the transport may be performed mechanically with an arm. The tools are loaded onto the drill drive from a vertical or from a horizontal direction. The drill drive must be placed pivotally on the drill mechanism if the tools are loaded horizontally.

Rigs with an opening in the tower towards the platform are also known, but the tools must still be turned to a vertical position to be parallel to the drill line before being applied to the drill drive.

Manual handling of the tools for the described drilling rigs is labour-consuming and wearing for the person performing the handling and may moreover conflict with health and safety regulations for manual handling of heavy objects. A mechanical arm will on the other hand have to be complex construction-wise and therefore be expensive due to the complicated handling manoeuvre required. Further construction problems arise if it is required that the rig is able to drill at different angles to vertical, which requires a highly flexible mechanical solution.

US 5,794,723 and WO 97/21902 disclose a mobile drilling rig being a self-propelled unit. The apparatus has a mast supporting a drill head assembly with a so-called floating sub. Further, the drilling rig has a break-out tool that is able to grasp and rotate a length of drilling string relative to the floating sub whereby the threaded engagement of the string to said floating sub is loosened.

US 5,794,723 and WO 97/21902 further disclose a mechanism that allows the drill head to be rotated so as to load or unload a drill-string from a horizontal direction. This loading and unloading are limited to be performed from a free side of the drilling rig, as the mast is placed between the drill and the frame. It would not be possible to load and unload directly from the frame side as the mast simply does not allow access for this. There is no disclosure of a drilling rig where it is possible to load the drill-string from the rig side. It is a disadvantage that either the drill-strings have to be transported from the vehicle or frame part of the drilling rig to the other and free side of the drilling rig or the drill-strings have to be stored in a storage being separate from the frame part and being placed on the free side of the rig.

It is a disadvantage that the drill-string or other tools to be mounted on the drill-string have to be transported from the storage on the frame part to the free side of the mast, thus demanding manual handling of the tools or drill strings or the application of a crane to help lifting the heavy parts.

If the storage is placed separately from the frame part, it has to be positioned separately in the vicinity of the drill drive to provide the tools or drill-strings to the drill drive and thus demanding a separate handling process.

It is a further disadvantage that an automation of the operation of this drilling rig will make it necessary to provide the drilling rig with a crane and handling unit to lift, transport and position the drill strings and other tools in the floating sub.

US 4,126,193 discloses a mobile drilling apparatus that is self-propelled. The apparatus may drill holes at various angles and the tools are applied to the drill drive from the side of the mast opposite the self-propelled base or platform.

US 4,465,144 relates to a mobile drilling rig, e.g. mounted on a truck, and having two mast members. The rotation head or drill drive is small enough to fit between the mast members of the rig. The tools are loaded onto the rotation head from the side of the masts opposite the truck.

A somewhat different type of rig is shown in US 3,734,208, which discloses a drilling apparatus mounted on a truck. The mast has an opening towards the platform body of the truck so that casing segments may be applied to the drill drive unit from the platform with the segments in a vertical position. A selected casing segment is discharged from a storage rack onto a pair of carriages which lift the selected casing segment to a position where it is picked up by a transfer arm. The transfer arm is pivotally attached near the mast and is hydraulically actuated to lift the casing segment to a vertical ready station alongside the mast. It is often desirable to gain free access to the bore hole from above so as to be able to lower objects, such as drill casings, measurement instruments or sand for making a sand filter, into the bore hole or raise objects, such as a core from the bore hole with a winch or the like. To make this possible it is known to have the drill drive placed on a parallel slider allowing the drill drive to be moved in a horizontal direction and thereby allowing free access to the bore hole.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a drilling rig having a main frame and a mast frame that is hinged to the main frame, in which the drill drive that is mounted movably in the longitudinal direction of the mast frame may be turned so that tools may be loaded onto and removed from the drill drive substantially horizontally directly from the frame part of the rig.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a drilling rig in which the process of positioning tools in a substantial horizontal loading position and of loading said tools to the drill drive being in its loading position is supported by mechanical applying means placed on the frame part.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide a drilling rig having a tool storage means placed on the main frame from which tools may be provided to the applying means and from here to the drill drive.

Another object of the invention is to provide a drilling rig in which the full process of moving of tools to and from the drill drive is mechanised and even partly or fully automated.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a drilling rig in which the drill drive may be moved from the drill line so as to allow for free access to the bore hole by means of an arrangement for turning the drill drive.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide a drilling rig having two parallel masts in which the movement of the drill drive along the masts is driven by a linear actuator mounted in each mast, and the travel of the actuators are synchronised. Thus, the present invention relates to an earth drilling apparatus comprising a main frame, an elongated mast frame being hinged to the main frame about a substantially horizontal axis so that the mast frame may be tilted between an upright drilling position in which the mast frame is adjacent to one side of the main frame and a substantially horizontal position in which a substantial part of the mast frame is positioned on top of the main frame parallel to a main axis of the main frame, a drill drive holder being connected to the mast frame movable in a longitudinal direction of the mast frame, first driving means for moving the drill drive holder along the mast frame, a drill drive for holding and rotating tools about a drilling axis that in an operating position is parallel to the longitudinal direction of the mast frame, second drive means for rotating tools being held by the drill drive, said drill drive being mounted on the drill drive holder pivotally about an axis being substantially perpendicular to the main axis and being substantially horizontal so that the drill drive may be shifted between the operating position and a loading position in which the drilling axis of the drill drive is substantially horizontal, so that in the loading position tools may be loaded onto the drill drive from the main frame side of the mast frame and in a direction being substantially parallel to the main axis.

The upright position of the mast frame is its operational position and may be vertical or with various angles to vertical for the drilling of non-vertical holes. The angle to vertical may in a preferred embodiment be within the range from 45 degrees in one direction to 45 degrees in the opposite direction. It is also within the scope of the present invention to angle the mast correspondingly with respect to the drilling rig to be able to drill vertical holes when the frame is not in a horizontal position such as when the drilling rig is placed on an uphill or downhill slope.

It is understood that the horizontal position, which may be within e.g. a range of about 10 degrees to horizontal, is a transport position of the mast frame that is normally used when the drilling rig is moved from one location to another.

The drilling rig has a top-driven drilling arrangement meaning that the drill drive is moved along the mast frame during the drilling. The drill drive may be mounted pivotally to the drill drive holder in several ways and a possible embodiment of the invention may even be that the drill drive holder is mounted pivotally to a glider or gliders that engage the mast frame.

The loading position is substantially vertical but it may be advantageous if the loading direction is inclined, typically 5-15 degrees or even less, to vertical so that a tool has to be moved a bit upwards simultaneous with the vertical movement during loading of the tool, especially for embodiments in which the tool is slid along a supporting arrangement manually or mechanically.

It is preferred that the drilling axis in an operational position is displaced relatively to the mast frame in a direction perpendicular to the main axis, so as to allow for full access to said drill drive from the main frame side. The mast do not hinder or impede the access to the drill drive in this manner, and the mast frame may be nearer the main frame and thereby be mounted more stably than if the drilling axis, or drill line, is between the mast frame and the main frame.

The rig advantageously comprises applying means for positioning tools in a substantially horizontal loading position and for loading said tools to the drill drive being in its loading position, the applying means being mounted on the main frame.

The applying means may comprise a movable tray being placed on the main frame next to the drill drive for supporting the tools and moving said tools into the loading position, and the tray may furthermore be movable by drive means. The moving of tools by the tray and loading of tools from said tray to said drill drive are in a preferred embodiment of the invention controlled by control means comprising a logical unit. The tray may be supported by rollers to ease its movement.

It is an advantage for the above arrangement that tools are provided to said tray from a tool storage means placed on the main frame. Such a tool storage means may in particular be a roll-front cabinet situated next to a path, the tray may be moved along, the cabinet may be opened to one side for allowing one tool at a time to be passed between the tray and the cabinet and the tools may furthermore be applied to the tray from the cabinet by drive means. The tool storage means may additionally or alternatively comprise means for providing a given tool from the storage means to further use, which may be performed in a more or less automatic way and may even be controlled by control means comprising a logical unit.

Thus, in a preferred embodiment the earth drilling apparatus comprises a control unit having a logical unit for controlling the steps of providing of a given tool from the storage means, applying of the tool to the tray from the cabinet by drive means, and moving of the tool by the tray and loading of tools from said tray to said drill drive. Further, the apparatus may comprise data storage means connected to the control unit, and tools with sensors for detecting physical properties and providing a signal to the control unit accordingly, the control unit being adapted to perform said control and to control a drilling process based on said signals and to store said signals in the data storage means. The full drilling process including selecting tools, such as drill heads, or bits, casing segments, measurement instruments etc., providing the tools from a storage rack and mounting these tools onto the drill drive, removing the tools again and taking the tools back to the correct location in the storage rack, perform measurements on the strata in the bore hole and controlling the drilling process from the gained information, etc., may be performed without human interaction.

The drilling apparatus may have only one mast frame and the main frame is preferably having a substantially rectangular outline in a horizontal plane, the mast frame being hinged to the main frame in the vicinity of a corner of the main frame.

In another embodiment of the invention the apparatus has two mast frames, the drill drive holder being connected to both mast frames movably in a longitudinal direction of the mast frames. The two mast frames are able to support more load than one mast frame and are thus more suitable for heavier driiiing tasks. However a drilling apparatus having two mast frames is of course more expensive. Preferably, the main frame has a substantially rectangular outline in a horizontal plane and the masts are hinged to the main frame in the vicinity of each one neighbouring corner.

The drill drive holder may suitably comprise two slide parts, the parts being connected to a mast frame each and each part being movable in a longitudinal direction of the respective mast frame, the apparatus further comprising two linear actuators being mounted along the longitudinal direction of a mast frame each, each actuator being connected to both of the slide parts by means of flexible draw means arranged to draw the slide parts in a direction opposite a drilling direction of the apparatus.

The flexible draw means are preferably chains but may also be, e.g., steel wire, belts, cords made from Kevlar (aramide) and/or carbon fibre or flexible material reinforced with such fibres.

The earth driiiing apparatus according to the invention is preferably mobile and comprises traction means and drive means for driving the traction means. Furthermore, the apparatus may comprise a global positioning device being connected to a control unit which is adapted to control the traction means and the drive means to drive the traction means so as to move the apparatus into a pre-programmed position.

The invention also regards a drill drive mechanism that may be moved from the drill line so as to allow for free access to the bore hole by means of an arrangement for turning the drill drive to a substantially horizontal loading position, thus providing a simpler and less expensive mechanism to allow access to the bore hole compared to known mechanisms, such as the parallel slider. The drill drive mechanism may be used with various drilling apparatuses and constitutes an invention in itself as well as in combination with the above described earth drilling apparatus with which the drill drive mechanism may advantageously be used. The drill drive mechanism comprises a drill drive and a drill drive holder, said holder consisting of two parts, one part being arranged movably in a given drilling direction, the other part being pivotally connected to the first part about a pivot axis, thus making it possible to pivot the drill drive into a position that allows for horizontal loading of tools. The drill drive is provided with two attachment devices to attach the drill drive to the drill drive holder. The first attachment device connects the drill drive to the second part of the drill drive holder pivotally about a pivot axis that is substantially parallel to the drill drive holder pivot axis, and the second attachment device connects the drill drive to the drill drive holder. The second device may be shifted between at least two functions, a first function in which it locks the drill drive to the drill drive holder and a second function in which the drill drive is free to pivot about the pivot axis of the first attachment device. The attachment device about witch the drill drive is pivotal is preferably a ball bearing, and the other attachment device is preferably a stud but may also be , e.g., a hook, a clamp and/or a magnetic device.

The stud may suitably be longitudinally displaced in a direction parallel to the pivot axis of the drill drive holder, the stud being displaceable between two positions, one in which the stud is in engagement with the drill drive as well as with the pivotal part of the drill drive holder, thus locking the drill drive to the drill drive holder, and another position where the stud is out of engagement with one of the drill drives and the pivotal part of the drill drive holder, thus allowing the drill drive to pivot freely about said drill drive pivot axis.

The operation of the attachment is preferably done by means of a hydraulic motor but may also be operated, e.g., manually, pneumatically, electrically and/or by a solenoid.

EXAMPLES

Examples of embodiments of the present invention will now be further described with reference to the drawing of which:

Fig. 1 is a split drawing of the synchronising mechanism of the earth drilling apparatus with two mast frames,

Fig. 2 is a machine drawing of an earth drilling apparatus from the side,

Fig. 3 is a machine drawing of a earth drilling apparatus from the front,

Fig. 4 is a machine drawing of an earth drilling apparatus from the top,

Fig. 5 shows the drill drive in a drilling position,

Fig. 6 shows the drill drive in a loading position, and

Fig. 7 shows the drill drive in a position to allow for free access to the bore hole. Fig. 1 illustrates how the synchronisation mechanism is arranged. The linear motor 1 is connected to the mast frame 2 at the upper end with the connection 3 so that the outer part 4 of the linear motor 1 is the moving part of the actuator.

5 A pivot wheel 5 is placed at the end of the outer part 4. The parts are duplicated on the other mast frame 6 having a connection 7, a linear motor 8, an outer part 9 and a pivot wheel 10. Four pivot wheels 11-18 are placed on the top of each of the outer parts 4, 9. The pivot wheels are made from a material that is a self-lubricating plastic known as Nylatron. 10

Four chains 21-28 are placed on the upper side of each slide part 19, 20 and on the lower side is one chain 37, 39 placed. The chains 21-24 and 39 are placed on the slide part 19 and the chains 25-28 and 37 are placed on the slide part 20.

15 Chain 21 is connected to slide part 19 going up and around pivot wheel 29, down and around pivot wheel 16 and ending connected to the mast frame 6.

Chain 22 is connected to slide part 19 going up and around pivot wheel 30 to pivot wheel 31 and down and around pivot wheel 12 up to mast frame 2. 20

Chain 23 is connected to slide part 19 going up and around pivot wheel 32, down and around pivot wheel 17 and ending connected to the mast frame 6.

Chain 24 is connected to slide part 19 going up and around pivot wheel 33 to pivot wheel 25 34 and down and around pivot wheel 13 up to mast frame 2.

Chain 25 is connected to slide part 20 going up and around pivot wheel 31 , down and around pivot wheel 11 and ending connected to the mast frame 2.

30 Chain 26 is connected to slide part 20 going up and around pivot wheel 35 to pivot wheel 29 and down and around pivot wheel 15 up to mast frame 6.

Chain 27 is connected to slide part 20 going up and around pivot wheel 34, down and around pivot wheel 14 and ending connected to the mast frame 2. 35 Chain 28 is connected to slide part 20 going up and around pivot wheel 36 to pivot wheel 32 and down and around pivot wheel 18 up to mast frame 6.

Chain 37 is connected to slide part 20 going down and around pivot wheel 38 up and around pivot wheel 5 down and attached to frame part 2.

Chain 39 is connected to slide part 19 going down and around pivot wheel 40 up and around pivot wheel 10 down and attached to frame part 6.

The travel of the two actuators is synchronised with the shown arrangement and the forces are equally distributed on the two mast frames which is advantageous as compared to an arrangement with one actuator being placed on one of the mast frames.

In the embodiment shown in this figure, one linear motor 1 is pulling in four top chains 25, 26, 27, 28, two 26, 28 of which are pulling the slide part 19 up and two 25, 27 of which are pulling the slide part 20 up. Whereby the movement of the two slide part 19, 20 is synchronised. The second linear motor 8 is arranged in the same way so that the chains 22, 24 pull up the slide part 20 and the two chains 21, 23 pull up the slide part 19. In this embodiment there is also made a chain system for pulling the two slide parts 19, 20 down, but here only one linear motor 1 is pulling in the slide part 20 via the chain 37 and the second linear motor 8 is pulling in the slide part 19 via the chain 39.

Fig. 2 illustrates the earth drilling apparatus in a drilling position with the mast frame 41 in an upright position and with the drill drive 42 in a lowered, drilling position. The tool tray 43 is placed on the main frame 44 and in connection to the roll-front cabinet 45. The mast frame is hinged to the main frame 44 with a hinge 46, and may be tilted by means of a hydraulic cylinder 47.

Fig. 3 illustrates the earth drilling apparatus in a drilling position with the mast frame 41 in an upright position, supported by the hinge arm 48 that is connected to the mast frame 41 by the hinge 46, with the drill drive 42 in a lowered, drilling position. The tool tray 43 is placed on the main frame 44 and in connection to the roll-front cabinet 45, with the roll- front 49 of the roll-front cabinet 45 closed in front of the cabinet 45. Fig 4 illustrates the earth drilling apparatus in a drilling position with the mast frame 41 in an upright position, supported by the hinge arm 48 that is connected to the mast frame 41 by the hinge 46, with the drill drive 42 in a drilling position

Figs 2-4 illustrate the earth drilling apparatus with one drill mast frame 41 The drill mast frame 41 is in an upright position, aligned in the drilling direction, or drill line, ready to have the proper tool applied The appliance of tools is done by the following procedure The tool is chosen from the set of tools in the roll-front cabinet 45, either by the operator or by an onboard computer The roll-front cabinet 45 is lifted to a height where the chosen tool is in the same height as the tray 43 At the same time the roll-front 49 is opened in front of the tool allowing only the chosen tool to exit the cabinet 45

From the cabinet 45 the chosen tool is rolled or ejected directly out to the tray 43 This can be done by means of the operator or by means of an arm or a cross-belt controlled by the operator or by an onboard computer

The tray 43 is moved forward in direction of the drill drive 42 either by means of the operator or by means of a drive such as an electrical motor, a pneumatic linear motor or hydraulic motor controlled by the operator or by an onboard computer

The drill drive 42 is turned to a loading position and lifted by means of an electrical, a pneumatic or a hydraulic motor to a height that fits the tray height

The tray 43 is now moved to the drill drive 42 so that the chosen tool can be fitted onto the drill drive 42

The drill drive 42 is subsequently lifted to the top of the mast 41 or as high as necessary to allow the tool to be rotated to an operating position, pointing the tool in the drilling direction, and is finally lowered down in the drilling direction to perform the operation of the given tool The movement of the drill drive 42 along the mast frame and the rotation of the drill drive 42 is controlled by the operator or by the onboard computer

Figs 5-7 illustrate the drill drive 51 attached to the drill drive holder 53, 56 in three different operating positions

Firstly in a drilling position, as shown in Fig 5, in which the drill 50 points downwards and the drill drive 51 is fastened to the pivotal part 56 of the drill drive holder 53, 56 by the two drill drive attachment devices 52, 57, the drill drive attachment devices 52, 57 being two studs 52, 57 both engaging the drill drive 51 as well as the drill drive holder 53, 56 Secondly in a loading position, as shown in Fig. 6, in which the drilling axis of the drill drive 51 which coincides with the longitudinal direction of the drill 50 is turned to a horizontal position so as to make it possible to load drills 50 or other tools onto the drill drive 51 from the horizontal direction. The drill drive attachment devices 52, 57 are two studs 52,57 both engaging the drill drive 51 as well as the drill drive holder 53, 56.

Thirdly in a position, as shown in Fig. 7, in which the drill drive 51 is moved away from its drilling position and out of the drilling line so as to allow for free access for tools to be lowered down into the bore hole in a wire 55 attached to a winch. The second part of the drill drive holder 56 is rotated and the second attachment device 52 is only in engagement with the drill drive holder 56. With nothing to prevent the drill drive 51 from pivotting, the force of gravity will induce the drill drive 51 to turn out of the drilling line and point the drill 50 in a downwards direction.

Claims

1. An earth drilling apparatus comprising a main frame, an elongated mast frame being hinged to the main frame about a substantially horizontal axis so that the mast frame may be tilted between an upright drilling position in which the mast frame is adjacent to one side of the main frame and a substantially horizontal position in which a substantial part of the mast frame is positioned on top of the main frame parallel to a main axis of the main frame, a drill drive holder being connected to the mast frame movable in a longitudinal direction of the mast frame, first driving means for moving the drill drive holder aiong the mast frame, a drill drive for holding and rotating tools about a drilling axis that in an operating position is parallel to the longitudinal direction of the mast frame, second drive means for rotating tools being held by the drill drive, said drill drive being mounted on the drill drive holder pivotally about an axis being substantially perpendicular to the main axis and being substantially horizontal so that the drill drive may be shifted between the operating position and a loading position in which the drilling axis of the drill drive is substantially horizontal, so that in the loading position tools may be loaded onto the drill drive from the main frame side of the mast frame and in a direction being substantially parallel to the main axis.

2. An earth drilling apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the drilling axis in an operational position is displaced relatively to the mast frame in a direction perpendicular to the main axis, so as to allow full access to said drill drive from the main frame side.

3. An earth drilling apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, comprising applying means for positioning of tools in a substantial horizontal loading position and for loading said tools to the drill drive being in its loading position, the applying means being mounted on the main frame.

4. An earth drilling apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the applying means comprises a movable tray being placed on the main frame next to the drill drive, for supporting the tools and moving said tools into the loading position.

5. An earth drilling apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said tray is movable by means of drive means.

6. An earth drilling apparatus according to claim 4 or 5, wherein moving of tools by the 5 tray and loading of tools from said tray to said drill drive is controlled by control means comprising a logical unit.

7. An earth driiiing apparatus according to any of the claims 4-6, wherein tools are provided to said tray from a tool storage means placed on the main frame.

10

8. An earth drilling apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said tool storage means is a roll-front cabinet situated next to a path which the tray may be moved along, the cabinet may be opened to one side for allowing one tool at a time to be passed between the tray and the cabinet.

15

9. An earth drilling apparatus according to claim 7 or 8, wherein said tool storage means comprises means for providing a given tool from the storage means.

10. An earth drilling apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said means for providing a 20 given tool is controlled by control means comprising a logical unit.

11. An earth drilling apparatus according to any of the claims 7-10, wherein tools are applied to the tray from the cabinet by drive means.

25 12. An earth drilling apparatus according to claim 11 comprising a control unit having a logical unit for controlling the steps of providing of a given tool from the storage means, applying of the tool to the tray from the cabinet by drive means, and moving of the tool by the tray and loading of tools from said tray to said drill drive.

30

13. An earth drilling apparatus according to claim 12, comprising data storage means connected to the control unit, and tools with sensors for detecting physical properties and providing a signal to the control unit accordingly, the control unit being adapted to perform said control and to control a drilling process based on said signals and to store said signals in the data storage means.

14. An earth drilling apparatus according to any of the preceding claims having only one 5 mast frame.

15. An earth drilling apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the main frame has a substantially rectangular outline in a horizontal plane, the mast frame being hinged to the main frame in the vicinity of a corner of the main frame.

10

16. An earth drilling apparatus according to any of the claims 1-13 having two mast frames, the drill drive holder being connected to both mast frames movably in a longitudinal direction of the mast frames.

15 17. An earth drilling apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the main frame has a substantially rectangular outline in a horizontal plane and the masts being hinged to the main frame in the vicinity of each one neighbouring corner.

18. An earth drilling apparatus according to claim 16 or 17, wherein the drill drive holder 20 comprises two slide parts, the parts being connected to a mast frame each and each part being movable in a longitudinal direction of the respective mast frame, the apparatus further comprising two linear actuators being mounted aiong the longitudinal direction of a mast frame each, each actuator being connected to both slide parts by means of flexible draw means arranged to draw the slide parts in a direction opposite a drilling direction of 25 the apparatus.

19. An earth drilling apparatus according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the main frame comprises traction means and drive means for driving the traction means.

30 20. An earth drilling apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the apparatus comprises a global positioning device being connected to a control unit being adapted to control the traction means and the drive means to drive the traction means so as to move the apparatus into a pre-programmed position.

21. A drill drive mechanism comprising a drill drive, a drill drive holder comprising a first part for being arranged movably in a give drilling direction, and 5 a second part being pivotally connected to said first part about a drill drive holder pivot axis, a first attachment device connecting the drill drive to the second part of the drill drive holder pivotally about a drill drive pivot axis being substantially parallel to the drill drive holder pivot axis, 10 at least one second attachment device for connecting the drill drive to the drill drive holder, which device may be shifted between at least two functions, a first function in which said device locks the drill drive to the drill drive holder and a second function in which the drill drive is free to pivot about said drill drive pivot axis.

15 22. A drill drive mechanism according to claim 21 , wherein the at least one second attachment device connects the drill drive to the second part of the drill drive holder.

23. A drill drive mechanism according to claim 21 or 22, wherein said second attachment device comprises a stud being displaceable in its longitudinal direction and in a direction

20 being substantially parallel to the drill drive holder pivot axis, the stud being displaceable between at least two positions a first position in which the stud is in engagement with the drill drive as well as with the second part of the drill drive holder, thus locking the drill drive to the drill drive holder, and 5 a second position where the stud is out of engagement with at least one of the drill drive and the second part of the drill drive holder, thus allowing the drill drive to pivot freely about said drill drive pivot axis.

24. A drill drive mechanism according to claim 21 , wherein said second attachment device 30 is a hook- or clamp-device, the device having at least two positions a first position in which the device is in engagement with the drill drive as well as with the second part of the drill drive holder, thus locking the drill drive to the drill drive holder, and a second position where the device is out of engagement with at least one of the drill drive and the second part of the drill drive holder, thus allowing the drill drive to pivot freely about said drill drive pivot axis.

5 25. A drill drive mechanism according to any of the claims 21-24, wherein said second attachment device may be shifted between the at least two functions manually.

26. A drill drive mechanism according to any of the claims 21-25, wherein said second attachment device may be shifted between the at least two functions by means of a drive

10 means.

27. A drill drive mechanism according to claim 26, wherein said drive means comprises an electrical motor.

15 28. A drill drive mechanism according to claim 26, wherein said drive means comprises a hydraulic motor.

29. A drill drive mechanism according to claim 26, wherein said drive means comprises a pneumatic motor. 0

30. A drill drive mechanism according to claim 26, wherein said drive means comprises a solenoid motor.

31. An earth drilling apparatus according to any of the claims 1-20 comprising a drill drive 5 according to claims 21-30.