Classifications

• • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
  • E21—EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; MINING
  • E21B—EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; OBTAINING OIL, GAS, WATER, SOLUBLE OR MELTABLE MATERIALS OR A SLURRY OF MINERALS FROM WELLS
  • E21B7/00—Special methods or apparatus for drilling
  • E21B7/02—Drilling rigs characterised by means for land transport with their own drive, e.g. skid mounting or wheel mounting
  • E21B7/024—Drilling rigs characterised by means for land transport with their own drive, e.g. skid mounting or wheel mounting having means for adapting to inclined terrain; having means for stabilizing the vehicle while drilling
• • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
  • E21—EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; MINING
  • E21B—EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; OBTAINING OIL, GAS, WATER, SOLUBLE OR MELTABLE MATERIALS OR A SLURRY OF MINERALS FROM WELLS
  • E21B15/00—Supports for the drilling machine, e.g. derricks or masts
  • E21B15/02—Supports for the drilling machine, e.g. derricks or masts specially adapted for underwater drilling
• • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
  • E21—EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; MINING
  • E21B—EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; OBTAINING OIL, GAS, WATER, SOLUBLE OR MELTABLE MATERIALS OR A SLURRY OF MINERALS FROM WELLS
  • E21B19/00—Handling rods, casings, tubes or the like outside the borehole, e.g. in the derrick; Apparatus for feeding the rods or cables
  • E21B19/14—Racks, ramps, troughs or bins, for holding the lengths of rod singly or connected; Handling between storage place and borehole
  • E21B19/143—Racks, ramps, troughs or bins, for holding the lengths of rod singly or connected; Handling between storage place and borehole specially adapted for underwater drilling
• • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
  • E21—EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; MINING
  • E21B—EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; OBTAINING OIL, GAS, WATER, SOLUBLE OR MELTABLE MATERIALS OR A SLURRY OF MINERALS FROM WELLS
  • E21B49/00—Testing the nature of borehole walls; Formation testing; Methods or apparatus for obtaining samples of soil or well fluids, specially adapted to earth drilling or wells
  • E21B49/02—Testing the nature of borehole walls; Formation testing; Methods or apparatus for obtaining samples of soil or well fluids, specially adapted to earth drilling or wells by mechanically taking samples of the soil
  • E21B49/025—Testing the nature of borehole walls; Formation testing; Methods or apparatus for obtaining samples of soil or well fluids, specially adapted to earth drilling or wells by mechanically taking samples of the soil of underwater soil, e.g. with grab devices
• • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
  • E21—EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; MINING
  • E21B—EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; OBTAINING OIL, GAS, WATER, SOLUBLE OR MELTABLE MATERIALS OR A SLURRY OF MINERALS FROM WELLS
  • E21B7/00—Special methods or apparatus for drilling
  • E21B7/12—Underwater drilling
  • E21B7/124—Underwater drilling with underwater tool drive prime mover, e.g. portable drilling rigs for use on underwater floors
• • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
  • E02—HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING; FOUNDATIONS; SOIL SHIFTING
  • E02B—HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING
  • E02B17/00—Artificial islands mounted on piles or like supports, e.g. platforms on raisable legs or offshore constructions; Construction methods therefor
  • E02B17/02—Artificial islands mounted on piles or like supports, e.g. platforms on raisable legs or offshore constructions; Construction methods therefor placed by lowering the supporting construction to the bottom, e.g. with subsequent fixing thereto
  • E02B17/021—Artificial islands mounted on piles or like supports, e.g. platforms on raisable legs or offshore constructions; Construction methods therefor placed by lowering the supporting construction to the bottom, e.g. with subsequent fixing thereto with relative movement between supporting construction and platform

Definitions

• the present invention refers to a seabed drill system, for geotechnical site investigation for the installation of an offshore wind park.
• the towers, cables and other structures that constitute an Offshore Wind (OW) park are supported on the seafloor.
• the characteristics of the soils and rocks present at any site are crucial for the OW park design: insufficient site knowledge may seriously jeopardize installation and/or operation. Developers have stopped projects at a very advanced stage quoting poor geotechnical conditions.
• Geotechnical Site Investigation for OW today implies taking soil and rock samples from scarce and expensive jack-up platforms and/or specialist geotechnical drilling vessels in a process that is slow and very sensitive to weather conditions. Geotechnical site investigation is thus a bottleneck for OW park developers.
• Remotely operated submarine sampling systems make site investigation more resilient to bad weather conditions and use smaller, easily available supply vessels. They can thus offer a substantial reduction in development cost and extend the time window for GSI.
• the objective of the present invention is to provide a seabed drill system designed with a modular approach that enables to use smaller and lighter configurations in circumstances when all the depth drilling capability is not required.
• the seabed drill system comprises a drilling mast module for placing drill rods, said drill rods drilling the seabed, and it is characterized in that it also comprises:
• a core barrel rack module comprising a frame for placing core barrels
• a drill rack module comprising a frame for placing the drill rods
• a remotely operated arm module provided with an arm for collecting and moving said drill rods and/or and core barrels from the rack modules to the drilling mast, or vice versa.
• the seabed drill system according to the invention can also comprise a base comprising a plurality of adjustable feet and an acoustic sample checker module that detects the presence of a sample inside a core barrel.
• the seabed drill system according to the invention can also comprise two gantry automated arm modules, one for the core barrel rack module and one for the drill rack module, which also collect and move the core barrels and the drill rods, respectively.
• the acoustic sample checker module comprises an acoustic probe, such as a short range acoustic phased-array probe.
• each gantry automated arm module comprises a grabber for grabbing one drill rod or one core barrel.
• the base can comprise four feet which are independently adjustable in height.
• the arm of the remotely operated arm module comprises a grabber at one of its ends, said grabber being rotatable, and the arm of the remotely operated arm module is preferably mounted on a position table, which is rotatable.
• the frame of the core barrel rack module and/or the frame of the drill rod rack module comprise security locks for fixing the core barrels and/or the drill rods in their position in the frame.
• the drill system according to the invention responds to a modular concept, which enables different borehole diameter options and multiple combinations of push- sampler tools in situ (CPT) test in the same deployment.
• the main features of the drill system according to the invention are:
• Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the drill system according to one embodiment according to the invention.
• Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the drilling mast module of the drill system according to the invention.
• Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the remotely operated arm module of the drill system according to the invention.
• Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the core barrel rack module of the drill system according to the invention.
• Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the drill rod rack module of the drill system according to the invention.
• Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the acoustic sample checker module of the drill system according to the invention.
• Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the gantry automated arm module of the drill system according to the invention.
• Figs. 8-12 are perspective views showing how the operation of the drilling system according to the present invention. Description of a preferred embodiment
• Fig. 1 The seabed drilling system of the invention according to one non-limitative embodiment is shown in Fig. 1.
• a remotely operated arm 2 provided with a grabber 22 for collecting and moving drill rods 42 and core barrels 31 ;
• an acoustic sample checker 6 that detects the presence of a sample inside a core barrel 31 ;
• the drilling mast module 1 comprises a winch 1 1 , a plurality of clamps 12, a flushing head 13, a head carriage 14 with side shift, a rotary head 15, a heavy duty mast 16, a feed cylinder 17 and a base support 18.
• this drilling mast 1 module is variable, e.g. between 3 and 9 meters, and the section of the cylinder can be also changed for providing more or less force. Furthermore, this module can include or not the winch 1 1 .
• this module comprises a remote operated hydraulic arm 21 , a heavy duty grabber 22 and a position table 23.
• the hydraulic arm 21 can be programmed for carrying out a lot of operations, both manually and automatically. E.g. this hydraulic arm 21 can provide a maximum load of 300 Kg at 2,500 mm, and a closed loop position of each axis permits an easy operator guidance and automation.
• the heavy duty grabber 22 provides, e.g. a 75° wrist rotation and a 135 mm opening, and the position table 23 has a fixed height and provides a 350° turn.
• This module comprises a plurality of core barrels 31 and it can comprise several bit outer barrels 32, a rack frame 33 for securing the barrels 31 , 32 and a transport and mobilization security lock system 34.
• This module is configured according to the scheme of geotechnical provisions, and it can include up to 1 10 barrels per rack, and each barrel can be of 1 ,500 mm length.
• This module comprises a modular frame 41 , a plurality of drill rods 42, a security lock 44 and a gliding tray 45.
• the modular frame 41 comprises several separated sections, each one for every rod size, which an individual locking device, which is configurable according to the expected operations.
• This module comprises a plurality of adjustable feet and its main functions are to stabilize the perpendicularity of the drill pipe of the seabed drill on the sea bed, and gently landing on the sea bottom to minimize deformation by impact of the borehole and set the unit to seabed slopes.
• This module comprises a support frame 61 for recovering a core barrel and an acoustic probe 62.
• This probe is preferably a short range acoustic phased-array probe that detects in few seconds the presence of soil sample in the core and at which height of recovery has been possible, and it could be also used as a general indicator of soil density and particle size.
• the main function of this module is to detect the presence of physical sample inside the core barrel, previously to the recovery in the borehole top, in such a way that can be assessed the quality of each partial probe operation and thus allow for corrections in the next operation.
• This module comprises a hydraulic system 72 provided with a gearmotor 75 with a closed loop position control mounted on a guided beam 73, and a grabber 74.
• the grabber 74 is preferably double and grabs a drill rod 42 or a core barrel 31 , because the drill system comprises two gantry automated arm modules, one for the core barrel rack module 3 and one for the drill rod rack module 4.
• the grabber 74 can be moved in any direction along the x, y, z axes, to correctly place the drill rods 42 and the core barrels 31 in position.
• the drill system must be placed on the seabed in a gently manner.
• the drill system comprises the base 5 in which the height of the feet 51 is independently adjustable for compensating the slopes or obstacles of the seabed.
• the rotary head 15 rotates and the feed cylinder 17 pushes simultaneously the bit outer barrels 32 (Fig. 9).
• the rotation speed depends on the kind of seabed.
• the bit out barrels 32 arrive to the maximum depth, it is considered that the seabed sample occupies its position inside them.
• the grabber 75 moves the barrels 32 with the sample to the sample checker 6, and once checked, the grabber 75 releases them and the arm 21 places them in the modular frame 41 (Fig. 10).
• the check consists in a longitudinal acoustic sweep in different sections, and analyzing the acoustic echo it can be determined if there is a solid sample or just water. - Placement of a hollow core barrel
• the next core barrel 31 will be collected by the grabber 74 to place it in determined position in the rack frame 33, and then it is collected by the arm 21 , which will place it inside the several barrels 32.
• the core barrel 31 slides freely inside the barrels 32 up to the rotary head 15, where it is engaged with a section of the barrel 32. Then, the rotary head 15 rotates and pushes again said core barrel 31 .
• a drill rod 42 is placed inside the barrels 32 for perforating a next length.
• the gantry arm 7 is moved to the first available drill rod 42, grabbing it and placing it at a predetermined external zone of the modular frame 41 (Fig. 1 1 ).
• the arm 2 takes the drill rod 42 and it is also grabbed by the grabber 74 of the gantry arm 7 (Fig. 12), and the drill rod 42 is rotated to be threaded, and the drill rod 42 is placed inside the barrels 32 for perforating an additional length.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Geology (AREA)
• Mining & Mineral Resources (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Environmental & Geological Engineering (AREA)
• Fluid Mechanics (AREA)
• General Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Geochemistry & Mineralogy (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Soil Sciences (AREA)
• Earth Drilling (AREA)
• Sampling And Sample Adjustment (AREA)

Priority Applications (3)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Publications (1)

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Family Applications (1)

Country Status (3)

Cited By (8)

Citations (5)

• 2015
  • 2015-12-22 ES ES15816793T patent/ES2759604T3/es active Active
  • 2015-12-22 EP EP15816793.2A patent/EP3394381B1/de active Active
  • 2015-12-22 WO PCT/EP2015/080997 patent/WO2017108098A1/en unknown

Patent Citations (5)

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