Rotational Lock for Fluid Sleeve Surrounding a Tubular String from Fixed Portion of a Top Drive

Abstract

In the preferred mode of the present invention, the bottom end of a connector sleeve couples the non-rotating sleeve to the top drive swivel. The top end of the connector sleeve rotatably impinges on a non-rotating member of the top drive directly, the top drive longitudinal carriage, or a combination of the two. Rotation of the top drive out put shaft will transmit a force to the non-rotating sleeve through seal friction until the top end of the connector sleeve contacts a non-rotating body of the top drive's longitudinal carriage or the top drive directly or both. Upon contact, the non-rotating sleeve will resist the torque aided by the connector sleeve and overcome the seal friction transmitted to the non-rotating sleeve. The top drive and connector move axially in tandem and even have some capability of relative axial movement while resisting further relative rotation while facilitating assembly of the components.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The field of this invention relates to drilling equipment for the discovery and production of hydrocarbons from the earth. In particular, rotating equipment mounted to a drilling rig hoisting system and more particularly to top drive hoisting systems of which a portion of the rotating equipment is intended to maintain a relatively fixed rotational orientation with respect to said drilling rig.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A well-known method of working a well string within a wellbore is through the use of a top drive rig. A top drive rig is comprised of guide rails and a drive frame which may be longitudinally manipulated through the use of a crown block connected at the top drive's upper end. The top drive power unit is typically mounted to said drive frame and may selectively rotate the well string. A vertical mast houses the crown block near the top and supports the guide rails by providing structure to the top drive rig. The top drive has fluid communication with the well string and is capable of supplying fluid to the well string. Through such an arrangement, the top drive may manipulate the well string longitudinally, rotatably, and pump fluid through the well string.

During top drive operations, it may be desired to pump non-drilling fluids down hole. These fluids may include cement slurry, chemicals, epoxies, or the like. It may be desirable to manipulate the well string longitudinally and rotatably after or during fluid delivery to the well string. While the top drive may fulfill these requirements when directly coupled to the well string, top drive operators may prefer to supply said fluids down hole though a fluid passage that does not pass through the top drive in order to maintain the top drive's mechanical integrity and life span. In such cases, a top drive swivel may be implemented. Such a device generally consists of a sleeve rotatably disposed about a housing wherein the housing is coupled on one end to the top drive and on the other end to the well string. The sleeve generally contains a port for fluid communication with the housing and the housing will generally have at least one passage for fluid communication with the well string.

The sleeve of a top drive swivel is rotatably disposed to the top drive swivel's shaft to allow relative rotation between the sleeve of the top drive swivel and the output shaft of the top drive. The sleeve is required to maintain substantially constant rotational orientation relative to the rig due to current methods of supplying external fluid to the well string while bypassing the top drive. Rotary seals are implemented to maintain the integrity of the fluid passage while allowing relative rotation. The seals create a friction coupling between the swivel's sleeve and the top drive swivel shaft which needs to be resisted by some external means. Methods commonly employed to resist the top drive torque have, in the past, comprised of torque arms braced against rig components as will be described below.

A first method utilizes rigid torque arms mounted between the mast of the rig and the work piece to be rotatably constrained with respect to the rig. One embodiment of this concept is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,107,940; US20180328126A1; US20070272403A1 and US20080041578A1. This particular embodiment requires a longitudinally translatable carriage to allow the top drive to reciprocate while rotating. An embodiment of this method exists in which a carriage is not employed. This design increases friction and wear exhibited between the rigid torque arms and the mast of the rig. While eliminating the carriage may be a less complicated and lighter apparatus, undue damage may be experienced by both the torque reactive device and the mast of the rig. Inclusion of the carriage adds complexity and weight to installation.

A second method utilizes a tie to resist the top drive torque. A preferred embodiment of this method is a cable horizontally fastened on one end to the rotatable sleeve, or to a clamp affixed to the rotatable sleeve, and fastened on the other end to a substantially rigid member of the rig. One embodiment of this concept is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,201,627; 8,491,013 and US20030024701A1. Upon reciprocation of the top drive, the tie experiences an inclination angle with a magnitude greater than zero degrees. Unless attached to a longitudinally movable carriage as previously described, the tie acts as a hypotenuse and must dynamically adapt its length in order to maintain the orientation of the rotatably disposed sleeve. The change in length for small inclination angles may be negligible and some embodiments of this method do not provide provisions for dynamic length adjustment of the tie outside of intrinsic compliance. An example of such intrinsic compliance is described in EP0556007A1 in which the plumbing attached to the port on the rotatable sleeve is intended to be a suitable tie to withstand the reactive torque while being compliant enough to accommodate small magnitudes of axial reciprocation.

A third method utilizes a coupling between the rotatably disposed sleeve and parallel struts mounted to the top drive that support an elevator. An embodiment of this method is described in CA2759139. A torque reaction device is coupled between a clamp and a base plate. The base plate is coupled to the rotary sleeve and the clamp is coupled to parallel links or bails extending from the top drive.

Other relevant references are GB2276403A; U.S. Pat. No. 5,236,035; GB 2451923 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,500,518.

One problem faced by the known solutions described above is the duration and scope involved in the installation and removal of reactive torque couplings whereas limiting the difficulty and quantity of operations to be performed in the torque coupling installation workflow reduces the costs relating to labor.

Excessive loading and suboptimal load paths are a problem frequently encountered by reacting torque through a tie coupled to the rig which does not translate longitudinally with the top drive. If the tie is not acting normal to the mast, a component force in the longitudinal direction will act on both the rotary sleeve and the mounting point on the rig. If the component force is not symmetrically balanced about the top drive's axis of rotation, the component force will induce a bending moment in the top drive's shaft and the top drive swivel coupled to the shaft. By reacting the torque in a plane normal to the top drive's shaft as described in the present invention, excessive axial loads and bending moments induced in the top drive swivel are minimized. This allows a less expensive configuration of top drive swivel to be implemented successfully.

Frequently the entity owning and operating the rig is different from the entity owning and installing the top drive swivel and reactive torque coupling. The modularity and non-uniformity of rigs increases the difficulty in mounting adapting reactive torque couplings which affix to the mast, rig floor, or the like. While variance in make and model of top drives exist, at the current state of the art, a small number of top drive models are installed on a plurality of rigs. This provides a relatively standard and consistent footprint for rotary sleeve coupling. By coupling to the top drive instead of a facet of the rig, complexity in the present invention can be reduced and less coupling inventory is required by the entity owning the top drive swivel.

Another known design is illustrated in FIG. 6. In this sketch the sleeve 50 has a nozzle 52 that is braced against rotation in a single direction by an arm 54 that extends axially from plate 56 that has an opening to accommodate the output shaft 6′ before the mandrel 4 is threaded to it. Four bolts 58 are used to bolt the plate 56 to the tool handler 7′. The downsides of this design are that it allows almost 360 degrees of rotation in one direction while preventing rotation in a single and opposite direction. Another downside is that the plate 56 is custom to a specific top drive configuration and has no flexibility or use if the lower end of the tool handler 7′ is different than the fixed bolt hole pattern on the mounting plate 56. Apart from this is the rigging and personnel required to move the plate 56 and hold it in position to thread the bolts 58 could waste a lot of rig time and present safety issues if the work takes place above where people need to walk to do their work.

Known solutions currently employed are more mechanically complicated than the present invention. The preferred embodiment of the invention consists of a single component with no moving parts. Minimal cost and complexity is required for manufacture and maintenance of such a preferred embodiment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In the preferred mode of the present invention, the bottom end of a connector sleeve couples the non-rotating sleeve to the top drive swivel. The top end of the connector sleeve rotatably impinges on a non-rotating member of the top drive directly, the top drive longitudinal carriage, or a combination of the two. Rotation of the top drive output shaft will transmit a force to the non-rotating sleeve through seal friction until the top end of the connector sleeve contacts a non-rotating body of the top drive's longitudinal carriage or the top drive directly or both. Upon contact, the non-rotating sleeve will resist the torque aided by the connector sleeve and overcome the seal friction transmitted to the non-rotating sleeve. The top drive and connector move axially in tandem and even have some capability of relative axial movement while resisting further relative rotation while facilitating assembly of the components. The connector can be in more than one piece to facilitate assembly to the top drive over the connected string and to reduce component weight that needs to be handled by the rig crews.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the connector sleeve showing an optional lower end spline and at least one flat that contacts a top drive;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the at least one flat of FIG. 1 in contact with a non-rotating portion of the top drive;

FIG. 3 is a sectional elevation view of the components in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an elevation view of the components in a drilling rig; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing and alternative way to rotationally lock the non-rotating sleeve to the connector sleeve and further illustrating the vertical split in the connector sleeve;

FIG. 6 is a prior art design requiring removal of bolts from an underside of a top drive to secure an arm that abutted a nozzle on a sleeve to keep that sleeve from rotating in a single direction.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIG. 4 a rig 10 supports a crown block 9 from which a travelling block 8 is supported in a known manner. The top drive 12 is supported off the travelling block 8. It has a powered output shaft 6 to which the tool string 11 is attached, via a mandrel 4 that is part of the top drive 12. A non-rotating sleeve 5 is mounted over shaft 6 and mandrel 4 with a nozzle 20 that provides fluid communication to passage 22 through output shaft 6 and mandrel 4 and into the tool string 11. Non-rotating sleeve 5 is a known component that has spaced bearings and seals against mandrel 4 that are not shown so that fluid under pressure delivered through nozzle 20 is directed into the tool string 11 as the tool string 11 rotates while non rotating sleeve 5 does not rotate. In that manner a fluid line that is not shown can be connected to nozzle 20 to add material to the tool string 11 while bypassing the top drive 12. The seals between the non-rotating sleeve 5 and the rotating mandrel 4 tend to induce rotation of the non-rotating sleeve 5 unless the friction force is overcome. That occurs in the present invention with the use of connecting sleeve 1. Connecting sleeve 1 can be rotationally locked to the non-rotating sleeve 5 with a spline 2 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 or with standoffs 13 that abut or extend through connecting sleeve 1 and find support on landing flange 14 while secured with pins 15.

Connecting sleeve 1 can be a split structure having a split 24 with the pieces connected by a hinge 26 as shown in FIG. 5. A clamp located 180 away holds the components 28 and 30 together after they are mounted over the connected mandrel 4 and top drive output shaft 6. Connecting sleeve 1 has at least one upper flat 3 defined by flat surface 32. Surface 32 is designed to fit adjacent surface 34 to item 7 which can be the tool handler of the top drive 12 or other non-rotating surface of the top drive 12. Some initial gap is preferred for assembly purposes of surface 32 and surface 34. Clearly, if a clamshell design is incorporated into the connecting sleeve as shown in FIG. 5 such a gap can be minimized or eliminated. While opposed upper flats 3 is one solution, the rotational locking even after an optional limited amount of relative rotation preceding the locking can be accomplished in a variety of other ways such as meshing castellation, rods going into recesses or pins abutting an adjacent surface to name a few options contemplated by the invention. As another alternative, the connecting sleeve 1 and the tool handler 7 or its non-rotating equivalent on the top drive 12 can be a single unitary structure or in multiple pieces to be field assembled.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the way the rotational locking to the top drive 12 itself or to the tool handler 7 attached to the stationary portion of the top drive 12 takes the surrounding structures out of the picture and avoids issues of the rig belonging to one company while another company brings the top drive to the rig. Since the rigs are differently, configured using the rig structure or the bails that hold the elevator creates a dimensional uncertainty if the torque link has to be connected one end to such structures. Then again, there is the issue of having to accommodate the axial movements of the top drive while still providing a torque reaction member. This need to accommodate a friction force in a plane perpendicular to top drive axial movement has been the reason the prior designs have been complex and heavy structures that take a long time to field assemble and require hoisting equipment in an otherwise confined space that can also present personnel safety issues. Where the present invention diverges is that the torque reaction is provided from the body of the top drive itself rather than adjacent rig equipment such as the rig structure or the parallel support members for the elevator as described in CA2759139. Instead the connecting sleeve 1 has no moving parts after assembly, to the top drive itself or the tool handler or both such that the non-rotating sleeve seal friction is overcome upon initial rotation of the mandrel 4. The connecting sleeve can be easy to fabricate and transport and if provided in a clamshell design can be assembled over the mandrel 4 with the tool string 11 assembled to the top drive output shaft 6. Connection to the non-rotating sleeve 5 by the connecting sleeve 1 can be by splines as in FIG. 2 or with rods 13 as in FIG. 5 or by any other way that can provide a quick rotational lock.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the gap between opposed surfaces 32 can also be varied on one or on opposed sides using an adjustment pad 33 schematically illustrated in FIG. 1. In that manner different gaps can be straddled and rotational play can be removed to eliminate any rotational movement of sleeve 5. Typically even with a small gap between the tool handler 7 or the non-rotating part of top drive 12 the amount of rotation of nozzle 20 can be kept to under 10 degrees in opposed directions whereas the prior design of FIG. 6 has over 300 degrees of allowed rotation in one direction. As best seen in FIG. 2 there are no fasteners needed to operatively connect the U-shaped portion of the connecting member 1 formed by opposed flats 32 and the tool handler 7 or another non-rotating part of the top drive 12. In essence the parts simply nest with a small or no gap to provide the rotational lock to the sleeve 5. In essence the present invention preferably has the connecting member 1 weight supported off the non-rotating sleeve 5 and a top end that is initially spaced from the supporting device such as tool handler 7 or the top drive 12. That initial gap or spacing allows some relative rotation between the tool string 11 and the sleeve 5 of preferably no more than 10 degrees in opposed directions while facilitating assembly. Supporting weight from below rather than from above as in FIG. 6 also makes for a faster and safer installation process. A flexible connection to nozzle 20 can comfortably tolerate 10 degree angular movement. That amount of angular movement can be reduced or eliminated with adjustment of the adjustment pad 33 after initial assembly. The design of FIG. 6 allows almost a full revolution of relative rotation of the sleeve with the nozzle in one direction while minimizing relative rotation in the opposite direction.

The above description is illustrative of the preferred embodiment and many, modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the invention whose scope is to be determined from the literal and equivalent scope of the claims below:

Claims

1. An apparatus for securing a sleeve against relative rotation with respect to a stationary component associated with a supporting device that rotates or translates a tubular string, comprising: a supporting device comprising an elongated body assembly at least a part of said elongated body non-rotationally supporting the tool string and another part of said elongated body assembly selectively rotating with the tool string in said passage relatively to said non-rotating sleeve;

a non-rotating sleeve having at least one passage with a tool string extending through said at least one passage and a connection for fluid communication into said passage;

a connecting member engaged to said non-rotating sleeve for weight support while limiting relative rotation between said non-rotating sleeve and the tool string in opposed directions to under 300 degrees, said connecting member comprising an upper end positioned in an initial spaced relation to said non-rotating part of said supporting device.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

said supporting device comprises a top drive.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein:

said connecting member rotationally locked to said non-rotating sleeve with a spline.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein:

said connecting member rotationally locked to said non-rotating sleeve with at least one axially extending rod.

5. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein:

said connecting member comprises at least one piece.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein:

said connecting member comprises two pieces hinged together to facilitate creation of said passage over the tool string with the tool string supported from said elongated body.

7. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein:

said connecting member comprises at least one protrusion to selectively engage said portion of said elongated body that non-rotationally supports the tool string.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein:

said at least one protrusion comprises a flat surface to selectively engage an opposing flat surface on said portion of said elongated body that non-rotationally supports the tool string.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein:

said flat surface and opposing flat surface defining an initial clearance in between to facilitate assembly of said connecting member to said portion of said elongated body that non-rotationally supports the tool string.

10. The apparatus of claim 2, further comprising:

spaced bails supported by said elongated bodies, said connecting member being out of contact with said bails.

11. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein:

said connecting member comprises a sleeve.

12. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein:

said top drive further comprises a non-rotating tool handler having first opposed flat surfaces;

said connecting member further comprising second opposed flat surfaces having a distance in between equal or greater than a distance between said first opposed flat surfaces.

13. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein:

said non-rotating sleeve further comprises spaced seals straddling said connection thereon, whereupon contact between said first and second opposed flat surfaces generated by rotation of the tool string in said spaced seals, seal friction is overcome allowing said non-rotating sleeve to avoid rotation.

14. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein:

said at least a part of said elongated body that non-rotationally supports the tool string and said connection member are a single piece.

15. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein:

said at least a part of said elongated body that non-rotationally supports the tool string and said connection member are multiple pieces.

16. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein:

relative rotation between said non-rotating sleeve and the tool string in opposed directions is limited to under 300 degrees.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein:

relative rotation between said non-rotating sleeve and the tool string in opposed directions is limited to under 10 degrees.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein:

relative rotation between said non-rotating sleeve and the tool string in opposed directions is eliminated by removal of said spaced relation of said connecting member upper end to said non-rotating part of said supporting device with an adjustment device.