MOBILE HYDRAULIC WORKOVER RIG
A portable hydraulic rig for workover, drilling or other operations on existing wells in which the rig has a derrick elevated on a base structure comprised of containers for equipment used in association with drilling or workover activities, a work platform including pipe rack sections for storing a plurality of pipes, the derrick being open-sided with a power cylinder at its upper end for lifting and lowering pipe sections away from and into each well, and hydraulic drive cylinders for advancing the rig between wells without telescoping or pivoting the derrick into a travel position, all of the hydraulic components being controlled from a central control panel on the work platform.
Latest Patents:
- METHODS AND COMPOSITIONS FOR RNA-GUIDED TREATMENT OF HIV INFECTION
- IRRIGATION TUBING WITH REGULATED FLUID EMISSION
- RESISTIVE MEMORY ELEMENTS ACCESSED BY BIPOLAR JUNCTION TRANSISTORS
- SIDELINK COMMUNICATION METHOD AND APPARATUS, AND DEVICE AND STORAGE MEDIUM
- SEMICONDUCTOR STRUCTURE HAVING MEMORY DEVICE AND METHOD OF FORMING THE SAME
The present application is a utility conversion of provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/126,011 filed 30 Apr. 2008, for Mobile Hydraulic Workover Rig, by Troy A. Rogers and herein incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUND AND FIELDThe following relates to workover and drilling rigs, and more particularly relates to a novel and improved method and apparatus adaptable for use in the servicing and treatment of oil or gas wells.
An important consideration in the design and construction of workover rigs in the servicing and treatment of wells is the ability to move efficiently between wells which are located a short distance from one another, such as, for example, wells in a cluster or in one or more rows in directional drilling operations.
In the past, workover rigs have been so constructed and arranged that the derrick and its substructure must be disassembled to move between each well. It has also been proposed to utilize skids without disassembling the structure but has required some disassembly of the derrick and is undesirable from a number of standpoints including but not limited to the time and cost of installation each time that the rig has to be moved; and in the past such installation has involved the utilization of cables or guidewires anchored in the ground to stabilize the derrick.
Accordingly, there is a need for a portable workover rig which does not require cables or guidewires to support or anchor the derrick and to provide for a derrick and substructure which is completely hydraulic and can be advanced on skids between wellheads without pivoting or disassembling the derrick or other parts of the rig and can be utilized on land as well as off-shore. Further, it is desirable to construct the derrick in such a way as to facilitate mechanical side-loading and unloading of pipe from and to raised pipe rack sections at the base of the derrick without necessity of threading or loading manually upward and downward through the base of the derrick.
SUMMARYIt is therefore an object to provide for a novel and improved rig which is conformable for use in servicing wells which are located on land or offshore in a reliable and efficient manner.
Another object is to provide for a novel and improved portable workover rig which is completely fluid-actuated, is extremely stable and does not require the use of guidewires or cables to anchor to the ground.
A further object is to provide for a novel and improved workover rig which includes a hollow base structure containing the necessary pumps and reservoirs for hydraulic actuation while at the same time greatly stabilizing the entire structure; and further wherein the entire rig including the derrick and base structure can be advanced between wells without disassembly of any of the rig structure.
Still another object and feature is to provide for a novel and improved derrick which is mounted on a hollow base structure and facilitates assembly and disassembly of the pipe sections to be lowered into or lifted out of the well with a minimum of labor and equipment required.
The above and other advantages and features will become more readily appreciated and understood from a consideration of the following detailed description of different embodiments when take together with the accompanying drawings in which:
In a first embodiment, as shown in
The derrick 12 supports a main lift cylinder 20 mounted over a center bore 21 at one end of a work floor or platform 13, and lateral adjustment cylinders 22 are engageable with a slidable derrick plate 24 to accurately align the main lift cylinder 20 on the derrick 12 over the well to be serviced or completed.
Referring to
In order to advance the housing members or containers 14 along the skids 16, as shown in
The pipe rack sections 51 and 52 shown in
The derrick 12 is mounted at one end of the work floor 13 on the derrick slide plate 24 with the generally U-shaped open front side of the derrick 12 facing the pipe racks 51 and 52, and the cylinder 20 is aligned vertically with respect to the center bore 21 over the wellhead W. Although
There is shown for the purpose of illustration but not limitation in
In operation, the pipe sections P are stacked on top of the pipe racks 51 and 52 with their ends in facing relation to the derrick 12. Each pipe section P is raised either manually or with the assistance of the pipe bracket 76 in order to wrap the winch cable, not shown, around the end of the pipe and advance the pipe over to the work basket where it is lined up beneath the elevators 99 on the lift cylinder 20. At this point, the end of each pipe section P is engaged by the elevators 99 and lifted until the pipe P is vertically aligned with the center of the well.
The snub cylinders S are used only in situations where there is some pressure in the hole, but normally the lift cylinder 20 is used throughout the entire process in lifting and lowering each pipe section into and from the well. The three-stage pump 122 is controlled by the bank of controls on the control panel, one of the pumps having one side that controls the snub cylinders S when necessary. All three pumps can be activated together as needed to supply the necessary fluid under pressure to the main lift cylinder 20 via the flow control valves 101-103 and the directional control valve 95. One of the pumps is also connected to the rotary drive table. It should be noted that the open or U-shaped front of the derrick enables automated lifting of each pipe section by the cylinder 20 through an angular path of movement from the pipe racks up to the top of the derrick until the pipe section becomes aligned with the wellhead. As the pipe section is then lowered by the lift cylinder it will be engaged by the upper slip bowl and threadedly connected to the next lower pipe section in the well. The upper and lower slip bowls are of standard construction and, for example, may be Cavins slip bowls (Cavins, Signal Hill, Calif.) At this point, it will be apparent that standard procedure can be followed in successively lowering each pipe section into the well with the aid of the slip bowls. Similarly, in lifting each pipe section from the well, standard procedure may be followed with the use of the slip bowls but with the additional assistance of the elevator 99 on the lift cylinder for engagement with the upper end of each pipe section and lifting to the height necessary to offload onto the pipe racks.
After each well workover operation is completed, the pusher cylinders are activated to advance the rig along the guideways 16 until the center bore 44 is alongside or aligned with the next wellhead to be serviced. The hydraulic control circuit for the pusher cylinders is represented in
An offshore drilling 10′ is illustrated in
It is therefore to be understood that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present embodiments have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with the details of the structure and function of the embodiments, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made within the principles of the embodiments to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed and reasonable equivalents thereof while preferred forms of the invention are herein set forth and described, the above and other modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims and reasonable equivalents thereof.
Claims
1. In a workover rig having a base support and a derrick mounted on said base support including means for running pipe sections into and out of a completed well, the improvement comprising:
- a pair of elongated ground rails flanking at least one wellhead;
- support means between said base support and said rails for slidable advancement of said derrick and said base support into alignment with each said wellhead; and
- means for advancing said derrick and said base support along said rails.
2. In a workover rig according to claim 1 wherein said advancing means includes at least one fluid-activated cylinder at one end of said base structure.
3. In a workover rig according to claim 2 wherein said support means includes low-friction shoes at spaced intervals between said base structure and said rails, and insert plates positioned between each said shoe and said rail.
4. In a workover rig according to claim 1 wherein said base structure includes generally rectangular containers mounted on each of said rails, and cross beams extending transversely of the length of said rails between said containers to rigidly interconnect said containers into a unitary base structure.
5. In a workover rig according to claim 4 wherein at least two of said containers are mounted in end-to-end relation to one another on each of said rails.
6. In a workover rig according to claim 5 wherein said base structure includes a work platform mounted on said containers, and said derrick includes a base member mounted on said platform centrally between said pairs of containers.
7. In a workover rig according to claim 6 wherein said derrick is wholly supported by said base structure.
8. In a workover rig according to claim 7 wherein a rotary table and slips are mounted on said base member, and pipe racks are mounted on said work platform.
9. In a workover rig according to claim 8 including lift control means associated with said derrick for raising and lowering pipe sections out of and into said well, respectively.
10. In a workover rig according to claim 9 wherein said lift control means includes a power cylinder having a piston mounted for extension over the greater length of said derrick from an upper end thereof, and means for interconnecting an upper end of each said pipe section and a lower end of said piston.
11. In a rig for oil and gas wells, a mobile derrick mounted on a base structure for advancement between said wells, said derrick having an open side along its substantial length of generally U-shaped cross-sectional configuration, a double-acting cylinder mounted at an upper end of said derrick for downward extension of a piston along said open side, and means for connecting each of said pipe sections in end-to-end relation to one another for upward and downward extension from a lower end of said piston in lifting and lowering a string of said pipe sections into and out of each of said wells.
12. In a rig according to claim 11 wherein said base structure is mounted on skids for slidable advancement between said wells.
13. In a rig according to claim 11 wherein said derrick is of open metal frame construction tapering upwardly and having generally U-shaped gusset plates at longitudinally spaced intervals.
14. In a rig according to claim 11 wherein said base structure is defined by shipping containers of elongated rectangular configuration, there being a pair of containers in end-to-end relation to one another on each of said skids, said derrick being aligned for downward extension of said pipe sections into a well head contered between said pairs of containers.
15. In a rig according to claim 14 wherein drive means are mounted between said skids and an end of each of said pair of containers for incremental advancement of said rig into alignment with each of said wellheads between said skids.
16. In a rig according to claim 14 wherein a catwalk is mounted on said pair of containers, and pipe racks are mounted on said catwalk in spaced relation above said containers for lifting and lowering pipe sections into and away from said derrick.
17. A portable hydraulic rid for servicing, workover, completion and drilling and other operations on a plurality of wells comprising in combination:
- a derrick comprised of a plurality of open-sided metal frame sections rigidly connected together in end-to-end relation to one another;
- a double-acting hydraulic cylinder at an upper end of said derrick; and
- a base structure for said derrick including hydraulic drive means for advancing said derrick into alignment with each of said wells.
18. A rig according to claim 17 wherein said base structure includes means for supporting said derrick in an elevated position above said wells, and drive means for incrementally advancing said derrick and base structure between said wells.
19. The method of running pipe sections into and out of a succession of completed wells in closely spaced relation to one another comprising the steps of:
- (a) rigidly mounting a derrick in upstanding relation to a slidable base structure;
- (b) advancing said derrick and base structure into position over each of said wells in succession;
- (c) side-loading each of a plurality of pipe sections onto said derrick in vertically aligned relation to each said well and fastening said sections together in end-to end relation to one another for advancement into each said well to a predetermined depth for servicing and treatment of each said well; and
- (d) followed by raising said assembled pipe sections from each said well and disassembling same for return to said platform and repeating steps (b) through (d) above.
20. The method according to claim 19 characterized by hydraulically lifting each of said pipe sections onto said derrick.
21. The method according to claim 19 characterized by hydraulically advancing said derrick and base structure into position over each of said wells.
Type: Application
Filed: Feb 12, 2009
Publication Date: Nov 5, 2009
Applicants: (Cache, OK), (Bixby, OK)
Inventor: Troy A. Rodgers (Tomball, TX)
Application Number: 12/370,393
International Classification: E21B 15/00 (20060101); E21B 19/00 (20060101); E21B 31/00 (20060101); E21B 19/08 (20060101);