Structural composite glulam-steel rig mat

Abstract

A Structural Composite Glulam-Steel Rig Mat includes a unique steel frame. The unique steel frame includes unique lifting eyes for cranes in the corners of the rig mat and smooth radius steel channel around the perimeter of the rig mat to enable easy handling by forklifts. The unique steel frame surrounds unique full length, engineered glulam beams which together with the steel frame make the resulting rig mat significantly stronger than the traditional rig mat.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/340,896, the disclosure of which is hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference, and furthermore claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/336,006, the disclosure of which is also hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a rig mat, or in another terminology, a ground cover mat.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Rig Mats have been manufactured for the oil and gas industry and other industries for many years. They have been made from various sizes and shapes of wide flange beams, steel channel and/or steel formed channel that forms a frame in and around various arrays of timbers or of boards glued and sometimes glued and nailed together, often with lateral rods or top and bottom straps fastened through the boards to help keep them in place.

Provisional Patent Application No. 61/336,006 filed on Jan. 13, 2010 describes a Combination of Elements that makes up a Portable Refrigerated Rig Mat System for which I, Michael Chris Wold, am the Inventor and the applicant. One of the Sub Elements of this Combination of Elements is the Protective Hybrid Steel-Glulam Rig Mat which is described in the same application No. 61/336,006. There is now an improvement that should be made to the basic design of the previously described Protective Hybrid Steel-Glulam Rig Mat, described in said Provisional Patent Application No. 61/336,006 that approximately doubles the Load Capacity (E-I) of the mat. The new improved design is described in this new application for a Provisional patent and is named the Structural Composite Glulam-Steel Rig Mat. The design change that provides for the doubling of the capacity of the mat is manufacturing and incorporating full length certified glulams to allow the glulam beams to work in unison with the longitudinal steel beams. In most other designs of ground cover mats, and especially rig mats, the mats have been manufactured with transverse beams running across the interior of the mat, usually dividing the rig mat into three or four sections, which effectively segments the wooden boards and do not allow the wooden board component to run the full length of the rig mats without breaks. Therefore, the wooden boards cannot contribute to the overall Load Capacity of the rig mat.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A much stronger invention is to design and manufacture rig mats by inserting full length engineered and certified glue-laminated wooden beams between the flanges of the longitudinal steel beams or rails. For the rest of this document the term Rail refers to the steel Wide Flange Beams and steel Formed Channel Beams in the rig mat to clearly distinguish them from the wooden Glulam Beam elements of the same rig mat. This new design incorporates steel beams and wood beams in the same structure and therefore it requires a new method of describing rig mats. In the field of oil and gas related rig mats, it is customary to identify and describe a rig mat by how many longitudinal steel beams it contains running down its length. Thus, most of the rig mats in existence today are “Three Beam” rig mats or “Four Beam” rig mats, the Three Beam rig mat being the less expensive and weaker of the two options. In the current invention however, for the first time there are two kinds of engineered, certified beams in the rig mat, the steel beams and the wood beams. Therefore, I have adopted a nomenclature system that first calls out how many steel beams are in the rig mat by using language such as 3Rail or 4Rail. A 3Rail designation denotes 3 steel longitudinal beams are in this rig mat. The second part of the name denotes how many longitudinal glulam beams are in the rig mat. An example would be a 4Rail-3 Beam Rig Mat, meaning there are 4 steel longitudinal beams and 3 wooden glulam longitudinal beams in this rig mat. The simplest Structural Composite Glulam-Steel Rig Mat is designated a 2Rail-1Beam Rig Mat, meaning it is comprised of one large glulam longitudinal beam which is contained by two steel longitudinal beams running down the sides, as well as the Lateral End Rails on the ends. Thus, a 3Rail-2Beam mat has two glulams contained by three steel beams and a 5Rail-4Beam rig mat has five steel beams running the length of the mat containing four glulam beams. Henceforth, in this document the term Rail refers to Steel Longitudinal Beams and the term Beam refers to the certified wood glulam longitudinal beams.

It is unique that this invention incorporates engineered glue-laminated wooden beams (see FIG. 1-#1,#2) that can be constructed with different species of Western Softwoods, or other hardwoods, and are manufactured to ANSI-AITC A190.1 standards or another certifiable standard. This is a unique design in this field of inventions. Load bearing ratings for these engineered glulam beams are approximately 50% higher than the traditional method of rig mat wood inserts described above, and overall Load Capacity is increased by approximately 100% by using full length glulam beams rather than the compartmentalized wood inserts typically used in the industry.

A second unique design element of this Structural Composite Glulam-Steel Rig Mat is the incorporation of pre-manufactured Corner Inserts(#3) (See FIG. 1-#3; FIG. 2 & FIG. 3) that incorporate top and side Lifting Slots (See FIG. 2-#4,#5 & FIG. 3-#4,#5). This design keeps the Lifting Slots away from the center structure of the rig mat where they can compromise the overall structural integrity of the rig mat. Because of the modular design of this rig mat different sizes of rig mats can easily be manufactured by variations in the length of the steel rails connecting the Corner Inserts(#3) together. The modular Corner Inserts(#3) can be manufactured in advance and separately from the remaining rails and beams of the rig mat. However, if a certain size of rig mat is dominating the production line it is more efficient to cut the outside rails to length by a mitered cut and fit the rails together in the very corners of the rig mat. In this instance the corner plates are prefabricated with holes, the inside edges are beveled and the plates are welded flush with the top of the outside rails.

A third unique design element of this Structural Composite Glulam-Steel Rig Mat, because of its modular design, is the ability to change the purpose of the rig mat by interchanging the Lateral End Rails (See FIG. 4-#11) on the ends of the rig mat, normally manufactured as formed channel Rails in this invention, for a Modular Oilfield Loading Hitch, (See FIG. 5). The Modular Oilfield Loading Hitch is made starting with a Wide Flange Rail (See FIG. 5-#6) incorporating a Heavy Walled Pipe(#7) with End Caps(#8) and Pipe Softeners(#9) on each of the upper outside edges of the Wide Flange Beam Frame, thus forming a Modular Oilfield Loading Hitch (See FIG. 4-#10; FIG. 5). The Modular Oilfield Loading Hitch will allow the rig mat to be handled by a winch truck or bedtandem, in addition to forklifts and cranes, which is sometimes a design requirement for the efficient handling of rig mats in some remote locations. See FIG. 5.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view, looking from above, of a Structural Composite Glulam-Steel Rig Mat of FIG. 12.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view, looking from above and from outside, of a Corner Insert with Lifting Slots, which is a part of the rig mat of FIG. 12.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view, looking from above and from inside, of a Corner Insert with Lifting Slots, which is a part of the rig mat of FIG. 12.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view, looking from above, showing the interchangability of the Lateral End Rails of the rig mat of FIG. 12.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view, looking from above, of the interchangeable Modular Oilfield Loading Hitch, which is a part of the rig mat of FIG. 13.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view, looking from the side, of the interchangeable Modular Oilfield Loading Hitch, which is a part of the rig mat of FIG. 13.

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view, looking from above, of the first stage of assembling the rig mat of FIG. 12.

FIG. 8 is a perspective vies, looking from above, of the installation of the outside glulam beams in the rig mat of FIG. 12.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view, looking from above, of the installation of the Corner Inserts with Lifting Slots in the rig mat of FIG. 12.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view, looking from above, of the installation of the Longitudinal Side Rails in the rig mat of FIG. 12.

FIG. 11 is a plan view, looking from above, of the installation of the Fork Protection Plates in the rig mat of FIG. 12.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view, looking from above, of the finished Structural Composite Glulam-Steel Rig Mat with standard ends.

FIG. 13 is a perspective view, looking from above, of the finished Structural Composite Glulam-Steel Rig Mat with the optional Modular Oilfield Loading Hitch.

DESCRIPTION OF MANUFACTURE

A 4Rail-3Beam Rig Mat (See FIG. 1) is used for the Description of Manufacture in this application: The Structural Composite Glulam-Steel Rig Mat is illustrated exploded beginning with FIG. 1. The rig mat outer frame, in this embodiment, is made with formed channel steel beams, running lengthwise as the two Longitudinal Side Rails (#12) and the two Lateral End Rails (#11) running crossways at each end of the rig mat. These four outer frame rails are connected at the four corners of the rig mat with the four Corner Inserts (#3). The two Longitudinal Internal Rails (#13) are connected to the Lateral End Rails (#11). The twelve steel Fork Protection Plates (#14) welded between all four of the longitudinal rails on both faces of the rig mat complete the structural steel frame of the rig mat.

The three Certified Glulam Beams manufactured to ANSI-AITC A190.1 standards (FIG. 1-#1, #2) are manufactured by certified laminated beam manufacturers in the northwestern United States. The glulam beams are then shaped in our woodshop with the proper kerfed edges and dadoed surfaces to precisely fit the structural steel frame.

The first stage of assembling the rig mat, shown in FIG. 7, is to assemble the Longitudinal Internal Rails(#13) to the Lateral End Rails(#11) with the center glulam(#1), boxed in the center section (if the rig mat is to have more than two Glulam Beams).

To install the glulam beams(#1 & #2) into the rig mat frames, the best method is employ a horizontal, table height jig; lay out the first Longitudinal Internal Rail(#13) in the proper position to accept the two Lateral End Rails (#11). Weld the two Lateral End Rails(#11) in place to this Internal Wide Flange Rail(#13) and then insert the Center Glulam Beam(#1) into the u-shaped slot formed by the 3 Rails.

Next install the second Longitudinal Internal Rail(#13), which boxes in the Center Glulam Beam(#1) and weld them in place. This creates the “backbone” of the rig mat. While the backbone is still in place in the jig, illustrated in FIG. 8, install each of the two mitered Outside Glulam Beams(#2) into the short slots formed inside the protruding ends of the two Lateral End Rails(#11).

Next, illustrated in FIG. 9, install the four Corner Inserts(#3) onto the outside ends of the Lateral Cross Rails(#11) and weld them in place. If it happens that most of the production in the shop is mostly of one size and specifications, then it can be more efficient to not utilize the modular corners, but rather miter cut the two ends and the two sides to the full length of the rig mat and to flush weld the corner plates with lifting eyes into the finished frame.

Finally, illustrated in FIG. 10, install the outside Longitudinal Side Rails(#12) into the space created inside the Corner Inserts(#3) and weld them in place. This operation has essentially assembled the main structural components of the rig mat and it is now ready for finish welding.

Finally the installation of the Fork Protection Plates(#14) on both sides of the rig mat completes the manufacturing process.

FIG. 12 illustrates the finished Structural Composite Glulam-Steel Rig Mat in a 4Rail-3Beam Rig Mat configured to be handled by cranes and forklifts manufactured with the standard Lateral End Rails(#11).

FIG. 13 illustrates the finished Structural Composite Glulam-Steel Rig Mat in a 4Rail-3Beam Rig Mat configured to be handled by cranes, forklifts and oilfield Bedtandems, Pole Trucks and Winch Trucks manufactured with the Modular Oilfield Loading Hitch(#10).

Claims

1. A Structural Composite Glulam-Steel Rig Mat capable of carrying a load and comprising:

a. A unique steel frame

b. Full length wood glulam beams

c. Is constructed in a modular design

2. The mat of claim 1 wherein said steel frame incorporates

a. unique lifting eyes for cranes and other lifting equipment in the corners of the rig mat

b. wide forklift protection plates that are inset flush with the horizontal surface of the rig mat frame and with the surface of the glulam wood beams

c. incorporates steel channeled beams for the perimeter of the rig mat with smooth radius corners to enable easy handling by forklifts and other lifting machinery

3. The mat of claim 1 wherein said glulam beams

a. are full length beams and span the long length of the rig mat

b. are engineered and certifiable wooden glulam beams

c. and are unique in this industry and have never been employed in the construction of steel framed rig mats.

4. The mat of claim 1 is constructed in a modular design

a. and this unique modular design enables an efficient manufacturing process

b. the modular design creates the ability to change the character of the rig mat by interchanging the lateral end rails between smooth end rails or the modular oilfield loading hitch.