DRILL BITS FOR DRILLING WHILE DRIVING FOUNDATION COMPONENTS
Drill bits are provided for a drilling while driving machine. In some cases, the drill bit is a multi-stage bit capable of selectively cutting at two different diameters. In others, the bit is an expanding bit that can be passed through a foundation component while its being driven. The bit has a pair of cutting wings that can move between a retracted orientation where the bit's diameter is narrower than the inner diameter of the driven component, to a splayed orientation where the diameter is equal to or larger than the driven component's outside diameter.
This claims priority to U.S. provisional patent application No. 62/971,843 filed on Feb. 2, 2020, and 62/966,964 filed on Jan. 28, 2020, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
BACKGROUNDThe applicant of this disclosure has developed a new foundation for supporting single-axis trackers, fixed-tilt arrays and other structures that provides a steel-saving alternative to conventional monopile foundations. Known commercially EARTH TRUSS, this foundation is formed from a pair of adjacent angled legs extending below and above ground that are joined together with an adapter, truss cap or bearing adapter to form a truss with the ground. Each leg is made of a screw anchor that is driven below ground and an upper leg section. The below ground portion of each leg, known as a screw anchor, is an elongated, hollow, open-ended tube with an external thread form at the lower end and driving coupler at the upper end. The driving coupler is engaged by the chuck of a rotary driver and also serves an adapter for attaching an upper leg section once the anchor is driven. Because the screw anchor is open at both ends, it is possible to actuate a drilling tool through the rotary driver and screw anchor while the anchor is being driven. This reduces the torque and downforce required on the head of the screw anchor and facilitates embedment in difficult soils. To perform this function, the applicant of this disclosure has developed a proprietary machine that utilizes a rotary driver and drilling tool concentrically oriented on a common mast.
The technique of drilling while casing, that inserting pipe into the ground at the same time that a borehole is drilled, is known in the resource exploration and extraction arts. This is often done when drilling holes to extract water, oil, and natural gas to speed up the process and prevent the bore hole from caving in. The technique involves drilling into the ground while incrementally adding sections of drill rod and lengths of pipe casing. Often times an expanding drill bit is used to create a large diameter bore hole than the diameter of the pipe used to case it. This insures that pipe can be installed and also provides space for the drill spoils outside of the well.
Although drilling while casing is roughly analogous to drilling while driving, there are some substantial differences. When drilling and casing, the bore is larger than the casing by design. Space around the casing pipe is desired and necessary to provide room for drill spoils to be displaced. Therefore, the only objective is to keep the drill moving so that the well can reach its desired depth and continue to be cased. The casing pipe is nothing more than a conduit to enable the extraction of pressurized fluid or gas. By contrast, screw anchors are structural and must resist large axial forces of tension and compression. They are drilled into the ground like a screw into wood with positive engagement between the external threads and surround earth. Therefore, to the extent drilling is performed in-situ while driving, the drilled bore hole diameter must be kept as small as possible at all times, to prevent over-boring or augering the hole. That said, some soils are more difficult to embed in than others and therefore, a one-size fits all approach to drilling while driving will not work.
In recognition of these problems, various embodiments of this disclosure provide drill bits specifically adapted to drilling while driving, and control systems for a drilling machine that enables optimum use of such bits to facilitate driving embedment without over boring the ground.
The following description is intended to convey a thorough understanding of the embodiments described by providing a number of specific embodiments and details involving A-frame foundations used to support single-axis solar trackers. It should be appreciated, however, that the present invention is not limited to these specific embodiments and details, which are exemplary only. It is further understood that one possessing ordinary skill in the art in light of known systems and methods, would appreciate the use of the invention for its intended purpose.
As discussed in the background, in order to avoid having to drill in a separate step, screw anchor installation is assisted with a drilling tool that is attached to the same mast as the rotary driver. A long drill rod with an Earth or rock drill bit is extended through the rotary driver and screw anchor until the bit at the end emerges.
Because anchor 10 is open at both ends, it is possible to actuate drill shaft 30 through it while a rotary driver is driving the screw anchor into the ground, enabling the drill bit to bore an opening ahead of the anchor. This is shown, for example, in
As shown, there are two carriages 110/120 that ride along the mast. The first, carriage 110 is the lower crowd. In various embodiments, lower crowd 110 travels along a pair of parallel tracks 105 running along the length of mast 100, enabling it to move along an axis defined by the orientation of the mast to drive screw anchors into the ground. Though not shown, in various embodiments, a fixed lower crowd motor is positioned near the lower end of the mast and is connected to drive chain 107 to selectively move lower crowd 110. Drive chain 107 extends substantially the entire length of mast 100. The lower crowd motor pulls up or down on lower crowd 110 providing downforce or up-force to rotary driver 115 attached to it. In addition, rotary driver 115 provides torque to the head of the screw anchor. During a screw anchor driving operation, a controller balances the downforce of the lower crowd motor with the output of the rotary driver to prevent the screw anchor from augering the underlying soil.
Above the lower crowd and rotary driver is second carriage 120 also known as the upper crowd. As shown, upper crowd 120 is a two-piece structure. The first piece 120A supports drill tool 125, which, in various embodiments, may be a hydraulic drifter capable of providing rotation and hammering force. Attached above drill tool 125 is the second piece 120B, that supports a separate drifter motor or upper crowd motor 130 that enables upper crowd 120, and by extension, drill tool 125, to move along mast 100 independent of the lower crowd and rotary driver. For example, as discussed in greater detail herein, in various embodiments, it may be desirable to dynamically extend drill bit 50 further ahead of the lower end of screw anchor 10 in response to a slowing or stalling of the driving operation. Additionally, once an anchor has been successfully driven to the target depth, it may be necessary to retract drilling tool 125 further up the mast so that shaft 30 of drilling tool 125 is out of the way of rotary driver 115 so that another screw anchor may be loaded.
Turning now to
In various embodiments, upper plunger portion 52 is movable between two different positions, one where it is extended away from middle collar portion 56, as shown in
With continued reference to
The first element shown in 5A is the upper plunger portion 52. During use, this portion is attached to the distal end of the drill shaft. In some cases, shaft 30 may have a thread form at its end. In others, upper plunger portion 52 may receive a locking pin or other structure to selectively couple it to the end of shaft 30. Though not visible in the figure, the recess in the top end of upper plunger portion 50 that receives the end of the drill shaft terminates part of the way into the body. Beyond that point, a narrower passage, preferably, though not necessarily through the center of upper plunger portion 52 extends through plunger shaft 53 to allow pressurized air from the shaft to be communicated through the bit. The outside of the upper plunger portion 52 has debris channels carved into to facilitate the removal of spoils during a drilling operation. The lower end of the upper plunger portion 52 consists of plunger shaft 53 that extends down and away from the upper end terminating in ring 55. In various embodiments, this portion is formed of a circular uniform diameter cylinder. As shown, it includes a series of alignment guides 54 that direct penetration into the subsequent middle collar portion 56 and prevent the upper plunger portion 52 from spinning independent of middle collar portion 56.
The next portion of the drill bit assembly 50 is middle collar portion 58. In various embodiments, plunger shaft 53 of upper plunger portion 52 extends all the way through middle collar portion 56 until it projects some distance out of the lower end. Guides 54 are received into corresponding slots formed in the inside surface of the upper end middle collar portion 56, allowing upper plunger portion 52 to selectively move towards and away from middle collar portion 56. In various embodiments, retaining ring 55 is welded onto the lower end of plunger shaft 53 only after it is passed completely through middle collar portion 56. This will limit the extent of movement of the lower two portions of the bit assembly relative to upper plunger portion 52 while preventing them from separating.
The next portion of the bit assembly 50 is the lower cutting portion 58. This portion continues the external shaft of the two preceding portions 52, 56 and also includes extensions of the debris channels that run along the outer surface of those portions. As shown, lower cutting portion 58 includes a pair of opposing hinged cutting wings 60. Cutting wings 60 are attached to a hinge shaft 65 that passes completely through the body of lower cutting portion 58. In the retracted position, such as that shown in
In the example shown in
Turning now to
In the context of this disclosure, controller 181 may receive real-time information from one or more of the sensors indicative of the torque or force applied to the drill tool, and/or the current rate of penetration, and use this information to determine if the drill needs to be switched to a different mode. As discussed herein, in various embodiments, the controller may operate the drill tool in the mode shown in
Turning now to
Turning now
Lower end 207 of bit 200 has a pair of cutting wings 210 that are hinged about a hinge pin 220 that passes orthogonally through main body 204. Cutting wings 210 include cutting surfaces 213 on their lower bottom edge and outer edge 214. In various embodiments, cutting wings 210 are able to move between a fully retracted orientation (see, e.g.,
As seen in
Turning now to
Turning to
It should be appreciated that although bits 50 and 200 are shown as drag-style bits the principles disclosed herein are applicable to button-style hammering bits that operate in two-stages or that including expanding wings. In such cases the wings of the bit will be replaced with beefier ones that support one or more carbide buttons and the drag bit features will be replaced with buttons.
The embodiments of the present inventions are not to be limited in scope by the specific embodiments described herein. Indeed, various modifications of the embodiments of the present inventions, in addition to those described herein, will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art from the foregoing description and accompanying drawings. Thus, such modifications are intended to fall within the scope of the following appended claims. Further, although some of the embodiments of the present invention have been described herein in the context of a particular implementation in a particular environment for a particular purpose, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that its usefulness is not limited thereto and that the embodiments of the present inventions can be beneficially implemented in any number of environments for any number of purposes. Accordingly, the claims set forth below should be construed in view of the full breath and spirit of the embodiments of the present inventions as disclosed herein.
Claims
1. A two-stage drill bit for a drilling while driving a foundation component comprising:
- an elongated body portion;
- a first cutting portion at a leading edge of the elongated body portion;
- at least one second cutting portion along a length of the body portion away from the leading edge, the at least one second cutting portion movable from a first passive orientation to a second active orientation when the drill bit is extended out of a leading edge of the foundation component sufficiently far for the at least one second cutting portion to clear the leading edge, the at least one second cutting portion cutting a wider diameter bore than the first cutting portion.
2. The drill bit according to claim 1, further comprising a plunger portion in the elongated body that causes the at least one second cutting portion to splay out to the second active orientation when it has cleared the leading edge.
3. The drill bit according to claim 2, wherein the plunger portion engages at least one piston that engages the at least one second cutting portion.
4. The drill bit according to claim 2, wherein the plunger portion is connected to a drill rod.
5. The drill bit according to claim 1, wherein the first cutting portion is a drag bit.
6. The drill bit according to claim 1, wherein the first cutting portion is a button bit.
7. A system for driving a foundation component with drill assist comprising:
- a rotary driver operable to travel along a machine mast and to impart rotational torque and downforce to the head of the foundation component to drive it into underlying ground;
- a drilling tool positioned on the mast above the rotary driver and extending a drill rod through the rotary driver and the foundation component;
- a drill bit attached to the end of the drill rod, the drilling tool operable to actuate the drill bit through the foundation component during driving; and
- an automated controller controlling operation of the rotary driver and drilling tool, wherein the controller is programmed to cause the drilling tool to partially extend the drill bit out of an open lower end of the foundation component, to monitor at least one performance metric of either the rotary driver or drilling tool while actuating the drill bit through the rotary drive, and to cause the drilling tool, to extend the drill bit further out of the foundation component in response to a change in the at least one performance metric.
8. The system according to claim 7, wherein the at least one performance metric is selected from the group consisting of hydraulic pressure supplied to the drill tool, a rate of penetration of the foundation component, a torque at an output of the drill tool, and a torque at an output of the rotary driver.
9. A method of performing a drilling while driving operation to drive a foundation component into underlying ground, the method comprising:
- applying torque and downforce to a first end of the structural member to drive it into underlying ground with a rotary driver;
- applying torque and downforce to a drill bit extending partially through the foundation component via a drill shaft connected to a drilling tool to enable a first cutting surface at a leading end of the drill bit to drill ahead of a leading end of the structural member, the first cutting surface having a first drilling diameter;
- monitoring at least one performance metric of the operation with an automated controller; and
- in response to a detected change in the at least one performance metric, extending the drill bit further through the foundation component to enable a second cutting surface along a length of the drill bit to exit the foundation component, the second cutting surface having a second drilling diameter larger than the first drilling diameter.
10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the at least one performance metric is selected from the group consisting of hydraulic pressure supplied to the drill tool, a rate of penetration of the foundation component, torque at an output of the rotary driver, and torque at an output of the drill tool.
11. A drill bit for drilling while driving comprising:
- a body portion;
- a pair of cutting wings hingedly attached to a cutting end of the body portion; and
- a spring retained within the body portion, wherein the spring is segmented into two independently movable portions that are oppositely deformed by respective ones of the cuttings wings when the wings are compressed inward towards the body portion.
12. The drill bit according to claim 11, wherein each cutting wing includes an angled lower contact surface that causes the wings to expand away from the body portion when pressed against a resisting medium.
13. The drill bit according to claim 12, wherein each cutting wing comprises an upper contact surface that engages a lower edge of the body portion when the cutting wings are fully expanded.
14. The drill bit according to claim 11, further comprising a spring retainer pressed into an air passage running through the body portion, the spring retainer having a slot that receives a portion of the wing spring.
15. The drill bit according to claim 14, further comprising a hinge pin, passing through the pair of cutting wings and the main body, the hinge pin having a through hole for receiving the spring retainer.
16. The drill bit according to claim 14, further comprising a set screw, passing through the main body, and engaging the hinge pin.
17. The drill bit according to claim 11, wherein an outer surface of the body portion is fluted to provide a channel for ejection of drilling spoils.
Type: Application
Filed: Jan 28, 2021
Publication Date: Jul 29, 2021
Inventors: Ryan Woodward (Fairfax, CA), TYRUS HUDSON (Petaluma, CA), Steven Kraft (Albany, CA)
Application Number: 17/160,876