US-12624601-B2 - Horizontal directional drilling system with drill string breakout monitoring

US12624601B2US 12624601 B2US12624601 B2US 12624601B2US-12624601-B2

Abstract

A drilling machine and operating method wherein a control algorithm evaluates a drill string joint-break routine. The operating profile of torque applied to the up-hole drill rod is monitored during energization of the break-out drive mechanism in the joint-break routine. Rotation at the rotational driver is also monitored during the joint-break routine, which is then characterized as normal or abnormal on the basis of the monitored operating profile of torque and the monitored rotational position change at the rotational driver. A break-out process for removing the up-hole rod from the drill string is interrupted and/or a message is provided to a display notifying an operator of an abnormal break-out.

Inventors

Nicholas Hans Olsen
Zachary Tanner Belloma
Joseph Anthony Brandner

Assignees

VERMEER MANUFACTURING COMPANY

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20211222

Claims (20)

1 . A drilling machine comprising: a rotational driver for attaching to an up-hole end of a drill string made-up of a plurality of drill rods that are each secured to the next with a threaded joint; a first vise configured to secure the drill string extending beyond the drilling machine; a second vise configured to secure an up-hole rod at the up-hole end of the drill string; a break-out drive mechanism operable when energized to apply torque to the second vise in a joint-break routine configured to rotate the second vise relative to the first vise to break the threaded joint between the up-hole rod and the drill string; and a control system with a control algorithm for evaluating the joint-break routine, the control algorithm comprising: a process for monitoring an operating profile of torque applied to the up-hole drill rod by energization of the break-out drive mechanism during the joint-break routine while the drill string is being held by the first vise, a process for monitoring rotational position change at the rotational driver during the joint-break routine, a process for characterizing the joint-break routine as normal or abnormal based on the monitored operating profile of torque and the monitored rotational position change at the rotational driver, and a process, responsive to the characterizing process characterizing the joint-break routine as abnormal, for interrupting a break-out process for removing the up-hole rod from the drill string and/or providing a notification to a display notifying an operator, wherein the control system includes a further control algorithm for distinguishing among at least two different types of abnormal joint-break routines the further control algorithm comprising: a process for determining whether the rotational driver was rotated during the joint-break routine, and a process for evaluating torque during energization of the rotational driver with the second vise unclamped following the joint-break routine.
2 . The drilling machine of claim 1 , wherein the break-out drive mechanism includes at least one hydraulic cylinder, and the operating profile of torque is in the form of pressure within the at least one hydraulic cylinder vs time.
3 . The drilling machine of claim 1 where the notification indicates one of: loose joint at an up-hole end of the up-hole drill rod, loose joint at a down-hole end of the up-hole drill rod, slip at first vise, slip at second vise, partial slip at first vise prior to breaking the joint, or partial slip at second vise prior to breaking the joint.
4 . The drilling machine of claim 1 , wherein the process for characterizing the joint-break routine as normal or abnormal is configured to characterize the joint-break routine as normal when the monitored operating profile of torque includes a continuous rising torque to a spike that coincides with a start of rotational position change at the rotational driver as indicated by the monitored rotational position change.
5 . The drilling machine of claim 1 , wherein the process for characterizing the joint-break routine as normal or abnormal is configured to correlate the leading and/or trailing sides of a spike in the monitored operating profile of torque with time and/or the monitored rotational position change, and is configured to characterize the joint-break routine as normal on the basis of one or both of: A) unchanging rotational position change as torque increases to a maximum, and B) the slope of the torque spike with respect to time being within a prescribed range stored in a memory of the control system.
6 . The drilling machine of claim 1 , wherein the process for characterizing the joint-break routine as normal or abnormal is configured to correlate the leading and/or trailing sides of a spike in the monitored operating profile of torque with time and/or the monitored rotational position change, and is configured to characterize the joint-break routine as abnormal on the basis of one or both of: A) changing rotational position change as torque increases to a maximum, and B) the slope of the torque spike with respect to time being outside a prescribed range stored in a memory of the control system.
7 . The drilling machine of claim 1 , wherein the control algorithm comprises a process, responsive to the characterizing process characterizing the joint-break routine as normal, to continue an automated rod break-out process for removing the up-hole rod from the drill string.
8 . The drilling machine of claim 1 , wherein the process, responsive to the characterizing process characterizing the joint-break routine as abnormal, is configured to abort an automated rod break-out process and provide notification to the display.
9 . The drilling machine of claim 1 , wherein the control system incorporates a machine learning algorithm configured to track a plurality of joint-break routines and further update the control algorithm of the control system for evaluating future joint-break routines.
10 . The drilling machine of claim 1 , wherein the control system includes an algorithm to log joint-break routines characterized as abnormal, and log therewith an identification of a potential root cause based on the monitored operating profile of torque and the monitored rotational position change at the rotational driver during the joint-break routine.
11 . A method of operating a drilling machine, the method comprising: providing a drill string on the drilling machine, the drill string including a threaded joint between an up-hole drill rod at an up-hole end of the drill string and a remainder of the drill string, the up-hole drill rod attached to a rotational driver of the drilling machine; clamping the remainder of the drill string with a first vise; clamping the up-hole drill rod with a second vise; energizing a break-out drive mechanism to apply torque to the second vise in a joint-break routine configured to rotate the second vise relative to the first vise to break the joint between the up-hole rod and the drill string; operating a control system to execute a control algorithm that evaluates the joint-break routine, the execution of the control algorithm comprising: monitoring an operating profile of torque applied to the up-hole drill rod by energization of the break-out drive mechanism during the joint-break routine while the drill string is being held by the first vise, monitoring rotational position change at the rotational driver during the joint-break routine, characterizing the joint-break routine as normal or abnormal based on the monitored operating profile of torque and the monitored rotational position change at the rotational driver, and responsive to the characterizing process characterizing the joint-break routine as abnormal, interrupting a break-out process for removing the up-hole rod from the drill string and/or providing a notification to a display notifying an operator; and operating the control system to execute a further control algorithm for distinguishing among at least two different types of abnormal joint-break routines, including the steps of: determining whether the rotational driver was rotated during the joint-break routine, and evaluating torque during energization of the rotational driver with the second vise unclamped following the joint-break routine.
12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the operating profile of torque is monitored in the form of hydraulic cylinder pressure of the break-out drive mechanism vs time.
13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the notification is provided, the notification indicating one of: loose joint at an up-hole end of the up-hole drill rod, loose joint at a down-hole end of the up-hole drill rod, slip at first vise, slip at second vise, partial slip at first vise prior to breaking the joint, or partial slip at second vise prior to breaking the joint.
14 . The method of claim 11 , wherein characterizing the joint-break routine as normal or abnormal includes characterizing the joint-break routine as normal when the monitored operating profile of torque includes a continuous rising torque to a spike that coincides with a start of rotational position change at the rotational driver as indicated by the monitored rotational position change.
15 . The method of claim 11 , wherein characterizing the joint-break routine as normal or abnormal includes correlating the leading and/or trailing sides of a spike in the monitored operating profile of torque with time and/or the monitored rotational position change, the joint-break routine being characterized as normal on the basis of one or both of: A) unchanging rotational position change as torque increases to a maximum, and B) the slope of the torque spike with respect to time being within a prescribed range stored in a memory of the control system.
16 . The method of claim 11 , wherein characterizing the joint-break routine as normal or abnormal includes correlating the leading and/or trailing sides of a spike in the monitored operating profile of torque with time and/or the monitored rotational position change, the joint-break routine being characterized as abnormal on the basis of one or both of: A) changing rotational position change as torque increases to a maximum, and B) the slope of the torque spike with respect to time being outside a prescribed range stored in a memory of the control system.
17 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the execution of the control algorithm further comprises, responsive to characterizing the joint-break routine as normal, continuing an automated rod break-out process for removing the up-hole rod from the drill string.
18 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the execution of the control algorithm further comprises, responsive to the characterizing process characterizing the joint-break routine as abnormal, is configured to abort an automated rod break-out process and provide notification to the display.
19 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the execution of the control algorithm further comprises executing a machine learning algorithm that tracks a plurality of joint-break routines and further updates the control algorithm of the control system for evaluating future joint-break routines.
20 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the execution of the control algorithm further comprises logging joint-break routines characterized as abnormal, and logging therewith an identification of a potential root cause based on the monitored operating profile of torque and the monitored rotational position change at the rotational driver during the joint-break routine.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/129,876, filed Dec. 23, 2020, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference herein. BACKGROUND The invention relates to horizontal directional drilling (HDD) systems that include a series of drill rods joined end to end to form a drill string that is propelled though the ground by means of powerful hydraulic systems on a HDD machine, having the capacity to rotate while simultaneously pushing or pulling the drill string, as discussed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,179,065 and 6,766,869, among numerous others. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to systems for making and breaking threaded joints between drill rods of the drilling machine. Utility lines for water, electricity, gas, telephone, cable television, fiber optics, and the like are often run underground for reasons of safety and aesthetics. As an alternative to creating open trenches for placement of utility lines, underground drilling processes and systems have been developed for installing utilities underground. A directional drilling machine creates an underground utility passage from a launch point to a termination point. Known techniques can be used for steering the drilling machine during drilling so that the drilled bore follows a desired path. Relatively long bores can be drilled by coupling a relatively large number of drill rods together to form a drill string, each drill rod threaded to the adjacent rods in the drill string. One type of directional drilling machine includes an elongate track (e.g., a rack) that can be aligned at an inclined orientation relative to the ground. A rotational driver (e.g., a gear box) is mounted on the track (e.g., by a carriage) so as to be movable along a drive axis that extends parallel to the length of the track. In certain examples, a rack and pinion drive is used to propel the rotational driver along the track. The rotational driver can include a drive member that is rotated by the rotational driver about the drive axis. The drive member is adapted for connection to a drill rod (e.g., a drill pipe). The drill rod can have a threaded end including either internal threads in a box-end or external threads in a pin-end. To drill a bore using a directional drilling machine of the type described above, the track is oriented at an inclined angle relative to the ground, and the rotational driver is moved to an upper end of the track. Next, a drill rod is unloaded from a drill rod storage structure (e.g., a magazine) of the directional drilling machine and an upper end of the drill rod is coupled to the drive member of the rotational driver typically by a threaded connection. After the upper end of the drill rod has been coupled to the rotational driver, the lower end of the drill rod is coupled to a drill head if the drill rod is the first drill rod to be introduced into the ground, or to the upper-most drill rod of an existing drill string if the drill string has already been started. Thereafter, the rotational driver is driven in a downward direction along the inclined track while the drive member is concurrently rotated about the drive axis. As the rotational driver is driven down the track, the rotational driver transfers axial thrust and torque to the drill string. The axial thrust and torque is transferred through the drill string to the drill head thereby causing a cutting element (e.g., a bit) of the drill head to rotationally bore through the ground. The length of the bore is progressively increased as drill rods are progressively added to the drill string. The drill rods are most commonly secured together by threaded connections at joints between the drill rods. The drilling process requires numerous instances of adding another rod to the drill string, referred to as the make-up process as this is how one progressively makes up the drill string from individual drill rods. After a bore has been drilled, it is necessary to pull back the drill string to remove the drill string from the bore. During the pull-back process, drill rods of the drill string are individually withdrawn from the ground, uncoupled from the drill string, and returned to the drill rod storage structure. Often, back reaming is done as part of the pull-back process. To uncouple a withdrawn drill rod from the remainder of the drill string, the threaded coupling between the withdrawn drill rod and the subsequent drill rod of the drill string is required to be broken before the withdrawn drill rod can be returned to the rod storage structure. This is referred to as the break-out process. Due to the torque loads associated with drilling and back reaming, threaded couplings between drill rods of a drill string can become quite tight and difficult to break. Drilling machines have incorporated components and features for increasing efficiency relating to drill rod handling and relating to breaking and making jo