Adjustable Top Guide

Abstract

A top guide having an extendable and retractable guide plate for engaging and aligning lengths of pipe over a pipe gripping device is described. The top guide employs a linear actuator such as a hydraulic cylinder to extend and retract the guide plate into and out of a protective housing. The guide plate has a bumper with a V-shaped Stu face for engaging and aligning a pipe segment upon extension of the guide plate. The guide plate has an adjustment mechanism to allow the position of the guide plate to be changed to accommodate pipe of varying diameters.

Description

PRIORITY[0001]This application claims priority to U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 62 / 204,737 filed Aug. 13, 2015 entitled “Actuating Adjustable Top Guide”, the entire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]This invention relates to a pipe guide for aligning and positioning a length of pipe in a rotary spider during drilling of an oil and gas well. More particularly, the invention relates to a hydraulically or pneumatically actuated pipe guide for a rotary spider.BACKGROUND[0003]Rotary drilling rigs are often employed to advance a wellbore during the drilling of an oil and gas well. When drilling long strings of pipe are strung together to form a drill string or to form a casing string to line the wellbore. These pipe strings are usually supported by rotary spiders that fit into or over the opening of a rotary table on the drilling rig. Rotary spiders typically have an inwardly tapered slip support surface called a “slip bowl” that is p...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0012]The adjustable guide plate has a gripping surface that corresponds with a gripping surface on the mount. The adjustable guide plate allows the range of extension of the guide plate from within the protective housing to be adjusted to engage pipe segments in desired a range of pipe diameters. This reduces the need to adjust the pipe guide each time a pipe change is made in the drill string. When the guide plate is adjusted as desired it is held in place be a by a removable bolt or set screw. The protective housing serves the dual purpose of providing a drive or anchor surface for the actuating cylinder and a protective safety cover to prevent or reduce injury to workers by the extending and retracting guide plate.

[0013]Preferably the guide plate is a flat elongated plate with one end that serves as a pipe bumper. Extending the guide plate by actuation of the linear actuator will move the pipe bumper at the end of the guide plate to push against a suspended pipe segment. Preferably the pipe bumper at the end of the guide plate will have an angled or V-shaped open surface, As the guide plate extends, the V-shaped bumper of the guide plate will engage the suspended pipe segment and guide the pipe segment along the angled surface of the bumper to centrally align the pipe segment with the central opening of the rotary spider. The V-shaped configuration of the bumper allows for alignment of the suspended pipe segment even when the suspended pipe segment is axially offset from the center of the guide plate.

Problems solved by technology

Because the additional pipe segment is typically long and heavy, it is often difficult to place the pipe segment into the central opening of the rotary spider cover or timing ring.

However, the chance of misaligning the pipe segment with the pipe string increases when the diameter of the central opening in the cover or the timing ring is greater than the diameter of the additional pipe segment.

Because the pipe segments being added to the pipe string may be long and heavy, considerable force may be required to move a pipe segment into alignment with the pipe string.

This poses a risk of injury to the workers.

Even if workers apply only minimal force to move a pipe segment into alignment, workers in close proximity to a pipe gripping spider and the suspended pipe segment are still exposed to the risk of becoming caught by the closing slips of the pipe gripping device.

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