Guide-Flanged Sheave Assembly for Wireline Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing hay pulleys used in wireline and slickline rig-ups are heavy, leading to increased loads and safety concerns during manual handling, and often experience distortion that can cause the wireline or slickline to be pinched or broken, potentially damaging the pulley or causing hydrocarbon leaks.
Innovation Solution
A sheave assembly with a housing featuring radially extending flanges that form a guide channel around the sheave wheel, providing secure alignment and retention of the line, and a bearing surface with a support surface ratio that reduces distortion and load-bearing distance, along with a central opening for easy handling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Weight of moving object
If traditional hay pulleys are used, then the structure is simple and easy to manufacture, but the weight is high leading to increased loads and safety concerns during manual handling
Solution Approach 1:
The hay pulley is divided into separate components: a pulley wheel and a housing, which can be manufactured independently and assembled together. This segmentation allows for optimization of each component's weight and structure, reducing the overall weight while maintaining structural integrity and functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs composite material construction for the pulley wheel and housing, combining materials with favorable strength-to-weight ratios. This allows significant weight reduction compared to traditional solid metal construction while maintaining the necessary mechanical strength and load-bearing capacity.
2Reliability
If traditional pulley designs are used, then manufacturing is simple, but distortion occurs during use causing wireline/slickline to be pinched or broken
Solution Approach 1:
By separating the pulley wheel from the housing, the design allows the pulley wheel to be precisely manufactured with controlled thickness and geometry to minimize distortion under load, while the housing provides structural support. This segmentation enables higher manufacturing precision for critical components without excessively increasing overall manufacturing complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The pulley wheel is designed with non-uniform thickness, being thicker at the edges and thinner at the center, creating local variations in structural properties. This local quality optimization reduces distortion during operation by distributing stresses more evenly, preventing the wireline/slickline from being pinched or broken, while maintaining ease of manufacture through a straightforward forming process.
3Reliability
If additional guides or rollers are added to maintain line alignment, then alignment reliability improves, but device complexity and weight increase
Solution Approach 1:
The housing is designed with integrated guide flanges that are formed as integral parts of the housing structure itself, rather than as separate attached components. This merging of the guiding function into the main housing structure maintains reliable line alignment while avoiding the additional weight and complexity that would result from separate guide or roller components.
Solution Approach 2:
The housing serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides structural support, houses the pulley wheel, and incorporates guide flanges for line alignment. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate guide components, reducing device complexity and weight while maintaining reliable line alignment during operation.
Data Source
AI summary
The present application provides a sheave assembly (20) comprising a housing (21) with an attachment feature (22) for attaching the sheave assembly to an external mounting point. The sheave assembly also has a sheave wheel (23) mounted to the housing for rotation relative to the housing. The housing comprises a pair of flanges (25a, 25b) extending radially past a periphery of the sheave wheel (23) so as to define a guide channel (26) aligned with the sheave wheel. The pair of flanges (25a, 25b) extend substantially entirely about the circumference of the sheave wheel.