Apparatus for drilling colinear holes through concentric pipes
View Patent ↗Apparatus for drilling holes through concentric pipes is provided. The apparatus clamps on the exterior pipe and contains drilling assemblies that may be used for drilling sequentially or simultaneously two colinear holes.
1. Apparatus for drilling colinear holes through pipes, comprising:
a clamp adapted for enclosing an outside pipe, the clamp having an inside diameter and a door sized to pass the outside pipe into the clamp and adjustable devices disposed at selected positions around the inside diameter of the clamp for holding the clamp to the outside pipe;
a pair of drilling assemblies, each of the drilling assemblies being attached to the clamp and comprising a hydraulic motor and a mechanism for connecting the motor to a bit, the bit having an axis for drilling, and a carriage, the carriage having a rigid slidable support and being driven along the support by hydraulic apparatus, the rigid slidable support being disposed such that the axes for drilling of the bits are colinear; and
a pair of control modules for the drilling assemblies.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a pair of bit guides, the bit guides being disposed 180 degrees apart on the clamp so as to guide the axes for drilling of the bits along the same line.
3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the control modules are remotely located from the drilling assemblies.
4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the control modules are attached to the drilling assemblies.
5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the control modules comprise a four-way valve, a pressure regulator and a flow control with by-pass.
6. A method for forming a hole through concentric pipes, comprising:
placing a clamp adapted for enclosing an outside pipe, the clamp having an inside diameter and a door sized to pass the outside pipe into the clamp, around the outside pipe and operating adjustable devices disposed at selected positions around the inside diameter of the clamp to hold the clamp to the outside pipe;
providing a pair of drilling assemblies and bits, each of the drilling assemblies being attached to the clamp and comprising a hydraulic motor and a mechanism for connecting the motor to the bit, the bit having an axis for drilling, and a carriage, the carriage having a rigid slidable support and being driven along the support by hydraulic apparatus, the rigid slidable support being disposed such that the axes for drilling of the bits are colinear and in opposite directions;
providing a pair of control modules for the drilling assemblies and hydraulically connecting a control module to at least one of the drilling assemblies; and
providing hydraulic power to at least one of the hydraulic motors and the hydraulic apparatus and operating at least one of the control modules so as to form at least a part of the hole through the concentric pipes.
7. The method of claim 6 wherein the clamp further has attached thereto a pair of bit guides, the bit guides being disposed 180 degrees apart on the clamp so as to guide the axes for drilling of the bits along the same line.
8. The method of claim 6 wherein the control module and the hydraulic power are connected from the water surface to drilling assemblies disposed subsea.