Auger drill directional control system

• US 20020020559A1
• Filed: 05/15/2001
• Published: 02/21/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: James S. Barbera, Russell J. Miller
• Original Assignee: James S. Barbera, Russell J. Miller
• Inventors: Miller, Russell J., Barbera, James S.
• Granted Patent: US 6,688,408 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 175/19
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 7/04 Directional drilling
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 7/06 Deflecting the direction of boreholes

Abstract

An auger drill directional control system includes a positional transmitter mounted on a drillhead at the front of a pipe, the positional transmitter transmitting directional and pitch signals to a positional receiver disposed above the grade at the desired terminal location of the drillhead; the positional receiver transfers the signal information to the positional processor that detects deviations by the drillhead from the desired course of travel and produces a correction signal to compensate for the deviation; the correction signal is transmitted by a control transmitter and is received by a control receiver disposed on the underground boring machine; the control receiver passes the correction signal to the control processor which converts the correction signal into a correction command that is delivered to an adjustment apparatus operatively connected with the drillhead. The control system thus provides a closed loop control system that controls the drillhead in the vertical and horizontal directions with respect to the pipe and that employs a receiver that can be placed on the ground above grade and can be moved from position to position to allow the drillhead to be directed around obstacles.

Claims

1. A control system for controlling the horizontal and vertical directions of a drillhead of an underground boring machine as the drillhead is advanced in a translational direction by the underground boring machine, the drillhead being mounted on a pipe, the pipe being advanced through an underground location below a grade by the underground boring machine, the control system comprising:

a positional transmitter disposed at the drillhead, said positional transmitter being adapted to transmit a positional signal;

a positional receiver disposed above the grade and selectively positioned above the desired terminal location of the drillhead, said positional receiver being adapted to receive said positional signal from said positional transmitter;

control means for communicating with said positional receiver and creating a correction signal; and

an adjustment apparatus in communication with said control means;

said adjustment apparatus operationally connected to the drillhead, said adjustment apparatus adapted to adjust the direction of the drillhead in response to the correction signal.

2. The control system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said adjustment apparatus includes a pair of actuation drives and a pair of control motors, said actuation drives each operationally mounted between the pipe and the drillhead, one of said actuation drives operationally connected with one of said control motors, the other of said actuation drives operationally connected with the other of said control motors.

3. The control system as set forth in claim 2, further comprising a knuckle operationally mounted between the pipe and the drillhead.

4. The control system as set forth in claim 3, wherein said actuation drives and said knuckle are spaced substantially evenly about the circumference of the pipe.

5. The control system as set forth in claim 3, wherein said knuckle is disposed at substantially the lowermost point along the circumference of the pipe.

6. The control system as set forth in claim 5, wherein said actuation drives are each disposed on the circumference of the pipe spaced from said knuckle by an angle in approximately the range of from 100 degrees to 140 degrees, said actuation drives being spaced apart from one another along the circumference of the pipe by an angle in approximately the range of from 80 degrees to 160 degrees.

7. The control system as set forth in claim 3, wherein said adjustment apparatus further includes at least a pair of first drive rods, one of said at least first drive rods operationally mounted between one of said actuation drives and one of said control motors, the other of said at least first drive rods operationally mounted between the other of said actuation drives and the other of said motors.

8. The control system as set forth in claim 7, wherein said adjustment apparatus further includes a pair of flexible couplings, one of said flexible couplings flexibly and operationally extending between one of said control motors and one of said at least first drive rods, the other of said flexible couplings flexibly and operationally extending between the other of said control motors and the other of said at least first drive rods.

9. The control system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said positional receiver includes a pair of antennas, said antennas being perpendicular to one another.

10. The control system as set forth in claim 9, wherein said antennas are substantially unspaced from one another, said antennas being disposed along an imaginary plane.

11. The control system as set forth in claim 10, wherein said antennas are balanced.

12. The control system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said control

means includes a positional processor operatively connected with said positional receiver, said positional processor being adapted to process said positional signal received by said positional receiver and produce a correction signal;

a control transmitter operatively connected with said positional processor, said control transmitter being adapted to transmit said correction signal;

a control receiver, said control receiver being adapted to receive said correction signal from said control transmitter; and

a control processor operationally connected to said control receiver, said control processor being adapted to receive said correction signal from said control receiver and convert said correction signal into a correction command.

14. The method as set forth in claim 13, wherein said step of generating a positional signal includes the steps of generating a generally dipole magnetic field at the positional transmitter and transmitting pitch data concerning the pitch of the positional transmitter with respect to the horizontal direction.

15. The method as set forth in claim 13, wherein said step of placing the positional receiver above the grade at the desired terminus includes the step of selectively incrementally repositioning the positional receiver above the grade at a plurality of locations that are incrementally distributed along a desired curved path of the pipe from the initial location to the terminus.

16. The method as set forth in claim 13, further comprising the step of transferring the positional signal between the positional receiver and a positional processor.

17. The method as set forth in claim 16, further comprising the step of generating a correction signal at the positional processor.

18. The method as set forth in claim 17, further comprising the step of transmitting a control signal from a control transmitter.

19. The method as set forth in claim 18, further comprising the step of receiving the control signal at a control receiver.

20. The method as set forth in claim 19, wherein said step of generating a correction command includes the step of generating the correction command based upon the control signal.

21. The method as set forth in claim 20, wherein said step of adjusting the underground boring machine includes the step of adjusting the horizontal boring machine with an adjustment apparatus that acts upon the correction command.

22. The method as set forth in claim 13, further comprising the step of determining the position below the grade of the subterranean pipe.

13. A method for excavationless installation of a subterranean pipe below a grade into a subterranean location from an initial location to a terminus, said method comprising the steps of:

providing an underground boring machine;

providing a positional transmitter mounted on at least a part of the underground boring machine;

generating a positional signal with the positional transmitter;

providing a positional receiver;

placing the positional receiver above the grade at the desired terminus and in line with the direction of the drillhead;

receiving the positional signal by the positional receiver;

generating a correction command; and

adjusting the underground boring machine in response to the correction command.

23. In an underground boring machine for driving a pipe through a subterranean location, the underground boring machine being of the type including a sled, a drillhead, a positional transmitter disposed in the drillhead, the positional transmitter transmitting a positional signal, and an adjustment apparatus operatively connected between the sled and the drillhead, the improvement comprising:

a closed loop control system;

said control system including a positional receiver;

said control system operatively controlling the adjustment apparatus based upon the positional signal received by the positional receiver to drive the pipe through the subterranean location to a position below the positional receiver; and

said positional receiver being selectively moveable to different locations above the grade;

the control system operatively controlling the adjustment apparatus to drive the drillhead into a subterranean location below said positional receiver.