Technique for establishing and recording a boring tool path using a survey reference level

• US 5,764,062 A
• Filed: 09/11/1996
• Issued: 06/09/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Merlin Technologies Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Digital Control Incorporated
• Inventors: Mercer, John E.
• Primary Examiner(s): DAY, MICHAEL HENRY
• Assistant Examiner(s): Phillips, Roger
• Application Number:
  US08/712,325
• Time in Patent Office: 636 Days
• Field of Search: 324/326, 324/345, 324/346, 324/207.22, 324/207.26, 324/67, 324/327-329, 324/66, 33/304, 73/151, 340/853.4, 340/853.5, 175/45
• US Class Current: 324/329
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 47/0232 at least one of the energy sources or one of the detectors being located on or above the ground surface
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 3/165 operating with magnetic or electric fields produced or modified by the object or by the detecting device with electromagnetic waves G01V3/17
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 3/26 operating with magnetic or electric fields produced or modified either by the surrounding earth formation or by the detecting device with electromagnetic waves G01V3/30

Abstract

An overall process in which a boring tool is moved through the ground within a given region along a particular path from a specific starting point is disclosed herein. A method of establishing and graphically recording the location of at least a portion of the particular path taken by the boring tool within the given region is also disclosed herein along with and with respect to a reference path which may change with time and vertical survey reference path which will remain unchanged with time.

Claims

1. In an overall process in which a boring tool is moved through the ground within a given region along a particular path from a specific starting point, a method of establishing the location of at least a portion of said particular path within the given region, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) establishing within the region (i) a vertical survey reference level and (ii) a reference path;

(b) providing a portable locator and information generating means for generating certain information about the position of the boring tool relative to the position of the locator, said information generating means being located partially at said boring tool and partially at said locator;

(c) when said boring tool reaches various spaced-apart locations as it moves along the particular path, at each such location positioning the locator on the reference path at an associated reference point which is specifically determined by the position of the boring tool at the associated location on the particular path;

(d) with the locator positioned at each of said reference points, generating and recording the positional information of the boring tool at the associated location on the particular path; and

(e) from the recorded information of the boring tool at the various associated locations on the particular path, establishing an after-the-fact path containing the associated locations such that the associated locations are known locations with respect to both said reference path and said vertical survey reference level, said after-the-fact path corresponding generally to at least a portion of the particular path taken by the boring tool, whereby even if the reference path changes in time due to a change in the terrain vertically defining the reference path, the after-the-fact path will still be able to be located with respect to said vertical survey reference level.

2. A method according to claim 1 including the step of graphically representing the after-the-fact path.

3. A method according to claim 2 including the step of graphically representing said given region including said vertical survey reference level along with said after-the-fact path.

4. A method according to claim 3 including the step of graphically representing within said given region said reference path along with said after-the-fact path and said vertical survey reference level.

5. A method according to claim 4 wherein said information generating means obtains information about the pitch of said boring tool and wherein said pitch information is used along with said recorded information to establish said after-the-fact path, said reference path and said vertical survey reference level.

6. A method according to claim 5 wherein said pitch information is generated at each of said spaced-apart locations of said boring tool.

7. A method according to claim 6 wherein said pitch information generated at each of said spaced-apart locations is used along with the rest of the information generated by said information generating means to establish the after-the-fact path with respect to said vertical survey reference level.

8. A method according to claim 7 wherein at each of said spaced-apart locations, the position of the boring tool with respect to the vertical survey reference level is established in part by using the pitch of the boring tool as it moved to each spaced-apart location from the immediately preceding spaced-apart location.

9. A method according to claim 8 wherein said pitch for any given spaced-apart location is determined by taking the average of the pitch taken at the given location and the pitch from the immediately preceding location.

10. A method according to claim 1 wherein said information generating means continuously generates said certain information about the position of the boring tool relative to the position of the locator as the boring tool moves along the particular path and wherein said positional information is recorded only when the boring tool is at said various spaced-apart locations.

11. A method according to claim 5 wherein when said boring tool reaches the various spaced-apart locations on its particular path of movement, identical procedures are used to find the associated reference points on said reference path.

12. A method according to claim 11 wherein said information generating means includes an elongated electromagnetic radiation transmitter contained by said boring tool, wherein information generated by said information generating means includes information about the front and rear negative locate points co-linear with the axis of the transmitter contained by the boring tool and wherein said identical procedure used to find the reference points associated with the various spaced-apart locations includes the steps of:

(a) first placing the locator in a fixed orientation at either the front or rear negative locate point when it is at each spaced-apart location; and

(b) thereafter moving the locator in a predetermined way from the associated location to the reference point.

13. A method according to claim 12 wherein said information generating means includes a pair of orthogonal antennae contained by said locator for detecting the electromagnetic radiation transmitted by said transmitter, wherein the locator is first placed in said fixed orientation at the front or rear negative locate point such that said orthogonal antennae face in a particular direction and are in a particular horizontal plane, and wherein the predetermined way in which the locator is moved from each location to its associated reference point is to move it from the location to the reference path in a direction perpendicular to a line though the negative locate points of the boring tool while rotating the locator about a vertical axis such that when the locator reaches the particular reference point the orthogonal antennae are rotated 90°

about the vertical axis and they are in the same horizontal plane.

14. A method according to claim 5 wherein said after-the-fact path with respect to said vertical survey reference level is established to a first approximation based on the assumption that said reference path is level and wherein if said reference path is found not to be level, the degree to which it is found not to be level is used to establish the after-the-fact path with respect to the vertical survey reference level to a second approximation.

15. A method according to claim 1 wherein said reference is at ground level and thereby vertically defined by the terrain at the time said process is carried out.

16. A method according to claim 1 wherein said reference is a fixed distance above ground level and thereby vertically defined by the terrain at the time said process is carried out.

17. A method according to claim 1 wherein said reference is at a level defined by the generation of a fixed laser line and thereby not vertically defined by the terrain at the time said process is carried out.

18. In an overall process in which a boring tool is moved through the ground within a given region along a particular path from a specific starting point, a method of graphically establishing the location of the particular path within the given region, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) establishing within the region (i) a vertical survey reference level and (ii) a reference path;

(b) providing a portable locator and means for generating certain information about the position of the boring tool relative to the position of the locator said means being located partially at said boring tool and partially at said locator;

(c) when said boring tool reaches various spaced-apart locations as it moves along the particular path, at each such location positioning the locator on the reference path at an associated reference point which is specifically determined by the position of the boring tool at the associated location on the particular path;

(d) with the locator positioned at each of said reference points, generating and recording the positional information of the boring tool at the associated location on the particular path; and

(e) from the recorded information of the boring tool at the various associated locations on the particular path, establishing and graphically representing said reference path, said vertical survey reference level and an after-the-fact path containing the associated locations such that the associated locations are known locations with respect to both said reference path and said vertical survey reference level, said after-the-fact path corresponding generally to at least a portion of the particular path taken by the boring tool, whereby even if the reference path changes in time due to a change in the terrain vertically defining the reference path, the after-the-fact path will still be able to be located with respect to said vertical survey reference level.

19. A method according to claim 18 wherein said reference is a fixed distance above ground level and thereby vertically defined by the terrain at the time said process is carried out.

20. In an overall process in which a boring tool is moved through the ground within a given region along a particular path from a specific starting point, the improvement comprising the steps of:

(a) establishing within the region (i) a vertical survey reference level and (ii) a reference path;

(b) providing a portable locator and information generating means for generating certain information about the position of the boring tool relative to the position of the locator, said means being located partially at said boring tool and partially at said locator; and

(c) using said portable locator, said information generating means, and additional means, establishing and graphically representing said reference path, said vertical survey reference level and an after-the-fact path corresponding generally to the particular path taken by the boring tool, whereby even if the reference path changes in time due to a change in the terrain vertically defining the reference path, the after-the-fact path will still be able to be located with respect to said vertical survey reference level.

21. A method according to claim 20 wherein said reference is a fixed distance above ground level and thereby vertically defined by the terrain at the time said process is carried out.