text: Patent US5307885 - Attitude and drilling-direction control device - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inAdvanced Patent SearchPatentsAn attitude control device has a plurality of harmonic drive mechanisms of the hollow type, preferably first and second harmonic drive mechanisms. First and second rotational members are connected to the outputs of the first and second harmonic drive mechanisms. These rotational members have eccentric...http://www.google.com/patents/US5307885?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US5307885 - Attitude and drilling-direction control deviceAdvanced Patent SearchPublication numberUS5307885 APublication typeGrantApplication numberUS 07/730,622Publication dateMay 3, 1994Filing dateJul 16, 1991Priority dateJul 18, 1990Fee statusPaidAlso published asCA2047282A1, CA2047282C, DE69113898D1, DE69113898T2, EP0467335A2, EP0467335A3, EP0467335B1, US5316090Publication number07730622, 730622, US 5307885 A, US 5307885A, US-A-5307885, US5307885 A, US5307885AInventorsAkio Ikeda, Yoshihide Kiyosawa, Shoji KuwanaOriginal AssigneeHarmonic Drive Systems Inc., Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd.Export CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (18), Referenced by (26), Classifications (20), Legal Events (4) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetAttitude and drilling-direction control deviceUS 5307885 AAbstract An attitude control device has a plurality of harmonic drive mechanisms of the hollow type, preferably first and second harmonic drive mechanisms. First and second rotational members are connected to the outputs of the first and second harmonic drive mechanisms. These rotational members have eccentric hollow portions which rotate eccentrically around the rotational axes of the harmonic drive mechanisms. A member to be driven is placed to extend through the eccentric hollow portions such that it is supportedly contacted with the inner surfaces of the eccentric hollow portions. In operation, the eccentric hollow portions are rotated relative to each other, whereby the member to be driven is controllably oriented to a desired direction.
  We claim: 1. A drilling-direction control device for a drilling system comprising a plurality of harmonic drive mechanisms of the hollow type and a plurality of rotational members connected one each to outputs of said harmonic drive mechanisms, each of said rotational members having an eccentric hollow portion which rotates eccentrically around a rotational axis of said harmonic drive mechanism, a rotational drill shaft being placed to extend through the hollow portions of said harmonic drive mechanisms and said eccentric hollow portions of said rotational members so that inner surfaces of said eccentric hollow portions are supportingly contacted with said rotational drill shaft, whereby portions of said rotational drill shaft, which are supported by said inner surfaces of said eccentric hollow portions, are deflected in a direction substantially perpendicular to an axis of said rotational drill shaft by rotating said rotational members relative to one another.
  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a novel attitude control device for controlling the attitude of a member to be driven, which is compact and is capable of controlling the attitude of the member precisely and freely.
  BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an embodiment of the attitude control device according to the present invention;
  DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS While the present invention will be described in connection with preferred embodiments, it will be understood that this does not limit the invention to the embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover all alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the attached claims.
  EXAMPLE I Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, there will now be described an attitude control device for a non-rotational cylindrical shaft as a member to be driven. As shown in FIG. 1, the attitude control device, generally denoted by reference numeral 101, comprises a hollow-type actuator 104 having a first harmonic drive mechanism of the hollow type 102 and an AC servomotor 103 connected coaxially to the harmonic drive mechanism 102. The servomotor 103 is also of the hollow type having a through-hole along the rotational axis thereof. The hollow-type actuator 104 has one end connected coaxially to a first electromagnetic coupling of the hollow type 105, which in turn is connected at its input side to the lower-speed output element of the hollow-type actuator 104. The electromagnetic coupling 105 is connected at its output side to a first rotational disc 106. The other end of the hollow-type actuator 104 is connected coaxially to a second electromagnetic coupling of the hollow type 107. The second electromagnetic coupling 107 is coaxially connected at its input side with a higher-speed output element of the hollow-type actuator 104, and is coaxially connected at its output side with the input side of a second harmonic drive mechanism 108 of the hollow type. The output side of the second harmonic drive mechanism 108 is connected to the input of a third electromagnetic coupling of the hollow type 109. The output of the third electromagnetic coupling 109 is connected to a second rotational disc 110.
  θ=tan.sup.-1 (2e/l)
  EXAMPLE II Referring to FIGS. 3 to 6, there will be described another example of the present invention applied for directional drilling in an oil well drilling system.
  OVERALL STRUCTURE FIG. 3 illustrates the overall structure of an oil well drilling system according to the present embodiment. The oil well drilling system 1 has a rotational shaft 2, a drill collar 3 connected coaxially on the lower end of the rotational shaft 2 and a drilling bit 4 mounted on the lower end of the drill collar 3. The oil well drilling system 1 also has a drive unit (not shown) for driving the rotational shaft 2 and a drilling-direction control device 5 mounted to surround the drill collar 3.
  DRILLING-DIRECTION CONTROL DEVICE 5 As shown in FIG. 4A, the drilling-direction control device 5 comprises an upper directional control unit 6 and a lower directional control unit 7, separated from each other in the vertical direction. The directional control units 6 and 7 are mainly comprised of harmonic drive mechanisms 61 and 71, respectively. The rotational inputs to the harmonic drive mechanisms 61 and 71 are introduced via electromagnetic couplings 21 and 11 from the drill collar 3, respectively. The decreased-speed outputs from the respective harmonic drive mechanisms 61 and 71 are transferred to rotational discs 62 and 72, whereby the discs 62 and 72 rotate relative to each other to thereby control the drilling direction of the drill collar 3. Since the directional control units 61 and 71 are of the same structure, the lower directional control unit 71 will mainly be explained in the following.
  DIRECTIONAL CONTROL UNIT 7 As shown in FIG. 5, the lower directional control unit 7 consists mainly of the harmonic drive mechanism of the hollow type 71 serving as a reduction gearing mechanism. The harmonic drive mechanism 71 has a hollow-type wave generator 711 encircling the drill collar 3, a flexible spline of the flat type 712 coaxially encircling the wave generator 711 and two rigid circular splines 713, 714 coaxially encircling the flexible spline 712. The rigid circular spline 713 is integrally formed on the inner surface of the annular housing 8, whereas the other rigid circular spline 714 is integrally formed on the inner surface of a rotational disc 72 which is supported rotatably on the inner surface of the annular housing 8.
  DIRECTIONAL CONTROL UNIT 6 The upper directional control unit 6 is also assembled inside the annular housing 8. As shown in FIG. 4A, similar to the above-mentioned directional control unit 7, the directional control unit 6 is comprised mainly of the harmonic drive mechanism of the hollow type 61. The harmonic drive mechanism 61 serves as a reduction gearing mechanism and has a wave generator 611, flexible spline 612 and two rigid circular splines 613, 614. The rigid circular spline 613 is formed on the inner surface 81 of the annular housing 8, while the other rigid circular spline 614 is formed on the rotational disc 62. The rotational disc 62 is formed with an eccentric hollow portion 621, into which the drilling collar 3 is placed to penetrate rotatably via a bearing mechanism. The rotational input to the harmonic drive mechanism 61 is transferred from the drilling collar 3 through an annular projection 35 formed on the outer surface of the drilling collar 3 and an electromagnetic coupling 21. The coupling 21 is driven by means of a drive unit 25 similar to the drive unit 15 of the lower directional control unit 7. The amount of rotation of the rotational disc 62 relative to the annular housing 8 is detected by a detection unit 22 similar to the detection unit 12 of the lower directional control unit 7.
  CONTROL SYSTEM FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of a control system for the oil well drilling system 1. The control system has a host computer unit 200 for overall control of the oil well drilling system 1 and a controller 201 for the drilling-direction control device 5. The host computer 200 has an output for generating a control signal 200S representing the orientation and angle of the drilling direction. The controller 201 has a calculating circuit 202 for receiving the control signal 200S and for calculating desired rotational positions of the respective rotational discs 62 and 72 in responsive of the received signal 200S. The controller 201 has a real rotational position detecting circuit 203 which receives detected signals 12S and 22S from the detection units 12 and 22 and, based on the received signals, obtains the real angular positions of the respective rotational discs 62 and 72. The controller 201 also has a drive signal generating circuit 204 which receives the desired rotational positions from the calculating circuit 202 and the real rotational positions from the circuit 203, and generates drive signals 204S for driving the harmonic drive mechanisms 61 and 71. The generated drive signals 204S are supplied to the control units 15 and 25 for the harmonic drive mechanisms. In response to the drive signals 204S, the control units 15 and 25 control the electromagnetic couplings 11 and 21, and drive the harmonic drive mechanisms 61 and 71, whereby the rigid circular splines 614 and 714 are rotated to the desired angular positions and fixed thereat. Hence, the rotational discs 62 and 72 formed integrally with the rigid circular splines 614 and 714 are set to the desired angular positions. The above-mentioned operation can be carried out in accordance with control programs prestored in the host computer 200.
  DRILLING-DIRECTION CONTROL The directional drilling performed by the above-constituted drilling-direction control device 5 will now be explained with reference to FIGS. 4A to 4C. FIG. 4A illustrates the normal (vertical) drilling condition, wherein the centers 621a and 721a of the eccentric hollow portions 621 and 721 are both offset in the same direction (left side in the drawing) from the rotational axes 61a and 71a of the harmonic drive mechanisms 61 and 71 by a maximum distance e, so that the amount of relative rotation between the eccentric hollow portions 621 and 721 is zero, that is, the rotational discs 61 and 71 are at the same angular positions.
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CorporationMiter adjustment assembly for a sawUS7861802Jan 18, 2006Jan 4, 2011Smith International, Inc.Flexible directional drilling apparatus and methodUS20100065333 *Sep 3, 2009Mar 18, 2010Harmonic Drive Systems Inc.Drill bit shaft structure for excavation apparatusEP1400654A2Jun 19, 2000Mar 24, 2004Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.Command method for a steerable rotary drilling deviceWO2000068542A1 *May 1, 2000Nov 16, 2000Vector Magnetics IncMultiple cam directional controller for steerable rotary drillWO2001004453A1Jun 19, 2000Jan 18, 2001Halliburton Energy Serv IncSteerable rotary drilling device and directional drilling methodWO2003002841A1Jun 27, 2002Jan 9, 2003Halliburton Energy Serv IncDrilling direction control device* Cited by examinerClassifications U.S. Classification175/26, 175/56, 418/49, 175/55, 175/325.2, 175/45, 175/106, 418/48, 175/62International ClassificationF16H49/00, E21B44/02, E21B44/00, E21B47/022, E21B7/06Cooperative ClassificationE21B47/022, F16H49/001, E21B7/062European ClassificationE21B7/06C, E21B47/022, F16H49/00BLegal EventsDateCodeEventDescriptionOct 7, 2005FPAYFee paymentYear of fee payment: 12Nov 1, 2001FPAYFee paymentYear of fee payment: 8Sep 22, 1997FPAYFee paymentYear of fee payment: 4Sep 16, 1991ASAssignmentOwner name: HARMONIC DRIVE SYSTEMS INC. A CORP. OF JAPAN, JAOwner name: SUMITOMO METAL INDUSTRIES LTD. A CORP. OF JAPAN,Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST.;ASSIGNORS:KUWANA, SHOJI;KIYOSAWA, YOSHIHIDE;IKEDA, AKIO;REEL/FRAME:005844/0415;SIGNING DATES FROM 19910718 TO 19910905RotateOriginal ImageGoogle Home - Sitemap - USPTO Bulk Downloads - Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - About Google Patents - Send FeedbackData provided by IFI CLAIMS Patent Services©2012 Google