Pipe Storage System

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Drill Pipe Storage System

Sawyer Systems has developed and is in the Patent Pending phase of a mechanized drill pipe storage system. This system can be adapted for any size tubular. The first prodcution system is installed on an Arctic Style drilling rig and has been in constant operation since 2010.

The system allows the drill pipe to be removed from the drill floor and stored on the rig without any rig hands touching the pipe. Storing the pipe on the rig also saves the time of removing the drill string form the rig, storing it in racks, separately transporting it to the next drill site and then re-inserting it back onto the rig. This first system stores 12,000 feet of 4” drill pipe in 32 foot or 64 foot long joints (doubles).

The picture on the right shows an open view of the system. The pipe is stored below the floor in vertical columns. A scissor lift under each column raises or lowers the drill pipe one diameter to accept the new pipe or present the stored pipe back to the rig for use. A horizontal conveyor is used to roll the pipe to or from the desired slot, the upper conveyor roll pipe over the top of the system if it is not to be stored. Pipe lift conveyors lift or lower the drill pipe from the floor level to the top of the storage level. The pipe is stored in a Last-In, First-Out arrangement keeping the drill string in the same order time after time. Since the drill pipe is stored below the floor, the floor can be used to transport specialty joints, tools or casing into the drill rig at the floor level.

The example pictures below show more details of the system and gives further description as to the operation.

Photo Gallery: 
This picture shows one side of the pipe shed of the first production system. 6,000 ft. of 4” drill pipe is stored in the area under the yellow grating. The pipe lift in the center of the picture will raise and lower the drill pipe from the storage area to the upper floor level for transport to the pipe skate or out of the rig.
This picture shows the heart of the storage system with the floor grating removed. The yellow fingers hold the drill pipe in vertical columns. The orange “dog” conveyor assembly above the fingers is used to roll the pipe from the farthers slot back to the center and on to the pipe lifts, (not shown)
This picture shows the control area for this first production application. Complete manual controls were provided in addition to the computer control to ease maintenance and assist production. Functions were color coded to speed the training time for new operators.
This picture is the upper conveyor that rolls tubulars along the floor if they’re not being stored in the system.
This picture was taken during the commissioning of the first production system in 2010. It shows the floor conveyors that move the pipe from the storage areas on each side of the rig to the center of the rig where a pipe skate is used to access the drill floor. It also shows the “kickers” of the pipe skate and pipe lift that move the pipe to and from the floor conveyors.