SYSTEM, METHOD AND CUTTERHEAD FOR DRY FULL-AREA DRILLING

SYSTEM. METHOD AND CUTTERHEAD FOR DRY FULL-AREA DRILLING

The present invention relates to a system, a method and a cut¬ terhead for dry full-area drilling according to the preambles of the independent claims.

A downward-drilling system according to the preamble of claim 1 is known from US-5, 199,515. This system operates with com¬ pressed air which is injected towards the shaft bottom through a hol¬ low drill string and blow nozzles communicating therewith which are arranged on the cutterhead, as well as with suction air operating through suction nozzles arranged on the cutterhead and riser ducts communicating therewith. The riser ducts serve to remove cuttings which are produced by the rotating, crushing cutterhead and which are transported with the aid of the compressed air towards the suc¬ tion nozzles and through stationary riser pipes to above ground. The riser ducts and the stationary riser pipes are interconnected by a swivel.

This known system has however proved to involve the risk that the cuttings produced swirl up and are sprayed about by the com¬ pressed air and that portions of the swirling cuttings are out of the reach of the suction nozzles. As a result, cuttings and dust will impinge on the shaft wall and adhere to it. This entails that the cut¬ terhead will work material that has already been partially worked, resulting in unnecessary wear to the cutterhead and lower cutting efficiency of the system. Moreover, the shaft walls are sometimes soiled to an unacceptable extent, for example in the case of bedrock depository of spent nuclear fuel.

The object of the invention is to overcome or at least essentially reduce the above-described problems inherent in the prior-art drilling system. Also, the invention aims to provide a constructional simplifi¬ cation of the known system. According to the invention, these objects are achieved by means of a drilling system, a drilling method and a cutterhead according to the characterising clauses of the independent claims. 2 According to the invention, the use of compressed air is thus dispensed with, the cuttings being removed by suction only. To this end, there is provided at least one suction nozzle at the underside of the cutterhead, the suction nozzle or nozzles each having a suction intake at the periphery of the cutterhead, where a relatively larger amount of cuttings is produced by the cutterhead from the shaft being drilled. The suction intake communicates with a suction chan¬ nel which is provided in a drill string and which is connected to a vacuum unit above ground. If several suction nozzles are used, which is preferred, they are arranged pairwise substantially along diameters of the cutterhead. Preferably, the cutterhead has a pilot drill bit which is provided with additional suction nozzles, also communicating with said suction channel.

The invention has also proved applicable to tunnel drilling. The invention will now be described in more detail with refe¬ rence to the accompanying drawings showing an embodiment thereof. Fig. 1 shows a cutterhead according to the invention in per¬ spective,

Fig. 2 shows the cutterhead partly in section and partly sche- matically,

Fig. 3 shows the cutterhead from below.

Fig. 4 shows means for guiding the cuttings in a section taken along line IV-IV in Fig. 2, and Fig. 5 shows a drill pipe with a suction sleeve. Figs 1-3 show a cutterhead 1 for dry rotary, crushing full-area drilling. The cutterhead has a pilot drill bit 2 on a pilot rod 3, a base head 4 and an adapter 5 for connecting the cutterhead 1 to a drill string 6 (Fig. 5). The roller cutters of the base head 4 and of the pilot drill bit 2 are designated 7 and 8, respectively. The construction described so far is previously known and also comprises stabiliser rollers 8A.

Through the base head 4 and the pilot drill bit 2 extends a suc¬ tion channel 9 which via a plenum 10 merges into a suction channel 1 1 arranged in the drill string 6 (Fig. 5). This suction channel is con- nected to a vacuum unit (not shown) via a separator, such as a cyclone (not shown), for cuttings produced by the cutterhead 1 in the shaft. At the bottom, the suction channel 9, extending through the cutterhead 1, communicates with three suction nozzles 12 on the pilot drill bit 2. The openings of these suction nozzles are located slightly above the lowermost point of the pilot drill bit roller cutters 7, and the nozzles are evenly distributed between the three roller cutters 7.

At the bottom of the base head 4, there are attached two sym¬ metrically positioned suction nozzles 13 which have the length of a radius on the cutterhead and which are disposed substantially along a diameter and in which the suction generated by the vacuum unit operates. This suction acts on the nozzles through a respective, exter¬ nal pipe 14 (of which only one is visible in Fig. 1) via the plenum 10. Each of these pipes has its opening 14A located in a portion 13A of the respective nozzle 13, which portion 13A extends substantially in the circumferential direction of the base head 4. Thus, the nozzles 13 are L-shaped, the heel of the L facing in a direction contrary to the rotational direction of the cutterhead 1. The foot 13 of the L also is slightly wider, so that also the comparatively larger amount of cut¬ tings produced by the peripheral roller cutters 8 will also be taken care of by the suction generated by the vacuum unit for upward transport.

The substantially radial legs 13B of the suction nozzles 13 extend from the foot 13A to the centre line of the drill bit 4 on each side of the relatively narrow pilot rod 3. During the rotation of the cutterhead 1 , the nozzles 13 and the suction nozzles 12 disposed therebetween will thus cover the entire working area by their suction action, so that this area is "vacuum-cleaned" in its entirety without any cuttings or dust being flung against the shaft wall. In this con¬ text, it should be noted that the free end of the L-leg 13B is radially open.

It appears from the Figures that the suction nozzles 13 have an inverted U-shaped section and that the nozzles are located close to the lower plane of the base head 4, to which the lowermost roller cut¬ ters 8 are tangent. The free edges of the suction nozzles 13 consist of yieldable rubber strips.

Reference is now made to Fig. 4. In the area of the connection of the pipe 14 with the plenum 10, the suction channel 9 is formed of a pipe section 15 on whose outer wall are attached four radial wings 16. They make a 90° angle with each other and guide the cuttings sucked through the pipe 14 towards the plenum 10 while preventing collision between the counterdirected flows of cuttings. As mentioned above, the suction communication between the nozzles 13 is brought about by means of a suction channel 1 1 arrang¬ ed in the drill string 6. The suction channel 11 has the same inner diameter throughout its entire length, the purpose of which is to minimise pressure losses in and wear to the drill string 6, normally having a varying inner diameter, see Fig. 5, illustrating a typical drill pipe 6', the drill string being composed in known manner by several such drill pipes. The suction channel 11 is formed of the upper por¬ tions of the drill pipes 6' and of one (or more) sleeves 11' inserted in each drill pipe 6' and having an inner diameter corresponding to the minimum inner diameter of the drill pipe 6' in the upper portion. The sleeves 11 ' have end flanges 11 " abutting on the shoulder portion of the bore of the drill pipe 6' and on the top of the preceding lower drill pipe screwed on. The sleeve 1 1' is loosely arranged in its drill pipe 6', so that it can be easily replaced, if so required. The above-mentioned inner diameter of the sleeves 11' also agrees with the inner diameter of the swivel connection of the drilling machine (not shown), with the drill string 6.

The term "dry" in "dry full-area drilling" does of course not exclude the suction of liquid that may exist in the drill shaft.