Abstract:
The invention relates to a clamp mechanism that can be used to attach or temporarily support objects inside of tubular goods. The clamp mechanism can also be modified so that it grips objects. The clamp has a self-centering feature to accommodate out-of-roundness or other internal defections in tubular objects such as pipe. A plurality of clamping shoes are expanded by a linkage which is preferably powered by a motor to contact the inside of a pipe. The motion can be reversed and jaw elements can be connected to the linkage so as to bring the jaws together to grab an object.

Description:
The United States Government has rights in this invention pursuant to Contract No. DE-AC04-76DP00789 between the Department of Energy and American Telephone and Telegraph Company. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The field of this invention relates to articles useful for clamping or grasping an object or one object to another. It has a variety of applications, including robotics and support of downhole tools used in a variety of procedures such as exploration and production of oil and gas. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The petroleum industry has used clamping mechanisms in a variety of applications. One such application is for cross-well seismic surveying. Another use is for well casing/cement bond diagnostics. The vibratory source in borehole surveying requires a rigid clamp to couple seismic energy. At the same time, the seismic receiver also requires a clamp for good coupling. Seismic imaging technology has uses in the analysis of nuclear waste storage, repository sites, and for the study of geological features. A clamp is a mechanism that secures body A to body B. A rigid clamp does not allow for relative motion between A and B. For example, a vise is a clamp that secures body A (the work piece) to body B (the table); however, it may not be stiff because of the movable vise jaw. A collet is a clamp that is fairly stiff and self-centering for circular cross-section work pieces; however, it requires a wedging action that causes the &#34;clamping force&#34; to vary with the relative displacement between the work piece (both A) and the collet housing (body B). 
     In robotics, gripping and placement of objects is frequently required. The gripping mechanism is at times required to grab odd shaped objects. In particular, a robotic end effector used for positioning a workpiece during a machining operation would require a rigid clamp. 
     In the past, wedging techniques have been developed for clamps. These types of clamps have been difficult to set and release particularly due to the sensitivity of such clamps to external forces acting on the clamp; for example, a collet or a camming-type clamp. 
     In an effort to improve on the clamping devices and techniques of the prior art, the apparatus of the present invention has been developed with an eye toward providing a clamp that has a simple structure to build and, at the same time, operates reliably to support or grasp an object. Specifically, with an eye toward downhole applications, where it is recognized that the well casing has surface irregularities and a certain amount of out-of-roundness, the clamp of the present invention has been designed to compensate for such irregularities and out-of-roundness to obtain a substantial grip on such casing. To accomplish such an object, the clamp mechanism has been developed with a self-centering feature. A further object of the invention is to eliminate the prior designs&#39; reliance on a wedging action or compliant mechanisms and to provide a simple structure that presents more consistent and constant holding force. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention relates to a clamp mechanism that can be used to attach or temporarily support objects through internal features of tubular goods. The clamp mechanism can also be modified so that it grips objects. The clamp has a self-centering feature to accommodate out-of-roundness or other infernal imperfections in tubular objects such as pipe. A plurality of clamping shoes are expanded and retracted by a linkage which is preferably powered by a motor to contact the inside of a pipe or to grasp the object. The alignment of the components can be reversed and jaw elements can be connected to the linkage so as to bring the jaws together to grab external features of an object. 
    
    
     DETAIL DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a sectional elevational view of the clamp of the present invention in the run-in position. 
     FIG. 2 is a sectional elevational view of the clamp of the present invention in the set position. 
     FIG. 3 is the view along lines 3--3 of FIG. 1. 
     FIG. 4 is the view along lines 4--4 of FIG. 2. 
     FIG. 5 is a grasping version embodiment of the present invention in the open position. 
     FIG. 6 is the clamp shown in FIG. 5 in the closed position. 
     FIG. 7 is the view along lines 7--7 of FIG. 5. 
     FIG. 8 is the view along lines 8--8 of FIG. 5. 
     FIG. 9 is the view along lines 9--9 of FIG. 6. 
     FIG. 10 is the view along lines 10--10 of FIG. 6. 
     FIG. 11 is a schematic representation of a lost motion-type coupling. 
     FIG. 12 is an alternative embodiment of the coupling in FIG. 11. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     The clamping apparatus A of the present invention is shown in FIG. 1. There, the view is a sectional view in a wellbore illustrating the well casing 10 to which the apparatus A is to be selectively anchored at the desired depth. 
     As previously stated, a wide variety of tools can be employed in conjunction with the apparatus A. Typically, a component in the tool to be selectively supported off the casing 10 will have a housing 12. Typically, housing 12 is tubular in nature to accommodate the internal components of the apparatus A, as well as the other components that make the downhole tool function. The particular type of tool to be supported can be any one of a wide variety of tools. The apparatus A is directed to the means of selectively positioning the tool in the casing 10. As seen in FIGS. 1 and 3, the preferred embodiment has four shoes 14, 16, 18, and 20. The shoes 14, 16, 18, and 20 are retracted to a position even with or within housing 12 for the run-in position shown in FIG. 1. Referring to FIG. 2, it is seen that in the preferred embodiment the shoes are operable in pairs, with shoes 14 and 16 disposed diametrically opposite each other and operable in tandem, while shoes 18 and 20 are also disposed diametrically opposite each other and operate in tandem. It should be noted that different numbers of shoes and different angular orientations of such shoe or shoes can be used without departing from the spirit of the invention. 
     To operate the shoes 14, 16, 18, and 20 to engage the casing 10, a motor or other means of creating a torque, schematically illustrated as arrow 22, is connected to a shaft 24. Shaft 24 is threaded and extends on both sides of openings 26. Openings 26 guide the radial outward and inward movements of shoes 14, 16, 18, and 20. Mounted over shaft 24 are nuts 28 and 30. The motor 22 can rotate shaft 24 while nuts 28 and 30 are restrained against rotation within housing 12 because they are linked to shoes 14, 16, 18, 20. Shaft 24 has opposite hand threads 32 and 34 such that rotation of motor 22 allows nuts 28 and 30 to move toward each other, as seen by comparing FIG. 1 to FIG. 2, or in the reverse direction, as seen by comparing FIG. 2 back to FIG. 1. While nuts 28 and 30 cannot rotate, they are free to translate longitudinally as motor 22 turns shaft 24. 
     Connecting shoes 14 and 16 to nut 28 are links 36 and 38. Link 36 is pinned to nut 28 at pivot 40 and to shoe 16 at pivot 42. Link 38 is pivotally mounted to nut 28 at pivot 44 and to shoe 14 at pivot 46. Links 36 and 38 cross over each other to allow for a smaller diameter package for the clamp. The same type of linkage, but turned in a mirror image and in a plane rotated preferably 90° along the longitudinal axis, connects shoes 18 and 20 to nut 30. In essence, the linkage comprising of links 36 and 38 has a vertex 48 which is oriented downwardly in the wellbore. The exact same linkage preferably used to connect shoes 18 and 20 to nut 30 has another vertex which is oriented upwardly. The use of the mirror image layout makes the apparatus more compact as the linkage components may be overlapped to some degree. Significantly, such mirror image construction makes the St. Aness or rigidity of the apparatus A identical to forces along its longitudinal axis in either direction. 
     Another feature of the apparatus A is the coupling 50 on shaft 24. Coupling 50 allows the motor 22 to continue to drive shaft 24, even if one of nuts 28 and 30 is immobilized. In the preferred embodiment, since nuts 28 and 30 are opposite hand when they both bind due to contact of shoes 14, 16, 18, and 20, the motor 22 stalls because shaft 24 can no longer translate. When this occurs, shaft 24 can rotate and translate while coupling 50 continues to transmit the rotational input of motor 22. Accordingly, shaft 24 can translate while it is being driven by motor 22. The significance of the translation feature in shaft 24 becomes apparent when two of the shoes such as 14 and 16 bind on an imperfection in casing 10. Since nut 28 looses its freedom to translate axially once shoes 14 and 16 bind, the coupling 50 allows continued rotational input by motor 22. At that point, shaft 24 will continue to rotate and literally advance axially. As that occurs, the remaining shoes 18 and 20, which have not become bound against the casing 10, will continue to move radially outwardly until they, too, come in contact with casing 10. The coupling 50 allows the transmission of a rotational force to continue until all four shoes bind. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that shoes, such as 14 and 16, extend through an opening 26 which is contoured to their shape, but nut 28 is literally incapable of rotation. However, using a linkage, such as 36 and 38, axial or longitudinal movements of nut 28 can retract shoes 14 and 16 as shown in FIG. 1, or extend them as shown in FIG. 2. The same conditions are equally applicable to nut 30 in combination with shoes 18 and 20. 
     Accordingly, when the casing 10 is out-of-round or has an internal imperfection, and the housing 12 is positioned as shown in FIG. 1, initial operation of motor 22 could make shoes 14 and 16 seat against casing 10 first. Once shoes 14 and 16 are restrained from further radially outward movement, nut 28, due to links 36 and 38, can no longer move (translate or rotate) with respect to housing 12. However, at this point, shoes 18 and 20 have yet to seat against the casing 10. The motor 22 can continue to operate to further drive shoes 18 and 20 until they, too, engage the casing 10. As soon as shoes 14 and 16 bind first, continued operation of motor 22 turns shaft 24. As shaft 24 continues to turn, nut 28 is now in a bind and cannot move longitudinally. As a result, shaft 24 moves longitudinally with respect to the now constrained nut 28. In order to allow shaft 24 to move longitudinally with respect to nut 28, coupling 50 allows for longitudinal free play (relative translation between shaft 24 and the motor) while continuing to drive shaft 24, a form of a lost-motion feature. Accordingly, coupling 50 allows torque to be transmitted from motor 22 to shaft 24, while at the same time, allowing a portion of shaft 24 on one side of coupling 50 to move longitudinally toward or away from the motor shaft adjacent motor 22. In this respect, the apparatus of the present invention has a self-centering feature which takes into account the imperfections of a casing 10. Likewise, shoes 18 and 20 may bind first, yet shoes 14 and 16 will continue to move radially until they, too, bind. Essentially, this mechanism tends to equalize the clamping forces among all four clamping shoes. 
     It should be noted that the placement of motor 22 can be downhole as shown in FIG. 1 or uphole above nut 28 without departing from the spirit of the invention. While a motor is discussed as the motive force for rotating shaft 24, other sources of input motion can be used in lieu of motor 22 without departing from the spirit of the invention. Such input forces are not limited to rotational as it is within the scope of the invention to operate shaft 24 with other types of force inputs. Nuts 28 and 30 may also conform to the internal surface 56 of housing 12 in such a way as to additionally prevent their rotation while allowing longitudinal translation in response to rotation of shaft 24. The placement of coupling 50 may be altered from the preferred point between motor 22 and the first nut 30 without departing from the spirit of the invention. 
     Referring now to FIGS. 5 and 6, the same techniques can be employed to create a grabbing mechanism which can be particularly useful for grasping objects such as in robotic applications. In the preferred embodiment, there are four jaws 58, 60, 62, and 64 which are spaced on 90° intervals. As seen in FIGS. 8 and 10, the range of motion of the jaws is such that they all are disposed to come together at a point 66. To allow for greater contraction of the jaws, each jaw has a beveled tip comprising of two surfaces, such as 68 and 70 on jaw 62. As can readily be seen by comparing FIG. 8 to FIG. 10, the positioning of the jaws 58, 60, 62, and 64, along with the shape of their leading ends, allows them to come together at point 66 if an object is not placed in between. To get the four jaws 58, 60, 62, and 64 to move from the position in FIG. 8 to the position in FIG. 10, a mechanism, as previously described with respect to FIGS. 1 and 2, is employed. A central shaft 72 is connected to a motor schematically shown as arrow 74. As previously stated, any source of rotational movement may be used in lieu of a motor 74. Connected to shaft 72 are nuts 76 and 78. Shaft 72 is threaded with thread 80 being opposite hand from thread 82. Accordingly, rotation in a counterclockwise direction of motor 74 opens jaws 58, 60, 62, and 64 while opposite rotation of motor 74 brings the jaws 58, 60, 62, and 64 together. Jaws 62 and 64 are connected to nut 76 by links 84 and 86. Links 84 and 86 are each pivotally mounted by a pin connection to nut 76 and at their opposite ends are pinned to jaws 64 and 62, respectively. Mounted in a plane transverse to links 84 and 86, two additional links are similarly mounted between nuts 78 and jaws 58 and 60. It can readily been seen that counterclockwise rotation of shaft 72 using motor 74 drives down nut 76 and, as a result, separates jaws 62 and 64. At the same time, due to thread 82 being opposite hand when engaging nut 78, a similar effect occurs on the linkage supporting jaws 58 and 60 and they separate as well. All of the jaws 58, 60, 62, and 64 extend through openings 88 in body 90. Shaft 72 extends into a depression 92 in body 90. The extension of shaft 72 into depression 92 provides guided lateral movement. The essence of coupling 94 is that shaft 72 can still rotate even if one pair of jaws, such as 62 and 64, encounter an object before jaws 60 and 58 encounter the same object. Just as before, if for example, jaws 62 and 64 contact the object first, they can no longer move toward each other. As a result, nut 76 can no longer translate longitudinally and becomes fixed in position. Continuing rotational force applied from motor 74 results in shaft 72 continuing to turn but advancing with respect to nut 76 so that continuing movement can still bring jaws 58 and 60 closer together until they in turn encounter the object to be grasped. The reverse is also true. That is, if jaws 58 and 60 encounter the object first, the use of coupling 94 allows shaft 72 to keep turning so that jaws 62 and 64 can continue to advance until they, too, contact the object to be grasped. This feature is the self centering feature of the apparatus A. 
     Coupling 94 (or coupling 50 in FIG. 2) can be constructed in one of many ways so long as continuing rotation by motor 74 allows contact between motor 74 and shaft 72 for transmission of rotational force while at the same time allowing shaft 72 to move longitudinally with respect to motor 74. One way to do this is to employ a coupling adjacent the motor 74 or motor 22, as shown in FIG. 1, which has a splined interior or a pin in slot arrangement shown in FIGS. 11 and 12. The end of shaft 24 is engaged to the coupling 50. For example, FIG. 11 depicts a splined coupling and FIG. 12 depicts a pin in slot coupling. Normally there is little resistance to moving shoes 14, 16, 18, 20, and rotation of shaft 24 will favor movement of nuts 28 and 30 with respect to shaft 24. However, when one of nuts 28 and 30 bind, continuing operation of motor 22 will move shaft 24 into or out of the coupling 52, while some of the spline 51 moves into or out of coupling 50. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 12, pin 53 moves with respect to slot 55, while shaft 24 translates and rotates. This allows the driven shaft 24 components to move with respect to each other while the coupling 50 adjacent the motor 22 can continue to transmit rotational force. 
     Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, shoe 20 has a pair of surfaces 37 and 39 which come together at a ridge 41. (See FIG. 1.) The top of shoe 18 is similarly constructed. Shoes 14 and 16, on the other hand, have a similar configuration but on their bottom. One of the sloping surfaces 47 extends downwardly to a ridge 49, which conforms to a groove or valley 51, which guides shoes 14 and 16 and gives them torsional rigidity. As can readily be seen, when the shoes 14 and 16 are in contact with the object or well casing, links 36 and 38 exert a radial as well as downward component force with respect to shoes 14 and 16. The same occurs with respect to shoes 18 and 20 when they are in contact with the object or the casing. However, in the context of shoes 18 and 20, the linkage there creates an upward force to push ridge 41 into a guiding groove 51 in the housing 12. Thus, for each shoe, the ridge 41 or 49 is pushed into a mating groove in the housing 12. These grooves are located in openings 26 of housing 12. Accordingly, there is no &#34;slop&#34; in the interface between opening 26 and shoes 14, 16, 18, and 20. There is a heightened resistance to torque because the looseness that would normally be in linked components is eliminated in favor of the ridge and groove scheme of support for the shoes 14, 16, 18, and 20 as they extend and retract from housing 12. 
     Although this clamp invention is not limited to clamp shoes having a V-block feature, the V-block does provide additional stiffness in rotation. If the shoe is assumed to be fixed to the well casing and a torque was applied to the clamp housing in an attempt to dislodge the clamp, the housing would have to climb out of the V-groove to dislodge. The clamp linkages provide a component of force that secures the clamp shoe to the bottom of the V-groove and a radially outward component (or inward for robotic configuration) that secures the clamp shoe to the well casing I.D. Thus, the compliant nature of the linkages and pivot joints are isolated from the clamping scheme. 
     Alternatively a linear actuator (motor) may be employed to bring nuts 28 and 30 together or apart. No power screw, i.e., shaft, is necessary. The linear actuator configuration may sacrifice clamp stiffness somewhat. 
     The foregoing disclosure and description of the invention are illustrative and explanatory thereof, and various changes in the size, shape and materials, as well as in the details of the illustrated construction, may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.