Patent Publication Number: US-6334351-B1

Title: Metal pipe expander

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a metal pipe expander for uniformly expanding a metal pipe in its inner diameter. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     In a known conventional method for uniformly expanding of the inner diameter of a steel pipe of relatively short length, the rear end of a tapered metal pipe expander (mandrel) shaped like a short cylinder, which has been inserted into a steel pipe, is pushed inward with mechanical means such as a shaft to move forward the metal pipe expander in the axial direction within the steel pipe, or the metal pipe expander is rotated while being moved, whereby the steel pipe is expanded. 
     However, the pipe expanding method does not function well in expanding a long metal pipe, e.g., an oil well pipe extending several hundreds meters to several kilometers. When the method is used for expanding such a long metal pipe, the shaft for driving forward the metal pipe expander suddenly buckles. For this reason, it is remotely possible to employ the expanding method. For this reason, to expand such a long metal pipe in diameter, the following pipe expanding method is used. Liquid, e.g., water, after pressurized, is supplied into the metal pipe. A liquid pressure generated is applied to the rear end face of the metal pipe expander, and the propel force caused by the liquid pressure drives forward the metal pipe expander, thereby expanding the steel pipe in diameter. 
     However, the liquid-pressure basis expanding method has also the following serious problem. During the expanding operation, the metal pipe is often broken (burst) at a position near the metal pipe expander located by the liquid pressure for driving forward the metal pipe expander. Particularly, in the case of the oil well pipe, if the bursting accident occurs at a deep place in the earth, it is impossible to repair the broken, long oil-well pipe unless it is dug out of the ground. This presents a serious problem. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of the present invention to provide a metal-metal pipe expander which can prevent the metal pipe from being broken by reducing a force exerting on the metal pipe during the pipe expanding operation. 
     To achieve the above object, the inventor of the present invention analyzed forces exerting on a metal pipe when the metal pipe is expanded by using the metal pipe expander. The analysis will be described with reference to FIG.  4 . As shown, a metal pipe expander  41 , shaped like a conic body, is inserted into a metal pipe  10 , and moved forward (in the direction of an arrow X) for pipe expansion by a liquid pressure. At this time, an expanding force F acts on an expanded part  13  of the metal pipe  10 , which is under deformation by the press fitting of the a conical surface  41   a  of the metal pipe expander  41 . Also at this time, an expanded portion  10   a  of the metal pipe receives a tension T which has a direction coincident with a longitudinal direction of the pipe and corresponds to the propel force of the metal pipe expander  41 , and an internal force R which results from a liquid pressure “p” causing the propel force. Those three forces act on an expansion-terminating position  14  of the pipe and therearound in a complex manner. As a result, excessive stress is generated and the pipe is easy to be broken thereat. This fact was found and confirmed by the inventor. Further, the inventor carefully examined the metal pipes broken when those pipes were expanded. From the examination, it was found that many broken pipes were broken while being greatly bent. From this fact, it is estimated the cause of the breakage of the metal pipe as follows: The deviation of the wall thickness of the metal pipe and the like cause the metal pipe to bend during its expanding operation. The bending of the metal pipe progressively grows. A great bending stress is locally generated and is added to the stress caused by the three forces including the expanding force F and the like. As a result, the metal pipe is easy to be broken. 
     The present invention was made based on the findings mentioned above, and prevents excessive stress from acting on the metal pipe by blocking the exerting of the internal force R on the expansion-terminating position  14  and therearound or by the internal force blocking and by restricting the bending of the metal pipe associated with the pipe expanding operation. 
     According to the present invention, there is provided a first metal pipe expander which is inserted into a metal pipe and driven to move in the axial direction of the metal pipe by a liquid pressure, wherein a cup shaped portion opened to the rear side, the outer surface of which is in slide contact with the inner surface of the metal pipe after it is expanded in diameter, is provided at the rear end of an expanding section with a conical portion of which the small diameter portion is directed to the front side. 
     In the description to follow, the term “fore” side means the fore side as viewed in a direction in which the metal pipe expander advances when the pipe is expanded. The term “rear” side means the side opposite to the fore side. 
     In the first metal pipe expander, a liquid pressure of pressurized liquid supplied into the metal pipe acts on the rear end of a cup shaped portion of the pressure receiving section of the metal pipe expander, to thereby drive and move forward the expanding section integral with the pressure receiving section to expand the metal pipe. At this time, the liquid pressure is sealed with a sliding contact portion between the outer surface of the cup shaped portion and the inner surface of the expanded metal pipe. Therefore, there is no chance that an internal force R caused by the liquid pressure acts on the inner surface of the metal pipe located on the fore side. Accordingly, the internal force R does not exert on the expansion-terminating position and therearound of the metal pipe. As a consequence, an excessive stress is not generated in the metal pipe. 
     One pressure receiving section may be used for the pressure receiving section located on the rear side of the expanding section. A plurality of the pressure receiving sections may be provided while being longitudinally and contiguously arranged as in the second metal pipe expander. In this case, even if, by wear of the outer surface of the cup shaped portion of the pressure receiving section, the sealing between it and the inner surface of the metal pipe is damaged, the sealing of the outer surface of the cup shaped portion of the pressure receiving section located on the fore side, reliably blocks application of the internal force R to the expansion-terminating position  14  and its near portion of the expanded metal pipe. In this regard, the construction of the second metal pipe expander is preferable. Further, during and after the pipe expanding operation, the metal pipe is supported at a total of three locations linearly arrayed, the expanding section and the plurality of cup shaped portions of the pressure receiving sections. Therefore, the bending of the metal pipe caused when the pipe is expanded is controlled to be extremely small. As a result, the breakage of the metal pipe owing to this bending is reliably prevented. In this respect, the construction of the second metal pipe expander is more preferable. 
     Also in the third metal pipe expander in which a guide portion is further provided between the expanding section and the pressure receiving section in a state that the guide portion is in slide contact with the inner surface of the metal pipe after it is expanded, during and after the pipe expanding operation, the metal pipe is supported at a total of at least three locations, the expanding section and one or the plurality (in the case of the second metal pipe expander) of cup shaped portions. Therefore, the bending of the metal pipe caused when the pipe is expanded is controlled to be extremely small. As a result, the breakage of the metal pipe owing to this bending is reliably prevented. In this respect, the construction of the third metal pipe expander is preferable. 
     In the fourth metal pipe expander in which a guide portion with a fitting part is further provided on the fore side of the expanding section, the fitting part being brought into press contact with the inner surface of the metal pipe at a position spaced apart from the expanding section, the fitting part of the guide portion is brought into press contact with the inner surface of the metal pipe before it is not yet expanded, so that an inclination of the axial line of the expanding section with respect to the axial line of the metal pipe not yet expanded is controlled to be extremely small. This technical feature also reduces the bending of the metal pipe by the pipe expansion, and prevents the breakage of the metal pipe owing to this bending. In this regard, the construction of the fourth metal pipe expander is preferable. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     In the accompanying drawings: 
     FIG. 1 is a side view, broken in part, showing a metal pipe expander, while being in use, which is a first embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a side view, broken in part, showing a metal pipe expander, while being in use, which is a second embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 3 is a side view, broken in part, showing a metal pipe expander, while being in use, which is a third embodiment of the present invention; and 
     FIG. 4 is a longitudinally sectional view showing a part of a metal pipe at which a conventional metal pipe expander operates for pipe expansion. 
    
    
     PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION 
     Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described as follows referring to the accompanying drawings. 
     A metal pipe expander according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.  1 . In the figure, reference numeral  1  designates a metal pipe expander for expanding a metal pipe  10  as an oil well pipe in diameter. In the metal pipe expander, a pressure receiving section  3  is contiguous to the rear side of the expanding section  2 . A guide section  4  is contiguous to the fore side of the expanding section  2 . The expanding section  2  made of steel includes a conical portion  5  of the vertical angle of 2α, of which the small diameter side is located on the fore side of the expanding section. A conical surface  5   a  of the conical portion is hardened by quenching. 
     The pressure receiving section  3  is made of steel having an elasticity, and includes a cup shaped portion  6  opened to the rear side. A rear end  6   a  of the cup shaped portion  6 , which gradually increases its diameter toward the rear side, has an outer diameter which is equal to or somewhat (e.g., 0 to 0.5 mm) smaller than the diameter of the large diameter side of the conical portion  5  so that it slidably contacts with an inner surface  12  of the expanded portion  10   a  of the metal pipe  10  (Note: a portion of the metal pipe  10  through which the conical portion  5  passed reduces its diameter because of its elastic deformation, and therefore if the outer diameter of the rear end of the cup shaped portion is so selected, the slidable contact of the rear end with the inner surface is ensured.) Incidentally, it is preferable that a thickness “t” of the cup shaped portion  6  is thinner than that of the expanded portion  10   a.  If so selected, the cup shaped portion  6  is elastically deformed by the liquid pressure, so that it is easy to be in press contact with the inner surface  12 . The outer surface of the cup shaped portion  6 , which comes in slide contact with the inner surface  12 , is preferably subjected to a surface treatment (e.g., plastic coating) in order to secure a wear proof thereof. If required, a strip-like ring made of ceramics or plastic (not shown) may be fit to the outer surface of the cup shaped portion. The entire of the pressure receiving section  3  or the cup shaped portion  6  thereof may be made of elastic material, e.g., rubber, other than metal. 
     The guide section  4  is made of steel and provided with a fitting head  7 . The fitting head  7  is located in front of the expanding section  2 , and will be fit into the metal pipe in a state that a slight gap (e.g., 1 to 2 mm at one side) is present between it and the inner surface  11  of the metal pipe  10  before it is expanded. The guide section  4  is shaped like a cylindrical rod with a step. In this embodiment, a threaded bar  8 , while being integral with the guide section  4 , is extended from the rear end of the guide section. The threaded bar  8  of the guide section is passed through a center hole of the expanding section  2  and screwed into a threaded hole formed in the pressure receiving section  3 , whereby those component parts are coupled together. A distance S of the fitting head  7  measured from the expanding section  2  (exactly the conical portion  5 ) of the fitting head  7  is selected to preferably be 1.5 times or more as long as the inner diameter “d” of the metal pipe  10 . If the former is selected to be less than 1.5 times as long as the latter, the control of an inclination of the axial line of the expanding section  2 , which will be described later, could be unsatisfactory. Reference numeral  9  designates a second fitting portion, which is provided at a position closer to the expanding section  2  whenever occasion calls. It is fit into the metal pipe  10  in a state that a slight gap is present between it and the inner surface  11  of the metal pipe. 
     The thus constructed metal pipe expander  1  is used for expanding the metal pipe  10  in diameter in a manner that it is inserted into the metal pipe  10 , and then a liquid pressure is applied to the rear side of the metal pipe expander. This will be described for a case where as in this instance, the metal pipe  10  is an oil well pipe and a casing is formed along a well bore  15  by the expanding the pipe. A long metal pipe  10  is formed in a manner that the end faces of a number of steel pipes are butted and an insert material is interposed between the end faces to be bonded, and the butted portion is bonded by the liquid phase diffusion process. The inner surface of the thus formed metal pipe  10  is coated with lubricant such as oil or MOS 2 , upon occasion. Then, the resultant is inserted into and set in the well bore  15 . Thereafter, the metal pipe expander  1  is inserted into an expanded portion (not shown) formed in advance at the foremost end of the metal pipe  10  in a state that the guide section  4  thereof is directed downward. Then, the upper end of the expanded portion is closed with a cover or the like. Following this, a liquid pressure (water pressure) is applied to the rear end face (upper surface) of the pressure receiving section  3  by supplying pressurized water thereto by a hydraulic pump, whereby the metal pipe expander  1  is hydraulically driven to expand the metal pipe in diameter. 
     The metal pipe expander  1  moves forward (descends) in the direction of an arrow X within the metal pipe  10  by the hydraulic pressure. With the movement, the fitting head  7  of the guide section  4 , which moves ahead, is fit into the metal pipe  10  before it is expanded and brought into contact with the inner surface  11  thereof. Therefore, an inclination of the axial line  2   a  of the expanding section  2  with respect to the axial line  10   b  of the metal pipe  10  is controlled to be extremely small. Accordingly, in the expanding operation by the expanding section  2  that comes after the guide section  4  in the movement, the metal pipe is expanded substantially uniformly expanded along the circumference thereof. As a result, bending of the metal that will be caused after it is expanded is controlled to be extremely small. 
     A liquid pressure “p” acting on the rear end of the pressure receiving section  3  drives the metal pipe expander  1  to move forward. With the movement, the conical portion  5  of the expanding section  2  forcibly moves forward within and along the metal pipe  10  to expand the metal pipe  10  in diameter such that the diameter “d” of the metal pipe  10  is increased to the diameter D. At this time, an expanding force F for the expanding (plastic deformation) vertically acts on the conical surface  5   a  at the expanded part  13  of the metal pipe  10 , and a tension T corresponding to the propel force by the liquid pressure acts on the expanded portion  10   a  of the expanded metal pipe, which is located on the rear side of the expanded part  13  (on the upper side in the case of the oil well pipe). Those points are the same as in a case of FIG.  2 . 
     With regard to the pressure receiving section  3  which receives the liquid pressure P, the rear end  6   a  of the cup shaped portion  6  is in a slide contact with the inner surface  12  of the expanded portion  10   a  of the metal pipe. A rear end part of the cup shaped portion  6  is elastically deformed by the liquid pressure P to be brought into press contact with the inner surface  12 . Accordingly, the liquid pressure “p” is blocked with the inner surface  12  and the outer surface of the cup shaped portion  6 . As a result, the internal force R acts only on the expanded portion  10   a,  which is located closer to the rear side (upper side) than the cup shaped portion  6 , in the radially expanding direction. The internal force R does not act on the expansion-terminating position  14  and therearound in the expanded part  13  of the metal pipe  10 . As a result, a force acting on the expansion-terminating position  14  and its vicinity is reduced by the internal force R when comparing with that in the case shown in FIG.  2 . For this reason, the metal pipe  10  is prevented from being broken. 
     FIG. 2 shows second embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, like or equivalent portions are designated by like reference numerals in FIG. 1 (The same thing is correspondingly applied to other embodiment descriptions to follow.). In a metal pipe expander  21  of this embodiment, a pressure receiving section  23 , which is the same in structure as the pressure receiving section  3  except that its leg  23   a  is long, is contiguous to the rear side of the pressure receiving section  3 . The remaining structure of the metal pipe expander  21  is the same as of the metal pipe expander  1  of the first embodiment as described above. A couple of the pressure receiving sections  3  and  23 , which are longitudinally and contiguously arranged, are disposed on the rear side of the expanding section  2 . A threaded bar  8  projected from the guide section  4  is passed through the center of the expanding section  2  and the pressure receiving section  3 , and screwed into a threaded hole formed in the pressure receiving section  23 , whereby those component parts are coupled into a single unit. 
     The metal pipe expander  21  is inserted into the metal pipe  10 , and a liquid pressure “p” is applied to the rear side of the metal pipe expander. Then, the liquid pressure “p” acting on the rear end of the pressure receiving section  23  propels the metal pipe expander  1 , and the expanding section  2  expands the metal pipe  10  in diameter. At this time, the internal force R acts only the expanded portion  10   a  located closer to the rear side than the cup shaped portion  6 , and an amount of inclination of the expanding section  2  is lessened to be small by the guide section  4 . Those points are the same as in the first embodiment. 
     Further, in the second embodiment, the pressure receiving sections  3  and  23  are longitudinally arranged in a contiguous fashion. Therefore, even if, by wear of the outer surface of the cup shaped portion  6  of the pressure receiving section  23  and the like, sealing between it and the inner surface of the metal pipe is damaged, the sealing of the outer surface of the cup shaped portion  6  of the pressure receiving section  3  located on the fore side, which slidably contacts with the inner surface  12  of the expanded portion  10   a  of the metal pipe, blocks application of the internal force R to the expansion-terminating position  14  and its near portion of the metal pipe  10 . Accordingly, the breakage of the metal pipe  10  is reliably prevented. During and after the pipe expanding operation, the metal pipe  10  is supported at a total of three locations linearly arrayed, the expanding section  2  and the cup shaped portions  6  and  6  of the pressure receiving sections  3  and  23 . Therefore, the bending of the metal pipe  10  caused when the pipe is expanded, for example, by the deviation of the wall thickness of the metal pipe is controlled to be extremely small. As a result, there never occurs such an unwanted situation that the stress caused by the bending excessively grows and eventually the metal pipe  10  will be broken. 
     FIG. 3 shows a third embodiment of the present invention. In the structure of a metal pipe expander  31  of the embodiment, a guide portion  34 , which is in sliding contact with the inner surface of the metal pipe  10 , is characteristically provided at a mid position of a long pressure receiving section  33  having a cup shaped portion  6  at the rear end. The remaining structure of the metal pipe expander is the same as of the metal pipe expander  1  of the first embodiment as described above. The guide portion  34 , like the rear end  6   a  of the cup shaped portion  6 , has the outer diameter equal to or somewhat (e.g., 0 to 05. mm) smaller than the diameter of the large diameter side of the conical portion  5  of the expanding section  2 . The outer surface of the guide portion  34 , thus dimensioned, will slidably contact with the expanded portion  10   a  of the metal pipe  10  after expanded. 
     To expand the metal pipe  10  in diameter, the metal pipe expander  31  is inserted into the metal pipe  10  and as in the each embodiment mentioned above, a liquid pressure “p” is applied to the rear end of the metal pipe expander, as in each embodiment mentioned above. Also in this embodiment, the sealing by the cup shaped portion  6  of the pressure receiving section  33  is secured in addition to the control of an inclination of the expanding section  2 , which is achieved by the guide section  4 . Further, during and after the pipe expanding operation, the metal pipe  10  is supported at a total of three locations linearly arrayed, the expanding section  2 , the guide portion  34  of the pressure receiving section  33 , and the cup shaped portion  6 . Accordingly, as in the second embodiment, the bending of the metal pipe  10  produced when the pipe is expanded is controlled to be extremely small. The breaking of the metal pipe  10 , caused by this bending is prevented, as a matter of course. 
     In the third embodiment, the guide portion  34  is formed integrally with the long pressure receiving section  33  while being located at the mid position of the pressure receiving section. In an alternative, guide means including the guide portion  34  is coupled between a short pressure receiving section  3  (see FIG. 1) and the expanding section  2 , while being separate from the pressure receiving section  3 . In another alternative, the guide portion  34  may be formed integral with the expanding section  2 . 
     EXAMPLES 
     Experiments were conducted. In the experiments, ten metal pipes were expanded in diameter under the conditions given below by using the metal pipe expanders  1  and  21  of the first and second embodiment. For comparison, those pipes were expanded in diameter under the same conditions by using the metal pipe expander  1  of which the pressure receiving section  3  alone is removed. The results of the experiments are shown in Table 1. In the table, the term “bending after expanded” means a maximum gap produced between the bending side of an expanded metal pipe and a square of 1 m long that is put on the bending side. The “bending” and a “water pressure” when the pipe is expanded are each an average value of the measured values on those ten metal pipes. 
     Conditions 
     Metal pipe: ASTM (American Society for Testing Material) A106 of high tensile low alloy seamless pipe; inner diameter =127 mm, thickness=6.35 mm and Length=6 mm 
     Metal pipe expander : example 1=metal pipe expander 1, example 2=metal pipe expander 21, vertical angle 2α of the conical portion  5  of the metal pipe expander=10° 
     Expanding velocity=25 m/min 
     
       
         
           
               
               
               
               
             
               
                 TABLE 1 
               
               
                   
               
               
                   
                   
                   
                 Comparative 
               
               
                 Items 
                 Example 1 
                 Example 2 
                 Example 
               
               
                   
               
             
            
               
                 Expansion Result 
                   
                   
                   
               
               
                 Good 
                 9 
                 10 
                 5 
               
               
                 Broken 
                 1 
                  0 
                 5 
               
               
                 Water pressure when 
                 25  
                 30 
                 40  
               
               
                 expanded (Mpa) 
               
               
                 Bending after Expanded 
                 2˜8 
                 1 or less 
                 5˜10 
               
               
                 (mm) 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     As seen from Table 1, in the examples 1 and 2, the number of the broken metal pipes when those are expanded in diameter is reduced when comparing with those of the comparison not using the pressure receiving section. From this, it is seen that the breakage of the metal pipes are substantially prevented, and that the bending after expanded in the example 2 using two pressure receiving sections is smaller than in the example 1 using one pressure receiving section and this contributes to the pipe breakage prevention. 
     Table also teaches that a water pressure at the time of pipe expansion in each example is much lower than that in the comparison. The reason for this follows. In the comparison not using the pressure receiving section, the pressurized water enters through a gap between the conical surface  41   a  of the metal pipe expander  41  and the inner surface of the metal pipe  10  under expansion, and a liquid pressure (water pressure) “p” exerts on the rear end of the conical surface  41   a.  By the liquid pressure “p”, the reverse propel force Q acts on the metal pipe expander  41 . Consequently, a large liquid pressure “p” is required for generating the expanding force F. On the other hand, in the examples, the liquid pressure “p” applied to the expanding section  2  and therearound is blocked by the sealing action by the pressure receiving sections  3  and  23 . Accordingly, the reverse propel force Q does not act on the metal pipe expander. For this reason, each example can expand the pipes at a liquid pressure (water pressure), which is lower than the liquid pressure in the comparison not using the pressure receiving section. Thus, use of the low liquid pressure “p” is allowed in the examples, so that a probability of the breakage of the metal pipe when it is expanded is further lessened. 
     It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, but it may variously be modified, changed and altered within the true spirits of the invention. For example, specific configurations and materials of the component parts of the metal pipe expander may be those other than the above-mentioned ones. While the expanding of the oil well pipes in diameter was described in the embodiments, it is evident that the present invention may be applied to the expanding of the metal pipes for pipe lines in chemical and petrochemical industry, and other metal pipes. 
     As seen from the foregoing description, a liquid pressure for driving the metal pipe expander is sealed with a sliding contact portion between the inner surface of an expanded metal pipe and a pressure receiving section, and the sliding contact portion blocks the application of the liquid pressure to the inner surface of the metal pipe located on the fore side of the sliding contact portion. Therefore, a force exerting on the metal pipe at the expansion-terminating position and therearound is lessened, thereby preventing the metal pipe from being broken when the pipe is expanded. 
     In addition to the above useful effects, according to the second to fourth metal pipe expanders of the invention, the bending of the metal pipe when it is bent is controlled to be small, so that the breakage of the metal pipe owing to this bending is prevented.