摘要 |
Apparatus and methods, for making and breaking connections in a horizontal boring drillstring, comprising a skid-mounted torque wrench and a spinning unit hydraulically operated from a remote control station, therefore allowing a coupling to be made or broken without manual intervention. One embodiment of a preferred torque wrench and spinning unit is horizontally mounted on a structural frame that is adapted to allow movement relative to a horizontal drill string. A preferred torque wrench comprises a gripping mechanism that serves to hold stationary one half of a coupling and a torquing mechanism that arcuately translates the adjoining half of the coupling to either make-up or break-out the coupling. A preferred spinning unit comprises a plurality of drive rollers that impart rotational motion into the pipe to engage or disengage the threads of a coupling.
|