Development of storage equipment of continuous cable pipe for borehole rescue

The double-bit bionic self-balancing continuous drilling technology has the advantages including requiring no drilling rig, high drilling speed and slight disturbance to the borehole wall. It is one of the key potential technologies for constructing the security and rescue passages against mine disasters. In this technology, as there are passages for power supply, signal, chip removal and other aspects that are built in the continuous cable pipe, it is required that there shall be no such interference, extrusion or arrangement of dynamic/static conductive electric conduction link as in using the existing drum hoist to store continuous pipes during storage. Therefore, the special ground storage equipment for continuous cable pipes that fits with the technology shall be developed. Firstly based on the demand of the double-bit self-balanced drilling technology and the deficiency in the drum hoist storage technology for continuous pipes. We proposed the sleeve storage and hold-down conveying principle for continuous cable pipes, constructed models, and applied the software of finite element analysis to conduct simulation analysis for the hold-down conveying process of the continuous cable pipes. Secondly according to the double-bit bionic self-balancing drilling system's requirements about the continuous cable pipe performance, the 3D model of the storage equipment of continuous cable pipe for borehole rescue that was applicable to the drilling conditions with the outer diameter of the continuous cable pipe of 50.8 mm, the borehole depth smaller than 1 016.8 m and the site area smaller than 50 m2 was constructed. Finally, the electronic control system fitting with this equipment was developed, and the mechatronics combined adjusting and test, including the continuous cable pipe's hold-down conveying, operation of storage equipment and storage of continuous cable pipes, were conducted for the machined, assembled equipment. As indicated by the results, during the storage and conveying of the continuous cable pipes, there was no interference, locking or dynamic and static electric conduction link, which can meet the technical demand of the double-bit bionic self-balancing drilling system and provide necessary equipment support for the double-bit self-balancing continuous drilling for borehole rescue. © 2023 The Author(s).