The great depths required to access oil reserves require more accurate pipe. For decades this process has been performed more slowly and more manually. Okuma and Partners in THINC worked together to engineer the industry’s first automated coupling cell.

The cell uses a FANUC overhead gantry robot with the capacity to load a double-length coupling blank. Kennametal provides superior roughing and finishing operations for coupling ID and OD. These are performed on a four-axis Okuma LOC650 oil-country lathe, which also performs the cutoff operation. From here, a conveyor moves the coupling to an Okuma V80R vertical turning lathe, equipped with a modified tooling adaptor and Chip-BLASTER high-pressure, high-volume coolant system. This configuration results in optimal chip removal during the turning and threading operations, ultimately yielding a more precise cut. Finally, a Marposs gauge inspects all threads and diameters. Cycle time? 11 minutes.

Small footprint, zero human intervention and integrated performance technology all come together to mark a significant advancement in productivity for the oil drilling industry.