Metal Bearing Seal Technology Improves Drilling Efficiency of Rolling Cutter Bits in High-rpm North Sea Applications

Schmidt, S.R.; Wittry, A.E.; Burr, B.H.; J.L., Kelly

doi:10.2523/21934-ms

Cited by 8 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…5 After that, many investigations and applications showed the superiority of the bimetal seal, which brought significant economic benefits to the drilling industry. [6][7][8] Chen analyzed the force and working environment of the cone bit, considered that the early failure of the rubber seal was severe, and proposed to use polytetrafluoroethylene as the sealing material. 9 Luo et al 10 conducted an experimental study of the metal seal and pointed out that the seals effectively adapted to the vibration conditions and had the advantages of low leakage and long service life under high speed conditions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimization of cone bit bearing seal based on failure analysis

Huang

2018

Advances in Mechanical Engineering

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To improve the performance of the cone bit bearing seal, experimental study and simulation analysis of seal failure were carried out, and optimization of the seal was conducted. Results show that damages are located on the shoulder of the rubber rings due to high shear stress caused by large compression ratio, and serious wear appears on the sealing face of the metal rings because of unreasonable contact pressure distribution. Optimization was conducted by finite element method on three aspects: the dip angles (3°-8°) of the sealing face, the widths (1.3-3.9 mm) of the sealing face, and the back support structure (10°-15°). These three aspects were optimized one by one. Each aspect was optimized by different values, with the average compression ratio and the contact pressure distribution of the sealing face acting as evaluations. The optimal value of the previous optimization step performs as the static value in the next step, and finally, the optimized structure was selected from the last step. The performance of the optimized seal is significantly improved. The compression ratio of the optimized seal rubber drops to less than 14%. The wear mount of the new structure reduces to 20%-38% of the original structure.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimization of cone bit bearing seal based on failure analysis

Huang

2018

Advances in Mechanical Engineering

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“…To resistant the hightemperature environment in deep drilling, some researchers proposed the single and double metal seals. [11][12][13][14][15][16] Huang and Li 17 analyzed the failure of metal seal and designed an optimized seal structure, which had a good working performance. However, there still exists some issues, including the requirement of high assembly accuracy and unreasonable contact pressure distribution.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simulation and experimental study of a new structural rubber seal for the roller-cone bit under high temperature

Chen

Lin

Han

et al. 2014

Advances in Mechanical Engineering

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Seal element is an important component of roller-cone bit. In order to improve the sealing performance and service life of roller-cone bit under high temperature, a new seal structure with multi-segment arcs is designed and the structural parameters of this sealing ring are optimized by response surface method and finite element method. Firstly, the hydrogenated nitrile-butadiene rubber is used to improve the seal performance under high temperature, and the uniaxial, planar, and biaxial tensile experiments are carried out to study the constitutive model of this rubber. Then, a three-dimension transient thermo-mechanical coupling model is established. The comparison of sealing performance between the new structural seal and the traditional O-ring seal is implemented under high temperature through the proposed FEM and laboratory experiments. The results show that the new structural seal has lower contact pressure and Mises stress than the standard O-ring seal, and the service life of the former is almost twice of the later one. Additionally, a composite drill bit using the new structural seal is applied to a deep drilling. After servicing a certain time, it shows that the wearing capacity is very small. The results show that the new structure seal ring can adapt to high temperature environment and the optimization method is feasible.

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Step Change in Performance: Upgraded Bit Technology Significantly Improves Drilling Economics in GOM Motor Applications

Grimes

Kirkpatrick

2006

SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition

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TX 75083-3836, U.S.A., fax 01-972-952-9435. AbstractWith vast regions of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) rapidly becoming mature provinces, operators are constantly looking for ways to systematically reduce the costs of drilling development wells, especially with improved technologies that deliver reliable performance and decreased risk.The application of a new steel tooth rollercone bit with a technically advanced metal seal bearing has achieved this goal and is having a significant impact on drilling economics in the GOM. Improvements in bearing life, seal reliability and cutting structure durability have resulted in more time on bottom, thereby giving the operator the confidence to apply the new rollercone bits in long directional hole sections. Most of the wells drilled are directional, and heavy water-based drilling fluids are often required in the intermediate hole sections; heavy synthetic muds are sometimes used deep in the wellbore. Relatively high bottomhole temperatures combine with extremely high bottomhole pressures and balling shales to present a challenging drilling environment. Operators strive to increase rate of penetration, maximize hours on bottom for each bit, reduce risk, and complete the section with fewer bits to reduce the number of trips.The bit development phase consisted of a thorough analysis of field application data, along with rigorous forensic examinations of representative dulls from around the world to identify the downhole conditions and sealed bearing wear mechanisms that limited the current metal sealed bit life. A host of design and material improvements were conceived and developed to deliver an improved metal sealed bearing with significantly longer life and higher reliability.The improvements included metal seal surfaces up to 20% wider; a proprietary wear resistant surface on one seal face that greatly reduced both the seal wear rate and the coefficient of friction; improved back-up ring geometry and gland; and design features that enable more consistent manufacturing assembly processes to be utilized. The new rollercone bearing package proved to deliver unequaled life and reliability in high rotary speed drilling applications, superior to all current rollercone sealed bearing systems.The new steel tooth bit's long life, resistance to balling in water-based muds, highly steerable characteristics, and ability to be combined with various hole-opening systems make it the bit of choice for many GOM applications. The authors show actual GOM performance data of the new bits achieving an 80% reliability of nearly 700,000 total bit revolutions (TBR), compared to existing technology bits at less than 400,000 TBR. Specific case studies show examples of one new style bit replacing two to three current technology steel tooth bits, effectively doubling the footage drilled and TBR in the process. Another example shows 1 of the new technology bits replacing two current technology steel tooth bits with associated substantial cost savings due to higher ROP's and less flat time due one less trip...

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Metal Bearing Seal Technology Improves Drilling Efficiency of Rolling Cutter Bits in High-rpm North Sea Applications

Cited by 8 publications

References 1 publication

Optimization of cone bit bearing seal based on failure analysis

Optimization of cone bit bearing seal based on failure analysis

Simulation and experimental study of a new structural rubber seal for the roller-cone bit under high temperature

Step Change in Performance: Upgraded Bit Technology Significantly Improves Drilling Economics in GOM Motor Applications

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