Impact Excavation System Using Solid Material Impactors
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current drilling technologies face challenges in efficiently penetrating hard and deep rock formations due to factors like formation hardness, abrasiveness, and overburden pressure, leading to reduced rates of penetration and increased costs, particularly as depth increases.
Innovation Solution
The use of solid material impactors introduced into the drilling fluid and accelerated through nozzles to engage the formation, creating a mass-velocity relationship that structurally alters the rock, enhancing the rate of formation removal and penetration by generating fractures and altering the formation's physical properties.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If conventional drill bits (roller cone or fixed cutter) are used to penetrate hard and deep rock formations, then drilling can be performed with standard equipment, but the rate of penetration decreases and drilling costs increase due to formation hardness and depth
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces conventional mechanical drilling systems (roller cone bits, fixed cutter bits) with a hybrid system that introduces solid material impactors into the drilling fluid. These impactors are accelerated through nozzles to strike the formation, substituting pure mechanical cutting with a combination of hydraulic energy and kinetic impact. This substitution enables higher rates of penetration in hard and deep formations by delivering concentrated kinetic energy to fracture the rock structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical parameters of the drilling system by introducing solid material impactors with specific mass and velocity characteristics. The impactors are accelerated to high velocities through hydraulic pressure, creating a mass-velocity relationship that structurally alters the rock formation. This parameter change (adding mass and velocity to the drilling medium) enables effective penetration of hard formations that would be difficult or impossible with conventional mechanical bits alone.
2Strength
If conventional mechanical drilling methods are used, then equipment complexity remains manageable, but the ability to drill deeper and harder formations is limited by mechanical power constraints
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs hydraulic principles by introducing solid material impactors into the drilling fluid and accelerating them through nozzles using hydraulic pressure. The hydraulic system delivers high-velocity impactors to the formation, leveraging fluid power to overcome the mechanical power constraints of conventional drilling. This hydraulic approach enables penetration of deeper and harder formations by transferring hydraulic energy into kinetic energy of the impactors.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses solid material impactors as intermediaries between the hydraulic power source and the rock formation. These impactors are introduced into the drilling fluid, accelerated by hydraulic pressure, and then strike the formation to deliver concentrated kinetic energy. The impactors serve as a mediator that converts hydraulic energy into mechanical impact, enabling effective penetration while managing system complexity through a modular approach.
3Productivity
If high mechanical power is applied at the drill bit to increase penetration rate, then drilling speed improves, but the available mechanical power at the bit is severely limited compared to total hydraulic power available
Solution Approach 1:
The patent leverages the vast hydraulic power available at the rig site by introducing solid material impactors into the drilling fluid and accelerating them through nozzles using hydraulic pressure. This approach bypasses the severe limitation of mechanical power at the bit (less than 100 horsepower) by using hydraulic power (3000-6000 horsepower) to accelerate the impactors. The hydraulic system delivers high-velocity impactors to the formation, effectively transferring hydraulic energy into kinetic energy for rock fracture.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent substitutes the limited mechanical power system with a hydraulic power system. Instead of relying on mechanical transmission of power from the surface to the bit (which loses 90% or more of available power), the system uses hydraulic pressure to accelerate solid material impactors. This substitution enables utilization of the vast hydraulic power available at the rig site, delivering sufficient energy to penetrate hard and deep formations.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach significantly increases the rate of penetration and efficiency by overcoming the mechanical limitations of conventional drill bits, allowing for deeper and harder formations to be drilled more effectively, reducing drilling time and costs.
Implementation Method 1
The solid material impactors may be accelerated through the nozzles to a selected velocity such that the impactors engage the formation with sufficient energy to structurally alter the formation
Implementation Method 2
introduced into the drilling fluid and accelerated through nozzles to engage the formation
Implementation Method 3
The circulation fluid may be circulated through the wellbore to remove the formation cuttings
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method according to which at least one vessel injects a suspension of liquid and a plurality of impactors into a formation to remove at least a portion of the formation.