A turbodrill is a tool used mostly by

petrochemical Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems) are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable sou ...

companies to dig wells for

crude oil Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude ...

and

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

reserves.

History of turbodrilling

*Among the technical breakthroughs in the world oil industry in the 1920s, a special place is held by the invention in 1922 of the reduction-geared, single-stage downhole turbodrill motor by the Russian engineer

Matvei Kapelyushnikov Matvei Alkunovich Kapelyushnikov (russian: Матвей Алкунович Капелюшников; 13 September 1886 – 5 July 1959) was a Soviet mechanical engineer and inventor. Matvei Kapelyushnikov was born in Abastumani. He began his career ...

, which opened the way for the subsequent mass introduction of turbodrilling in the industry. *In 1924 the first US

Patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

was issued to a company called Scharpenberg for the first multi-staged turbodrill. *In 1982 the first steerable turbodrill was developed by a company called Neyrfor. This was steerable because it had a stabilizer that was offset from the rest, pulling the tool to one particular side. Using the law of

inertia Inertia is the idea that an object will continue its current motion until some force causes its speed or direction to change. The term is properly understood as shorthand for "the principle of inertia" as described by Newton in his first law ...

, one could alter the direction of the hole being drilled by changing the direction of the offset. *In 1992 the first steerable turbodrill using a bent housing was created by ''Neyrfor''. The advantage to using the bent housing method of steering instead of an offset stabilizer, is that it provided a straighter hole with less of a

corkscrew A corkscrew is a tool for drawing corks from wine bottles and other household bottles that may be sealed with corks. In its traditional form, a corkscrew simply consists of a pointed metallic helix (often called the "worm") attached to a hand ...

effect, which in turn made drilling more efficient, faster, and more accurate. *Continuing traditions of Russian engineer Matvey Kapelyushnikov the compan
JSC "NGT"
constantly improves designs of turbodrills.

How a turbodrill works

Turbodrills use the

mechanical energy In Outline of physical science, physical sciences, mechanical energy is the sum of potential energy and kinetic energy. The principle of conservation of mechanical energy states that if an isolated system is subject only to conservative forces, t ...

of the drill itself, and the hydraulic energy provided by the oil rig’s

mud pump A mud pump (sometimes referred to as a mud drilling pump or drilling mud pump), is a reciprocating piston/plunger pump designed to circulate drilling fluid under high pressure (up to ) down the drill string and back up the annulus. A mud pump is an ...

s to deliver power to the

drill bit Drill bits are cutting tools used in a drill to remove material to create holes, almost always of circular cross-section. Drill bits come in many sizes and shapes and can create different kinds of holes in many different materials. In order ...

. The drill bit on a turbodrill spins much faster than on a conventional motor drill. The result is that, though there is less torque, this is compensated for by the increased speed, which makes straighter holes, and can drill faster and easier through tougher ground materials. The process is very similar to a dental drill used by a dentist. These tools are able to dig faster, operate in a much higher temperature environment, deliver longer downhole life, and produce a better and straighter hole quality than a conventional

mud motor A mud motor (or drilling motor) is a progressive cavity positive displacement pump (PCPD) placed in the drill string to provide additional power to the bit while drilling. The PCPD pump uses drilling fluid (commonly referred to as drilling mud ...

. In many applications turbodrills can offer their customers significant cost savings over standard drilling systems by saving them time spent drilling the hole since they typically pay drillers by the hour.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Neyrfor, A Schlumberger Company

NGT, Russia
Drilling technology Soviet inventions Russian inventions