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Advanced
Sealed Bearing Assembly for Positive Displacement Motors used in Micro-borehole
Drilling—Kalsi
Engineering, Inc., 745 Park Two Drive, Sugar Land, TX
77478-2843; 281-240-6500
Dr.
Manmohan S. Kalsi, Principal Investigator, kalsi@kalsi.com
Dr.
Manmohan S. Kalsi, Business Official, kalsi@kalsi.com
DOE
Grant No. DE-FG02-05ER84206
Amount:
$750,000
The
DOE has identified a need for a sealed bearing assembly (SBA) so that positive
displacement motors (PDMs) for microhole oil drilling can be used at high
differential pressures. Current
off-the-shelf small PDMs are not designed for open hole drilling; rather, they
are used primarily for scale removal and drill-out of cement inside tubing –
short run operations at standard differential pressures.
This project will develop a highly durable, low cost, low maintenance,
long life (in excess of 1000 hours), advanced Sealed Bearing Assembly (SBA)
capable of operating under high differential pressures.
In Phase I, a three-dimensional
Finite Element Analysis and a large matrix of laboratory tests were used to
evaluate several concepts for next generation, micro-hole size, hydrodynamic
rotary seals. A hydrodynamic
thrust-bearing concept was extended to bidirectional, low cost designs, which
also were evaluated by laboratory testing. The
results confirmed the feasibility of a long-life high-differential-pressure SBA
for micro-hole PDMs. In Phase II,
concepts for enhanced lubrication seals and “bi-directional floating”
hydrodynamic thrust bearings will be further developed and implemented in
different SBA for microhole PDMs.
Commercial
Applications and other Benefits as described by the awardee:
The advanced
Sealed Bearing Assembly, which will be designed to mate with any of the new PDMs
being developed to meet DOE goals, should significantly reduce the cost of
drilling and exploration. The new
hydrodynamic rotary seal and bearing designs also should find use in extending
the life of high-speed drilling motors (turbodrill, electrodrill), rotary
steerable/directional tools, and Integrated Rotary Percussion Motors, which are
being developed by others for micro-hole applications.