Faculty of Engineering

Petroleum Engineering Department

Drilling Engineering I
Third Stage

Lecture # 10
Power System

Pshtiwan Jaf 1
[email protected]
 Power system
Power System
• Most drilling rigs are required to operate in
remote locations where a power supply is not
available.

• They must therefore have a method of

generating the electrical power which is used
to operate:
1) Drawworks.
2) Mud pumps.
3) Rotary system
4) Auxiliary power requirements for lighting etc.
5) Life support systems.
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 Power system
Power System, cont.
• The mentioned total power may not be required in a continuous but in an
intermittent mode.
• The actual power required will depend on the drilling job being carried out.
• The maximum power used is during hoisting and circulation.
• The least power used is during wireline operations

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 Power system Components
Power System Components
• The power system on drilling rig usually consists of a prime mover as the source
of raw power and some means to transmit the raw power to the end-use
equipment.

• The prime movers used in the current drilling industry are diesel engines.

• Steam boilers are rarely used in present operations due to the difficulty in
transporting the boilers and the fact that greater widespread knowledge of diesel
units exists among crewmen.

• The rig may have (depending on its size and capacity) up to 4 prime movers,
delivering more than 3000 horsepower.
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 Power system Efficiency
Power Efficiency
• The mechanical horsepower requirement for the prime movers must be
determined from an evaluation of loads and the overall system efficiency:

𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑
𝑚𝑒𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑒𝑟 =
𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦

• The efficiency factor (E) describes the power losses from the prime movers to the
end-use equipment.

• The system losses result from friction, gears and line losses range from 0 – 1

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 Power system Efficiency
Power Efficiency, cont.
• Some drilling personnel assume that efficiency factors for oil well drilling
machinery are 0.98 per shaft and chain.

• The system efficiency is computed as (0.98)n , where n is the number of shafts

and chains.

• If more than one engine is used, an average value is calculated.

• The mechanical horsepower requirements must be modified for harsh

temperature environments or altitudes.
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 Power system Efficiency
Power Efficiency, cont.
• According to (API Standard 8B) approximate conversions for altitude and
temperature of naturally engines may be made as follows:

➢Deduct 3% of the standard horsepower for each 1000 ft rise in altitude above the
sea level.

➢Deduct 1% of the standard horsepower for each 10 °F rise in temperature above

85 °F or add 1% for each 10 °F fall below 85 °F.

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 Power system Efficiency
Example:
A drilling rig is working in an arid climate at an elevation of 3600 ft. During the day,
the peak temperature is 105 °F. The minimum temperature (prior to dawn) is 45
°F. The rig has three 1000 hp prime movers. Determine the minimum and
maximum horsepower available during any 24-hr period.

Solution:
• 2622 hp
• 2783 hp

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 Power Transmission
Power Transmission
• Raw power is transmitted via one of the following systems:
A. Mechanical drive.
B. Direct current (DC) generator and motor.
C. Alternating current (AC), silicon controlled rectifier (SCR), direct current motor.

• The most widely used system on new rigs is the AC-SCR system.

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 Power Transmission
A. Mechanical drive system
• Most early drilling rigs used a mechanical drive system to transmit power from
engines to the operating equipment such as the draworks and pumps.

• The drive system consists of gears, chains and belts.

• The average efficiency of this system is about 0.85 and the weaknesses of this
system are as follows:

❑Shock loading to the engine.

❑Inability to produce high torque at low engine rpm’s.
❑Power losses through the gears and chains.
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 Power Transmission
A. Mechanical drive system, cont.

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 Power Transmission
A. Mechanical drive system, cont.
Example:
A drilling rig with a mechanical drive system has the following configuration in
transmitting power to the draworks:

Assume that the torque converter has an efficiency of 0.75 and efficiencies for
each shaft and chain are 0.98. If drilling design specification requires that a
500000 Ib hook load be hoisted at a rate of 93 ft/min, compute the minimum
acceptable input horsepower for the engines. (Sol. 2252hp). 12
 Power Transmission
B. DC Generator – DC Motor
• Direct current (DC) motors have been used since the 1950s to drive drilling
motors.
• The early motors were driven by DC generators, which were attached directly to
the output shaft of the prime mover.
• The DC-DC system is still used on some rigs.

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 Power Transmission
B. DC Generator – DC Motor, cont.
• The direct current motor offered several
advantages over the mechanical system.
Since the motor were connected to the
generators with power cords, it was not
necessary to position the generators and
prime movers immediately adjacent to the
rig, which thus increased safety and
decreased the rig noise level.

• The average efficiency increased from 0.85 to

0.90. The motors were able to service the
equipment over a broader range of torque
requirements. 14
 Power Transmission
C. AC-SCR Systems
• Alternating current silicon controlled rectifier systems are used almost exclusively
on new electric rig installations.

• The power produced is AC current which is then converted to DC current by the

use of SCR.

• The current is delivered by cables to electric motors attached directly to the

equipment involved such as mud pumps, rotary table, drawworks etc.

• The AC motors offer longer life, lighter weight, less maintenance and lower cost
than a DC motor. The AC-SCR system offers the same advantage as the DC-DC
system when compared to the mechanical drive rig. 15
 Rig Component Systems

Well Control System

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 Well Control System
Well Control System
• The function of the well control system is to detect, prevent, remove the
uncontrolled flow of formation fluids from the wellbore.

• When the drill bit enters a permeable formation, the pressure in the pore space
of the formation may be greater than the hydrostatic pressure exerted by the
mud column.

• If this is so, formation fluids will enter the wellbore and start displacing mud from
the hole.

• Any influx of formation fluids (oil, gas or water) into the borehole is known as a
kick. 17
 Well Control System
Well Control System, cont.
• The well control system is designed to:
➢ Detect a kick.
➢ Close-in the well at surface.
➢ Remove the formation fluid which has flowed into the well.
➢ Make the well safe.

• Failure to do this results in the uncontrolled flow of fluids – known as a blow-

out - which may cause loss of lives and equipment, damage to the environment
and the loss of oil or gas reserves.
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 Well Control System
Well Control System, cont.
• Primary well control is achieved by ensuring that the hydrostatic mud pressure is
sufficient to overcome formation pressure.

• And this will only be maintained by ensuring that the mud weight is kept at the
prescribed value, and keeping the hole filled with mud.

• Secondary well control is achieved by using valves to prevent the flow of fluid
from the well until such time as the well can be made safe.

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 Kick Detection
Detecting a kick
• There are many signs that a driller will become aware of when a kick has taken
place. The primary indicators of a kick are as follows:

A. Pit volume increase

B. Flow rate increase
C. Flowing well with pumps shut off
D. Pump pressure reduce

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 Kick Detection
Pit Volume Increase
• Any invasion of formation fluid must result in the expulsion of mud from the well,
and this shows up as an increase in surface volume in what is, normally a closed
circulating system.

• A gain in pit level may be hard or impossible to detect when a slow bleed-in of
fluid occurs.

• It is also easy for other factors to mask a change in pit level.

• Therefore, surface additions to the mud system or surface withdrawals must be

done with the Driller’s knowledge.
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 Kick Detection
Pit Volume Increase, cont.
• A visual observation of mud pit level,
recorded at regular intervals with notes on
additions and alterations made is a valuable
direct reference to what is happening.

• The drill crew should be made aware of the

importance of maintain an accurate record
of actual pit levels and bringing any suspect
variation immediately to the Driller’s
attention.

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 Kick Detection
Flow Rate Increase
• While the mud pumps are circulating at a constant rate, the rate of flow out of
the well, Qout should be equal to the rate of flow into the well, Qin.

• If Qout increases this is a sign that formation fluids are flowing into the wellbore
and pushing the contents of the annulus to the surface.

• The flow rate into and out of the well is therefore monitored continuously using a
differential flowmeter.

• The meter measures the difference in the rate at which fluid is being pumped
into the well and the rate at which it returns from the annulus along the flowline.
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 Kick Detection
Flow Rate Increase, cont.

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 Kick Detection
Flowing well with pumps shut off
• When the rig pumps are not operating there should be no returns from the well.

• If the pumps are shut down and the well continues to flow, then the fluid is being
pushed out of the annulus by some other force.

• It is assumed in this case that the formation pressure is higher than the
hydrostatic pressure due to the colom of mud and therefore that an influx of fluid
is taking place.

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 Kick Detection
Pump Pressure Decrease
• Invading formation fluid generally reduces the total head of fluid in the annulus.

• The head of mud in the drillstring is unaffected, so that there is a tendency for
fluid to ‘U-tube’.

• This means that the pump does not have to provide so much energy and this may
be seen as a pump pressure reduction.

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