Norway

Vol. 226 No. 4

A new approach to pipe connections debuts

Torstein Bringa and Arne Bedringås, Maritime Hydraulics AS, Kristiansand, Norway

The new-generation iron roughneck, TorqueMaster, allows hands-free make-up and break-out of all tubulars.

A new-generation iron roughneck, purpose-built to meet present and future oil field HSE and efficiency requirements, is undergoing final onshore testing by Maritime Hydraulics prior to shipment for an offshore field-test program. It meets the design requirement of hands-free operation on the drill floor for all tubulars, including accessories like bits and stabilizers.

Background. Maritime Hydraulics’ development of the multi-functional iron roughneck results from a strategy pursued by the major Norwegian oil companies. This process defined the direction in which pipe handling is headed for years to come. This strategy document was shared with major equipment suppliers, so that anyone able to build a machine fulfilling these requirements, and improving both HSE and efficiency, would be the preferred vendor for future orders.

Accordingly, the company took the challenge, together with a drilling contractor, to build such a machine. Multi-company cooperation, as well as close user involvement, was necessary throughout the specification, engineering, construction and testing phases. The process was monitored, and eventually approved, by the operator that was supporting and sponsoring field tests.

The project, involving the whole value chain from the equipment manufacturer to the drilling contractor and oil company, showed that all contributors’ input was necessary to specify, design and qualify a complex machine. This multi-company development project sets the standard for how vertical cooperation in the value chain can be established to the benefit of all involved parties.

Machine characteristics. The TorqueMaster has been developed for making up and breaking out drill pipe, drill collars and casing, ranging from 23/8 to 20 in. It is based on two tongs that can be separated, and therefore is also capable of handling stabilizers and bits. Integrated into the design is a mud bucket and a pipe doper (optional), thus saving drill floor space and reducing the number of personnel on deck.

Primary features include:

• The main tong is gateless, able to rotate 360° continuously, with a torque capacity of 203,000 Nm (150,000 ft lb).
• As a free-floating piece of equipment, the tong can measure torque via two load cells in a reaction system between the main tong and backup tong, in accordance with API recommendations.
• In addition to carrying out conventional spinner tasks, the spinner also holds a guide and stabbing function.
• Optical pipe recognition system.
• Integrated mud bucket (optional).
• Integrated pipe doper (optional).

Operations related to changing from drill pipe to casing are kept at an absolute minimum. The only requirement is to change dies from normal to non-marking, if required by the casing type. The control system requires no particular transition between casing and drill pipe mode.

The machine is equipped with a computer monitoring and executing system. This system monitors and stores makeup and breakout information. The executing system performs complete automatic sequences for making up and breaking out any kind of pipe, casing or tubulars. This allows monitoring from any office connected to the system, even onshore.

A new-generation optical pipe recognition system finds the tool joint in a break-out operation, recognizes the diameter and locks up the pipe data in a corresponding database. The pipe data are used for adjusting both tong position and torque setting. The system is based on digital cameras and pattern recognition software developed especially for this application.

The machine travels on rails welded to the drill floor (hinged, if required), thus reaching the center of the rotary table.