December 2004 Supplement    Rig Floor Equipment

Innovative drill pipe tong

Rogers Oil Tool Services recently unveiled its new HTP-4 drill pipe tong for making and breaking connections. This innovative tool is self-contained and operates with a minimal amount of movement, reducing accident risk on the rig floor. The new tong can be deployed with three options:1) full automation, 2) mechanized with hydraulic controls, or 3) semi-mechanized automation utilizing a combination of both.

Rogers Oil Tool Service’s HTP-4 drill pipe tong system.

The fully automated functionality of the new tong employs a Cyber-Eye technology that locates the seam on a connection during make-up or break-out. The system will approach the pipe, find the tool joint seam with the unique “Eye”, which is housed in the back-up, have a pre-determined drop, engage the back-up dies, engage the tong head, and break the connection at the required torque. The reverse occurs during connection make-up. The tool also provides the ability to make connections up to 12 ft above the rig floor with a horizontal reach of 17 ft. This automated methodology reduces the number of personnel near the tong during tripping, creating a safer drill floor environment.

The company’s high-torque tong is amazingly durable, yet has the advantage of exerting less stress on pipe. It uses a mechanical bite, which minimizes tool joint OD surface damage by only exerting as much force as required. Less stress and less force applied to a connection cuts repairs on a tong, decreasing maintenance budgets and expanding gripping dye life. The mechanical bit actually increases tool joint surface life, a major advantage for premium drilling connections. At the same time, the new tong can exert in excess of 150,000 ft-lb of torque. It can cut make and break connection time for premium pipe to less than half that of other systems.

Other safety features associated with the new tong include elimination of cables in the derrick and rails as well as the easily-maneuvered, upward storage position that takes up minimal floor space. Its flexibility of movement on the rig floor allows it to move to offline holes or to the rotary in safe, controlled and smooth motions. Yet it stores easily, away from rig floor traffic and without any rails to trip up hapless workers.

Rogers has developed an automation system for this versatile tong that is compatible with zone management systems already in operation. The ICAN automated control technology is specifically designed to interface with the zone management system through converters, and will work with other brands of systems, eliminating the costly system replacement system.

The company’s team considers its new drill pipe tong and its related positioning systems to be safe, fast and cost-effective in the tong equipment market. Safer/ faster on bottomhole assemblies as well as conventional drilling connections, it performs at a low maintenance cost. Rig floor savings are realized from connection time make-up, decreasing cost associated with tool joint wear, as well as overall mechanical maintenance costs. And the tool can improve safety standards and minimize loss time accidents.