Putting

the
Power
to Work.

An Introduction to Turbodrill
Components & Evolution
• 1??? Principle of Turbodrilling hundreds of years old
• 1924 applied to drilling in USSR
• 1956 first licensees in West
• 1982 first steerable motor for Neyrfor
• 1986 first Weir Turbodrill run
• 1988 Weir part-buy Neyrfor
• 1991 Neyrfor-Weir founded
• 1991 Weir pump technology applied to Turbodrills
• 1992 First Neyrfor-Weir Steerable (Bent) Turbodrill
• 2001 First HiTORQ Turbodrill commercial run
• 2002 Sii Neyrfor
 Sii Neyrfor Locations
Stavanger, Norway

Halifax, Canada Aberdeen, Scotland

Heerhugowaard, Holland
Hassi, Algeria Cairo, Egypt
Houston
Dubai, UAE Muscat, Oman KL, Malaysia
Anaco, Venezuela

Santa Cruz, Bolivia

Perth

Engineering (2) Inventory & Assembly (3) Turbodrill Assembly (6) Sales w/o Assembly (16)
 •Lithology
•Formation Strength
•Faults Formation
Characteristic

What
•Milled Tooth Determines
•TCI ROP?
•PDC
•Impreg Drill Bit
Power
Type
Supplied •WOB
•RPM
•Hydraulics
Create Excellent Hole Quality
Eliminate Hole Spiraling
Steer Where PDM’s Struggle or Fail
Improve Sliding ROP

Balance Drum Thrust Reduction Adjustable Bent Housings

Diamond Thrust Bearings Flow Bypass Option
Pressure Profile Blades Four Different Standard Blade Types
Titanium Flexible Shaft Replaceable Stabilisers
Very High Temperature Capability Pin or Box Connection to the Bit
 Typical Turbine Characteristics

1
Torque Power Pressure

0.75 Nominal

Pressure Runaway Stall

0.5
Torque
Power

0.25

Torque x Speed = Power Output

0
5252
0 0.5 1
Stall Nominal Speed Runaway
Speed
Differing blade types give a different pressure profile:
Mk1 Blades have a constant pressure profile.
Mk2 Blades vary in pressure.
Result is easy to see stall and On bottom Pressure is less than Off bottom.

Pressure Profiles Mk 1 Blades

1750

1500

Pressure
1250 Mk 2 Blades
1000

750

500
Stall On Bottom Off Bottom
MK1 Blades MK2 Blades
 Turbodrill Configurations:
Straight Hole and Steerable Turbodrill
 Turbodrill Configurations:
Straight Hole Turbodrill

Conventional T3 (3 Motor Section) Turbodrill

Overall length could be 70+ ft

(dependent on tool size i.e. OD)
 FBS Steerable Turbodrill
Typical Layout
Thrust Balance Drum

Turbine Stages

Single Motor Section

Interchangeable Intermediate Stabiliser

Adjustable Bent Housing

Interchangeable Lower
Bearing Stabiliser

Flexible Titanium Shaft

PDC Thrust Bearings

Lower Radial Bearing

Pin-Ended Shaft

Box Connection Bit With

Integral Turbine Sleeve
 Turbodrill Components

Turbine Blades: Stage Arrangement

Rotor
Blading
Disk

Stator
Stator Blading
Blading Disk
Disk

Mud
Rotor Flow
Blading
Disk

Motor
Section
Turbine
Body
rd
nwa
Dowhrust
T
Assembly
makes up
One Motor Stage
Turbine
Shaft
Turbodrill Evolution
Turbine Blade Design
 Turbodrill Configurations &
Components
Forces and Load Support Turbodrill Hydraulic Thrust

Thrust >110,000 Lbs

80,000 Lbs

W.O.B. ± 30,000 Lbs

Weight on Bit
(For 9-1/2” T3(Mk1), 750 Gpm, OBM)
 Turbodrill Components

Turbine Elastomer Bearing Arrangement

Moving
Disc
Thrust
Bearing
Moving
Disc

Labyrinth
Spacer Front
Bearing

Flexible
Shaft
Fixed
Disc Bent
Housing

Front Bearing
Stabiliser

Bit Box Stabiliser

 Turbodrill Evolution
Turbine PDC Bearings

Dramatic Improvement in Efficiency & Reliability!!

 Turbodrill Evolution
Turbine Thrust Balance Drum (TS B)

Balance Drum Assembly

Motor Section

Micro
Annulus
Pressure Equalising
Leakage Flow
Main Flow to
Motor Section

Main Mud Flow

into Turbodrill
Leakage Flow
Exits to Annulus
Balance
Drum
Turbine Housing
Shaft
SiiN 03003
 Turbodrill Evolution
Turbine Thrust Balance Drum (TS B)
FLOW Thrust area Thrust area
for Balance for blades
Drum etc

Hydraulic Diameter ‘Db’

THRUST THRUST

Turbine Blade
Balance Drum
Diameter ‘Dd’

THRUST EFFECTS?
Resultant
6-5/8” : Thrust reduced by 50% Thrust area
9-1/2” : Thrust reduced by 70%
 Turbodrill Evolution
Turbine Thrust Balance Drum (TS H)
With a TS H tool the shaft is hollow.
The TSH Balance Drum Housing
has a field-changeable nozzle to
bypass a chosen % of the flow – or
can be blanked-off. (Leakage flow
through shaft)
Tooling, Nozzle-Carrier & nozzles
shown below.

Balance Drum Housing

(TSB)

Leakage Flow to
Annulus?
TSB : Yes
TSH : NO
 Turbodrill Components

Turbine Radial Bearing Arrangement (standard)

(Rubber type HNBR – O.K. up to 190°C)

Cr Ox coating (0.003” thk.)

Lower Radial Bearing Intermediate Radial Bearing
 Turbodrill Components

Turbine Radial Bearing Arrangement (Metallic)

WallCarb™
lining
(Bush)
LaserCarb™ Highest recorded
coating
Temperature when
(Sleeve)
successfully
using a Turbine –

± 260°C

Lower Radial Bearing

 Turbodrill Configurations &
Components
Bearing Section Lower Shaft Flow Arrangement

± 95 %

Flow Port
Turbodrill Evolution
Flexible Titanium Shaft

Adjustable Bent Housing

 Turbodrill Configurations &
Components
Connecting Turbodrill Tool Sections
Female Tapered Coupling with
Spline Guides

Male Tapered Coupling

with Spline Guides
 Turbodrill Components
Connecting Turbodrill Tool Sections
 Turbodrill Configurations &
Components
Rig Site Interchangeable Stabilisers

Intermediate Stabiliser
(Rig-changeable)

Lower Bearing Stabiliser

(Rig-changeable)
 Turbine Blade Design
Basic Aero foil Theory

Moving Air

Bernoulli’s Principle:-
Higher velocity means lower
pressure, and vice versa
(assuming constant mechanical
energy).

Ref: http://www.amasci.com/wing/airgif2.html

From: J.S.Denker’s “How it Flies”

 Turbine Blade Design
INLET FLOW

Entrance Angle

(Stator:
FIXED)

(Rotor:
MOVING)
Rotation
(C.W. looking down)

(Stator:
FIXED)
Exit Angle
 Turbine Blade Design
Hydraulic Components:
HYDRAULIC
POWER IN
(Flow x Pressure)

FIXED

Rotation

Axial
Thrust

FIXED

Rotation
 Basic Turbodrill Hydraulics
Factors influencing overall Hydraulics:
 BHA, DP selection & Rig Pump capacity
BHA selection: Drill Collars & HWDP are a source of pressure loss
which could be better put to use for the Turbodrill. Turbodrills use
less W.O.B. than PDM’s/Rotary: make sure you do not have excess
weight (& pressure loss) below the Jars...
DP Selection: Where does the pressure go ?
S urf a c e Lo s s e s
S urf a c e Lo s s e s
2%
2%
A nnnulus
A nnnulus
7%
9% 5" D P
2 1%
4 1/ 2 " D P
33%

B it
3%
6 1/ 2 " D C
B it 4%
3%

6 1/ 2 " D C
T urbo drill 4% T urbo drill BHA in 8 ½ hole
5 1% 6 1%
Turbodrill Nomenclature
• T1 - Turbodrill with a single Power Section
• TSB or TSH Single power section with a balance drum
• T1XL - Turbodrill with an extended single Power Section
• T2 - Turbodrill with Two Power Sections
• T3 - Turbodrill with Three Power Sections
• FBS – Steerable Turbodrill with a bent housing using
a Titanium flexible drive shaft
•BSA – Straight Turbodrill bearing with PDC bearings

• Mk1, Mk2 or Mk3 – Turbine blade type, each is

optimised for a particular application ie. Mk2 for
steerable, Mk3 for drilling UBD or other applications.
 Turbodrill Blade Comparison

Flow (M3 / min) 2.0 2.0 2.0

Mud type ( - ) XCD XCD XCD
Mud weight (kPa/m) 11.4 11.4 11.4
PV (Cp) 11.50 11.50 11.50
YP (Pa) 10.60 10.60 10.60
TFA ( in^2 ) 1.50 1.50 1.50
Surface press ( Bar ) 241 189 246
Turbine press ( Bar ) 149 96 154
Nominal Speed Rpm 1376 1174 1705
Stall Torque ( Nm ) 3787 2586 2864
Power ( kW ) 270 173 279
Turbodrill Tool Sizes
Tool Size Hole Size

2 7/8” 3.25-4.0”
3 3/8” 3.75-5.375”
4 3/4” 5.625-6.75”
5” 6.0-6.75” - Specialised High Power Tools
6 5/8” 7.652-9.875”
7 1/4” 8.375-9.875” - Specialised High Power Tools
9 1/2” 12.0-17.5”
Turbodrill Advantages
Drilling Performance - Reliability & Non Degrading High Power
- ROP !
Directional Applications - Easier & Faster Sliding
- Easier Toolface Control
- Not affected by Temperature

- Not damaged by Stalls

- Smaller bend housing needed to achieve

given directional change
- Potentially simpler & cheaper than
rotary steerable in many applications

Hole Quality & Completions - Stabilised turbine BHA’s in some cases

can offer better hole quality & easier
completions in comparison to slick PDM’s.