| Popis: |
The objective of this paper is to present results from extensive testing of fully robotic drilling and pipe handling operations in the drilling industry, including several robots and tests on both land and offshore. Throughout the last eight years, all-electric, heavy-duty drilling and pipe handling robots of up to seven tons capacity have been tested and piloted on dedicated test facilities, land rigs and offshore rigs. The robotic equipment includes drill floor robot, pipe handler robot, robotic roughneck and pipe deck robot with the purpose of removing the people from the drill floor, derrick and the pipe deck. The testing and qualification have been conducted in phases and in a cooperation between equipment manufacturer, rig contractors and operating companies. The industry has great expectations with the introduction of robotics for red zone management and eliminating all manual operations and human exposure to heavy machinery. Expected value would be a substantial saving in rig days due to fast, precise and consistent operations and removal of people out of harm's way. In addition to improved safety, reduced OPEX, less downtime and faster installation, the robotics systems lower the noise and the carbon footprint due to higher energy efficiency and less GHG emissions. Also, the precise motion control of robots enables digitalization of the drilling process. The testing of robots in drilling applications has been done with the purpose of testing and qualifying the technology, as well as gaining experience with performance, reliability, maintainability, safety, and value to the users. This paper presents performance data from robot operations including both single robots and full system operations, such as tripping and stand-building. Reliability of electric robots in hostile environment is analyzed with regards to field experience from land rig drilling and offshore operations. Finally, the value to the users is substantiated. The paper provides unique results and experience from the longest and broadest tests of heavy-duty all-electric robots in the drilling environment. It therefore provides valuable input for decisions of future use of industrialized robots in the oil and gas upstream industry. |
