mud pump wikipedia quotation

A mud pump (sometimes referred to as a mud drilling pump or drilling mud pump), is a reciprocating piston/plunger pump designed to circulate drilling fluid under high pressure (up to 7,500 psi or 52,000 kPa) down the drill string and back up the annulus. A mud pump is an important part of the equipment used for oil well drilling.

Mud pumps can be divided into single-acting pump and double-acting pump according to the completion times of the suction and drainage acting in one cycle of the piston"s reciprocating motion.

Mud pumps come in a variety of sizes and configurations but for the typical petroleum drilling rig, the triplex (three piston/plunger) mud pump is used. Duplex mud pumps (two piston/plungers) have generally been replaced by the triplex pump, but are still common in developing countries. Two later developments are the hex pump with six vertical pistons/plungers, and various quintuplexes with five horizontal piston/plungers. The advantages that these new pumps have over convention triplex pumps is a lower mud noise which assists with better measurement while drilling (MWD) and logging while drilling (LWD) decoding.

The fluid end produces the pumping process with valves, pistons, and liners. Because these components are high-wear items, modern pumps are designed to allow quick replacement of these parts.

To reduce severe vibration caused by the pumping process, these pumps incorporate both a suction and discharge pulsation dampener. These are connected to the inlet and outlet of the fluid end.

The pressure of the pump depends on the depth of the drilling hole, the resistance of flushing fluid (drilling fluid) through the channel, as well as the nature of the conveying drilling fluid. The deeper the drilling hole and the greater the pipeline resistance, the higher the pressure needed.

With the changes of drilling hole diameter and depth, the displacement of the pump can be adjusted accordingly. In the mud pump mechanism, the gearbox or hydraulic motor is equipped to adjust its speed and displacement. In order to accurately measure the changes in pressure and displacement, a flow meter and pressure gauge are installed in the mud pump.

The construction department should have a special maintenance worker that is responsible for the maintenance and repair of the machine. Mud pumps and other mechanical equipment should be inspected and maintained on a scheduled and timely basis to find and address problems ahead of time, in order to avoid unscheduled shutdown. The worker should attend to the size of the sediment particles; if large particles are found, the mud pump parts should be checked frequently for wear, to see if they need to be repaired or replaced. The wearing parts for mud pumps include pump casing, bearings, impeller, piston, liner, etc. Advanced anti-wear measures should be adopted to increase the service life of the wearing parts, which can reduce the investment cost of the project, and improve production efficiency. At the same time, wearing parts and other mud pump parts should be repaired rather than replaced when possible.

Electronic Pump Stroke Counters are a vital part to any drilling rig operation. When a mud pump is in operation, the driller must know how much mud is flowing down hole in order to keep the operation running at peak efficiency. Pump stroke counters assist the driller by measuring the mud pump’s strokes per minute and total strokes. So, how does a pump stroke counter tally the mud pump’s strokes

Electronic Pump Stroke Counters are a vital part to any drilling rig operation. When a mud pump is in operation, the driller must know how much mud is flowing down hole in order to keep the operation running at peak efficiency. Pump stroke counters assist the driller by measuring the mud pump’s strokes per minute and total strokes. So, how does a pump stroke counter tally the mud pump’s strokes, and why it is important? In order to understand that, you’ll need to know some basic information about mud pumps.

Knowing how a mud pump functions is important in understanding the role a pump stroke counter plays in rig operations. Mud pumps act as the heart of the drilling rig, similar to how our heart works. Just as our heart circulates blood throughout our bodies, a mud pump circulates essential drilling mud down the hole and back up to the surface. Mud tanks house drilling mud, and a mud pump draws the fluid from the mud pump. A piston draws mud in on the backstroke through the open intake valve and pushes mud through the discharge valve and sends it towards the rig. By circulating fluid, the mud pump ensures that the drill bit is cool and lubricated and that cuttings are flushed from the hole. The two main kinds of pumps used are duplex and triplex pumps, where the duplex pump has two pistons and the triplex pump has three. Whether the rig is using a duplex or triplex pump, it is important to know how many strokes per second the pistons are moving. The driller monitors strokes per minute to determine how much costly, yet essential, mud is being pumped into the system with the use of a mud pump stroke counter system. Now, that you know about mud pumps, you’ll need to know what’s in a stroke counter system.

Stroke Counter — The stroke counter stainless steel box is mounted on the driller’s console and is either square or rectangular in shape, depending on the number of pumps it is monitoring. Stroke counters will show strokes per minute and total strokes, and when a particular mud pump is operating the strokes/minute and total strokes will be displayed. Power is supplied by a 3.6 volt lithium battery, and the counter contains a crystal-controlled real time clock with 100 parts per million accuracy or better. Each counter is mounted to the console with 1/4” stainless steel hex head bolts, lock washers and nuts.

Micro Limit Switch — The micro switch is connected to a c clamp near the mud pump piston. The micro switch stainless steel rod (sometimes called a whisker) sticks out in the piston housing near the piston. As the piston passes the rod, it moves the rod and the switch sends an electronic signal back to the counter. The counter increases by one each time the piston moves the rod, counting the mud pump’s strokes. The switch’s signal is then transmitted to the stroke counter. These micro switches are built to stand up to demanding outdoor conditions. They can withstand shock, equipment vibration, extreme temperatures, water and dust.

Cable and Junction Box – A cable is connected to the back of the pump stroke counter and then to the junction box. From the junction box, the cables travel to the limit switches.

Pump Stroke Counters are like a blood pressure machine. Each time our heart pumps, a blood pressure machine reads our systolic and diastolic blood pressure by way of our pulse. A mud pump stroke counter functions in much the same way. Just as a blood pressure machine detects our pulse so too does a limit switch rod detect the movement of the piston. When the stainless steel rod is moved, the micro limit switch detects the movement. The signal is sensed as a contact closure, and it is transmitted to the stroke counter where the contact closure is converted to a logic pulse. The pulse feeds two separate circuits. The total strokes circuit reads and displays the closures one at a time, totaling them up to reveal the total strokes in the LED window. The second pulse is sent along a separate circuit which is a rate circuit. This rate circuit will average the closures against the real time clock. The result is displayed as the total strokes per minute.

Pump stroke counters are essential to drilling rig operations because they measure the efficiency of mud pumps. Knowing strokes per minute and total strokes of the pistons helps the driller to determine if the correct amount of mud is going down hole. Having this information aids in running a drilling rig at peak efficiency, assists in extending drill bit life, and avoids costly overuse of drilling rig mud. Unsure which pump stroke counter is right for your application? Give our friendly, knowledgeable staff a call or email. We’ll keep you turning right.

Backed by the industry"s best delivery, customer service, and technical support, Cat Pumps products and service parts are readily available when you need them. A worldwide network of highly qualified distributors provides sales and service support for pumps, parts and accessories when servicing is required.

SEEPEX metering and dosing pumps are a range of precision pumps that have a metering accuracy of +/- 1%. The pumps are found in a variety of industrial and municipal applications and are especially suited for low pulsation delivery of low to viscous media as well as chemically aggressive media and media containing solids.

Black gold is truly the best description to sum up the value of oil. One of the most important contributors to change and industrialization, it drives the wheels of progress. ShalePumps is headquartered in Houston, the global oil capital. Headed by experts, it has a vision to support the industry with superior completion equipment. Frac operators, drilling contractors and well service companies source rely on ShalePumps for superior quality.

The key personnel of ShalePumps have a combined experience of more than a hundred years. This experience is reflected in the quality of our equipment. The fracking pumps, components and all services are much sought after for reliability and long life. This is because of the processes we follow. The design, materials, precision engineering and expertise contribute to an advanced assembly line.

After many years of thought and conscientious engineering, the team at ShalePumps is proud to add the Q5K™ 5000 HP Frac Pump to their list of many product offerings. Perfectly capable and suited for the next generation of hydraulic fracking market demands and technology. The Q5K is the only frac pump that has been designed and developed from the ground up to be capable of accepting true 5000 HP in a continuous duty frac application.

ShalePumps has consistently delivered high quality completion equipment to all stakeholders. The mission is to develop faster, rugged and efficient equipment to help the Oil and Exploration Industry. The vision is to continue leading the race with the best quality in completion equipment.

In the first objective re-quoted above, if we can keep the pressure exerted by the drilling mud greater than the pore pressure, then we know that fluids will flow in the direction of the mud to the formation. This cannot always be achieved. For example, if we drill through a natural fracture or if our mud density is too great and we inadvertently fracture one formation, then we may lose large quantities of the drilling fluid into the fracture (Lost Circulation). In this situation, instead of having the full weight of the mud column exerting pressure on a second (porous and permeable) formation, we may only have a fraction of the oil column height exerting a lower pressure on that second formation.

improper mud replacement during tripping: while tripping out of the hole mud volumes must be pumped into the wellbore at high enough rates to replace drill pipe being removed from the wellbore;

lost circulation: as discussed earlier if large volumes of drilling fluid enter the subsurface in (1) high permeability formations, natural fractures, or drilling-induced fractures, then the effect is a shortened height and weight of the mud column.

increase in the rate of flow of the drilling fluid returns at constant pump rates (primary indicator of a kick):The increased rate is caused by formation fluids entering the wellbore and is a strong indication of a kick. In addition, if it is a gas kick, due to the compressible nature of gas, as the gas bubble travels up-hole and hydrostatic pressures decrease, the volume of the bubble will increase due to expansion.

volume of mud in the mud pit increases when no additional drilling fluids are added to the mud system (primary indicator of a kick):For the same reasons as mentioned above, if the volume of mud in the mud pits increases when no additional fluids have intentionally added, then the increased volume is caused by formation fluids entering the wellbore and is a strong indication of a kick.

drilling fluids returns continue to flow when the mud pumps are turned off (primary indicator of a kick):Drilling fluid returns when the mud pumps are shut-off indicate that formation fluids are entering the wellbore and displacing the mud.

improper wellbore fill-up/volume-balance on trips (primary indicator of a kick):If the drill pipe is removed from the wellbore, then the change in volume in the mud pits should equal the volume of the drill pipe removed from the hole. An improper volume balance is a strong indicator of a kick.

pump pressure decrease and pump stroke increase (secondary indicator of a kick):If low density fluids are displacing heavier drilling fluid in the annulus, then this will cause the pump pressure to decrease (the annular side of the u-tube is lighter than the drill pipe side of the u-tube which contains the mud pump pressure gauge). The imbalance in the u-tube, just described, will cause the heavier drilling fluid in the drill pipe to fall due to gravity, causing the mud pump to increase the number of strokes to keep up with the pressure imbalance.

reduction in the mud weight (secondary indicator of a kick):The Mud Man may observe a reduction or Cut in the mud density at the rig-site mud laboratory. This again may be an indication of a kick.

BBA Pumps is not just a manufacturer and supplier; our employees have a tremendous amount of pump knowledge which they would like to share with you. You can contact us in 7 different languagesfor:

hex pumps with six plungers. Triplex pumps are the most widely used because the pressure they provide is suitable for most applications and because of their simplicity and efficiency. Triplex pumps are susceptible to high vibration and noise during operation.