rig safety

What Do You Need to Keep in Mind When Working with Sonic Drilling Rigs?

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Over the last two decades, sonic drilling has gained widespread acceptance and popularity. It enjoyed industry-wide recognition. Two key contributing factors to this growth have something to do with technological advancements and the emergence of highly skilled drillers specializing in the use of sonic drilling rigs.

A skilled operator of a sonic drilling system may achieve high production rates and produce the best quality samples from a variety of subsurface conditions. Together with trained drillers, the sonic rigs make it possible to reach greater depths while getting into near-complete site core samples.

Recognize When to Utilise Sonic Drilling Rigs

Knowing how to discern the best time to use sonic rigs instead of traditional drilling is critical to providing cost-effective outcomes for the client.

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We have the following 3 reasons why you should utilize sonic drilling technology:

  1. Projects that necessitate the collection of a continuous in situ sample — this is the complete opposite of reverse circulation (RC) drilling, which collects chips.
  2. When drilling conditions require the exclusion of fluid and air, sonic drilling rigs do not need fluid or air, hence qualifying them as an excellent technique for geo-construction, environmental and geotechnical applications. Sonic types of drilling can lead to significant cost savings for environmental projectsThese forms of initiatives can be rather costly and time-consuming to complete to dispose of IDW (investigation-derived waste or otherwise known as drill cuttings) properly. Drilling dry lowers liquid waste compared to rotary procedures or drill mud/water.
  3. Sonic drilling is an excellent solution for undertakings with unconsolidated subsurface formations because it can effectively drill through pebbles to boulders whilst preserving borehole integrity through a continuous casing operation.

Make Use of the Right Drill

drilling rigsThere are many kinds of sonic tooling accessible nowadays that can help meet a variety of ground hardness and condition levels. The hardness of the ground is different from the unconsolidated, which is around 10 on the mineral hardness Moh’s scale.

Pay attention to the size of the rocks on unconsolidated terrain and modify the core barrel appropriately. The driller should use a core barrel that is at least 6 inches in diameter, regardless of the rock size. Ensuring a suitable core barrel size helps ensure the samples can easily be collected as they pass through the core barrel.

Telescoping the Core Barrel

Friction is your adversary when you are drilling through the earth, and any professional in this business would agree with that. Telescoping the digging minimizes friction and permits the contractor to bore further and deeper. Core barrels should come in the casing size. 

Don’t Just Keep an Eye on the Gauges

The greatest sonic drillers do not rely solely on gauges to determine when to back off or press forward. When skilled drillers operate the sonic drill string, they may rely on their senses to determine how the drill string is advancing; they can touch and feel it. They can also hear how the drill string is making progress, and from there make appropriate adjustments and decisions.

Additionally, experienced drillers rely on their familiarity with the drill site and ground structure. And the greatest drillers are adept at adapting their tactics as the hole deepens and comes into contact with new ground formations.

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Why the Honchos of Drill Rig Companies Consider Sonic Drilling is a Sound Solution for Frustrating Ground Formations?

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oil rigTop drill rig companies in the aggregate industry make use of sonic technology in assessing the probable quality of both sand and gravel deposits. It has been found that drilling the aggregate with a sonic device offers significant advantages which companies involved in the drilling industry must take advantage of

By applying resonant energy, sonic drilling can advance the core barrel into any kind of subsurface structure. Sonic frequencies are involved while drilling work is in progress as the vibrational energy in the drill string is funneled down the bit to the bit face.

The string rotates simultaneously and concentrates the energy and impact on the bit, distributing the energy and impact more evenly over the string’s surface. The outer casing is then drilled to the same depth as the main barrel. This does not necessitate the use of any fluid or water. 

Distinct Benefits of Sonic Drilling

Superior Quality of Information

This approach produces a fairly undisturbed ground sample because the sonic cutting action shears the soil cleanly without using any kind of fluid that will dilute the sample. Core recovery is almost 100% and stays deep in the subsurface, which allows better knowledge for decision-making.

Speed

Vibration and slow rotation provide for an increased advance rate, which is significantly helpful when drilling work is in progress through unconsolidated formations while yielding penetration speeds up to 3 times faster compared to those that can be experienced while drilling overburden.

Reduction of Drilling Waste

Drill breakage and waste are decreased by as much as 80% when the drilling is done efficiently and without the use of water or any liquid. When miners have this power, they are better able to determine the best course of action for their ventures and to manage their capital.

Reduced total time and costs by virtue of sonic drilling help you to avoid the risk of a project fiasco or having a prolonged project which is often brought about by unknown or unforeseeable difficult subsurface conditions. Besides, it comes with an adverse environmental impact, too. 

oil industry

Sonic drilling is useful for many mining applications because of these advantages. Drill rig companies can sample unconsolidated ore piles and use tabulation techniques to estimate reserves out of current legacy stockpiles. 

These stockpiles are typically depleted of ores. They may also examine leaching efficacy, identifying dry conditions and enhancing the leaching process, and increase the yield of the desired minerals.

A complete rig setup usually has these characteristics that make them highly suitable for shallow drilling into an overburden or pre-collaring before drilling with a traditional drill.

Sonic drilling is ideal for geotechnical research for building and mine construction projects. Sonic rigs that are smaller and have lower ground pressure can be taken advantage of in environmentally sensitive areas, like when you need to drill without creating any damaging impact on the pavement. It is also very ideal to use when you don’t want to disrupt existing grass beds, or even enter murky wetlands.

 

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How to Maintain Safety for Drill Rigs Australia?

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Just how crucial is proper maintenance and safety in drill rigs Australia? Nothing can be more important or basic than that.  

And what can happen when drilling companies don’t put them among their top priorities. To put this into proper perspective, let us take you into what Geoprobe Systems’ Rob Caho has to say on this matter: The repercussions of putting aside safety and proper maintenance for drill sites would be ranging from expensive machine repairs, staff or personnel injury, and if things turned out for the worse, death. 

But what are drilling rigs? We qualify them as intricate pieces of machinery, a typical example of a hefty financial investment and because of that, they require more than just the usual technical troubleshooting and maintenance but an ever-vigilant eye to keep a close watch at them, all the time.  

Practices and habits that are aimed at promoting the safety of everyone in the site must be seen as a key factor in making a quick return of investments.  

Enlist the Help of a Highly Qualified Person 

drill rig companiesIt won’t matter how frequent your team conducts maintenance or technical checks on your frequently used drill tools and paraphernalia, but if you have the wrong person to handle them, it will eventually end in disaster. 

You only need to hire the services of a person who is highly qualified for the job. This means to say you need to look for someone with proper training for the role or someone with relevant work experience.  

One major point of concern here is that the vast majority of the younger drilling contractors we have nowadays are not so very keen on doing maintenance work. It is not even surprising to come across young drilling contractors who do not even know how to change the oil in their vehicles.  

Today, an awful lot of drilling organizations find the great need to initiate some kind of training programs that will benefit their employees to help in acquainting them to the tools they regularly use in their maintenance. Gone are the days when you could handle someone with a tire gauge and expect them to know how to obtain the pressure of the tire.  

Stay in Control During System Emergency Shutdown

If you are used to maintaining your drill rigs properly, you will find no issue in making it part of your routine. Checking on them every single day is of paramount importance, that is if you seriously want to ensure that everything about your drill rigs Australian system is in tip-top shape.  

When you’re observing a regular maintenance routine, you are keeping entanglements or accidents in the workplace at bay. Besides, you can have your engineers working with a team or crew acquainted with where the safety systems are kept and get them familiar with how they can use them in case there is an emergency.  

When it comes to stopping switches, it is crucial to have them checked daily. Should you see them working not the right way, make no delays in replacing them. Never carry out any kind of drilling operation without checking on them first and seeing to it they are in perfect working condition. 

Grease Your Machine

The use of grease in the rig safety and maintenance work is always recommended. We are encouraging you to use lots of it.  

When it comes to greasing up your drill rigs Australian system is one aspect of the maintenance work that can be completed in no time, roughly 10-25 minutes or so. Being part of the preventive maintenance work, there is no best time, season, or day to do it — just do it all the time. It works to your advantage and will help in saving your work down the line. 

How to get this part done the easy way, without running the risk of skipping on it or being forgotten along the way? Create a checklist, telling where the grease fittings are stored up and what requires greasing on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.  

Never Perform Maintenance Work on Your Rig While It is Running 

This is self-explanatory unless you are up for some major safety issue, you will still proceed running your maintenance work while you have your drilling tools running.  

It is crucial that before making any kind of adjustment to your tools, ensure first that it is properly shut down. 

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