1.

Traffic equipment: includes all equipment

concerned with the movement of the directional drilling fluid in the well thus
that the methods of processing solids (spoil).
Usually, drilling fluids are prepared and/or stored in the
mud tanks before being pumped into the well through the probe train
and rise to the surface through the annular space to return to the tanks
sludge (their starting point) by passing through the treatment facilities
the solids.
In this circuit, we find:
The mud pumps;
The discharge hose (rotary vibrator hose)
The ground manifold (option);
The discharge pipes and the rising columns
The floor manifold (rig floor manifold or standpipe)
manifold
The injection hose (rotary drilling hose)
The injection head
The drilling rig
The annular space
The fountain tube (bell nipple)
The return line or trough (flowline)
Vibrating screens
The degassers
The sand extractors
The distillers and/or the mud cleaner
The centrifuge (if needed)
The mud tanks
The cuttings dryer system
1.1 The mud pumps: they are large reciprocating pumps
piston volumetric pumps designed to circulate drilling fluids
often at relatively high flow rates and pressures.
There are two-piston pumps (duplex double-acting) that
are becoming increasingly rare and three-piston pumps
(simple triplex effect) that can be found on almost the majority of
drilling equipment.
A mud pump is mainly composed of:
Of a body made of cast or forged steel fixed on a support
solid metallic called skid,
-A mechanical part consisting of:
An attack tree with its gear pinion
often helical,
A drive system for the attack shaft
composed of gears and chains or of
pulleys and belts,
A crankshaft (eccentric) with its large wheel
toothed with a gear of the same type as that one
from the attack tree,
Connecting rods that link the crankshaft and the stocks of
guidance
Guiding crosses,
Buttstock extensions,
An oil pan,
A lubrication system with a heat exchanger
heat).
From a hydraulic part consisting of:
A set of hydraulic pump bodies
(two or three depending on the type of pump) who
contain the seats and the intake flaps and
of rejection as well as the shirts,
 Pistons with piston rods,
An intake manifold,
A discharge manifold,
A pulsation dampener at the intake,
A pulsation damper at the discharge,
An automatic safety valve
relief valve) at the discharge, with a 2 pipeline
to 3 in which allows the fluid to return to the tank
of aspiration,
A manual bleed valve at
backflow, with a 2 to 3 inch pipe that
allows the fluid to return to the suction tank,
A cooling system for assemblies
piston sleeves
A supercharging system (generally
consisting of a centrifugal pump driven by a
electric motor or by belts.

The main characteristics of slurry pumps are:

The type of pump (example: duplex double-acting or
simple triplex effect)
The mechanical power at the pump inlet,
The rotational speed of the crankshaft or eccentric
(number of hits per unit of time),
The maximum stroke of the piston,
The maximum inner diameter of the sleeves,
The minimum inner diameter of the sleeves,
-The maximum discharge pressure,

1.2 The ground manifold: Generally mounted on a skid and placed in

a position often horizontal not far from the pumps, the manifold
 on the ground is a combination (arrangement) of pipelines and
high pressure valves that receive the drilling fluid discharged by
the entire system of pumps and directs it to one of the pipes of
refoulement which will take it to one of the rising columns
through the floor manifold (standpipe manifold). What
ensure at all times the availability of at least one line of
refoulement that goes up to the rising columns.
The service pressure of the ground manifold must be at least equal to
that of the mud pumps.
All connections between the different elements of the manifold to
sol must be of the flange type or welded (the threaded connections)
They are not tolerated starting from a pressure of 5000 psi.

1.3 The rising column: it is a rigid high-pressure pipe and

vertical that goes up along the mast and ends with a swan neck
to which the injection hose is connected. As a precaution (safety)
medium and large capacity drilling rigs are equipped
of two rising columns.
The different parts of the discharge pipes (including the
displacement flexibles), floor manifolds, columns
mounts and injection hoses are connected to each other
generally through quick connection fittings.

1.4 The floor manifold (rig floor manifold or stand pipe manifold):
It is a set of high-pressure valves connecting the pipelines.
of backflow and the vertical columns at the floor level.
These valves are arranged to provide several paths for
pumping (combination of two rising columns and two
backflow lines) including towards the injection line under
the safety shutoff valves (kill line) and the filling line of
well during the operations of the probe train and which is located at
 on top of all the safety shutters (in cases where the tray of
maneuver or trip tank is not available.

1.5 The mud return line (flow line): it is the low pipe.
relatively large diameter pressure (equal to or greater than 12
inches) and which receives the drilling fluid at its outlet from the well and the

directs to surface traffic equipment (example:

vibrating screens, gas separator or mud gas separator, etc.
The return line or trough must be inclined towards the sludge tanks.
with a slope of at least 10%.

1.6 Vibrating screens (shale shakers): they are equipment that

use metal filter screens mounted on supports
vibrant and intended to separate the drilling fluid from the cuttings in
circulation on a rotary drilling rig.
Vibrating sieves are the equipment that eliminates from a
relatively economical way the largest part of the excavated material
(solids) brought up from the bottom by the drilling fluid.
Vibrating screens can be:
Simple floor with a single canvas (horizontal or inclined),
Simple floor with two canvases (one in the extension
on the other hand but in two different planes,
Simple floor with three cascading canvases (in plans
parallel or not,
Two floors with two sails (dual or double deck),
Multi-story with several canvases

The main operational characteristics of sieves

vibrants are:
The type of vibration:
Unbalanced elliptical (eccentric above the
center of gravity of the vibrating basket (gold
screen box or screen deck or vibrating tray.
With this type of movement, the vibrating platform
(screen deck) must be tilted outward for
facilitate the transport of debris.
Balanced elliptical (two parallel eccentrics)
but with different weights or two eccentrics of
 same weight but not parallel and not rotating
in the same direction),
Circular (eccentric to the center of gravity of the
vibrating plate (basket or screen box or vibrating
tray),
Linear (two identical eccentrics with axes
parallels not turning in the same direction.
Linear vibration allows:
oA good transport of the debris. The plateau
vibrant (basket or screen box or vibrating tray)
can even be tilted backward to
give time to the excavated materials to
remove the drilling fluid that they
contain before they leave the sieves,
oA significant separation capacity,
oA less significant coating.

The amplitude of the vibration,

The amplitude of the vibrations can vary from a few tens
from microns up to more than 7000 microns depending on the
builders.
The throughput capacity of vibrating screens varies in
same meaning as the amplitude of the vibrations.
A high amplitude of vibrations will help a fluid to
relatively viscous forage to pass through the nets
filters will also force some of the solids to pass through
through these canvases or to patch them.
The rotation speed of the eccentric can reach 1800.
tours/minutes et même plus. Sur les nouvelles générations
In vibrating screens, the excenters are often integrated into the
electric motors
The tilt of the canvas:
The sieve cloths can be:
Horizontally: what allows for a relatively passage
important of the liquid phase of the drilling fluid,
Leaning forward: This gives them a
conveying capacity of the debris relatively
important; because every slope encourages a greater fall
quick removal of debris,
Leaning backward: The tilt of the canvases of
slope towards the back (uphill slope) is used
often with linear systems 'linear motion'
 shale shaker » to improve fluid retention
(better solids-liquid separation).

The type of movement and the angle of inclination of the canvases of

sieve conditioner:
The time for debris to pass through the canvases,
The load capacity in solids of the canvases,
The load capacity in liquids of the fabrics,

The screens can be saturated (with a

constant rate of progress (ROP):
In liquid phase, if we increase the flow rate,
In solids if we decrease the flow.

The sieve cloths are primarily characterized by the size of

their openings. These openings can be square,
rectangular or hexagonal.
Sieve cloths can be flat or waved (pyramid
screens), simple or stacked.
Depending on the type of screens used, vibrating sieves can eliminate
solids with a diameter greater than 74 microns.

1.7 The sand separators: By convention, the sand separators are

hydrocyclones that have an inner diameter of the cone (at the level of
the admission) equal to or greater than six inches (6").
Often made up of a set of cones (usually 1 to 3
8in, 10in, or 12in hydrocyclones) each equipped with two
openings at the upper part and an opening (adjustable) at
level of the lowest part. The tangential and under admission
pressure of the drilling fluid at the top forces it to
to raise a centrifugal force driving solids to go towards the
inner walls of the cones and descend, aided by gravity, towards
the lower opening to be evacuated.
The drilling fluid, thus relieved of a large part of
solids, rise towards the upper opening.
 Sand extractors are used to remove the sands contained.
in the drilling fluids and thus protect all the equipment from
circulation system of the phenomenon of erosion.
They also help to maintain the characteristics of the fluid
forage within the specified limits with slight treatments of
this one.
Under optimal conditions, the sand separators can eliminate the
solids with a diameter greater than 44 microns.

1.8 The distillers: The cones of the distillers (usually a

battery of 8 to 20 hydrocyclones) resemble those of
casters and have the same operating principle but their
dimensions are smaller (generally 4 inches).
They are designed and used to eliminate free particles from silts.
(of dimensions ranging from 20 to 40 microns contained) in the
drilling fluids and thus significantly reduce their
solid content.

1.9 The mud cleaners: deployed on drilling sites in the early

1970s, they are designed to eliminate the solid contents
in the drilling fluids and coming from the field without that
cause losses in products added voluntarily for
to thicken drilling fluids while reducing their losses.
One can say that a mud cleaner is a combination of
of desilter hydrocyclones and a very fine metal mesh
filter mounted on a vibrating support. This filtering fabric receives and
deals with solids at the output of hydrocyclones. This allows for
significantly reduce the phenomenon of retention.
Particles larger than 7 microns can be
eliminated by the mud cleaner.
1.10 The centrifuges: they consist of a cylindrical drum
prolonged by a cone trunk (called a bowl) placed on its side and which
spins at high speed. Inside this drum is a
conveyor belt that turns at a slightly lower speed than
the one of the drum.
The solids contained in the drilling fluid are thus plated.
against the inner wall of the drum then driven by the screw
conveyor to the exit. This way we collect the heavy products.
deliberately added to thicken the drilling fluid in order to
put them back in the treated part of the drilling fluid.
On the other side, the fluid containing fine particles comes out, which
unwantedly increase the viscosity. This part of the
fluid is definitely eliminated.

Concentric cylinder centrifuges consist of a

first exterior cylinder inside which can rotate at high speed
speed (up to 2300 revolutions/minute) a second perforated cylinder of
diameter slightly less than the first.
This type of centrifuge separates the admitted drilling fluid flow.
in two currents. One contains the largest part of the barite
and the other contains clays, fine silt particles, a part
of the drilling fluid containing chemical constituents and a little
of barite.
A centrifuge can remove solid particles of less than
4 microns in size.

1.11 Vacuum degassing units: they are mainly made up of a ...

tank on which a vacuum pump is placed.
Operating principle:
The gasified sludge is sucked into the degasser's tank at
the help of an L-shaped pipe whose vertical branch plunges into the
 sludge tank and the horizontal branch located in the part
the upper part of the tank is closed at its end and split on
the entire length of its upper part. The admitted gasified mud
flows through the slot and spills over a chicane located underneath the
horizontal branch of the pipeline. This allows the mud to
expand on the baffle and release the gas it contains.
The aspiration of the gasified sludge is achieved through the vacuum pump.
which significantly reduces the pressure inside the tank.
L’écoulement de la boue dégazée est facilité par un jet de boue
treated created at the level of the pumping pipe using a
centrifugal pump.

1.12 Gas separators (mud gas separators): they consist of

of a vertical cylindrical tank containing several inside
chicanes.
The gasified mud coming from the well is directed towards the upper part.
from the tank and spills over the chicanes.
The mud spread on the chicanes releases the gas it contains.
mud thus degassed descends towards the lower part of the reservoir and
the released gas rises to the upper part and will be directed to
the assistance of a guide to a location specified in the procedures
work.

1.13 The cuttings dryers: Placed in a location

appropriate, the spoil dryers are designed to extract the
quantity of drilling fluid retained within the deadlines downstream of
means of solid treatment.
Some spoil dryers use centrifugal force to
separate the solids from the drilling fluids they contain.
The cuttings to be processed arrive at the dryer from above.
and pass between two coaxial cones that rotate at high speeds
 speeds (up to 1200 revolutions per minute) but slightly different.
The outer cone has a fabric similar to that used
on vibrating screens (which allows fluids to pass through
this web from the inside of the cone to the outside.
The inner cone has inclined metal scrapers.
(flights) on its outer wall. This wiper system plays the role
conveyor to direct the dried debris towards the exit of the
machine.

1.14 Injection hoses: these are flexible lines connecting

the upper end of the riser at the injection head
(or top drive system). They allow maneuvering the train of
probe at a height equivalent to the length of the rod
training while maintaining traffic. They are designed
to withstand high fluid pressures during drilling or
during special operations.

1.15 The discharge hoses: Located right at the end of

discharge collector of the sludge pumps, they allow
to absorb the vibrations generated by the operation of
pumps. These hoses also facilitate the connection of
backflow lines (HP mud lines) to the mud pumps.

1.16 The injection head or top drive system: suspended from the hook of
mobile glove and connected to the injection hose using a fitting
together, they allow the drilling casing to which they are
turned freely while offering the drilling fluid a
sufficient and watertight passage (see description made in the chapter
titled 'rotation system'.
1.17 The sludge tanks: Generally parallelepiped in shape with
solid metal walls (plates reinforced by ribs
or wavy, they are equipped with a system of pipes, valves
and machine guns (mud guns) and are designed to allow:
The preparation of the drilling fluid (manufacturing tank),
The storage of drilling fluid (reserve tank),
The circulation of drilling fluid from one tank to another or
from one compartment to another (circulation trough)
The aspiration of the drilling fluid by the mud pumps or
centrifugal pumps (suction tank)
- The treatment of the drilling fluid to adjust these
characteristics to the appropriate values (treatment tank
chemical or chemical tank
The correct installation of processing means and
separation of solids,
The preparation and injection into the drilling filler of
volume-reduced drill fluid caps (pill tank).

1.18 Stirring devices or mixer helicopters:

A stirrer essentially consists of a propeller driven by
rotation by an electric motor.
The role of the agitators is to:
Maintain the drilling fluid homogeneous (the solid phase
correctly distributed in the liquid phase, in other words
promote good solid suspension in the phase
liquid),
Prevent (break) the freeze of the drilling fluid from taking place
embarrassing proportions,
Elimination of air or gas bubbles that may be in
the drilling fluid.