Faculty of Engineering
Petroleum Engineering Department
Drilling Engineering I
Third Stage
Lecture # 7
Rotating System
Pshtiwan Jaf 1
[email protected]
Rotating System
Rotating System
• The rotary system is used to rotate the drillstring, and therefore the drill bit, on
the bottom of the borehole.
• Generally, rigs can rotate the bit in one of three ways:
1. The traditional way, the method that still dominates drilling, especially on land
sites, uses a rotary table and Kelly.
2. A second way uses a top drive system, which drilling contractors began to
employ widely in the 1980s.
3. A third way uses a downhole motor, which contractors use in special cases.
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Rotating System
Rotary-Table System
• Today, many contractors, especially those offshore, employ
top drives on their rigs.
• However, many rigs still use the rotary table system to rotate
the drill string and bit.
• The main components of rotary table system are:
➢Rotary table with turntable
➢Master bushing
➢Kelly drive bushing
➢Kelly saver sub
➢Kelly
➢Swivel
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Rotating System
Turntable
• A stationary heavy-duty rectangular steel case houses
the rotating turntable.
• The turntable is round in shape and is near the middle of
the case.
• The turntable produces a turning motion that machinery
transfers to the pipe and bit.
• An electric motor or gears and chains from the rig
drawworks power the turntable.
• Additional equipment transfers the turntable's turning
motion to the drill pipe and attached bit.
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Rotating System
Master Bushing
• A bushing is a fitting that goes inside an opening in a
machine.
• A rotary table master bushing fits inside the turntable.
• The turntable rotates the master bushing.
• The master bushing transmit torque and rotation from
the rotary table to the Kelly bushing.
• The master bushing has an opening through which crew
members run pipe into the wellbore.
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Rotating System
Master Bushing, cont.
• A tapered bowl fits inside the master bushing.
• This bowl serves a vital function when the pipe and bit are
not rotating.
• When the driller stops the rotary table and uses the rig's
hoisting system to lift the pipe and bit off the bottom of the
hole, it is often necessary for crew members to suspend the
pipe off bottom.
• To do so, they place a set of segmented pipe gripping
elements called "slips" around the pipe and into the master
bushing's tapered bowl.
• A master casing bushing is used to handle casings.
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Rotating System
Slips
➢ Drill Pipe Slips
➢ Drill Collar Slips
➢ Casing Slips
• Because of the slick shape of most drill collars, a safety
clamp is always used above the drill collar slips
• If the drill collars slides in the slips, the safety clamp
works as a stop to force the slips to grip the drill collar.
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Rotating System
Kelly Drive Bushing
• A kelly drive bushing transfers the master bushing's rotation
to a special length of pipe called the "kelly ".
• The kelly drive bushing fits into the master bushing.
• Two types of master and kelly drive bushing are available.
• One master bushing has four drive holes. Strong steel pins on
the bottom of a kelly drive bushing made for this type of
master bushing fit into the holes.
• When the master bushing rotates, the pins engaged in the
drive holes rotate the kelly drive bushing.
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Rotating System
Kelly Drive Bushing, cont.
• Another type of master bushing has a square opening and no drive holes.
• The opening corresponds to a squares shape on the bottom of a kelly drive
bushing made for this kind of master bushing.
• The square bottom of the Kelly drive bushing fits into the corresponding square
opening in the master bushing.
• With the square drive bushing in place, the rotating master bushing turns it.
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Rotating System
Master & Kelly Drive Bushings
Types of Master and Kelly Drive Bushings
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Rotating System
Kelly Saver Sub
• Kelly saver sub is used between the kelly and the first joint
of drillpipe.
• The Kelly saver sub prevents excessive wear of the threads
of the connection on the Kelly, due to continuous make-up
and breakout of the Kelly whilst drilling.
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Rotating System
Kelly
• The Kelly is the rotating link between the rotary table and the drill
string.
• Its main functions are:
– Transmits rotation and weight-on-bit to the drill bit
– Supports the weight of the drill string
– Connects the swivel to the uppermost length of drill pipe; and
– Conveys the drilling fluid from the swivel into the drill string.
• The Kelly comes in lengths ranging from 40 to 54 ft. with cross
sections such as hexagonal (most common and stronger), or
square.
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Rotating System
Kelly, cont.
• The kelly's flat sides mate with a corresponding square or hexagonal opening in
the kelly drive bushing.
• The kelly slides easily into the drive bushing opening. It is therefore free to move
up or down through the bushing opening, even as it rotates.
• The kelly's being able to move through the rotating bushing is important because
it allows the kelly to follow the bit down as it drills deeper.
• In general, a hexagonal kelly is stronger than a square kelly. Consequently,
contractors tend to use hexagonal kellys on large rigs to drill deep wells because
of their extra strength.
• Small rigs often use square kellys because they are less expensive.
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Rotating System
Kelly, cont.
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Rotating System
Kelly, cont.
• The Kelly is usually provided with two safety valves, one at the top
and one at the bottom, called upper and lower Kelly cocks,
respectively.
➢ The Upper Kelly Cock can be used to control Kick pressures by
shutting off flow in the drill string at any time.
➢The Lower Kelly Cock can stop mud loss when the kelly is
disconnected from the drillstring.
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Rotating System
Kelly, cont.
Upper kelly valve
Lower kelly valve
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Rotating System
Swivel
• Another principal part of a rotary-table system is the swivel.
• The swivel interfaces the rotary system with the hoisting system.
• A heavy-duty bail, similar to the bail, or handle, on a water
bucket but much larger, fits into a big hook on the bottom of the
traveling block.
• The hook suspends the swivel and attached drill string.
• Crew members make up the top of the kelly to the swivel.
• The kelly screws onto a threaded fitting (the stem), that comes
out of the swivel.
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Rotating System
Swivel, cont.
• This stem rotates with the kelly, the drill string, and the bit.
• At the same time, drilling mud flows through the stem and
into the kelly and drillstring.
• Near the top and on one side of the swivel is a gooseneck.
• The gooseneck is a curved, erosion-resistant piece of pipe.
It conducts drilling mud under high pressure into the
swivel stem.
• A special hose, the rotary hose, attaches to the gooseneck.
• The rotary hose conducts drilling mud from the pump to
the swivel.
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Rotating System
Summary of kelly and rotary table system
1. The turntable in the rotary table rotates the master bushing.
2. The master bushing rotates the kelly drive bushing.
3. The kelly drive bushing rotates the Kelly.
4. The kelly rotates the attached pipe and bit.
5. The swivel suspends the pipe, allows it to rotate, and has a
passage for drilling mud to enter the kelly and pipe.
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Rotating System
Top Drive System
• The top drive is basically a combined rotary table and Kelly.
• This system does away with the kelly and thus the kelly drive
bushing and a rotating master bushing.
• Instead, a top drive, rotates the drill string and bit.
• Like a regular swivel, a top drive hangs from the rig's large
hook and it has a passageway for drilling mud to get into the
drill pipe.
• However, a top drive comes equipped with a heavy-duty
electric motor (some large top drives have two motors).
• Drillers operate the top drive from their control console on
the rig floor. 20
Rotating System
Top Drive System, cont.
• The motor turns a threaded drive shaft.
• The crew inserts the drive shaft into the top of the drillstring. When the driller
starts the top drive's motor, it rotates the drill string and the bit.
• A top drive eliminates the need for a conventional swivel, a kelly, a rotating
master bushing, and a kelly drive bushing.
• Rigs with a top drive, however, still need a rotary table with a master bushing and
bowl to provide a place to suspend the pipe on slips when the bit is not drilling.
• Because the rotary table only serves as a place for crew members to place slips
on rigs with top drives, manufacturers make special rotary support tables for top
drive rigs that are lighter and smaller than regular rotary tables.
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Rotating System
Top Drive System, cont.
• The main advantage of a top drive over a kelly and
rotary table system is that a top drive makes it safer and
easier for crew members to handle the pipe.
• Because of the way in which a rig with a rotary table
system operates, the crew can add only one joint of drill
pipe at a time as the hole deepens.
• With a top drive system, on the other hand, because it
operates differently from the conventional system, the
crew can add pipe three joints at a time, if they choose
to do so.
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Rotating System
Downhole Motors (Mud Motors)
• In special situations, the rig may use a downhole motor to rotate the bit.
• Unlike a rotary table or a top drive system, a downhole motor does not rotate the
drill string. Instead, it rotates only the bit.
• Drilling mud powers most downhole motors.
• Normally, crew members install the motor in the drill string just above the bit.
• To make a mud motor rotate the bit, the driller pumps drilling mud down the drill
string as usual.
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Rotating System
Downhole Motors (Mud Motors), cont.
• When the mud enters the motor, however, it strikes a spiral shaft, which goes inside a
tubular housing.
• The shaft and housing fit in such a way that mud pressure causes the shaft to turn.
• Because the bit is attached to the motor shaft, the shaft turns the bit. The mud exits
out of the bit as usual.
• Rigs often use downhole motors to drill directional holes.
• Because it is easier to get the bit to drill in the desired direction if the drill string does
not rotate, rigs employ downhole motors.
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