Overview-hard rock penetration

Conference · Thu Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 1992

OSTI ID:7369648

Dunn, J C ^[1]

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1. Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM (United States)

The Hard Rock Penetration program is developing technology to reduce the costs of drilling and completing geothermal wells. Current projects include: lost circulation control, borehole instrumentation, acoustic telemetry, slimhole drilling, geothermal heat pumps. A new project to improve synthetic diamond drill bits for hard rock drilling was initiated during the year. Accomplishments during the year include completion of important acoustic telemetry tests in the Long Valley Well. These tests produced the first set of reliable, repeatable data in a drill hole. The results indicate the promise of acoustic transmission through drill pipe for great distances without repeaters. The rolling float meter for measuring drilling fluid outflow was duplicated and sent to six different companies for evaluation in the field. A new slimhole spectral gamma tool for operation at temperatures up to 300 C was fabricated and evaluated in the laboratory. Slimhole drilling for exploration and reservoir characterization was begun with several projects jointly completed with industry.

• OSTI ID: 7369648
• Report Number(s): CONF-930484--; ON: DE94001714
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
150303 -- Geothermal Exploration & Exploration Technology-- Exploratory Drilling & Well Logging
150901* -- Geothermal Engineering-- Drilling Technology & Well Hardware
COMMUNICATIONS
DATA TRANSMISSION
DRILL BITS
DRILLING
DRILLING EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENT
EXPLORATION
GEOTHERMAL INDUSTRY
GEOTHERMAL WELLS
Geothermal Legacy
HEAT PUMPS
INDUSTRY
LOST CIRCULATION
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
ROCK DRILLING
TELEMETRY
WELL DRILLING
WELLS