Halliburton Security DBS has introduced a solutions-based approach to bit design and manufacture. According to Gary Weaver, manager of technical marketing at the company, the so-called "designer wells" of the past have become routine for many operators. Accordingly, Security has developed a software toolbox that allows the company's application development engineers (ADEs) to sit down with their customers anywhere in the world and design a custom bit solution. The program allows parameters to be changed and cross-checked with theoretical norms so designs can be optimized to achieve the desired performance in the formations to be drilled. Adjustment of design parameters is constrained by an engineered "rules base" that ensures the resulting bits adhere to standards and practice - in short, the program eliminates "pilot error."

The resulting designs can be sent electronically to the manufacturing facility to drive a CAD/CAM program that renders a 3-D design of the bit. The design feeds directly into computer-driven machine tools so the actual body casting mold can be built without interruption. Specifically targeted for custom bit designs, according to Weaver, are hard rock applications for polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) bits and directional drilling. "Properly designed PDC bits are particularly effective when drilling transition strata, such as the Travis Peak and Cotton Valley formations," he said. "The rapid changes from normal strata to extremely hard strata are very hard on bits. Sequences can go almost instantaneously from 2,000 psi rocks to more than 40,000 psi rocks and back again."

For more information, visit www.halliburton.com.

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