January 2016 Vol. 71 No. 1
New Products
HDD ‘Wireless Wireline’ Guidance System Introduced
Savant Wireline Guidance System
Savant Technologies LLC, has made available a new “wireless wireline” guidance system for horizontal directional drilling.
The Savant system can be used with large drill rigs that typically utilize conventional wireline guidance systems and also smaller machines, including those with dual-rod mechanical drilling drives, something conventional wireline equipment can’t do, said Sean Hogan, Savant general manager.
“The Savant system,” Hogan said, “allows HDD operators to wirelessly obtain all of the same HDD drill head locational data with the same or a greater degree of accuracy as can be provided by traditional wire based guidance systems and at substantial labor and other cost savings.
The Savant system will be exhibited at the 2016 UCT show in Atlanta in February and is expected to be available early in 2016.
The Savant system uses a drill string and the earth’s ground to connect the downhole sonde and the earth
“We start with a site survey, the same as with a wireline shot,” Hogan explains. “Savant customized software from Trimble feeds the data to our profiling software. We are currently using the same standard APS sensor as used with wired systems, although we also could use most available sensors.
“We couple that with our battery-powered transmitter that can power the system for two weeks on a standard alkaline battery or four weeks using a lithium ion battery. Because of the small size of the sonde, we can deploy the system on a small rig or in a double rod drill. The up-hole software can be run on a tablet or PC from the cab of the drill. The software is intuitive enough that the driller can perform both the steering and the drilling duties.”
Savings
Cost savings is one immediate benefit of the Savant system, said Hogan. It also is useful in mountainous and water conditions that make walk-over tracking difficult or impossible.
“Eliminating the need to make wire connections saves in a lot of areas and can eliminate two crew members,”
he said.
Today, most drilling units of less than 100,000 pounds of pullback use walk-over tracking systems. One of the most significant benefits of the Savant system, Hogan said, is the potential of bringing wireline tracking benefits to smaller drill rigs, including those with mechanical duel-rod drilling drives.
“Walk-over equipment limits practical working depths of these machines to about 30 feet,” Hogan said. “Savant Guidance Technology provides accurate data to depths of 200 feet or more significantly expanding the capabilities of equipment in the 20,000 to 100,000-pound class. It enables operators to cost effectively provide more accurate survey data to utilities and other customers at much greater depths than can be obtained using the walk-over guidance approach typically used today for this segment of equipment.”
In addition to depth limitations, Hogan said, walk-over equipment used for most of the small and midsize drill market segments cannot measure azimuth; is not very accurate beyond 20 feet or so of depth; cannot deliver accurate survey data; and is not usable in certain environments such as mountainous or water terrain.
“The wire cable guidance system,” he continued, “provides good data at greater depths, but is extremely labor intensive and expensive because wire must be connected to each pipe segment – and the wire can break in mid project. Consequently, the wire cable system normally is used only on longer projects involving large drills.”
Testing
Savant Technology was developed by Apex Directional Drilling and Hogan while he was employed at Apex. Savant, a limited liability corporation based in Oregon, now owns all of the rights, title and interests, including patent rights, rights in patent applications, software and intellectual property rights.
Development of the Savant system began in 2012, and since early 2012 Apex and Savant have used it on numerous HDD projects ranging from 240 to 2,400 feet in length and depths from 20 to 190 feet.
The projects, Hogan said, have involved a wide variety of ground conditions from soil and mud to rock, and met many directional challenges, including elevation changes both up and down and the need to go around obstacles.
Both conventional single rod and double rod drill rigs have been used. In about half of the projects, a surface coil system was used to check the accuracy of the wireless data. In several projects, meaningful magnetic interference was encountered
“In each of these projects,” Hogan concluded, “the Savant Guidance Technology provided extremely accurate survey data and enabled Apex/Savant to guide the drill to the desired endpoint with accuracy that was greater than could have been accomplished using the wire cable guidance approach.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Savant Technology
Sean Hogan, (971) 404-4627
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