Steep rise in consumption of petroleum products, with the drilling industry shifting radar towards AC drilling drive system, BHEl supplying drilling rigs of various capacities since 1978 is buoyant to capture the growing business potential.
SCR division, BHEl, Bhopal has earned a landmark credit in this direction in the form of an order for electrical equipment package for 06 Nos of 2000HP AC rigs from M/s ONGC. Development of IGBT based AC drives and control systems have opened avenues for achieving the required characteristics for oil rig applications with the use of AC motors, earlier done with the use of DC motor.
AC drive systems are now in operation on deep water drilling vessels, fixed platform rigs and land rig applications across the globe. The AC drilling drive system is currently being used on almost all projects as it has significant operational benefits.
AC drives have demonstrated reduced energy consumption by increasing the power factor, superior control of speed & load with large speed range, high accuracy auto drilling functions and reduced service-maintenance cost Evaluation of AC variable frequency drives & SCR drives systems is one of the prominent tasks of any new drilling project. AC systems are now delivering efficiently on all fronts in comparison to the conventional DC systems.