Smith International, Inc.

Schlumberger Technology Corporation

Wayne C Quantz

Michael E Hooper

Madapusi K Keshavan

Daniel H Symonds

Glennon Allmon Wheeler

James W Estep

John Clyde Wade

Robert C Tucker, Jr

Jean M Quets

Kuttaripalayam T Kembaiyan

Mark J Hommel

Melvin D Mendenhall

A Moineau style stator includes a helical reinforcement component that provides an internal helical cavity. A resilient liner is deployed on an inner surface of the helical reinforcement component. The helical reinforcement component includes a solder or braze material and is typically metallurgically bonded to an inner wall of a stator tube. In exemplary embodiments, the helical reinforcement component includes a composite mixture of solder and aggregate. Exemplary embodiments of this invention address the heat build up and subsequent elastomer breakdown in the lobes of prior arts stators by providing a helical reinforcement component. Solder reinforced stators tend to be less expensive to fabricate than reinforced stators of the prior art.

Braze or solder reinforced moineu stator

Braze or solder reinforced Moineau stator

A method to apply a high performance overlay to a metal substrate of a rock bit to render the substrate surfaces of the rock bit more resistant to erosion, corrosion and substrate cracking while performing in an earthen formation is described. The method comprises the steps of bombarding the surfaces with a thermal spray of entrained fine particles of a cermet based composition at a velocity in excess of 3,000 ft/per sec. The resultant coating of the cermet based composition has a tensile bond strength in excess of 20,000 psi that results in an increase of the strain to fracture of the rock bit surface. The hard overlay has a resistance to severe service environments of high strain and shock tolerance as well as a higher load carrying capacity.

High performance overlay for rock drilling bits

An improved O-ring seal for rock bit bearings is formed from a resilient elastomeric composition comprising a multiplicity of low friction wear resistant particles distributed uniformly throughout the composition. The low friction wear resistant particles can have a rounded or non-rounded configuration. The low friction wear resistant particles located near the surface of the O-ring are exposed through wear of the elastomeric component to form wear pads that contact adjacent rotating rock bit sealing surfaces. The wear pads serve to reduce the break-off friction between the adjacent sealing surfaces and minimize the occurrence of stick-slip, thereby enhancing the service life of the O-ring seal and rock bit.

O-ring seal for rock bit bearings

Growing community of inventors

Kingwood, TX, United States of America

Wayne C Quantz