BETTER Drilling Fluid Equipment Industrial Limited offers a full line of premium expendables and service parts for most popular models of mud pumps that are currently in operation worldwide. These items include various styles of valves,seats, pistons, liners, piston rods, and extension rods, as well as all fluid end spares. We also offer a complete selection of fluid cylinder modules and power end components, such as crankshaft assemblies, pinion shafts, gear sets, bearings, connecting rods and crossheads.
These parts combine the finest materials and manufacturing expertise, including the premium service and support. The result is the best performing products available from any manufacturer. Whether you are running Brewster, Emsco/Bomco, Drillmec, Gardner-Denver, Gaso, HongHua, Ideco, Lewco, Massarenti, National, Oilwell, OPI or Wirth, Wheatley, Wilson pumps in your rig fleet.
BETTER is committed to meeting and exceeding our customer's expectations. To achieve this objective, we conform with ISO 9001 for operational procedures and all the parts are made strictly according to API Spec 7K standard.
When you have questions pertaining to the parts and service offered in this field, we are ready to address
your needs and welcome your call.
ZIRCONIA-CERAMIC LINERS
BETTER's Zirconia-ceramic liner is produced from a unique Zirconium-based ceramic compound that is extremely pure and stabilized, so that it avoids Alumina-ceramic liners's brittle, and exhibits better polished, impact strenght, long lasting, tough, crack resistant than Alumina-ceramic liner.
With these property advantages, the liners' sevice life will be greatly extended,and an indirect effect will reduce the friction between the liner and pistons, which in trun extends piston life and reduces pump-cooling requirements, and good performance on the high temperature application. Finally, it will save a huge cost for the drilling work.
Zirconia mud pump liners offer longer service life
MUD PUMP LINERS made of zirconia
ceramic can offer lifetime cost savings,
significantly longer service, better
performance and safer operation than
sleeves made of more commonly used
chrome iron or alumina ceramic,
according to data developed by manufacturers.
P I S T O N W E A R
The special hardness and exceptional
wear resistance of zirconia translates
into longer service from the urethane
and rubber pistons that move at high
speeds and under tremendous pressure
inside the mud pump liners. With true
bores and zirconia liners honed to a fine
4 RMS finish, piston wear/consumption
can be reduced by as much as 75%,
according to Carpenter Advanced
Ceramics (CAC)
Zirconia mud pump liners come in a variety of
sizes and wallthicknesses.
Comparative costs of normal average
piston replacement are dependent upon
replacement frequency. All pistons cost
the same, about $125 each, however, the
cost gaps widen with the differences in
replacement frequency.
Pistons used inside chrome iron liners
had to be replaced twice a month for
three years, for a total cost of $9,000.
Pistons inside the alumina liners were
changed once a month, or 36 times in
three years, at a cost of $4,500. Pistons
stroking inside zirconia liners had to be
replaced only 12 times in three years, at
a cost of $1,500.
Self aligning rods are either recommended
or required with alumina
ceramic liners. Self aligning rods are
used to assure that pistons run perfectly
straight inside the pump. Imperfect
alignment could result in a side load, for
example, that could cause a crack.
The choice of alumina for a mud pump
liner adds a one-time cost of about
$1,000 per cylinder, and represents the
difference between higher-cost, self
aligning rods and the lower-cost, standard
rods that suffice with both chrome
liners and zirconia liners.
L A B O R AN D RI G D O W N T I M E
The costs mentioned above do not
include labor or rig downtime costs,
which are expended numerous times as
parts or equipment replacement are
needed. The costs cannot be forecast in
event of breakdowns, emergencies or
that are mud pump liner-related.
Steve N Thompson, CAC Manager/Oil
& Gas, recognizes that rig supervisors
are best equipped to estimate costs for
parts and components replacement by
applying prevailing hourly labor rates
and hourly cost of lost productivity from
pump or rig downtime.
"If it takes two hours of skilled labor to
break down a pump, remove and replace
the liner, then re-assemble the pump,"
Mr Thompson said, "that process could
be very costly in three years of routine
operation for a platform running two to
four triplex pumps.
"Factor in a surprise or two, a serious
accident, or multiply by a fleet of 50 to
100 drill rigs and you are looking at an
expense that could run into hundreds of
thousands of dollars."
O T H E R C O N S I D E R A T I O N S
All drilling operations require a plentiful
and continuous flow of water to minimize
heat build up that could burn up
pistons and/or cause bore wear. Use of a
zirconia liner does not require any alteration
of the driller's existing lubrication
system, unlike an alumina liner that
requires a larger water supply.
If the contractor's water system is marginal,
a change in piping or a water system
re-design may be needed at an
expense of possibly tens of thousands of
dollars.
Safety is enhanced on drilling rigs when
liners are made of zirconia because the
crew is spending less time repairing
mud pumps. That is especially important
on offshore rigs where space is limited
and environmental conditions such
as wind, rain, snow and a pitching platform
can make such work hazardous.
Mud pump liners have to withstand
severe operating conditions during
drilling operations. They circulate up to
200 gpm of water and slurry at pump
pressures as high as 7,500 psi.. The circulated
mud contains a large volume of
abrasive, corrosive contaminants. Lost
circulation material containing peanutlike
cedar fiber particles is very abrasive.
Further, temperature of slurry
returned to the pump can increase in
the range of 88°C-149°C (190°F-300°F)
as drilling penetrates deeper, making
the mud mixture even more abrasive
and corrosive.
Mud pumps in some rigs operating in
the mining industry have to deal with a
mixture of salt water and sand, which is
both corrosive and abrasive. In one min-
A piston hull with a zirconia ceramic sleeve
that fits inside the piston.
ing installation, the drilling contractor
reported increasing the service life of
his mud pump liners from 100 days to
more than one year by switching from
the traditional chrome iron to the newer
zirconia ceramic.
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