Arnco Technology Trust, Ltd., the world’s leading supplier of casing friendly hardbanding products to the oil and gas industry, has introduced a new, innovative hardbanding product called the ARNCO WEAR SLEEVE™. This new product will revolutionize the tool joint hardbanding industry and will save customers a significant amount of hardbanding and internal plastic coating damage costs.
It has been determined that the major cost involved in hardbanding is not the actual hardbanding itself, but the handling and transportation costs associated with laying down the drill pipe, loading it onto a barge/truck, transporting it into an inspection/hardbanding facility, offloading it, performing the necessary work, loading it back onto the barge/truck, returning it to the rig, offloading the pipe onto the rig, and putting it back into the well. These associated handling and transportation costs for each joint of pipe can be as much or more than the cost of a new joint of drill pipe. Now, with the ARNCO WEAR SLEEVE™, all those extra costs can be eliminated until such time as the drill pipe has to go to an inspection facility for regular inspection and maintenance.
The ARNCO WEAR SLEEVE™ works like this:
- The Wear Sleeve is hardbanded with one of the Arnco hardbanding products, either Arnco 100XT™ or Arnco 300XT™.
- The drill pipe tool joint pin is machined to accept the Wear Sleeve™.
- The Wear Sleeve™ is then installed directly onto the drill pipe tool joint pin between the pin and box connections during makeup.
- The drill pipe is run downhole and used as normal.
- When the drill pipe is tripped out of the hole the Wear Sleeves™ are visually inspected for wear.
- If the Wear Sleeve™ is excessively worn and requires replacement, the pin and box connections are broken out; the Wear Sleeve™ is removed by hand; a new Wear Sleeve™ inserted by hand; and the pin and box connections are made up and tripping continues as normal. The old Wear Sleeve™ is discarded and the drill pipe remains on the rig until completion of the well. If the Wear Sleeve™ is still in serviceable condition, no action is required until it is worn to the minimum OD tolerance.
