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Enhanced Hot Water Drill 2004-05 Season Drill Operations Overview

Enhanced Hot Water Drill 2004-05 Season Drill Operations Overview. Berkeley Meeting March 19-23, 2005. Talk Outline:. Brief overview of the season’s achievements Drill setup and commissioning Drilling Camp Breakdown Personnel Schedule Interaction with Raytheon

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Enhanced Hot Water Drill 2004-05 Season Drill Operations Overview

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  1. Enhanced Hot Water Drill 2004-05 Season Drill Operations Overview Berkeley Meeting March 19-23, 2005

  2. Talk Outline: • Brief overview of the season’s achievements • Drill setup and commissioning • Drilling • Camp Breakdown • Personnel • Schedule • Interaction with Raytheon • Plans to resolve issues and make improvements for 05/06 season.

  3. Season Achievements • Set up and commissioned a very complex piece of equipment in one field season. • Gained valuable data about system performance and required improvements. • Gained valuable operational experience with the system. • Gained an insight into the scheduling requirements. • Managed to drill and instrument a hole. • Disassemble and winterize the drill.

  4. Drill Setup and Commissioning • MDS setup completed ahead of schedule • MDS fit out went smoothly and faster than expected. • Rod well start up was slower than planned for. • Hose winding went slower than expected. • Hose did not lay properly on the hose reel. • Constant requirement for fork lift to change spools. • Some shifts did not have enough personnel. • Work began to slip behind schedule just before Christmas. • Coincided with testing and commissioning phase. • A lot of people weren’t familiar with system. • We had equipment and reliability issues. • Some shifts had hands full just maintaining system operation. • Some required personnel had not yet arrived. • Weather delayed 4 personnel, including key personnel for a week .

  5. Firn Drilling • Start of drilling was not greatly affected by CEE delay. • Potential for delay if weather hadn’t intervened. • Firn drilling proved fairly slow. • 10-14 hours to firn drill • Possibly not getting enough heat transfer between firn drill and ice face. • Progress was stop/ start. • Drill bulb hangs on ice in hole. • Can do more trials next season. • May have to firn drill with main drill

  6. Main Drilling • Fact is the drill is capable of drilling holes to 2500m. • We can and did achieve full thermal power. • Melting performance matches thermal models. • Demonstrated drill can drill and ream in one operation. • Hose/ Cable tensioning algorithm worked. • Basic design is sound • Need to work on some reliability issues • Need some modifications

  7. Main Drilling • Main drilling hampered by drill speed issues. • Drill stem couplers proved difficult to fit together. • Difficult to start • Required over tightening to fit properly • Inadequate tower height made installing drill head difficult. • Lack of consistent heat output from drill caused slow downs. • Issue that may have been a factor in first hole problems and weight stack loss:- • Inexperience with system • Possibly an E-stop situation • Lack of familiarity with display system • Ordinary stainless steel, rather than hardened bolts, used on some stack couplers. • Overcrowding in the control booth. • Accident caused significant delays. • Situation was rectified and new procedures written. • Moving sites was untested this season. • Could take up to 2 days. • Anchors on some equipment not necessary. • There is room for other improvement.

  8. Camp Breakdown • Went to schedule • Had to improvise with surface hose storage to meet schedule. • How buried will hose get? • Biggest concern was freezing of main hose or surface hoses. • Submersible pumps proved difficult to remove. • Went back to two shifts and a skeleton 3rd shift to have an effective number of people per shift. • Went to one shift once water was completely flushed from system.

  9. Personnel Issues • Great Crew • Dedicated with great perseverance. • Need them back. • Not enough people • Lost one person early on in season. • Illness took a toll early on in season. • From around mid Dec. there were not enough people to maintain 3 shifts. • Working on getting more drillers. • Shifts need a rethink • There was evidence of burnout. • Need to reduce work hours. • Better plan shift times • Must have enough people per shift to allow meal breaks. • Need to plan the arrival of staff with particular talents. • Need to clearly inform staff of job expectations before they get to the ice. • Need to make the job more attractive. • Could offer seasonal drillers more incentives. • Some off season work. • Offer medical insurance

  10. Scheduling • Schedule was a great help in knowing what to do. • Refit of MDS’ was completed quicker than scheduled. • Some equipment arrived in a different order to schedule. • Not really a problem • Some equipment which was required early was scheduled to arrive later. • Schedule tracking was done haphazardly from mid Dec. • May need to consider a dedicated schedule tracker • Daily work sheets

  11. Interaction with Raytheon • Went exceedingly well. • Tom Hutching and Jay Bollinger were excellent interfaces between IceCube and Raytheon. • Support was readily available when requested. • Did not utilize electricians and UT’s as much as planned for in schedule. • Vehicle support was available as soon as possible after a request. • Delays were experienced on occasions. • Sometimes during night shift the forks were not operating • Need to consider allowing IceCube personnel to drive forks. • Preferably need to consider having a dedicated IceCube fork if at all possible.

  12. SES drill issues and improvements • Plan to drill up to 10 holes. • Possible fuel shortage • Issues to be resolved: • Drill speed limitations • Motor controller reliability • Heater and safety system reliability • Condensate system collection improvement • Network reliability • Computer user interface improvement • Improvement to drill system and main camp: • Place electrical cable tails on all submersible pumps. • Brake on Rod well winch. • A more robust sheave assembly over the Rod well hole • Provide a large tent as DNF storage and office work space.

  13. Tower Operations site improvements • Improvements to tower site set up. • Improvements to Return water pump winches. • Electrical slip ring on cable reel? • Improve braking system. • Reduce number of anchors. • Improve anchor design on required anchors • Provide reel stop switch inside TOS. • Install guide rollers on drill cable sheaves to prevent cable jumping,

  14. Tower operations site improvements • Reduce number of cables by making cable tails for main hose and cable reels. • Investigate is 4-100Amp cables to tower site are really necessary? • Power TOW from TOS? • Investigate if a generator at Tower site is feasible?

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