TCI Drag Bits vs Roller Cutter Bits
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A drilling bit can be defined as a tool mainly used for crushing, scraping, and grinding a formation loose. Depending upon several factors such as cutters, drilling bits can further be classified as TCI drag bits or rolling cutter bits.
TCI drag bits usually consist of fixed cutter blades that are integral with the body of the bit and rotate as a unit as the drill string rotates. The cutter element being mentioned here can consist of steel cutters, diamond, or polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC).
While the serrated steel blades are fixed at different angles in steel cutter bits, the face of a bit with diamond cutters sports several diamonds set in a tungsten carbide matrix. As for the PDC bits are concerned, a layer of synthetic PDC is bonded to a cemented tungsten carbide and contains several diamond crystals strongly bonded together. This sintered PDC compact is further bonded either to a TCI bit-body matrix or a steel bot. Notably, drag bits with PDC cutters are the most used bits in the drilling industry these days.
Drag bits can be categorized as step drag bits or chevron drag bits.
Roller Cutter Bits
Roller cutter bits usually have two or more cones containing cutters that rotate about the axis of the cone while the bit rotates at the bottom of the hole. The most common type of roller cutter bits as of now is the 3-cone rolling cutter bit. When dealing with roller cutter bits, several factors such as structure materials, bearing-seal-lubricating design, cutting structure arrangements, and hydraulic arrangements need to be put into proper consideration.
To make the process of buying the right drill bit simpler for the industrialists, the International Association of Drilling Contractors classify these by identifying similar bit types from different manufacturers.
Rockpecker is among the most trusted manufacturers of drag bits across the globe. Feel free to browse through the website to find out about the products we offer.
Reference:
- Drilling Engineering - Drill Bit. (2020). Retrieved 11 September 2020, from https://www.slideshare.net/akincraig/drlling-engineering-drill-bit
