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

Enhanced Hot Water Drill 2004-05 Season

Drill Operations Overview

Berkeley Meeting

March 19-23, 2005

Mar 19-23, 2005

2Enhanced Hot Water Drill – 2004/5 Season Drill Ops.

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.

Mar 19-23, 2005


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.

Mar 19-23, 2005


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 .

Mar 19-23, 2005


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

Mar 19-23, 2005


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

Mar 19-23, 2005


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.

Mar 19-23, 2005


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.

Mar 19-23, 2005


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

Mar 19-23, 2005


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

Mar 19-23, 2005


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.

Mar 19-23, 2005


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.

Mar 19-23, 2005


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,

Mar 19-23, 2005


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?

Documents

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