Hammer Drilling Rig Method.

Whether drilling on land or offshore, a successful drilling system must provide (1) a means of fracturing or abrading the rocky formations that must be penetrated to reach the oil gas; (2) a means of excavating the loosened material from the well as drilling proceeds; and (3) a means of preventing the walls of the well from caving in as well as a way of sealing off water and gas. In addition generally the wells need to remain as close to vertical as possible, the well must be deep enough to reach the reservoir, and the diameter must be large enough to permit lowering tools into the hole.

One of the examples from hammer drilling method is The Becker hammer Drill. The Becker Hammer Drill is able to penetrate sand, gravel and boulder formations at speeds greater than conventional methods, and with immediate and accurate analysis of the formations encountered.

With the Becker Method, a double wall drive pipe is driven by a percussion hammer, while compressed air is forced down the annulus of the drive pipe. The compressed air continuously lifts the material penetrated by the drive bit to the surface through the center of the double wall pipe. At the top of the drive pipe the geological material is diverted and passes through a discharge hose to a cyclone which slows down the discharge velocity. The discharged material is accumulated in suitable containers as it emerges from the cyclone, and samples are taken at specified intervals for analysis of the formations drilled. As the center of the drive pipe is always clear and the bit always remains on the bottom of the hole, SPT, Calmod or Shelby samples can be taken at any time, of if required, PVC Pipe, overburden casing, piezometers, inclinometers or other instruments can be set before the drive pipe is withdrawn. Upon reaching bedrock, a hydraulic rotary attachment can be set into position and conventional drilling methods can proceed with the double wall pipe serving as the overburden casing. Chip sampling with tricone rock bits or diamond coring can be readily achieved as the difficulty of penetrating the overburden has been overcome. On completion of a hole, the double wall drive pipe is withdrawn by a puller system comprised of two hydraulic cylinders.

The significant features of the Becker Hammer drilling method that set it apart from other drilling methods are:

The unique method of driving a casing with a percussion hammer without the necessity of rotation.

The casing is a double wall drive pipe with a large center opening which allows even large cobbles to be lifted without prior crushing.

Drilling and casing the hole are combined in one operation. No duplication of effort by first drilling, then casing, then cleaning out the casing.

Provides automatically, as part of the drilling process, a continuous and accurate geological sample of the penetrated formation (the drill in fact penetrates the formation by sampling it).

Due to the rapid rate of penetration, field engineering time is significantly reduced.