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Usually, the air-bottle assembly will consist of six air-pressure bottles and
associated valves, each bottle containing approximately 25 cu ft of air. The bottles
are interconnected. Using an air-operated isolation valve, remotely controlled from
the driller's control panel, allows up to 60% of the operating bottle volume to be
isolated temporarily. This eliminates the need to reduce the entire system pressure
to perform operations requiring significantly reduced pressure.
At full capacity, the fluid supply unit storage reservoir contains 395 gal of
hydraulic fluid. Also included are two air/oil pumps, a filtering system, and a fluid
sensing system. The fluid sensing system automatically maintains the hydraulic
fluid level of the accumulator at a safe level by pumping the hydraulic fluid back
into the system when required.
It is important to use a hydraulic fluid with excellent physical properties
with respect to viscosity and sensitivity to changes in temperatures.
The air supply system should consist of two or more air compressors and
associated dryers to provide dry, high-pressure air to the system (3,500 psi). One or
more air storage bottles ensure a ready supply of high-pressure air to both the
motion compensator and tensioner systems. Operating controls and indicators are
installed on the driller's control panel located on the drilling floor. This enables the
driller to operate and monitor the entire motion compensator system. The manually
operated controls open and close the valves, adjust the operating system pressure to
the operating load, and raise or lower the isolated system pressure. Large, easy-to-
read gauges display the various system pressure readings, and indicators show the
lock pin position and piston rod(s) extension.
A motion compensator system functions as a hydraulically loaded tension
spring with an adjustable tension effort. The compensator's hydraulic operating
system is passive. Rather than being driven by hydraulic pumps, the system is
energized by a compressed air supply system that acts on a given amount of
hydraulic fluid by means of an accumulator. Ideally, the volume of fluid never
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