American Oil and Gas Reporter - March 2023 - 84

SpecialReport: Resource Science
we are running remotely, which makes
troubleshooting much faster. "
Fleet Diagnostics
With the right data, pressure pumpers
can extend equipment life significantly,
says Jeremy Frank, co-founder and chief
executive officer of KCF Technologies
Inc. " For most of the companies we have
worked with, equipment life has doubled, "
he details. " For fluid ends, it's tripled. A
decade ago, most companies would get
300-350 hours from a fluid end. Today, the
average is well over 1,500 hours, and it's
not uncommon to see 2,000. "
These gains are partially attributable to
placing magnetic sensors on pumps' exteriors
to monitor vibration and temperature,
Frank notes. He likens the sensors to
experienced hands' practice of touching
pumps to detect signs of trouble.
" The activity inside a pump can be
very destructive, " Frank observes. " One
of the most common problems is cavitation
or knocking. When the plunger pulls
backwards to draw fluid into the pump
but isn't seeing enough flow, it creates a
vacuum that vaporizes the liquid inside
and causes it to expand rapidly. This explosion
of water vapor is extremely destructive
to the consumables inside the
pump, including the borehole and the
valves and seats.
" The magnetic sensor on the outside
may not be able to detect cavitation directly,
but through years of hard work in
partnership with experts in the field, we
can correlate its temperature and pressure
readings with cavitation and other issues, "
Frank reports.
According to Frank, that capability
can reveal or confirm observations that
help redefine best practices. " For example,
10 years ago, when many spreads
had both triplex and quintuplex pumps,
we noticed that cavitation and other destructive
events were more common and
severe on the triplex pumps, " he recounts.
" At the time, most people expected
triplex pumps to be stronger, simpler and
more robust. That is probably true in general,
but during hydraulic fracturing,
other factors caused the pumps to encounter
severe conditions. "
Although it took time to determine
those conditions' root causes, the lesson
was obvious much sooner, Frank recalls.
" The quintuplex pumps ran smoother, so
most of our customers switched to them, "
he clarifies.
In addition to monitoring pumps,
KCF can place sensors on other equipment.
Frank says optimizing the spreads'
fluid dynamics can entail looking as far
back as the blender discharge pump.
" One of the simple but previously unseen
realities we discovered is that many
fleets were not delivering sufficient pressure
from the blender discharge, " he reveals.
" If we had only watched the
pump, we never would have realized the
entire system needed more flow. "
Through machine learning algorithms,
the company's software quickly converts
sensor data into useful insights, Frank assures.
" One of the most important realtime
insights these algorithms generate is
spotting washed out valves, " he illustrates.
" Once that happens, the fluid end
no longer contains all the pressure that
develops inside. That is extremely destructive
to the fluid end, and it can lead
to dangerous situations if other failures
happen at the same time. "
To avoid those situations, fleets back
out of a pump or at least reduce its load
once they detect a washout, Frank notes.
" A vibration sensor with the right intelligence
can identify a washed-out valve
and seat's signature, then send an alert so
the fleet can adjust quickly, which minimizes
safety risks and equipment damage, "
he says.
The sensors also warn crews about
power end problems such as cracked
teeth, misaligned gear sets or failed bearings,
Frank adds.
By protecting equipment, the realtime
alerts can save lives. " The most dangerous
and stressful situations in the field
usually involve unplanned events or
downtime that put people in an emergency
mode, " Frank explains. " As field
hands who initially express skepticism
about our technology see those disruptions
occur less frequently, they often become
advocates for it.
" Pressure pumping is an extremely
complicated fluid dynamics problem, " he
reflects. " One of the most important areas
we study is how the slurry flows through
the missile or manifold and into the frac
pumps. We spend a lot of time simulating,
testing and observing various flow
path designs to come up with improvements
that are theoretically sound and robust
enough to work in the field. "
Even something as seemingly straightInstalling
magnetic vibration and temperature sensors throughout a hydraulic fracturing
spread can reveal ways to improve safety and efficiency, KCF Technologies reports. The
company says the sensors have helped many fleets double or triple equipment life.
84 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER
forward as the suction hoses' diameter or
the order in which pumps come on line
can alter fluid dynamics for better or
worse, Frank says. " We are nowhere close
to coming up with perfect solutions, " he
assesses. " It can be tempting to think that
because fleets have come so far, but there
is so much more to understand. "
That applies not only to hydraulic fracturing
but also to drilling. " We are leveraging
the expertise from frac fleets and
American Oil and Gas Reporter - March 2023

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