Foro Energy (United States)

The subject of this paper is the requirements, design, fabrication, and testing of a prototype laser rock drilling system capable of penetrating even the hardest rocks found deep in the earth. The Oil and Gas industry still uses many of the technologies that were in use at the turn of the 19^th century. The drilling industry started with a great innovation with the introduction of the tri-cone bit by Howard Hughes in 1908. Since then, the industry has modified and optimized drilling systems with incremental advancement in the ability to penetrate hard crystalline rock structures. Most oil producing reservoirs are located in or below relatively soft rock formations, however, with the growing need for energy, oil companies are now attempting to drill through very hard surface rock and deep ocean formations with limited success. This paper will discuss the types of laser suitable for this application, the requirements for putting lasers in the field, the technology needed to support this laser application and the test results of components developed specifically by Foro Energy for the drilling application.

Compliant mechanisms, unlike rigid-body mechanisms, are devices that derive some or all of their mobility due to the deformation of their flexible members. The knowledge of existing rigid-body mechanism synthesis techniques is very useful in designing compliant mechanisms. In rigid-body mechanisms, a four-bar is treated as the basic mechanism that can transfer motion, force or energy. In this paper, a compliant single-strip continuum is introduced as the basic compliant mechanism that can transfer motion, force or energy. A classification of compliant mechanisms is presented herein. A methodology for compliant single-strip mechanism synthesis for energy, force or torque specifications is developed in this research as our second objective. The synthesis types, the governing equations, and the variables involved are enumerated.