| A pneumatic turbine powered drilling motor was designed, fabricated, and tested. The testing proceeded in two phases, a bench test followed by field tests. Analysis of the bench test indicated that the performance of the tool could be characterized in terms of bottomhole pressure, internal pressure losses, and bit torque. These characteristics were used to construct performance charts to predict field drilling. The field tests were conducted at the Geysers geothermal steam field in Santa Rosa, California. A total of four hours of drilling were conducted, demonstrating the viability of the tool. |
