Proceedings of the Twentieth (2010) International Offshore and Polar Engineering Conference

Beijing, China, June 2025, 2010

Copyright © 2010 by The International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers (ISOPE)
ISBN 978-1-880653-77-7 (Set); ISSN 1098-6189 (Set); www.isope.org

Research and Development of Seafloor Shallow-hole Multi-coring Drill

Buyan Wan1,2 Guang Zhang1 Xiaojun Huang2

1.School of Resources & Environment, Wuhan University of Technology
Wuhan, Hubei, China
2.Ocean Mining Department, Changsha Institute of Mining Research
Changsha, Hunan, China

and storing mechanism, the power and hydraulic subsystem, the

ABSTRACT monitoring and control subsystem.

In order to solve the problems of low efficiency, high cost and bad The drill can be launched from an investigation vessel to the seafloor
representativeness of sample in using conventional seafloor rock core via an armored co-axial umbilical cable. Since high speed digital
drills to carry out deep sea CRC investigations, A new type of communication is possible via the armored co-axial umbilical cable, the
“Seafloor Shallow-hole Multi-coring Drill” was developed in China, drill can be remotely monitored and controlled in real time, but the
which is able to obtain up to 3 rock cores on one deployment. This armored co-axial umbilical cable used doesn’t have enough electricity
paper describes the basic design, specifications and operation principles transmission capacity, so the drill has to be powered by rechargeable
of the drill, and introduces in detail some of its important components batteries.
such as the specially designed multi-coring mechanism, the battery
powered hydraulic system and the underwater and surface control The most difficult and innovative part of the drill is its multi-coring
system. The results and their analyses of the drill’s multi-coring tests in mechanism. Generally speaking, to realize multi-coring, the drilling
lab and in Pacific Ocean are also given in the paper. tools should be removable and changeable, and usually a very
complicated mechanism is needed. In this drill’s design, in order to
KEY WORDS: Drill; Core; Seafloor; Multi-coring; drilling rig ; simplify the multi-coring mechanism, only the inner core tube in the
Cobalt-rich–crust; drilling tools is made removable and changeable instead of the whole
set of drilling tools being made removable and changeable. And in
INTRODUCTION order to accomplish this, the inner core tube assembly is designed
something similar to that of a wireline coring drilling tools, which can
Cobalt-Rich Crust (CRC) is an important kind of mineral deposits be inserted into and pulled out of the drilling tools without any
existing on deep sea floor. In order to carry out CRC investigations, screwing and unscrewing operations.
China has developed a series of “seafloor shallow-hole rock core drills”
since 2000. These drills can work on sea floor at up to 4000M water
depth, obtaining a 0.7 1.5M long rock core per deployment. The
major disadvantages of these drills are their low efficiency and high
cost, for several deployments have to be performed at a single
investigation point in order to get enough number of rock cores. A
possible solution is to develop a new type of seafloor multi-coring drill
which can obtain several rock cores on one deployment. Therefore in
2003, Changsha Institute of Mining Research (CIMR) began to
research on this new type of drill, and succeeded in 2005. The newly
developed “Seafloor Shallow-hole Multi-coring drill” is something
similar to the “seafloor shallow-hole rock core drills” in configuration,
specifications and functions, but able to obtain up to 3 rock cores on
one deployment.

Basic design of the drill

The configuration of the drill is shown in Fig.1. It consists of 5 major

parts: the frame, the drilling mechanism, the inner core tube changing Fig.1 the basic structure of the drill

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Specifications: Maximum torque: 120 Nm
Operating water depth

0 4000m


Thrust force: 0 5000 N

Number of cores on one deployment 1 3


Sea state limit for operation: 4 Maximum pulling force: 30000 N

Core diameter: 60mm
Hole diameter: 76mm
Maximum hole depth: 700mm Inner core tube changing and storing mechanism
Maximum core length: 500mm
Total power consumption: 12kW As shown in Fig.2, the inner core tube changing and storing mechanism
Total battery capacity: 330VDC100Ah is mounted on top of the drilling head, composed of a inner core tube
Weight in air: 2.93t storage rack which can be moved horizontally along a guide way; 2
Dimensions: 1.8m l ×1.8m(w)×2.8m(h)
 
hydraulic cylinders used for the inner core tube storage rack being
moved and positioned among 3 tube positions; a hydraulic motor
introductions of key components driven screw rod and nut assembly used for the inner core tubes being
inserted into and drawn from the drilling tool through the through-hole
Frame of the drilling head, etc. Every time before coring operation, an empty
inner core tube is inserted into the drilling tools, and after coring
operation, the inner core tube with core in it is drawn from the drilling
The frame of the drill includes the square-shaped chassis, the upper tools back onto the inner core tube storage rack. When the inner core
frame, 2 central pillars and 4 hydraulically extendible legs mounted on tube storage rack is moved to its next tube position, the inner core tube
the 4 corners of the chassis. The frame is basically made of shape steel with core in it is stored, and a new empty inner core tube is ready for
and provides a mounting base and protections to the other subsystems. being inserted into the drilling tools.
For more convenient launching and recovering, a simple square bird
nest shape is adopted.

Drilling mechanism

The drilling mechanism consists of a through-hole drilling head with

diamond drilling tools, a drilling head driving cylinder, a drilling
mechanism compensation cylinder, sliding guide and rack, rod
stabilizer, a flushing water pump assembly, etc. Because the inner core
tubes are to be removed and changed on top of the drilling head, a
through-hole drilling head is adopted. The drilling head is driven
downwards and upwards along the sliding guide and rack by the
drilling head driving cylinder. And the whole drilling mechanism
assembly can be lowered to the surface of seafloor by a so called
“compensation cylinder” for maximum 700mm before drilling the hole.
This eliminates the possible influence of the unsmoothed seafloor
surface, makes the drilling tools better supported, and ensures a longer
and less broken core.

The flushing water pump is driven by a hydraulic motor which is

hydraulically connected in series with the drilling head hydraulic motor,
so these 2 hydraulic motors work simultaneously. The pressurized sea
Fig.2 the inner core tube changing and storing mechanism
water from the flushing water pump is conducted into the drilling tools
via a rotary joint, flushing the hole and cooling the bit.
Power and hydraulic subsystem

Thin wall pregnant diamond bits are used. Because the core length is The power and hydraulic system consists of underwater batteries
very short and the drill’s energy supply is limited, the bits are specially installed inside several watertight pressure barrels, a DC/AC inverter, a
designed for higher drilling speed but shorter lifespan. underwater motor and hydraulic pump assembly, a hydraulic buffer,
hydraulic control valves units, water pressure compensators, hydraulic
motors and cylinders, etc.
Specifications of the drilling tools:
Bit diameter  75/60mm To ensure coring 3 times without recharging, the underwater batteries
must have the ability to output enough electrical power continuously
Outer core barrel diameter  74/69mm for about 1 hour. 84 rechargeable 100Ah Li-ion cells are all connected
in series to form the underwater batteries, with a voltage output of
Inner core tube diameter  65/61mm about 340VDC. Theoretically the underwater batteries can supply
power to the drill for about 1 hour 20 minutes. The DC output of the
Rotary speed 800 1200rpm
underwater batteries is inverted into 3-phase 220VAC output by the


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DC/AC inverter, so the underwater motor can be an oil-immersed AC
type and can be soft-started with little starting current impact.
The hydraulic system is controlled by the underwater computer. In
order to reduce the hydraulic pressure impact in the hydraulic system, a
specially designed hydraulic buffer is used. And a hydraulic pump with
flow/pressure/power control is used so that the rotary speed of the main
hydraulic motor varies with its output torque to the drilling tools,
keeping the power consumption of the hydraulic system constant. In
this way, the underwater batteries and the DC/AC inverter are well
protected from being damaged by electrical current impacts.
Monitoring and control subsystem
This subsystem consists of 2 parts. The underwater part includes the
underwater computer and communication modules which are placed
inside a watertight pressure barrel; 2 underwater color video-cameras
and lights; monitoring instrumentations (altimeter, dipmeters,
tachometer, hole length meter, pressure gauges, etc.). The on-board part
includes an on-board computer and a high speed digital communication
module. These 2 parts are connected by the armored co-axial umbilical
cable. On the on-board computer screen, the underwater video pictures
and monitoring information are displayed and real-time operation
instructions are given by clicking appropriate buttons.
Principle of operation
When arriving at the investigation point, the investigation vessel should
be positioned by its dynamic positioning (DP) system. The drill is then
launched to the seafloor via the armored umbilical cable and winch. An
appropriate coring site should be searched via the site-seeking video
camera on the drill before the drill’s landing. Once landed, the drill will
immediately be put into coring operation which is performed almost the
same as ordinary land coring operation. When the first core drilling is
finished, the inner core tube with the first core inside will be pulled out
of the drilling head and stored on the inner core tube storage rack; an
empty inner core tube is then inserted into the drilling head. The drill
should then be lifted off the seafloor and move a short distance to the
second coring site, the coring and inner core tube changing process is
repeated. After all 3 cores are obtained at 3 different coring sites, the
drill will be recovered on board of the vessel.
when the drill is approaching the seafloor, the altimeter which measures
the height of the drill to the seafloor should be turned on. The drill’s
descending should be stopped at the height of 3~5m, the site-seeking
camera should be turned on and the vessel should shift its position
slowly until an ideal coring site is reached. When the drill is landed, its
inclination should not exceed 25°, or the coring site should be changed.
If the seafloor is not smooth enough, the drill’s 4 legs should be
stretched onto the seafloor before coring.
Land test in laboratory
The drill was tested in laboratory in July 2004. The purpose was to
verify the drilling and coring functions of the drill, and to establish a
proper operational procedure for the drill. Concrete blocks in sizes of
about 500mm×500mm×700mm (height) were used for the drilling and
coring test. In order to simulate the rocks on seamounts covered with
cobalt-rich crust, the concrete blocks were made of cement (425#) and
fine sand in a ratio of 1:3, and the top layer (50mm thick) in a reduced
ratio of 1:10, so that the concrete blocks had a hardness close to typical
seamount rocks covered with softer CRC layer. The drill was connected
to its control system and remotely operated with telemetry and on-the-
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machine real time video monitoring.
About 10 holes were drilled in the laboratory test, the results were
encouraging. The drill functioned normally and cored well. The drilling
speed reached about 100mm/min, most of the cores were smooth and
unbroken. To complete a drilling and coring process for a 500mm long
core would spend about 8~15 minutes with the voltage output of the
underwater batteries dropping about 4~6V. Since the normal voltage
output of the underwater batteries ranges from 340V to 310V, the
power supply ability of the underwater batteries is proven.
Sea trial in Pacific Ocean
In April 2005, the drill was brought offshore by R/V “Dayang No.1” to
carry out the “DY105-16”investigation voyage in Pacific Ocean. A
seamount “CLN” several hundreds of kilometers north east of Guam
with CRC covered was selected as the sea trial site. Topographic
surveying had been done with multi-beam before the sea trial. the slope
of the seafloor didn’t surpass 20 degrees, the water depth was between
1300~3000 meters, and the sea state is about 3 ~ 4.
The sea trial was a success. Totally 4 deployments of the drill was done
during the sea trial. Except for the first deployment, the other 3
deployments was completed with multi-coring operations, totally 8
rock cores was obtained.
Conclusions
1) The drill worked well at seafloor and its performances were
satisfactory during the sea trial. The multi-coring function was realized,
and all operational parameters measured by the on-the-machine
instrumentation system were displayed accurately, the real time
monitoring video pictures are clear, all operational instructions were
executed immediately and correctly.
2) Multi-coring by using the inner core tube changing and storing
mechanism is feasible. It is simpler and more reliable as compared with
that by using whole set drilling tools changing and storing mechanism.
3) The output voltage of the underwater batteries decreases 4~6VDC
every 10 minutes during coring operation at seafloor. This is almost the
same as the voltage decrease in laboratory, indicating that the water
depth and the low temperature at seafloor have little influence on the
performance of the underwater batteries.
4) The highest rotary speed of the bit at seafloor was 840 rpm, 26%
lower than that in laboratory (1080 rpm), indicating that the efficiency
of the hydraulic system becomes lower at deep water because of the
high environmental pressure and low environmental temperature. The
rotary speed of the bit might become even lower at water depth bigger
than 3000m, but this has not yet been proven.
5) Because of the lower efficiency of the hydraulic system at deep
water, the penetrating speed of the bit is lower than that in laboratory
test. Therefore, if higher penetrating speed of bit is required, the
capacity of the drill’s power and hydraulic system needs to be increased.
6) According to the indication of the attitude sensor on the machine, the
drill kept stable all the time when staying and drilling on seafloor. This
shows: a. the drill is well supported by its hydraulic legs and has
enough weight to keep stable at seafloor; b. the ship is well
dynamically positioned so that the umbilical cable applied little lateral
force to the drill during drilling.
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