Tensegrity laboratory drilling rig for earth and space drilling, mining, and exploration
Résumé
Drilling operations are increasingly becoming a manufacturing process where repeatability, versatility, and speed matter the most for an operator or future space missions. Nonetheless, the ongoing energy transition efforts will undoubtedly shape the objectives and priorities of drilling operators into new markets with unexplored technical challenges, where versatility, mobility, and automated systems will play crucial roles in determining successful applications. This study explores and introduces the application of tensegrity-based structures, commonly used in space exploration, to Earth and Space drilling systems by modeling, designing, and building a tensegrity-based miniature drilling rig. Robust models for designing a drilling rig based on tensegrity structures and anticipated load conditions are presented. In addition, the drilling tests and experimental results described proving that the tensegrity could be applied to unusual applications such as drilling. Furthermore, our models show that constructing a lightweight tensegrity-based structure for drilling applications on Earth and Mars is not only possible but feasible by tuning design variables, such as the structure complexity, bar and string sizes, pre-stress, etc. Ultimately, tensegrity structures allow more volume-efficient, lightweight, and deployable mechanisms, to name a few benefits essential for space deployment and help earth-based systems enhance rig mobility that could reduce drilling cost and the environmental footprint of drilling the Exploration and Production (E&P) industry by downsizing the site's carbon expenditure.
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