IMPROVING FRACKING POWER & EFFICIENCY
Power quest: Innovations
in frac equipment push
horsepower boundaries
As 5,000-hp becomes the norm, manufacturers focus on delivering
pumps and engines with higher power density, durability
BY STEPHEN WHITFIELD, ASSOCIATE EDITOR
I n US unconventionals, pressures to reduce well costs while
maintaining or improving production remain high. In the
frac sector, pressure pumpers and engine manufacturers real-
ize that they must design more durable and higher-horsepower
systems, even as the definition of “high horsepower” continues to
change. Manufacturers of frac pumps and engines are now mov-
ing past 2,500 and 3,000 hp, and 5,000-hp pumps are becoming
the norm.
These new systems allow for increases in power density –
meaning that they can maintain the same level of power, or
Highlights
To run frac operations longer without
straining equipment, demand for
horsepower is moving past 2,500-3,000 hp
into the 5,000-hp realm.
Combining battery systems with natural
gas gensets, along with an automated
microgrid controller, can increase load
capacity while optimizing fuel consumption.
New equipment coating, longer pump
stroke lengths, modular, simpler and
multimotor designs, and curved power
frames are among new equipment
features. 30
increase power as needed, within a smaller physical footprint.
A high-horsepower system also allows operators and directional
drillers to run frac operations for longer continuous periods, with-
out maxing out on capacity and straining their equipment.
“Companies want the most reliable fleets in the industry. Even
if they’re looking to run a lower-horsepower operation, they still
want the 5,000 horsepower because they know that thing is
designed to run well above what they want,” said Turner Hall,
Engineering Manager – New Product Development at GD Energy
Products. “It’s all about extending the life of a system well beyond
what a traditional 2,500- or 3,000-horsepower system can do.”
Manufacturers are also touting that their high-horsepower
systems can reduce fuel consumption, lower maintenance costs
and enable longer continuous runtimes. Such benefits are key as
operators stay focused on capital discipline.
“In the past, when the industry ran on higher margins, we
weren’t forced to be efficient. Customers weren’t talking about
running our engines at their most efficient point,” said Scott
Woodruff, VP of the Oil & Gas/Mining Business at Rolls-Royce
Power Systems. “But especially since this last downturn, well
services companies and drillers have become super focused on
being efficient. We want to get the most work out of each stage
fracked as we possibly can.”
Designing the 5,000-hp pump
GD Energy Products entered the high-horsepower space in 2019
with its first 5,000-hp pump, the Thunder 5000 HP Quintuplex frac
pump. It can cut the size of a frac spread by 30% compared with
a 3,000-hp pump, according to the company. With fewer pumps,
transmissions and engines to maintain, the system also reduces
M A R C H/A P R I L 202 2 • D R I L L I N G C O N T R AC T O R
IMPROVING FRACKING POWER & EFFICIENCY
The Thunder 5000 HP Quintuplex Pump, the first 5,000-hp offering from GD Energy Products, can reduce the size of a frac
spread by 30% compared with a 3,000-hp pump. To compensate for the increased stress that a 5,000-hp pump places on its
components, the design features a longer stroke length and a harder lubricant to reduce scuffing and friction.
potential points of failure at the frac site, minimizing the need for
maintenance. “Your power density is greater when you run one 5,000-hp
pump versus two 2,500-hp pumps,” Mr Hall said. “Instead of
needing 12 pumps on location, you only need six. That gets you
efficiencies from a manpower and a safety standpoint. You have
fewer pumps operating over a smaller area, so you’ve got less of a
chance for issues to pop up.”
A 5,000-hp pump can also generate higher flow rates at equiva-
lent pressures to a lower-horsepower pump, helping companies
boost production without increasing run time. Whereas running
a 3,000-hp pump at 12,000 psi will get you approximately 9.2 bbl/
min, Mr Hall explained, running a 5,000-hp pump at the same
pressure will get you 15.3 bbl/min.
One of the bigger challenges in operating a 5,000-hp pump is
the potential for increased stress on the pump’s components. Mr
Hall estimated that a typical 5,000-hp pump “essentially cuts in
half” the life of its components when operating continuously at
maximum capacity. With that in mind, GD Energy Products pri-
oritized durability in the design of the Thunder 5000 to ensure it
can have the same uptime as a lower-horsepower pump.
To reduce scuffing, friction and adhesive wear, the company
developed a proprietary dry-film lubricant. The corrosion-resis-
tant coating is harder and denser than the base steel used to build
the frame of the pump, so it increases the load-bearing capacity
of the bearings. The lubricant also helps prevent the pump from
overheating when it operates at a higher horsepower.
“When you’re going to a higher horsepower, it’s not necessarily
just the stress of the components that you have to deal with but
also the speed at which that pump is turning,” Mr Hall said. “At
5,000 horsepower, that pump is spinning faster than it tradition-
ally has before, so you run the risk of a lot of heat generation. That
has a big impact on pump performance. It was important for us to
redesign our lubrication system so that we could pull that extra
heat that’s generated by the faster speeds out of the pump.”
The pump also features an 11-in. stroke length – the distance
traveled by each piston in an pump cycle – which is 3 in. longer
than the typical stroke length for a frac pump.
The longer stroke length enables frac fleets to extend consum-
able life while delivering the same horsepower, pressures and
flow rates but at slower speeds. While a shorter stroke length
enables a pump to accelerate to full power faster, it also shortens
the life of the pistons, increasing the need for maintenance.
Moreover, the new pump provides 37% more flow rate capacity
than a typical 8-in. stroke pump, which keeps both the pump’s
velocity and pump speed lower. This, in turn, slows the accumu-
lation of fatigue and consumable cycles, extending the life of the
pump and consumable components while outputting more vol-
ume per revolution, according to GD Energy Products. “Essentially,
this gets back to the total cost of ownership,” Mr Hall said. “Where
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