Williamson & Associates, Inc. Completes Deepsea Rock Drill
Williamson & Associates, Inc. has completed construction of a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) designed to obtain 20 metres of rock core in water depths to 6000 metres. This is the second such system designed and built by Williamson & Associates, Inc. for Nichiyu Giken Kogyo Co. Ltd. of Tokyo, Japan; the first, delivered in 1996, is still in operation. Called Benthic Multi-coring Systems (BMS), these drills are operated by the Deep Ocean Resources Development Company, Ltd. for the Japanese Government. Upon completion of local testing and sea trials in July, the new system will be shipped to Japan for installation on the research ship Hakurei Maru Number 2.
In addition to diamond bit rod coring capability, the new BMS includes 9 video cameras, a scanning sonar system, doppler current meter, attitude sensors, altimeter, precision depth sensor, hydraulic thrusters and an emergency release system. All coring and drill monitoring are controlled topside via a fiberoptic telemetry link. Bit pressure, rotary rpm, rotary torque, flushing water flow/pressure, selection of specific drill bits and coring rate are among the operator controlled functions.
Each drill is self-leveling on slopes up to 15 degrees and capable of drilling on 20 degree slopes. They weigh 5 metric tonnes and are 3.5 meters wide by 4.5 metres long and stand 5.9 metres high (legs retracted).
