PDC Drill Bit Design Improvement using Reverse Engineering Method to Analyze Effect on Rate of Penetration

In the petroleum industry, drilling is one of the most important aspects due to the
economics. Reduction in drilling time is required to minimize the cost of operations.
This study focuses on the Polycrystalline Diamond Compact (PDC) drill bit which is
categorized as fixed cutter of drilling bit. Problem such as wear and tear of PDC cutter
is one of the main factor in drilling process failure and this would affect the rate of
penetration. Thus, an intensive study in drill bit design would save a lot of money if
the efficiency of drill bit can be improved. The objective of this project is to improve
the design of PDC cutter and study the effect of design improvement to the rate of
penetration. Reverse engineering (RE) method will be used to study the design and
analyse the effect of the design to performance of the drill bit. Due to unavailable drill
bit blueprint from the manufacturer due to propriety and confidential, RE non-contact
data acquisition device, 3D laser scanner will be used to obtain cloud data of worn drill
bit. Computer Aided Design (CAD) software is used to convert cloud data of the PDC
drill bit into 3D CAD model. Optimization of PDC Drill bit is focused on feature
design such as back rake angle, side rake angle and number of cutters. CAE software
is used to analyse the effect of the design feature modification to rate of penetration.
The results show rate of penetration increase as the angle of both rake angle and
number of cutter decrease.