Developing High-Performance Mud Pumps Adapted from Information by Centerline Manufacturing In 1983, Cory Miller began a research and development project for what would become the Centerline hydraulic drive mud pump. The first prototype was built later that year and was evaluated and tested in the field in actual drilling operations duty. Cory Miller, president, started Centerline Manufacturing in 1986, with the buyout of Wilson Well Screen Company. From the beginning, Centerline Manufacturing has been involved in the design, manufacture, and production of hydraulic drive mud pumps for the water well industry, with expert design and acute attention to detail. Centerline’s goal has been to maintain the highest quality line of mud pumps, which perform beyond the highest expectation of the customer. Ingersoll-Rand made a number of attempts to develop a hydraulic-driven mud pump that would provide the performance needed, and last an acceptable life in the high-duty cycle required for well drilling contractors. With all of their resources and design wisdom, they were unable to solve the problems associated with a high-performance, heavy-duty reciprocating hydraulic-drive mud pump. In 2001, Centerline developed the second hydraulic drive mud pump prototype; following that with the third prototype, Centerline's unique pump and drive, which was introduced at the 2001 National Ground Water Association convention, receiving orders for pumps at that time. Over the next ten months, Centerline worked out the design of their production model pump technology, had custom hydraulic valves manufactured, custom hydraulic drive cylinders designed and manufactured, casting patterns made, castings poured, machined, assembled, tested, and was delivering Centerline pumps to customers in November 2002. Not only did Centerline Manufacturing provide solutions to the problems that stumped Ingersoll-Rand’s efforts, Cory Miller’s design provided huge size and weight savings compared to typical gear-driven duplex mud pumps. Along with the high-performance duplex design, he also provided a new monocylinder mud pump to meet the less demanding applications for the mud rotary drilling industry. This double-acting piston pump provided as much mud flow and pressure as the standard 5X6 duplex pumps, but with 1/3 the weight and half the size! The following few years, Centerline worked to integrate their line of mud pumps into drill rig manufacturers’ product lines. In 2002, the first duplex was installed on an Ingersoll-Rand T3W by a customer; the first duplex was acquired by GEFCO for installation on a 30K; and Centerline's duplexes were running in northern Canada in 24/7 drilling operations in a -40ºF (-40ºC) environment. From 2002 to 2004, Centerline pumps were delivered across the U.S., Canada, Australia, and the Dominican Republic, and installed on numerous makes and models of drill rigs and mud systems. In 2003, Versa-Drill acquired the duplex for installation on their rigs; Ingersoll-Rand put Centerline pumps through comprehensive testing, performance evaluation, and documentation at the IngersollRand Drilling Solutions plant in Garland, Texas, resulting in the adoption of the Centerline mud pump as an optional offering on Ingersoll-Rand drill rigs. From 2004 to 2010, Centerline installed the first diesel-powered skid package with a triplex pump, sent to Canada; many more manufacturing relationships developed, such as Schramm installing Centerline duplex pumps on their rigs and making Centerline a standard offering; Atlas-Copco obtained U.S. military acceptance to Centerline's mud pumps, in lieu of Gardner-Denver for the first time. After the first order of rigs by the military was accepted, later military specifications for their drilling rig purchases accepted only Centerline's mud pumps. Since 2010, Centerline mud pumps have established themselves as the piston mud pump of choice throughout the U.S. civilian and military drilling industry and are in daily operation on every inhabited continent on earth. Centerline Manufacturing is proud to announce their new line “HYPerformance” duplex mud pump technology is under development. The next generation design for the Centerline Mud Pump coming out later next year will be a true game changer for this industry. It will also open up the application into many other industries. WTR Cory Miller and Centerline Manufacturing received the NGWA (National Ground Water Assn) Manufacturers Special Recognition Award and The Equipment Design Award. WWDRphoto from trade event. Small & Lightweight AluminumModel: 7.5" x 10" duplex pump fits in place of 5"x 6" and weighs half as much. Pumps 300 gpm at up to 800 PSI. Mono and triplex pumps also available. 19 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® SEPTEMBER 2020
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