Mud Gun – Mud Tank Cleaning Equipment

As an auxiliary equipment for cleaning mud tanks, mud guns play an irreplaceable role in solid control systems. Mud guns, also called drilling fluid guns or mud tank cleaning guns, are special equipment to prevent mud from settling in mud tanks. They can flush and stir the dead corners in the mud tanks that the mud agitator cannot stir to prevent mud from settling in the mud tanks. They can achieve 360-degree cleaning in the mud tanks and clean up the residual objects in the mud tanks to keep the tanks clean and extend the service life of the tanks.

Mud gun power source

The mud gun can be supplied by the drilling pump tributary or the centrifugal sand pump, and there is no need to configure a power source for it. However, in general, the power source of the mud gun can be a mud pump or a jet mixing device.

Mud gun classification

Mud guns can be classified according to different pressures: low-pressure mud guns, medium-pressure mud guns, high-pressure mud guns, etc. We can divide mud guns into fixed mud guns and rotating mud guns according to their structure.

1. Fixed mud guns see widespread use in drilling tanks of foreign solid control systems. Operators install the mud guns at two diagonals, about 200mm from the bottom of the tank. The nozzles sit parallel to the longitudinal tank wall of the drilling fluid tank to form a rotation of the drilling fluid layer. For example, the mud guns set up in the solid control system of the American ideal drilling rig are fixed mud guns.

2.We divide rotating mud guns into two types: manual adjustment and self-spinning. Manual adjustment mud guns, in turn, divide into swinging and rotating types. You need to fix the rotating mud gun on top of the drilling fluid tank; its gun rod sits deep in the drilling fluid tank, and its nozzle is 200-300mm away from the bottom of the drilling fluid tank. The mud gun’s rotation forms the rotation of the drilling fluid layer, which achieves the purpose of stirring. Most domestic operations use manually adjusted rotating mud guns.

Working principle of mud gun

The working principle of mud gun is similar to that of high-pressure water gun. The clean water pipeline in the tank is connected to the mud gun. When in use, open the valve. Under pressure, water will spray out from the three nozzles of the mud gun, forming an umbrella shape, which can cover the tank wall and dead corners.

Mud gun selection

The prerequisite for selecting a mud gun is to understand the specifications and models of the mud gun. The mud gun is a liquid that generates a high-speed flow through a nozzle to achieve the purpose of stirring the drilling fluid. Because most systems use low-pressure mud guns, you must consider the following points to make it work properly: 1. The size and model of the nozzle; 2. The number of elbows, tees, valves and reducers; 3. The length of the pipe; 4. The size of the pipe used.

These parameters are very important. Before you select a pump, you must determine the influence of each parameter. In most systems, the liquid will lose most of the total pressure head transmitted by the pump when passing through the nozzle, and excluding the pipeline length, the pipe diameter and pipe fittings require suitable pumps and engines. To achieve a given flow rate through the nozzle, a specific total head is required to overcome the friction of the system. The longer the pipe, the more joints, and the smaller the pipe diameter, the greater the total head required. The general rule is:

(1) Maintain the fluid velocity between 50ft/s (to avoid solid precipitation) and 10ft/s (to avoid excessive erosion of the pipe) (1.5~3m/s).

(2) The number of pipe fittings and joints should be as small as possible

(3) The pipeline should be as short as possible.