What’s better than an estimated 50 percent increase in fluid end block life? An increase of more than 100 percent in real-world applications. That’s what we’re experiencing in fluid end field trials for new Cat® Cube Bore well stimulation technology.
This innovative new fluid end design — exclusive to Caterpillar — removes material in critical areas near the bore intersections and smoothes large corners. That in turn smoothes the stress profiles and allows energy to be absorbed by the surrounding block material. This 40 percent reduction in stress is expected to extend fluid end block life by 50 percent or more.
“More” is what we’re seeing in Cat Cube Bore field trials, where 30 fluid ends featuring this new design are being tested by nine different customers. These fluid end field trials are taking place on sites across the United States so we can evaluate performance in different shale plays.
Many of these units are still running, which isn’t surprising given the anticipated bump in life expectancy. (The typical field trial lasts four or five months, or about 1600-1650 pumping hours.) But in the Cat Cube Bore field trials completed so far, the average increase in durability — which correlates with fluid end block life — is 109 percent compared to current production fluid ends. That’s more than double our original estimate.
Want to replicate these impressive results on your site — reducing your downtime and your owning and operating costs in the process? Talk to your Cat dealer about installing fluid ends with the new Cat Cube Bore design today.
