For a long time, as a core precision component of oil drilling equipment, the high-end market of oil drilling rigs cardan shaft was once monopolized by transnational enterprises from Europe, the United States, Japan and other countries. Core technologies, key raw materials and manufacturing processes were all restricted by others, which not only led to high equipment procurement costs, but also posed hidden dangers to supply chain security, seriously restricting the independent and controllable development of China’s oil drilling industry. In recent years, with the increase of China’s oil and gas exploration and development efforts and the rapid rise of the high-end equipment manufacturing industry, breakthroughs have been made in the R&D and production of localized oil drilling rigs cardan shaft, gradually realizing the transformation from “import dependence” to “independent control”, and becoming an important epitome of the localization of China’s high-end equipment.
The core of the localization breakthrough is the continuous efforts in technological innovation. Through the path of introduction, digestion, absorption and re-innovation, Chinese enterprises have gradually overcome a series of core technical problems in the design, material, manufacturing and testing of cardan shafts. At the design level, it has broken through the structural limitations of traditional cross-shaft cardan shafts, developed new products such as integrated cardan shafts and telescopic cardan shafts, optimized the angle compensation range and torque transmission efficiency, which can adapt to oil drilling rigs of different models and working conditions, and solved the problem of insufficient adaptability of imported products. For example, the SWP350 type telescopic cardan shaft developed by a domestic enterprise adopts an integrated spline structure design, with an axial expansion and contraction amount of ±150mm, an expanded angle compensation range of 0°～15°, and a nominal torque increased to 160KN.m. Its comprehensive performance has reached the level of international similar products, successfully replacing imported products and being applied to deep-sea drilling platforms.
The upgrading of materials and manufacturing processes has provided solid support for the performance improvement of localized cardan shafts. In terms of materials, domestic enterprises have broken through the localized production technology of low-phosphorus alloy structural steel. The independently developed special alloy steel, after special heat treatment, has reached international standards in wear resistance, fatigue resistance and corrosion resistance, breaking the monopoly of imported steel; in terms of manufacturing processes, advanced technologies such as CNC precision machining, robot welding and ultrasonic flaw detection are adopted to improve the processing accuracy and assembly quality of parts and reduce product failure rate. At the same time, a complete testing system has been established. Through multiple strict tests such as dynamic balance testing, torque testing and fatigue life testing, it is ensured that each product meets the requirements of the oil and gas industry standard SY/T 6497-2000, ensuring the safety and stability of drilling operations.
The promotion and application of localized oil drilling rigs cardan shaft not only reduces the equipment procurement and maintenance costs of China’s oil drilling enterprises, but also improves the core competitiveness of China’s oil drilling equipment. Compared with imported products, domestic cardan shafts have obvious advantages in price, with a cost performance improvement of more than 30%. At the same time, they have a faster delivery cycle and more convenient after-sales service, which can quickly respond to the personalized needs of enterprises. At present, domestic cardan shafts have been widely used in various onshore and offshore oil drilling rigs in China, covering drilling projects of large energy enterprises such as CNPC, Sinopec and CNOOC. Some products have also been exported to Southeast Asia, the Middle East and other regions, realizing the leap from “independent manufacturing” to “independent export”.
In the future, the localized development of China’s oil drilling rigs cardan shaft still needs continuous efforts. On the one hand, it is necessary to increase investment in core technology R&D, focus on the R&D of cardan shafts under extreme working conditions such as deep-sea drilling and polar drilling, and break through the performance bottlenecks under high temperature, high pressure and high corrosion environments; on the other hand, it is necessary to promote the upgrading of industrial clusters, strengthen collaborative cooperation between enterprises, improve the industrial chain supporting system, and enhance the overall industrial competitiveness. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen international cooperation and exchanges, absorb advanced international technological experience, and promote the development of domestic cardan shafts towards high-end, intelligent and internationalization, providing stronger support for the high-quality development of China’s oil drilling industry.