{"id":90,"date":"2025-01-23T15:28:39","date_gmt":"2025-01-23T09:58:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rigmen.com\/blog\/?p=90"},"modified":"2025-01-23T15:31:11","modified_gmt":"2025-01-23T10:01:11","slug":"what-is-top-drive-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rigmen.com\/blog\/equipments\/what-is-top-drive-system\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Top Drive System?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A top drive is a big motor system which is hoisted in a derrick or mast of a drilling rig. A top drive is a modern rotating system which has been popular for many drilling contractors and oil operators. Top drives can be used on all types of rigs, from truck-mounted rigs to offshore rigs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rotation provided to a drill stem is accomplished by a top drive. Therefore, a Kelly and a Kelly bushing are not required for a top drive system. Moreover, a master bushing and a rotary table serves as support for slip and weight of a drill stem and as a conduit for a drill stem to be raised or lowed into a wellbore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since a Kelly is not required, the length of each stand is more than a single joint. Typically, drilling with a top drive can be drilled with a stand of drill pipe which consists of 3 joints of drill pipes. A top drive can drill about 90 ft before making a connection, as opposed to 30 ft like a Kelly. A top drive system allows rotation and circulation while pulling out of a hole (back reaming). However, this operation cannot be performed with a Kelly system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A top drive is attached to a dolly track acting like a guide rail in a derrick. This allows straight movement up and down while drilling and tripping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This video below briefly demonstrates how a top drive is operated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Top Drive System (TDS) Spinning for Oil Drilling Rig - Oilfield Industry\" width=\"726\" height=\"408\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/n_iPgaWkE88?feature=oembed\" loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"681\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/rigmen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/TDS-component1-681x1024.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-91\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rigmen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/TDS-component1-681x1024.jpg 681w, https:\/\/rigmen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/TDS-component1-199x300.jpg 199w, https:\/\/rigmen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/TDS-component1.jpg 700w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 681px) 100vw, 681px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Figure 1<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Basic Configuration of Top Drive<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A \u2013 Elevator<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>B \u2013 Bail or Link<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>C \u2013 IBOP (both manual and pneumatic operated)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>D \u2013 Rotating Head<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>E \u2013 Top drive motor<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>F \u2013 Dolly Track<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>G \u2013 Hook<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>H \u2013 Travelling Block<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A top drive is a big motor system which is hoisted in a derrick or mast of a drilling rig. A top drive is a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[49,54,48,55,51,50,52,46,53,47,56],"class_list":["post-90","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-equipments","tag-bail","tag-dolly-track","tag-elevator","tag-hook","tag-ibop","tag-link","tag-rotating-head","tag-top-drive","tag-top-drive-motor","tag-top-drive-system","tag-travelling-block"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rigmen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rigmen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rigmen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rigmen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rigmen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rigmen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93,"href":"https:\/\/rigmen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90\/revisions\/93"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rigmen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rigmen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rigmen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}