Oil & Gas

The oil industry has unique braking applications for both onshore and offshore equipment. Drawworks equipment is essentially a winch system used to create a series of pipe connections drilling into reservoirs of oil beneath the earth’s surface. As the drill string reaches further into the drill hole with each added piece of pipe, the braking system requires an ever-increasing amount of brake torque to handle the growing load.

These applications require brake systems with a cooling system, through either water-cooling or air ventilation at the brake disc — the ventilated disc allows for rapid heat dissipation, critical to maintaining performance and avoiding brake fade during prolonged or intense use. Brakes are typically hydraulic or pneumatic, and can be air or hydraulic release with spring-set as standard. As an example, four 68HHH two-actuator, hydraulically operated caliper disc brakes have been supplied on an 84″ (2,133 mm) diameter x 1.125″ (28.6 mm) thick brake disc, mounted on a 4,600 HP drawworks.