Foro 400 Drill

Description

The Foro 400 Drill is an electromechanical ice coring drill that retrieves 98 mm (3.86-inch) diameter x 1-meter-long ice cores to approximately 400 meters depth. The Foro 400 Drill is a recently completed redesign of the 4-Inch Drill design. The sonde shares many of the same components with the Foro 1650 Drill and Foro 3000 deep drill system to maximize component interchangeability and minimize the number of unique components that have to be maintained. The main difference with the sonde is the core barrel. The Foro 1650 and Foro 3000 deep drill have a dedicated chips chamber located after the motor section followed by the core barrel. The Foro 400 Drill shares the same core barrel design as the 4-Inch Drill, where the cuttings are collected above the core inside the core barrel. This is a simpler design and better suited for removing the core barrel from the drill vertically like the 4-Inch Drill currently does. Unlike the 4-Inch Drill, the Foro 400 Drill’s sonde is watertight and submersible.

Comparison of Specifications
  4-Inch Drill Foro 400 Drill
Winch Capacity Up to 400 m of 13 mm ø Kevlar Cable Up to 470 m of 5.7 mm ø steel armor cable
Ice Core Diameter 104 mm 98 mm
Hole Diameter 145 mm 126 mm
Ice Core Length 1 m 1 m
Pressure Rated Sonde No Yes
Winch Speed 0.5 m/s 0.76 m/s
Power Requirements/Source 220V, 5 kW generator 220V, 5 kW generator
Comparison of Weights
  4-Inch Drill Foro 400 Drill
Drill 87 kg (192 lbs) 64 kg (141 lbs)
Winch with Cable 297 kg (655 lbs) 123 kg (271 lbs)
Tower Assembly 61 kg (135 lbs) 52 kg (115 lbs)
Control System 52 kg (115 lbs) 35 kg (77 lbs)
Total System Weight 497 kg (1096 lbs) 274 kg (604 lbs)
Shipping Weight (complete system including crates, spares, and tools) 1,180 kg (2600 lbs) 816 kg (1800 lbs)

Equipment Details

Name Foro 400 Drill
Type
Type
Ice coring
Number in Inventory
Number in Inventory
1
Max. Practical Depth
Max. Practical Depth
400 m
Ice Core Diameter
Ice Core Diameter
98 mm (3.85 inches)
Ice Core Length
Ice Core Length
1 m
IDP Driller Required?
IDP Driller Required?
Yes
Drill Fluid Required?
Drill Fluid Required?
No
Helicopter Transportable?
Helicopter Transportable?
Yes
Light Aircraft Transportable?
Light Aircraft Transportable?
Yes
Shipping Weight
Shipping Weight

1800 lbs

Shipping Volume (Cube)
Shipping Cube

200 m system can be broken down so individual pieces weigh less than 100 lbs and are under 6 ft3

Comments
Comments

Shipping weight listed above includes all spares and shipping cases. For ultra-lightweight deployments, where spares and shipping cases can be left at a base camp, the weight of the winch, tower, one control box and one sonde is estimated at 604 lbs.

Documents

Citation Year
U.S. Ice Drilling Program (2021) Foro 400 Drill Operations and Maintenance Manual. 1-42. 2021
Mary R Albert, Kristina R Slawny, Grant Boeckmann, Chris J Gibson, Jay A Johnson, Keith Makinson, Julius Rix (2020) Recent Innovations in Drilling in Ice. Chapter 6 of Advances in Terrestrial Drilling: Ground, Ice and Underwater, Bar-Cohen and Zacny, eds., 157-220. https://www.routledge.com/Advances-in-Terrestrial-Drilling-Ground-Ice-and-Under… 2020
Jay A Johnson, Matthew J Kippenhan (2017) DISC Drill vs. Foro 3000 Drill Analysis. 1-24. 2017
IDDO (2015) Foro Drill System Preliminary Engineering Design Review. 1-26. 2015

Photos

Request More Information

Have a question or require more information?