Patent Application
20160356117
This disclosure relates, in general, to tools and equipment for completing a subterranean well and, in particular, to a retrievable well packer for sealing the annulus between a tubing string and the well casing. In particular, this disclosure relates to an anti-preset and anti-reset mechanism for a retrievable packer to prevent the packer from being actuated prematurely during deployment downhole and also to prevent the packer from undesirably re-actuating during retrieval.
These drawings illustrate certain aspects of certain embodiments of the present disclosure. They should not be used to limit or define the disclosure.
While embodiments of this disclosure have been depicted and described and are defined by reference to example embodiments of the disclosure, such references do not imply a limitation on the disclosure, and no such limitation is to be inferred. The subject matter disclosed is capable of considerable modification, alteration, and equivalents in form and function, as will occur to those skilled in the pertinent art and having the benefit of this disclosure. The depicted and described embodiments of this disclosure are examples only, and not exhaustive of the scope of the disclosure.
Illustrative embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail herein. In the interest of clarity, not all features of an actual implementation may be described in this specification. It will of course be appreciated that in the development of any such actual embodiment, numerous implementation-specific decisions may be made to achieve the specific implementation goals, which may vary from one implementation to another. Moreover, it will be appreciated that such a development effort might be complex and time-consuming, but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking for those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the present disclosure.
The terms “couple” or “couples” as used herein are intended to mean either an indirect or a direct connection. Thus, if a first device couples to a second device, that connection may be through a direct connection, or through an indirect electrical or mechanical connection via other devices and connections. The term “upstream” as used herein means along a flow path towards the source of the flow, and the term “downstream” as used herein means along a flow path away from the source of the flow. The term “uphole” as used herein means along the drillstring or the hole from the distal end towards the surface, and “downhole” as used herein means along the drillstring or the hole from the surface towards the distal end.
It will be understood that the term “oil well drilling equipment” or “oil well drilling system” is not intended to limit the use of the equipment and processes described with those terms to drilling an oil well. The terms also encompass drilling natural gas wells or hydrocarbon wells in general. Further, such wells can be used for production, monitoring, or injection in relation to the recovery of hydrocarbons or other materials from the subsurface. This could also include geothermal wells intended to provide a source of heat energy instead of hydrocarbons.
For purposes of this disclosure, an information handling system may include any instrumentality or aggregate of instrumentalities operable to compute, classify, process, transmit, receive, retrieve, originate, switch, store, display, manifest, detect, record, reproduce, handle, or utilize any form of information, intelligence, or data for business, scientific, control, or other purposes. For example, an information handling system may be a personal computer, a network storage device, or any other suitable device and may vary in size, shape, performance, functionality, and price. The information handling system may include random access memory (“RAM”), one or more processing resources such as a central processing unit (“CPU”) or hardware or software control logic, ROM, and/or other types of nonvolatile memory. Additional components of the information handling system may include one or more disk drives, one or more network ports for communication with external devices as well as various input and output (“I/O”) devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, and a video display. The information handling system may also include one or more buses operable to transmit communications between the various hardware components.
For the purposes of this disclosure, computer-readable media may include any instrumentality or aggregation of instrumentalities that may retain data and/or instructions for a period of time. Computer-readable media may include, for example, without limitation, storage media such as a direct access storage device (e.g., a hard disk drive or floppy disk drive), a sequential access storage device (e.g., a tape disk drive), compact disk, CD-ROM, DVD, RAM, ROM, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (“EEPROM”), and/or flash memory; as well as communications media such as wires.
To facilitate a better understanding of the present disclosure, the following examples of certain embodiments are given. In no way should the following examples be read to limit, or define, the scope of the disclosure. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applicable to horizontal, vertical, deviated, multilateral, u-tube connection, intersection, bypass (drill around a mid-depth stuck fish and back into the wellbore below), or otherwise nonlinear wellbores in any type of subterranean formation. Certain embodiments may be applicable, for example, to logging data acquired with wireline, slickline, and logging-while-drilling/measurement-while-drilling (LWD/MWD). Certain embodiments may be applicable to subsea and/or deep sea wellbores. Embodiments described below with respect to one implementation are not intended to be limiting.
This disclosure relates to an anti-preset mechanism for deploying a downhole tool to a desired location and for preventing premature actuation of the tool during insertion thereof into a subterranean wellbore. Further, this disclosure relates to an anti-reset mechanism for retrieving a downhole tool from a wellbore and from preventing undesired re-actuating of the tool during retrieval thereof from the wellbore.
A wellbore 132 extends through the various earth strata including formation 114. A casing 134 is cemented within wellbore 132 by cement 136. Work string 130 includes various tools including sand control screens 138, 140, 142 positioned in an interval of wellbore 132 adjacent to formation 114 above retrievable packer 146 of the present invention.
Although the embodiment in
Referring now to
Still referring to
Still referring to
The collet member 244A is shown in further detail in
The mandrel 202 is shown in further detail in
Referring now to
Referring now to
One embodiment is an apparatus that includes a mandrel comprising an outer surface with a protrusion and a depression, a slip assembly disposed about the mandrel, a collet member disposed about the mandrel and disposed adjacent to the slip assembly, wherein the collet member includes a collet lug comprising a tapered inner surface and a tapered outer surface and wherein the collet member is selectively moveable to run, set, and release positions along the length of the mandrel; and a cover sleeve disposed about the mandrel and coupled to the collet member.
Optionally, the collet lug inner surface may be operable to selectively engage the depression when the collet member is in the run position.
Optionally, the cover sleeve may be operable to release the collet lug from the depression.
Optionally, the collet lug inner surface may be operable to selectively engage the protrusion when the collet member is in the release position.
Optionally, the slip assembly may be located uphole of the collet member and the cover sleeve.
Optionally, the apparatus may be operable to be deployed to a downhole location and retrieved from a downhole location.
Optionally, the collet member may be operable to extend radially when disengaged from the mandrel.
Optionally, the slip assembly may be operable to move radially outward about the mandrel.
Optionally, the slip assembly may be operable to engage a well casing when the collet member is in the set position.
Another embodiment is a method for releasing a packer assembly, including cutting a mandrel, wherein the mandrel includes an outer surface with a protrusion and a depression, sliding a cover sleeve and a collet member having a collet lug downhole with respect to the mandrel, applying force from the collet member to the slip assembly, disengaging the slip assembly from a well casing, and engaging an inner surface of the collet lug to the protrusions.
Optionally, the slip assembly may be located uphole of the collet member and the cover sleeve.
Optionally, the collet lug may include a tapered inner surface.
Optionally, the collet lug may include a tapered outer surface.
Optionally, the method may include preventing the collet member from extending radially.
Optionally, the method may include preventing the slip assembly from re-actuating.
Another embodiment is a method for running a packer assembly downhole including coupling a collet member to a cover sleeve, wherein the collet member includes a collet lug having a tapered inner surface, engaging the inner surface of the collet lug to an outer surface of a mandrel, wherein the outer surface of the mandrel includes a protrusion and a depression, and deploying the collet member, the cover sleeve, the mandrel, and a slip assembly to a downhole location.
Optionally, the slip assembly may be located uphole of the collet member and the cover sleeve.
Optionally, the collet lug may include a tapered outer surface.
Optionally, the method may include preventing the collet member from extending radially.
Optionally, the method may include preventing the slip assembly from actuating prematurely.
Therefore, the present disclosure is well adapted to attain the ends and advantages mentioned as well as those that are inherent therein. The particular embodiments disclosed above are illustrative only, as the present disclosure may be modified and practiced in different but equivalent manners apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the teachings herein. Furthermore, no limitations are intended to the details of construction or design herein shown, other than as described in the claims below. It is therefore evident that the particular illustrative embodiments disclosed above may be altered or modified and all such variations are considered within the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. Also, the terms in the claims have their plain, ordinary meaning unless otherwise explicitly and clearly defined by the patentee.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/US14/68740 | 12/5/2014 | WO | 00 |
