Patent Grant
12352140
The present disclosure generally relates to gas lift systems.
An electric gas lift valve may comprise a side pocket mandril. The side pocket mandril may comprise a side pocket, a top thread connection, and a bottom thread connection. The side pocket may accommodate one or more block valves, a linear electric mechanical actuator (EMA), and electronics. The one or more block valves may be configured to carry a case of a housing, a governor, a cam sleeve, a torsion spring, one or more venturis, one or more dynamic seals, and a solenoid. The electric gas lift valve may provide for an adjustable discrete flow rate control.
Certain embodiments, features, aspects, and advantages of the disclosure will hereafter be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals denote like elements. It should be understood that the accompanying figures illustrate the various implementations described herein and are not meant to limit the scope of various technologies described herein.
In the following description, numerous details are set forth to provide an understanding of some embodiments of the present disclosure. It is to be understood that the following disclosure provides many different embodiments, or examples, for implementing different features of various embodiments. Specific examples of components and arrangements are described below to simplify the disclosure. These are, of course, merely examples and are not intended to be limiting. However, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the system and/or methodology may be practiced without these details and that numerous variations or modifications from the described embodiments are possible. This description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but rather made merely for the purpose of describing general principles of the implementations. The scope of the described implementations should be ascertained with reference to the issued claims.
As used herein, the terms “connect”, “connection”, “connected”, “in connection with”, and “connecting” are used to mean “in direct connection with” or “in connection with via one or more elements”; and the term “set” is used to mean “one element” or “more than one element”. Further, the terms “couple”, “coupling”, “coupled”, “coupled together”, and “coupled with” are used to mean “directly coupled together” or “coupled together via one or more elements”. As used herein, the terms “up” and “down”; “upper” and “lower”; “top” and “bottom”; and other like terms indicating relative positions to a given point or element are utilized to more clearly describe some elements. Commonly, these terms relate to a reference point at the surface from which drilling operations are initiated as being the top point and the total depth being the lowest point, wherein the well (e.g., wellbore, borehole) is vertical, horizontal or slanted relative to the surface.
The oil industry has utilized gas lift to produce hydrocarbon or other fluids for decades. In general, a gas lift valve is installed as part of a gas-lift system and aims to control the flow of lift gas into the production tubing conduit. Gas lift systems aid or increase production by injecting high-pressure gas from the casing annulus into fluids that have entered the production tubing from the formation. The injected gas reduces the fluid density and, thus, the hydrostatic pressure of the fluid, allowing in situ reservoir pressure to lift the lightened liquids.
In embodiments, a gas-lift valve is located in the gas-lift mandril, which also provides communication with the lift gas supply in the tubing annulus. Gas lift valves can be adjusted by operators to control the rate of gas injection into the liquid column in the production tubing. Check valves within the gas lift valves can be used to control the fluid flow in only one direction—from the casing annulus into the production tubing. When the gas flow rate is required to be adjusted due to a new condition of the well, a well intervention operation is required to exchange the orifice size from the gas lift valve.
In embodiments, an electric gas lift valve can be used in a gas lift system. Electricity can be supplied to the valve and be used to actuate the valve in their function remotely, without the need to intervene in the well. In addition, the electric power can enable other functions such as detecting and monitoring the open and close of the valve as well as pressure, temperature, vibration, and flow rates, which are valuable data to the well operator.
Represented by the cross-section view of an embodiment,
As shown in
When the valve is full open, all radial holes aligned with their respective venturis. When the valve is partially open, only some of the venturis are aligned with the radial holes and some others are blinded as above explained. Either way, the gas continues flowing inside the valve passing through the backcheck and finally reaching the production tubing, as shown in
In
In embodiments, the solenoid is expanded in an electrically powered condition. This means that in case electricity is lost or interrupted intentionally, the solenoid will retract by the action of its spring and, instantly after, the accumulated energy in the torsion spring will be released, returning the governor to the default condition where all of its through radial holes are aligned with the venturis, where the valve is full open.
The current disclosure provides multiple advantages compared to traditional gas lift valves. For example, the fail open valve in the direction of annulus to tubing, allowing to inject gas into the well at any circumstance of electrical. Moreover, because of the autonomous backcheck valve, the valve is also failed close in the direction of tubing to annulus, maintaining the integrity of the well at any circumstance of electrical failure. The novel function of opening and closing the passage of the gas in the valve, electrically commanded for the surface, eliminating the need of well intervention maneuver as happen nowadays installing or removing dummy valve in the mandril. The novel function of gas flow control in the valve, electrically commanded for the surface, eliminating the need of well intervention maneuver as happen nowadays exchanging the orifice size of the valve.
In embodiments, a single linear electric mechanical actuator can be used to control the flow and the opening and closing of the gas in the valve. This increases system reliability due to the single motor actuating both function of the valve, as being the open & close and flow control of the gas. The system reliability is also increased by the fact of using rotational sealing mechanisms which have better performance against scale and debris.
Language of degree used herein, such as the terms “approximately,” “about,” “generally,” and “substantially” as used herein represent a value, amount, or characteristic close to the stated value, amount, or characteristic that still performs a desired function or achieves a desired result. For example, the terms “approximately,” “about,” “generally,” and “substantially” may refer to an amount that is within less than 10% of, within less than 5% of, within less than 1% of, within less than 0.1% of, and/or within less than 0.01% of the stated amount. As another example, in certain embodiments, the terms “generally parallel” and “substantially parallel” or “generally perpendicular” and “substantially perpendicular” refer to a value, amount, or characteristic that departs from exactly parallel or perpendicular, respectively, by less than or equal to 15 degrees, 10 degrees, 5 degrees, 3 degrees, 1 degree, or 0.1 degree.
Although a few embodiments of the disclosure have been described in detail above, those of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate that many modifications are possible without materially departing from the teachings of this disclosure. Accordingly, such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of this disclosure as defined in the claims. It is also contemplated that various combinations or sub-combinations of the specific features and aspects of the embodiments described may be made and still fall within the scope of the disclosure. It should be understood that various features and aspects of the disclosed embodiments can be combined with, or substituted for, one another in order to form varying modes of the embodiments of the disclosure. Thus, it is intended that the scope of the disclosure herein should not be limited by the particular embodiments described above.
The present application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/498,621, filed Apr. 27, 2023, the entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein and should be considered part of this specification.
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| Entry |
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| Number | Date | Country | |
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| 20240360743 A1 | Oct 2024 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63498621 | Apr 2023 | US |
