The present invention is directed to drilling equipment and, more particularly, to a grease-retaining valve seat insert for hydraulic fracturing equipment.
A frac valve is high-pressure isolation valve that supplies the fracturing fluid to a wellhead set up for hydraulic fracturing. The frac valve is opened to supply the hydraulic fracturing fluid to the wellhead and closed to isolate the wellhead from the hydraulic fracturing fluid. Most conventional frac valves include one or more valve cavities filled with grease for lubricating the valve gate. The grease typically needs to be replenished every one or two frac stages due to excessive washing of the grease out of the valve cavity. A need exists for a more efficient frac valve that mitigates grease loss.
Embodiments of the invention include a removable grease-retaining frac valve insert, a frac valve using one or more of the grease-retaining frac valve inserts, and a multi-wellhead assembly including frac valves using one or more of the grease-retaining frac valve inserts for mitigating grease loss during operation of the frac valve. The frac valve includes a flange defining a flow bore, a valve gate, and a valve cavity housing grease lubricating the valve gate as the valve gate moves between an open position and a closed positions. The grease-retaining frac valve insert includes a seal plate maintaining sliding contact with the valve gate as the valve gate moves between the open and closed positions. A cuff extending from the seal plate is interfacing with the flow bore. The seal plate covers the valve cavity over an entire length of travel of the valve aperture adjacent to the valve cavity blocking fluid in the flow bore from infiltrating the valve cavity through the valve aperture.
An optional wiper seal may be positioned in a wiper seal groove defined by the seal plate. The wiper seal, which may be fabricated from PTFE, may include beveled edges forming a central peak in sliding contact with the valve gate. As another option, a seat seal may be positioned in a seat seal groove defined by the cuff interfacing with the flow bore.
In an alternative embodiment, the cuff may be integrally formed with the seal plate, or the cuff may removable from the seal plate with a cuff gasket positioned between the cuff and the seal plate.
It will be understood that specific embodiments may include a variety of features in different combinations, as desired by different users. The specific techniques and systems for implementing particular embodiments of the invention and accomplishing the associated advantages will become apparent from the following detailed description of the embodiments and the appended drawings and claims.
The numerous advantages of the embodiments of the invention may be better understood with reference to the accompanying figures.
With conventional frac valves, a large portion of the grease escapes into the flow bore every time the valve is operated. The valve gate includes a valve aperture that moves into and out of alignment with the flow bore as the valve is opened and closed. As the valve gate is moved between the open and closed positions, the valve aperture is partially aligned with the flow bore and partially aligned with the valve cavity. This creates an unimpeded infiltration path from the flow bore into the valve cavity allowing the hydraulic fracturing fluid to infiltrate the valve cavity through the valve aperture washing the grease away. To combat this, some valves utilize grease retainers positioned around the conventional valve seats. This approach is largely ineffective, however, because it does little to prevent grease loss during movement of the valve gate when the valve aperture is partially aligned with the flow bore and partially aligned with the valve cavity, which is the main source of grease loss.
The grease-retaining valve seat solves the grease-loss problem through a seal plate that covers the valve cavity over the entire length of travel of the valve aperture adjacent to the valve cavity. This prevents the hydraulic fracturing fluid from infiltrating the valve cavity through the valve aperture when the valve aperture is partially aligned with the flow bore and partially aligned with the valve cavity. The grease-retaining valve seat insert thus mitigates the grease loss during operation of the frac valve by preventing the hydraulic fracturing fluid from washing the grease out of the valve cavity during movement of the valve aperture past the valve cavity.
The grease-retaining fac valve includes a cuff designed replace the conventional valve seat in a conventional frac valve. To install the grease-retaining valve seat insert, the conventional valve seat is removed and the grease-retaining valve seat is inserted into position with the cuff in the location previously occupied by the conventional valve seat and the seal plate covering at least a portion of the grease filled valve cavity. The seal plate covers the valve cavity over the entire length of travel of the valve aperture adjacent to the valve cavity blocking fluid in the flow bore from infiltrating the valve cavity through the valve aperture. This greatly reduces the amount of grease used by the frac valve with the goal of effectively eliminating the application of grease to the frac valve in the field.
As the seal plate is the primary component preventing the grease from washing out of the valve cavity as the valve aperture moves past the valve cavity, additional features to further mitigate grease loss may be considered optional. One of these options is a wiper seal located between the seal plate and the valve gate. The wiper seal may include beveled edges forming a central peak in sliding contact with the valve gate to help prevent the wiper seal from snagging on the valve aperture. The wiper seal may also be fabricated from PTFE or another durable low-friction material. As another option, a seat seal may be located between the cuff and the flow bore.
Embodiments of the invention include a single-piece grease-retaining valve seat insert that combines the cuff and the seal plate into an integrated component. A two-piece grease-retaining valve seat insert includes a seal plate with a cuff receptacle, a removable cuff, and a cuff gasket located between the cuff and the cuff receptacle. To minimize replacement costs and increase versatility, the two-piece grease-retaining valve seat insert allows the removable cuff to be replaced without also replacing the seal plate. In a representative embodiment, the two grease-retaining fac valve seat inserts provide custom hard-faced sealing surfaces sized and shaped to replace existing valve seats in a conventional frac valve while covering the valve cavities on the upstream and downstream sides of the conventional frac valve.
Turning to the figures, specific representative embodiments of the invention are described in detail including a variety of features and options. Practicing the invention does not necessarily require utilization of all, or any particular combination, of the features or options. The specific techniques and structures for implementing particular embodiments of the invention and accomplishing the associated advantages will become apparent from the following detailed description of the embodiments and the appended drawings and claims.
Referring to the wellhead assembly 12a to describe the general operation, the frac valve 14a is opened to place the wellhead 12a in an operating mode with the hydraulic fracking fluid supplied through the hydraulic connection 16a to the wellhead 12a. To take the wellhead 12a out of operation, the frac valve 14a is closed to cut off the supply of the hydraulic fracking fluid to wellhead 12a allowing the wellhead to be serviced for a variety of purposes while the other wellheads remain in operation. In practice, the frac valve 14a is operated frequently over the life of the wellhead 12a resulting in the need for regular maintenance. As described in more detail with reference
Lowering the valve gate 106 moves the valve plate 110 from a first valve cavity 114 into alignment with the flow bore 104, while simultaneously moving the valve aperture 112 from alignment with the flow bore into a second valve cavity 116 to close the frac valve 100. Similarly, raising the valve gate 106 moves the valve plate 110 from alignment with the flow bore 104 into the first valve cavity 114, while simultaneously moving the valve aperture 112 from the second valve cavity 116 into alignment with the flow bore to open the frac valve 100. The first and second valve cavities 114, 116 are filled with grease to lubricate the valve gate 106 while it moves between the open and closed positions. As the valve gate 106 moves between the open and closed positions, the valve aperture 112 moves past conventional valve seats 118a and 118b positioned around the flow bore 104 on opposing sides of the valve gate 106.
Cuffs of the grease-retaining frac valve seat inserts 302a and 302b line the flange 102 around the flow bore 104 on opposing sides of the valve gate 106 in the regions occupied by the conventional valve seats 118a and 118b in the conventional frac valve 100. As a result, the improved frac valve 300 can be fabricated, for example, by retrofitting the conventional frac valve 100 by replacing the conventional valve seats 118a and 118b with the grease-retaining frac valve seat inserts 302a and 302b. As another option, the grease-retaining frac valve seat inserts 302a and 302b can be provided as original equipment in new or rebuilt frac valves.
To illustrate a representative embodiment,
The seal plate 402 includes a durable hard-faced sealing surface 404, a wiper seal groove 405, and a wiper seal 406 positioned in the wiper seal groove. The seal plate 402 also includes a cuff 408, a seat seal groove 410, and a seat seal 412 received in the seat seal groove. The cuff 408 is sized and shaped to replace a conventional valve seat removed from the corresponding frac valve 300. In this embodiment, the cuff 408 is integrally formed with the seal plate 402 in the single-piece configuration. As indicated on
To further illustrate the representative embodiment,
As with the valve seat insert 400, the removable cuff 708 may be sized and shaped to snugly interface with the corresponding frac valve 300 when installed in the cuff receptacle 720. The wiper seal 706 provides a seal at the sliding interface between the seal plate 702 and the valve gate 106 without snagging on the valve aperture 112 as the valve aperture moves past the wiper seal into and out of the second valve cavity 116 mitigating the extreme grease loss occurring in the conventional frac valve 100 illustrated in
In this embodiment, the removable cuff 708 is selectively received in the cuff receptacle 720 defined by the seal plate 702, for example by screwing, press-fitting, or twist locking into the cuff receptacle allowing the removable cuff 708 to be removed and replaced without removing and replacing the seal plate 702. This allows different cuffs to be attached to the same seal plate improving the versatility of the grease-retaining valve seat insert.
It will be appreciated that the improved frac valves can be positioned in any desired orientation, and may include one or more flanges, valve gates, grease-filled valve cavities, and grease-retaining valve seat inserts. It will be also appreciated that seal plate may be somewhat smaller than the representative embodiments provided the seal plate covers the entire length of travel of the valve aperture adjacent to the valve cavity to prevent the hydraulic fracturing fluid from infiltrating the valve cavity through the valve aperture. The seal plate may therefore fully or partially cover the valve cavity provided that it covers the entire length of travel of the valve aperture adjacent to the valve cavity. For example, a portion of the valve cavity may remain uncovered to supply grease to the valve gate at a location not exposed to the valve aperture during operation of the valve.
The grease-retaining valve seat inserts are not limited to any particular type or location of valve in wellhead system. The representative embodiments may include seal plates and cuffs fabricated from steel with gaskets and wiper seal fabricated from polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), which are suitable low cost, durable, easily formed materials. However, other materials may be used as a matter of design choice. For example, alternative embodiments of the seal plates and cuffs may be fabricated from a variety of other rigid, water-impervious materials suitable this type of high-pressure application, such polycarbonate, fiberglass, glass-filled nylon, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), ceramics, and blends thereof. Alternative seal plates and cuffs may also be fabricated from low-cost polymeric materials lined with steel, ceramic or other more durable materials. Similarly, the gaskets and wiper seals may be fabricated from a variety of other flexible, water-impervious materials suitable this type of application, such as rubber, silicon, flexible polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polychloroprene (neoprene), ethyl carbamate (urethane), polyurethane, flexible polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and blends thereof.
In embodiments utilizing single-piece seal grease-retaining valve seat inserts, removable wiper seals and seat seals may be considered sacrificial components, while the seal plates may be utilized to receive multiple wiper seals over the lives of the seal plates. Similarly, in embodiments utilizing two-piece seal grease-retaining valve seat inserts, removable cuffs may also be considered sacrificial components, while the seal plates may be utilized to receive removable cuffs over the lives of the seal plates. Alternative seal rings may also be utilized, such as multiple concentric seal rings, seal rings with additional edge layers, seal rings fabricated from multiple materials, and so forth.
In general, the drawings are in simplified form designed to concisely conceptualize the invention and are not to precise scale unless specifically indicated. The same or similar reference numerals may be used to refer to the same or similar parts. The words “couple,” “connect,” “adjacent” and the like do not necessarily denote direct contact, but generally refer to operative connection which may generally be accomplished through intermediate components. Certain descriptors, such “first” and “second,” “top and bottom,” “upper” and “lower,” “inner” and “outer,” “leading” and “trailing,” “vertical” and “horizontal” or similar relative terms may be employed to differentiate similar structures from each other. These descriptors are generally utilized as a matter of descriptive convenience and are not employed to implicitly limit the invention to any particular position or orientation unless specifically claimed.
Though the representative embodiments of the invention described above, those skilled in the art will be enabled to make various modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the following claims.
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