Not applicable.
Not applicable.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to completion equipment and operations in subterranean wells and, more specifically, to a hydraulically operated sleeve valve that provides selective and controlled regulation of fluids within a tubing string in subterranean installations.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mechanical sleeve valves, such as BJ Services Company's family of Multi-Service Valves, are used in subterranean wells to provide zone isolation and bore completion control for completion operations such as gravel packing, spot acidizing and fracturing, killing a well, or directing flow from the casing to the tubing in alternate or selective completion operations. In such operations, the sleeve valve provides fluid communication between the tubing string, such as the inner diameter of the valve, and the outside of the valve, such as a well annulus. Typically, mechanical sleeve valves are opened or closed, such as by a shifting tool that is placed within the valve body and manipulated by standard wireline and/or coiled tubing methods. The sleeve, which seals the fluid communication path, can be physically moved from the closed to opened position, and vice versa, by these methods.
There also exist hydraulically actuated sleeve valves, such as WellDynamics' CC Interval Control Valve, in which opening and closing of the valve is achieved remotely with the use of two hydraulic control lines. In these types of hydraulic sleeve valves, a pressure differential across a defined piston area causes the sleeve to move in the desired direction.
Unlike mechanical sleeve valves, hydraulic sleeve valves typically do not provide a positive indication that the sleeve has been actuated to the fully opened condition or the fully closed condition. Debris, mechanical damage, and other such events or artifacts may prevent the valve from fully opening or fully closing at the rated pressure differential. Further, the oftentimes-severe conditions at the control site (such as, for example, sub sea) may allow precipitates to form in the control fluid (e.g., hydraulic oil) that may adversely affect opening or closing of the sleeve valve. Gases also may be introduced into the control lines, which also may adversely affect valve operation.
Applicants have invented an improved hydraulic sleeve valve that provides positive indication of the valve position, circulation of control fluid to eliminate or reduce control line contaminants, and/or positive alignment of the valve flow ports.
The present inventions provide a hydraulic valve assembly for use in a subterranean well comprising a body portion including a flow port therethrough. A sleeve is axially and slidably disposed adjacent an inside surface of the body portion and forms a sealed pressure chamber there between. The sleeve comprises a working surface that is disposed in the pressure chamber and separates the chamber into a valve opening. portion and a valve closing portion. A flow port may be located through a portion of the sleeve such that when the body flow port and the sleeve flow port are aligned, the valve permits fluid communication from outside of the body to inside of the sleeve. A bypass relief system may be provided to fluidly communicate between the valve opening and closing portions of the chamber when the sleeve is in a predetermined axial position.
Another aspect of the present inventions provides a bypass relief system comprising a one-way pressure relief valve disposed in a bypass conduit having an opening pressure port and a closing pressure port, both of which communicate with the pressure chamber.
Another aspect of the present inventions provides a flow port alignment system, disposed between the sleeve and the body to prevent the sleeve from rotating relative to the body, thereby maintaining a predetermined alignment of the body port and the sleeve port.
Another aspect of the present inventions provides a flow port alignment system that comprises a sleeve position indexing system including a programmed track and follower for axially and/or rotationally positioning the sleeve relative to the body port at a plurality of flow conditions.
Another aspect of the present invention provides a method for valving fluid flow in a subterranean well, which comprises: providing a hydraulic sleeve valve at desired location in the well; supplying fluid pressure to the valve to change its flow condition from closed to opened or opened to closed; and generating an indication with the bypass relief system to inform the valve user that the valve has cycled to the desired flow condition, where the hydraulic sleeve valve comprises a body portion including a flow port therethrough, a sleeve axially slidably disposed adjacent an inside surface of the body portion and forming a sealed pressure chamber there between; the sleeve comprising a working surface disposed in the pressure chamber and separating the chamber into a valve opening portion and a valve closing portion; and a bypass relief system adapted to fluidly communicate between the valve opening and closing portions of the chamber when the sleeve is in a predetermined axial position.
The following figures form part of the present specification and are included to further demonstrate certain aspects of the present invention. The invention may be better understood by reference to one or more of these figures in combination with the detailed written description of specific embodiments presented herein.
While the inventions disclosed herein are susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, only a few specific embodiments are shown by way of example in the drawings and are described in detail below. The figures and detailed descriptions of these specific embodiments are not intended to delimit all embodiments of the invention or to limit the breadth or scope of the inventive concepts or the appended claims in any manner. Rather, the figures and detailed written descriptions are provided to illustrate the inventive concepts to a person of skill in the art.
One or more illustrative embodiments incorporating the inventions disclosed herein are presented below. Not all features of an actual implementation are necessarily described or shown for the sake of clarity. For example, the various seals, vents, joints and others design details common to oil well equipment are not specifically illustrated or described. It is understood that in the development of an actual embodiment incorporating the present invention, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made to achieve the developer's goals, such as compliance with system-related, business-related, government-related, and other constraints, which vary by implementation and from time to time. While a developer's efforts might be complex and time-consuming, such efforts would be, nevertheless, a routine undertaking for those of ordinary skill in the art having benefit of this disclosure.
As used within this description, relative and positional terms, such as, but not limited to “up” and “down”; “upward” and downward “upstream” and “downstream”; “upper” and “lower”; “upwardly” and “downwardly”; and other like terms are used in this description to more clearly describe some embodiments of the invention. However, when applied to apparatus and methods for use in wells that are deviated or horizontal, such terms may refer to a left to right, right to left, or other relationship as appropriate. Also, as used herein the terms “seal” and “isolation” are used with the recognition that some leakage may occur and that such leakage may be acceptable. Thus, some embodiments of the present invention may allow for leakage without departing from the scope of the invention and systems that provide for such leakage and fall within the scope of the present invention
In general, Applicants have invented an improved hydraulic sleeve valve for use in subterranean wells. The valve comprises a body having a plurality of flow ports allowing communication from outside the body to inside the body. A movable sleeve may be sealed to the inside of the body such that in one position the sleeve prevents flow through the body flow ports and in another position flow therethrough is facilitated. The sleeve may be moved from the closed position to the opened position (and vice versa) by a pressure differential, such as that created by control line hydraulic pressure, which may be applied to one or more piston areas associated with the sleeve. The valve may comprise one or more position indicators to indicate, for example, that the sleeve has been moved into the fully opened flow condition. Such position indicators may comprise a pressure bypass conduit that is uncovered (i.e., opened to fluid communication) as the sleeve reaches the fully opened conditioned. When the bypass conduit is uncovered, fluid communication among the open and close control lines in the valve and the pressure control equipment is established. Additionally, once uncovered, the bypass conduit may be used to circulate the actuating fluid, such as hydraulic fluid, through the valve and control system to, among other things, remove contaminants such as air, gas, water, or particulates. Still further, the valve body and the sleeve may comprise a port alignment system to maintain the body ports and sleeve ports, if any, in a desired flow alignment.
Turning now to a more specific discussion of a particular embodiment of the present inventions,
Disposed within the valve body 20 is a sleeve 60, which is substantially unrestrained to move in a substantially axial direction, i.e., toward and away from the distal and proximal ends 22, 24. The sleeve 60 comprises plurality of flow ports 62. It is likewise preferred that the cumulative flow area of the sleeve flow ports 62 substantially match the flow area of body ports 28. As will be discussed later, it may be important in some embodiments of the present invention to maintain alignment between the body flow ports 28 and the sleeve flow ports 62 so that undesired flow restrictions and/or pressure drops are avoided.
Focusing now on the interface between the body 20 and the sleeve 60,
Disposed within the chamber 80 is one or more working surfaces 82 that are coupled, integrally or otherwise, to the sleeve 60. Pressure in the chamber 80, or more accurately, differential pressure across the working surface 82 causes the sleeve 60 to move substantially axially in the direction of low pressure. In the preferred embodiment illustrated in
The embodiment illustrated in
Turning now to
The body 20 comprises a first manifold portion 32 located adjacent the proximal end 24. The manifold portion 32 comprises a valve closing control circuit 34 that communicates with the chamber 80 and more specifically with closing working surface 82. The exposed junction of the valve closing circuit 34 is adapted to receive a control line fitting 36, such as a Levy fitting. The manifold portion 32 may also comprise one or more channels or grooves adjacent the outside surface, opened or closed, for receiving and routing one or more control lines, such as control line 38. In this particular embodiment, the manifold portion 32 also comprises a bypass relief system 100, which will be explained more fully below.
The body 20 comprises a second manifold portion 40 located adjacent the distal end 22. The manifold portion 40 comprises a valve opening control circuit 42 that communicates with the chamber 80 and more specifically with opening working surface 82. The exposed junction of the valve opening circuit 42 is adapted to receive a control line fitting 36, such as a Levy fitting. A control line 44 is shown (partial view) connected to the opening circuit 42. Also shown in manifold portion 40 is an annulus monitor circuit 46. It will be appreciated that the valve 10 may be opened by creating a pressure differential in the chamber 80 across the working surfaces 82 such that the sleeve 60 moves up or toward the proximal end 24. Similarly, the valve 10 may be closed by creating a pressure differential in the reverse direction to cause the sleeve 60 to move downward. In addition, it will appreciated that the valve 10 may be operated by standard mechanical means, such as a shifting tool (not shown) cooperating with opening and/or closing profiles (not shown) on the sleeve 60.
Referring to
The cartridge-type, relief valve 112 illustrated in
Referring back to
In operation, as the sleeve 60 is moved by differential pressure from its closed position to its opened position, the bypass circuit 106 will become exposed to the pressure in the opening circuit 42 (via the portion of the chamber 80 distal of the opening working surface 82). Once the bypass circuit 106 is so exposed, fluid communication is established between the opening circuit 42 and the closing circuit 34. A predetermined pressure drop in the opening circuit 42 is the positive indication that the sleeve 60 has reached the fully opened position (or substantially opened position depending on how the valve 10 is designed). Because the relief valve 112 has a minimum crack off or flow pressure of 3000 psid, sufficient differential pressure remains on the opening working surface 82 to preclude the valve 10 from inadvertently closing. Once the valve 10 is opened and the bypass relief system 100 is activated, the control fluid may be circulated through the control system (not shown) to filter out or remove selected contaminants that may have entered the control lines. It will be appreciated that in the embodiment described above, control fluid circulation is accomplished any time the valve is in the opened condition and a valve-opening pressure differential is applied to the sleeve 60.
Those of skill in the art will appreciate that control fluid contamination, such as by gas infiltration, may be minimized by optimizing the seal systems used on the valve 10. For example, a Tec-Pac seal system, such as those readily available from TEI Sealing Systems and similar seal vendors may be suitable for use with embodiments of the present inventions. Additionally, uses of elastomeric seals are well known to minimize gas infiltration. However, because the present invention allows the control fluid to be circulated to remove contaminants, such as air or gas, optimization of the seal may not be necessary in some or all applications.
When it is desired to close the valve 10, a valve-closing pressure differential is applied through the control lines 38 and 44. It will be appreciated that, because the relief valve 112 is a one-way flow valve, there will be no fluid communication between the areas of high pressure and low pressure in the chamber 80 during closing.
Thus, the embodiments described and illustrated in
Another functionality of the present invention is illustrated in FIGS. 6Aa and 6B for those embodiments that have sleeve flow ports, it is oftentimes (if not always) desirable to ensure little to no flow restriction or pressure drop through the valve 10 flow ports (e.g., 28, 62). This can be accomplished by correctly sizing the flow ports relative to the main tubing flow area as is well known in the art. However, if the flow path between the valve body ports 28 and sleeve ports 62 becomes obstructed, such as may happen if the ports do not align properly, undesirable flow restrictions and/or pressure drops may arise. The present invention may comprise a flow port alignment system 200 that maintains the relative alignment between the body ports 28 and the sleeve ports 62 while the valve 10 is opened. A preferred embodiment of the flow port alignment system 200 is illustrated in
It is presently preferred that alignment pins 204 be fabricated from a beryllium copper alloy, such as AT 25.
It will be appreciated that the alignment system illustrated in
Another embodiment of a hydraulic sleeve valve 300 is illustrated
Rather than the alignment system 200 discussed above, the embodiment illustrated in FIG.7 comprises a flow port alignment system in the form of a position indexing system 500. Preferably, this indexing system 500 comprises a programmed track 502 (see
Referring now to
As illustrated in
Persons of skill in the art will also appreciate that a plurality of hydraulic valves utilizing one or more of the inventions illustrated herein can be deployed in a given formation zone. Valve position indexing systems can be implemented in each valve such that common control lines open all valve simultaneously and close all valves simultaneously. Alternately, each separate valve in the formation zone may have separate control lines for independent control. Alternately, a valve position indexing system can be implemented in each valve such that actuation from a common set of control lines causes one valve to open first (fully or partially) on the first pressure cycle followed by additional openings on the second pressure cycle (such as, but not limited to, fully opening the first valve and partially opening the second valve) and so on.
For example, to transition the downhole assembly illustrated in
All of the methods, processes and/or apparatus disclosed and claimed herein can be made and executed without undue experimentation in light of the present disclosure. While the methods and apparatus of this invention have been described in terms of preferred embodiments, it will be apparent to those of skill in the art that variations may be applied to the methods, apparatus and/or processes, and in the steps or in the sequence of steps of the methods described herein without departing from the concept and scope of the invention. More specifically, it will be apparent that certain features which are both mechanically and functionally related may be substituted for the features described herein while the same or similar results would be achieved. All such similar substitutes and modifications apparent to those skilled in the art are deemed to be within the scope and concept of the invention.
This application claims priority to and benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/735,385 filed on Nov. 11, 2005.
Number | Date | Country | |
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60735385 | Nov 2005 | US |