Patent Application
20250052137
In the resource recovery industry especially in mature wells, there is a risk of producing a greater percentage of water in the target fluid. To address the issue, inflow control devices attempt to exclude higher water percentage fluids while allowing lower water percentage fluids to flow into the borehole. Some success has been achieved with available inflow control devices but greater specificity is desired. Alternate technologies that help to improve the selective inflow of target fluids over water are always of interest to the art.
An embodiment of an inflow control device (ICD), including a hydrocyclonic device having a plurality of pressure taps therein and a valve responsive to differential pressure of the plurality of pressure taps.
An embodiment of an inflow control device (ICD) including a switch having a primary flow inlet and a primary flow outlet, and a trigger that generates a differential pressure in the trigger due to separation of fluids having different densities.
An embodiment of a method for allowing flow of a desired fluid while retarding a flow of undesired fluid in a flow control device, including flowing a pilot fluid through a fluid separator, separating components of the pilot fluid, applying differential pressure of two of the separated components to a valve that is actuated by differential pressure, flowing or retarding flow of a primary flow through the valve in response to the differential pressure.
An embodiment of a wellbore system, including a borehole in a subsurface formation, a string in the borehole, the ICD disposed within or as a part of the string.
The following descriptions should not be considered limiting in any way. With reference to the accompanying drawings, like elements are numbered alike:
A detailed description of one or more embodiments of the disclosed apparatus and method are presented herein by way of exemplification and not limitation with reference to the Figures.
Referring to
The switch 12 includes a primary flow inlet 16 and a primary flow outlet 18. Depending upon the position of the switch 12, the primary flow is allowed, or is impeded, or is prevented. The primary flow, while the device is in use in a wellbore environment, is fluid coming from a formation 20 (see also
The trigger 14, as illustrated, is a hydrocyclone. Hydrocyclones are known to separate components of mixed fluids such as oil and water based upon the densities of the fluids. Illustrations regarding the operation of a hydrocyclone are provided in
The trigger 14 has a pilot flow inlet 36 and a pilot flow outlet 38. Pilot flow may come to the pilot flow inlet 36 directly from the formation 20 as does the primary flow to primary flow inlet 16 of the switch 12 or the pilot flow to inlet 36 may come from a pilot flow outlet 38 from another trigger 14. In fact, multiple triggers may be stacked in this way to further amplify the pressure differential generated. For example, in an embodiment where there is a 5 PSI indication for pressure drop from the hydrocyclone, the differential may be magnified to 10 PSI with an additional hydrocyclone or 15 PSI with three hydrocyclones stacked in series, for example. Further additional hydrocyclones may be added in series to increase differential. Alternatively, if a pilot flow outlet 39 is made smaller in dimension than the inlet 36, the pressure drop can also be increased. It is further to be appreciated that the cone angle can be employed to create different magnitudes of pressure differential. By cone angle, it is meant an angle measured from a longitudinal axis of the cone to an inside surface of the cone. The cone angle for embodiments contemplated herein should be less than 90 degrees. The following tables illustrate pressure drop differentials for water and oil for several possible angles of the cone. These are examples only. Any other angle less than 90 degrees is also contemplated.
Regardless of where the pilot flow comes from, it is note that the amount of flow through the pilot pathway is volumetrically smaller than that flowable through the primary flow path through switch 12, when open, and accordingly has a negligible effect on the admission of an undesirable fluid to the inside diameter of the borehole equipment. The pilot flow is usable to drive the volume of fluid permitted to flow through the switch 12, depending upon the percentage of desirable fluid vs undesirable fluid in the pilot flow. For Example, if a greater percentage of oil to water is in the pilot flow then the switch 12 will open to a greater extent thereby allowing a larger volume of fluid to flow through the switch 12 into a production stream in the borehole than would be the case if the pilot flow included a percentage of water that was greater than the percentage of oil in that flow, for example. Variability of the volume of flow through switch 12 is infinite within the bounds of fully open and fully closed. In that case, the switch would choke or close. It is noted that this controlled exclusion of unwanted fluid will occur automatically and resumption of flow through the switch 12 will also occur automatically simple based upon the character of fluid flowing through the trigger 14. No input from surface is needed and no power is needed.
Still addressing the trigger 14, as a byproduct of the separation of fluid components, there is created a pressure drop that is greater for water (denser fluid) than it is for oil (less dense fluid) which effectively creates a differential between the components (oil and water as an example) after separation. This is the case with all component separation concepts, such as a tortuous path, a nozzle jet, an axial entry centrifugal separation through a swirl element or spiral path, and some of these could be substituted for the hydrocyclone illustrated, but with the hydrocyclone, the pressure differential created is as many as about 12 times the differential while the total cross-section area of the exits is larger. The much larger differential in pressure provides a correspondingly larger motive force for the switch 12 when the pressure from the separated fluids is applied to the switch 12. The larger exit area also corresponds to slower flow speed providing less erosion and more stable control. Pressure taps 40 and 42 are positioned along the trigger 14 (as shown in
A benefit of the hydrocyclone embodiment is that it is impervious to gravitational orientation. The hydrocyclone will separate fluids in the pilot flow and produce the pressure differential needed to actuate the switch 12 regardless of the orientation in space of the hydrocyclone 14.
Referring to
In some embodiments, the chamber 24 and chamber 26 may be isolated from one another by a wall 64.
Referring to
Set forth below are some embodiments of the foregoing disclosure:
Embodiment 1: An inflow control device (ICD), including a hydrocyclonic device having a plurality of pressure taps therein and a valve responsive to differential pressure of the plurality of pressure taps.
Embodiment 2: The ICD as in any prior embodiment, wherein the hydrocyclonic device includes a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet.
Embodiment 3: The ICD as in any prior embodiment, wherein the valve includes a primary flow inlet and a primary flow outlet.
Embodiment 4: The ICD as in any prior embodiment, wherein the valve includes a shuttle.
Embodiment 5: The ICD as in any prior embodiment, wherein the shuttle is a piston.
Embodiment 6: The ICD as in any prior embodiment, wherein the shuttle includes a flow feature that is alignable and misalignable with the primary flow inlet of the valve.
Embodiment 7: The ICD as in any prior embodiment wherein the flow feature is a neck-down of the shuttle.
Embodiment 8: The ICD as in any prior embodiment wherein the flow feature is a bore through the shuttle.
Embodiment 9: The ICD as in any prior embodiment, wherein a first of the plurality of pressure taps is located to measure pressure of a first fluid separated in the hydrocyclone.
Embodiment 10: The ICD as in any prior embodiment, wherein a second of the plurality of pressure taps is located to measure pressure of a second fluid separated in the hydrocyclone.
Embodiment 11: An inflow control device (ICD) including a switch having a primary flow inlet and a primary flow outlet, and a trigger that generates a differential pressure in the trigger due to separation of fluids having different densities.
Embodiment 12: A method for allowing flow of a desired fluid while retarding a flow of undesired fluid in a flow control device, including flowing a pilot fluid through a fluid separator, separating components of the pilot fluid, applying differential pressure of two of the separated components to a valve that is actuated by differential pressure, flowing or retarding flow of a primary flow through the valve in response to the differential pressure.
Embodiment 13: The method as in any prior embodiment, wherein separating components of the pilot fluid includes spinning the pilot fluid.
Embodiment 14: The method as in any prior embodiment, wherein the spinning separates denser fluid components from less dense fluid components.
Embodiment 15: The method as in any prior embodiment, wherein the components are oil and water.
Embodiment 16: A wellbore system, including a borehole in a subsurface formation, a string in the borehole, the ICD as in any prior embodiment disposed within or as a part of the string.
The use of the terms “a” and “an” and “the” and similar referents in the context of describing the invention (especially in the context of the following claims) are to be construed to cover both the singular and the plural, unless otherwise indicated herein or clearly contradicted by context. Further, it should be noted that the terms “first,” “second,” and the like herein do not denote any order, quantity, or importance, but rather are used to distinguish one element from another. The terms “about”, “substantially” and “generally” are intended to include the degree of error associated with measurement of the particular quantity based upon the equipment available at the time of filing the application. For example, “about” and/or “substantially” and/or “generally” can include a range of ±8% of a given value.
The teachings of the present disclosure may be used in a variety of well operations. These operations may involve using one or more treatment agents to treat a formation, the fluids resident in a formation, a borehole, and/or equipment in the borehole, such as production tubing. The treatment agents may be in the form of liquids, gases, solids, semi-solids, and mixtures thereof. Illustrative treatment agents include, but are not limited to, fracturing fluids, acids, steam, water, brine, anti-corrosion agents, cement, permeability modifiers, drilling muds, emulsifiers, demulsifiers, tracers, flow improvers etc. Illustrative well operations include, but are not limited to, hydraulic fracturing, stimulation, tracer injection, cleaning, acidizing, steam injection, water flooding, cementing, etc.
While the invention has been described with reference to an exemplary embodiment or embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the invention. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the invention without departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out this invention, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the claims. Also, in the drawings and the description, there have been disclosed exemplary embodiments of the invention and, although specific terms may have been employed, they are unless otherwise stated used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention therefore not being so limited.
