Patent Application
20230399922
In the oil and gas industry, hydrocarbons are located in subterranean formations that may be located onshore or offshore. Wells are drilled into these formations to access and produce said hydrocarbons. A well is a structure formed by a wellbore and supported by at least one casing string cemented in the wellbore. The casing string is made of a plurality of joints of casing connected together. While drilling a well, the primary concern is preventing an uncontrolled release of hydrocarbons to the Earth's surface. Therefore, at least one float valve is installed in the float shoe or the float collar of the casing string.
The float valve is a check valve configured to control a flow of a fluid in a single direction. With respect to the casing string and the wellbore, the float valve controls the flow of the fluid such that the fluid flows from the inside of the casing string to the wellbore. On occasion, debris or junk may be present within the fluid. As the fluid, along with the junk, flows within the casing, the junk can become lodged within the float valve and cause clogging, which leads to the float valve malfunctioning. In addition, clogging of the float valve may prevent the casing string from auto-filling, thereby forcing mud into the formation. The forced mud causes excess pressure to develop within the wellbore, which leads to prematurely fracturing of the formation.
In one aspect, embodiments of the present invention relate to a junk crusher device for crushing junk in a fluid stream includes a circular plate and a shaft. The circular plate includes fluid stream discharge holes and a bearing. The shaft is disposed within the bearing and includes detachably connected tear blades that are configured to rotate with the shaft. The junk crusher device further includes an impeller, hydraulically driven by the fluid stream, configured to rotate the shaft, an internal housing including fixed blades, and a body configured to receive the internal housing such that the internal housing is secured to an interior of the body. The rotating tear blades and fixed blades are configured to crush junk in the fluid stream. The fluid stream discharge holes disposed in the circular plate are configured to filter crushed junk.
In one aspect, embodiments of the present invention relate to a method for crushing junk in a fluid stream includes assembling an internal housing within a body, supporting, by a bearing disposed in a circular plate, a shaft comprising externally integrated tear blades, and rotating, by a hydraulically driven impeller, the shaft and tear blades together. The method further includes crushing, by the rotating tear blades and fixed blades formed to the internal housing, junk in the fluid stream and filtering, by fluid stream discharge holes disposed in a circular plate, crushed junk.
In one aspect, embodiments of the present invention relate to a junk crusher assembly for crushing junk in a fluid stream, the junk crusher assembly includes a junk crusher device. The junk crusher device includes a circular plate and a shaft. The circular plate includes fluid stream discharge holes and a bearing. The shaft is disposed within the bearing and includes detachably connected tear blades that are configured to rotate with the shaft. The junk crusher device further includes an impeller, hydraulically driven by the fluid stream, configured to rotate the shaft, an internal housing including fixed blades, and a body configured to receive the internal housing such that the internal housing is secured to an interior of the body. The junk crusher assembly further includes a baffle plate configured to block junk that would not fit in the junk crusher device, a float valve configured to control the fluid stream such that the fluid stream flows in a single direction, and a casing configured to house the junk crusher device, the baffle plate, and the float valve.
Specific embodiments of the disclosed technology will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying figures. Like elements in the various figures are denoted by like reference numerals for consistency. The sizes and relative positions of elements in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. For example, the shapes of various elements and angles are not necessarily drawn to scale, and some of these elements may be arbitrarily enlarged and positioned to improve drawing legibility.
Specific embodiments of the disclosure will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying figures. In the following detailed description of embodiments of the disclosure, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the disclosure. However, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the disclosure may be practiced without these specific details.
In other instances, well known features have not been described in detail to avoid unnecessarily complicating the description.
Throughout the application, ordinal numbers (e.g., first, second, third, etc.) may be used as an adjective for an element (i.e., any noun in the application). The use of ordinal numbers is not intended to imply or create any particular ordering of the elements nor to limit any element to being only a single element unless expressly disclosed, such as using the terms “before”, “after”, “single”, and other such terminology. Rather, the use of ordinal numbers is to distinguish between the elements. By way of an example, a first element is distinct from a second element, and the first element may encompass more than one element and succeed (or precede) the second element in an ordering of elements.
In addition, throughout the application, the terms “upper” and “lower” may be used to describe the position of an element in a well. In this respect, the term “upper” denotes an element disposed closer to the surface of the Earth than a corresponding “lower” element when in a downhole position, while the term “lower” conversely describes an element disposed further away from the surface of the well than a corresponding “upper” element. Likewise, the term “axial” refers to an orientation substantially parallel to the well, while the term “radial” refers to an orientation orthogonal to the well.
This disclosure describes devices, assemblies, and methods of crushing junk with the use of fixed blades and hydraulically driven tear blades. The techniques discussed in this disclosure are beneficial in crushing junk into small enough pieces to flow through float equipment, thereby preventing clogging of the float equipment.
A casing string 106 is made of a plurality of joints of casing connected together. Each joint of casing is a tubular made of a durable material, such as steel. The casing joints may also be made of a lighter material, such as fiberglass. The casing string 106 has a casing outer circumferential surface 108. The casing outer circumferential surface 108 delineates a boundary of an annulus 110. The annulus 110 is the space located between the casing outer circumferential surface 108 and the wellbore 102. Because wells 100 are often supported by a plurality of casing strings 106, the annulus 110 may also include the space located between the casing outer circumferential surface 108 and a shallower casing string's 106 inner circumferential surface.
The casing string 106 is shown having a float shoe 112. A float shoe 112 is the portion of the casing string 106 located furthest away from the surface location 104, i.e., the deepest component of the casing string 106 in a vertical well 100. A float shoe 112 is a rounded profile component. The rounded profile allows the casing string 106 to guide the casing string 106 towards the center of the wellbore 102 without getting hung up on rock ledges and washouts. The float shoe 112 may include a float valve 114 located in the interior thereof.
The float valve 114 is a check valve that only allows a fluid stream 116 in one direction. In terms of the casing string 106 and the wellbore 102, the float valve 114 only allows the fluid stream 116 from the inside of the casing string 106 to the wellbore 102 and to the annulus 110. The float shoe 112 may also include a profile for a cement plug to land out. The outer portion of the float shoe 112 may be made of a durable material, such as steel, and may match the size of the casing string 106. The inner components of the float shoe 112, including the float valve 114, are made of a drillable material, such as cement or thermoplastic.
The casing string 106 of the well 100 is shown as also having a float collar 118. The float collar 118 is also located along a portion of the casing string 106 further away from the surface location 104; however, the float collar 118 is located at a shallower depth than the float shoe 112, i.e., the float collar 118 is closer to the surface location 104 than the float shoe 112. The float collar 118 may also have a float valve 114 and a profile for a cement plug to land out. The outer portion of the float collar 118 may be made of a durable material, such as steel, and may match the size of the casing string 106. The inner components of the float collar 118, including the float valve 114, are made of a drillable material, such as cement or thermoplastic.
A casing string 106 is commonly made with both a float shoe 112 and a float collar 118, and both the float shoe 112 and the float collar 118 have float valves 114. This is a redundancy in case one of the float valves 114 fails. However, a casing string 106 may be made of only a single float shoe 112 or a float collar 118 and there may be only one float valve 114 without departing from the scope of this disclosure.
The fluid pumped from the surface location 104 into the interior of the casing string 106 may contain junk. This junk may be lost-circulation material, equipment from that has found its way into the casing string 106 from the surface location 104, or another form of debris familiar to a person skilled in the art. If junk in the fluid makes its way downhole, it may clog a float valve 114. Clogging of a float valve 114 may lead to the float valve 114 malfunctioning, thereby halting operations.
In order to resume operations, it may be necessary to run a fishing job or to pull the casing string 106 out of the wellbore 102. Consequently, the loss of the well 100 is possible if a fishing job cannot remove the junk and the casing string 106 cannot be removed from the wellbore 102. Therefore, a device or assembly that increases the success rate of running the casing string 106 to a planned depth in the event that the fluid contains unforeseen junk that may clog the float valve 114 and also ensures well 100 control is maintained by retaining means of direct circulation is beneficial. As such, embodiments disclosed herein present devices, assemblies, and methods using fixed blades 120 and hydraulically driven tear blades 122 to crush junk present in a fluid stream 116 prior to the junk reaching a float valve 114 such that the crushed junk is small enough to pass through the float valve 114 without the possibility of clogging the float valve 114.
The junk crusher device 128 is fixed to the casing 130 between the baffle plate 126 and float valve 114 in the junk crusher assembly 124 and includes fixed blades 120 fixed to an internal housing 132 of the junk crusher device 128 and rotating tear blades 122. Both the fixed blades 120 and tear blades 122 are formed of a durable material such as steel or tungsten carbide. The tear blades 122 are attached to a steel shaft 134. The shaft 134 and the attached tear blades 122 are rotated by an impeller 136 disposed at the top end of the shaft 134. The impeller 136 is hydraulically driven by a fluid flowing through the junk crusher assembly 124. The rotating tear blades 122 and fixed blades 120 work together to crush junk that has entered the junk crusher device 128. The structure of the junk crusher device 128 is further detailed in
The junk crusher assembly 124 further includes a float valve 114 fixed within the casing 130 of the junk crusher assembly 124. The float valve 114 may be a flapper type valve or a plunger type valve as depicted in
In addition, connected to the lower end of the spring 138 is a disk 140. The disk 140, formed of steel or an equivalent material, includes fluid stream discharge holes 152 that fluid can pass through. The disk 140 acts as the final screen to catch any remaining junk from exiting the junk crusher assembly 124.
The casing 130 of the junk crusher assembly 124 is a tubular body formed of steel or an equivalent material. The casing 130 is configured to enclose the other elements of the junk crusher assembly 124. The top end of the casing 130 may connect to a casing string 106, such as the casing string 106 depicted in
The top end of the junk crusher assembly 124 is connected to the downhole end of the casing string 106. The casing string 106 shown in
A cross-sectional view of a junk crusher device 128 in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure is shown in
The circular plate 146 is formed of steel or equivalent material and includes a plurality of fluid stream discharge holes 152 and a bearing 154 at its center. The fluid stream discharge holes 152 are designed to allow fluid, along with crushed junk, to flow through the circular plate 146. Junk that is too large to fit through the fluid stream discharge holes 152 cannot pass through the circular plate 146 and are trapped within the junk crusher device 128. Therefore, the trapped junk is continuously crushed until it breaks into smaller pieces that can pass through the fluid stream discharge holes 152, thereby exiting the junk crusher device 128 flowing towards the float valve 114.
The bearing 154 of the circular plate 146 can be, but is not limited to, a ball bearing or a tapered roller bearing. Disposed within the bearing 154 is the shaft 134 of the junk crusher device 128. The bearing 154 secures the shaft 134 within the junk crusher device 128 to the circular plate 146 while simultaneously permitting the shaft 134 to rotate. In this embodiment, the steel shaft 134 is connected to the bearing 154 at the bottom end of the shaft 134. In additional embodiments, an additional circular plate 146 may be attached to the shaft 134 higher up the shaft 134 towards the surface location 104 for further stability of the shaft 134 within the junk crusher device 128.
Rigidly connected to the top end of the shaft 134 is a hydraulically driven impeller 136. The impeller 136 is made of a hard material, such as steel, tempered steel, or equivalent, since it may come into contact with junk disposed within a fluid stream 116. The impeller 136 includes vanes and a splined, keyed, or threaded bore to attach to the shaft 134. As the fluid stream 116 travels downhole, it passes over and applies forces upon the vanes of the impeller 136, thereby rotationally actuating the shaft 134.
The shaft 134 includes attachable tear blades 122. The tear blades 122 are circular shaped with a plurality of sharp edges protruding from the outer edge of the tear blades 122. Generally, multiple tear blades 122 are attached to the shaft 134 through shaft holes 155 situated in the center of the tear blades 122. As the fluid stream 116 passes through the junk crusher device 128, junk is crushed between the rotating tear blades 122 and the fixed blades 120. The fixed blades 120 are also circular shaped. However, a plurality of sharp edges of the fixed blades 120 protrude from the inner edge of the fixed blades 120. Each fixed blade 120 further includes an opening 156. The shaft 134 is situated within the center of the openings 156 of the fixed blades 120. As the shaft 134 rotates, the protrusions or raised burrs 158 of the tear blades 122 push junk towards the protrusions or raised burrs 158 of the fixed blades 120. Thus, the junk is ripped apart or crushed between the tear blades 122 and fixed blades 120.
The fixed blades 120 are fixed to the interior of the additional sections 150 of the internal housing 132. Each section of the internal housing 132 is attached to the body 144 of the junk crusher device 128. The body 144 of the junk crusher device 128 is cylindrically shaped and configured to attach the junk crusher device 128 within the casing 130 of the junk crusher assembly 124. In one or more embodiments, the body 144 of the junk crusher device 128 includes grooved profiles. The grooved profiles of the body 144 are configured to receive complementary grooved profiles of each section of the internal housing 132 in order to connect the internal housing 132 to the body 144 of the junk crusher device 128.
In addition, each tear blade 122 includes a shaft hole 155 at its center. The tear blades 122 are designed to be attached to the shaft 134 by sliding the tear blades 122 over the shaft 134 with the shaft 134 passing through the shaft holes 155 of the tear blades 122. Once the tear blades 122 are set in place along the shaft 134 the tear blades 122 are secured to the shaft 134 through the use of a key lock mechanism.
Similar to a tear blade 122, a fixed blade 120 is made of steel or tungsten carbide. The outer edge of the fixed blade 120 is attached to the interior of the internal housing 132. At the center of the fixed blade 120 is an opening 156. The shaft 134 of the junk crusher device 128 runs through the opening 156. Fluid and any junk within the fluid also pass through the opening 156 of the fixed blade 120. A plurality of protrusions or raised burrs 158 extend inwardly from the opening 156 of the fixed blade 120 toward the shaft 134.
A circular plate 146 in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure is shown in
In the instance that multiple circular plates 146 are employed within the junk crusher device 128, the size of the fluid stream discharge holes 152 may differ between the different circular plates 146. A circular plate 146 disposed closer to the top end of the junk crusher device 128 includes fluid stream discharge holes 152 with larger diameters than a circular plate 146 disposed closer to the bottom end of the junk crusher device 128. In this way, the junk is gradually crushed to a predetermined size before exiting the junk crusher device 128.
Subsequent to the installation of the first section 148, the shaft 134 is placed within and secured to the bearing 154 of the circular plate 146 as seen in
Disposed at the top end of the shaft 134 is an impeller 136. The impeller 136 is situated outside of the internal housing 132, but within the body 144 of the junk crusher device 128. A baffle plate 126 is disposed above the impeller 136 and fixed to the casing 130 of the junk crushed assembly. The junk which passes through the baffle plate 126 flows downward through the annular space between the impeller 136 and the body 144 in order to enter the junk crusher device 128. The top end of the body 144 may be tapered such that the top end of the body 144 funnels the junk into the junk crusher device 128. Junk too large to fit through said annular space cannot pass through the baffle plate 126. In the embodiment shown, the baffle plate 126, junk crusher device 128, and float valve 114 are disposed concentrically along the common axis 162.
In block 201, the internal housing 132 of the junk crusher device 128 is assembled. This is completed prior to the fluid flowing through the junk crusher assembly 124. Initially, a first section 148 of the internal housing 132 including a circular plate 146 is installed to the body 144 towards the lower end of the junk crusher device 128. The shaft 134 and a tear blade 122 are then installed within the junk crusher device 128. Next, an additional section 150 of the internal housing 132 including a fixed blade 120 is attached to both the body 144 and the first section 148. Subsequent to the installation of the additional section, another tear blade 122 is attached to the shaft 134 of the junk crusher device 128 above the fixed blade 120 of the additional section. Multiple additional sections 150 and tear blades 122 may be added in an alternating fashion to the junk crusher device 128 depending on the size of the junk crusher device 128. Further, an additional section 150 containing an additional circular plate 146 may be installed in place of an additional section 150 containing a fixed blade 120 in order to provide added support for the shaft 134. Once the internal housing 132 is fully assembled, an impeller 136 is rigidly connected to the top end of the shaft 134.
In block 202, as fluid is now flowing through the junk crusher assembly 124, the impeller 136 is hydraulically actuated by the fluid stream 116, thereby rotating the shaft 134 and the tear blades 122 attached to the shaft 134.
In block 203, junk is crushed by the fixed blades 120 and tear blades 122 of the junk crusher device 128. The junk enters the junk crusher assembly 124 by being contained within the fluid stream 116. Junk too large to be crushed is prevented from entering the junk crusher device 128 by the baffle plate 126. Junk that can pass through the baffle plate 126 enters the junk crusher device 128 by passing through the annular space between the impeller 136 and the body 144. Once inside the junk crusher device 128, the junk is crushed into smaller pieces by the rotating tear blades 122 and the fixed blades 120.
In block 204, the junk has been crushed and has made its way through the junk crusher device 128 to the circular plate 146 disposed in the first section 148 of the internal housing 132. If the junk has been crushed to a size that is smaller than the fluid stream discharge holes 152 of the circular plate 146, then the junk will be carried by the fluid through the fluid stream discharge holes 152 towards the float valve 114. At this size, there is not a concern of the crushed junk clogging the float valve 114. However, if the junk cannot fit through the fluid stream discharge holes 152, it will continue to be crushed by the tear blades 122 and fixed blades 120 until it is small enough or has broken into small enough pieces to fit through the fluid stream discharge holes 152. In this way, the circular plate 146 filters the crushed junk exiting the junk crusher device 128.
Accordingly, the aforementioned embodiments as disclosed relate to devices, assemblies, and methods useful for crushing junk disposed in a fluid stream 116 by fixed blades 120 and hydraulically driven tear blades 122. The disclosed device, assembly, and methods of crushing junk in a fluid stream 116 advantageously crush junk into small enough pieces such that the crushed junk can pass through floating equipment. This benefit, in turn, advantageously prevents floating equipment from becoming clogged, thereby ensuring well 100 control is maintained at all times. Consequently, and in addition, the disclosed device and assembly for and methods of crushing junk in a fluid stream 116 prior to the junk and fluid stream 116 passing through the floating equipment reduces unplanned, non-productive time needed to trip out the casing string 106 and eliminates the need for costly fishing operations associated with clogged floating equipment. Further, the disclosed device and assembly for and methods of crushing junk in a fluid stream 116 prior to the junk and fluid stream 116 passing through the floating equipment increases the success rate of running the casing string 106 and lower completion to a planned depth.
Although only a few embodiments of the invention have been described in detail above, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that many modifications are possible in the example embodiments without materially departing from this invention. Accordingly, all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of this disclosure as defined in the following claims.
