Patent Application
20230287769
Embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein relate to an improved bypass lubricator assembly with reduced valving and an orifice for controlling flow therein, and methods of operating and using the same.
It is well known that production from oil and gas wells requires the diversion of produced materials at the wellhead. Various methods and devices have been developed for that purpose. The present invention assists in that process by, in one exemplary embodiment, providing an orifice for use in a reduced-valve bypass lubricator that overcomes prior art problems associated with such systems.
Those skilled in the art will be familiar with prior art lubricator designs. One prior art design consists of a lubricator having an upper exit and a lower exit, where a plunger (or other artificial lift device) is designed to be housed in the lubricator in spatial relation to the upper and lower exit, typically above the lower exit to promote flow from the well through the lower exit, i.e., without interference from the plunger. Each exit from the lubricator includes a valve for controlling flow from the exit. As is known, these valves can be adjusted in an effort to control the flow out of the lubricator so as to maintain the plunger in a desired position in the lubricator. In order to shut the well in, both valves had to be closed.
Another prior art lubricator design includes a built in flow block having an orifice and a single exit. Such designs do not include any valves in the flow block to control or otherwise maintain the plunger in the lubricator. As such, the plunger can and often does interfere with flow through the outlet of the flow block unless other methods are used to keep the plunger out of the flow path.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that lubricator designs are constrained by existing API specifications and that any changes to a lubricator must conform to those specifications. Those skilled in the art will further appreciate that reducing the complexity and number of valves necessary for a lubricator presents a commercial and economical advantage. As such, the inventors of the present invention have developed a new bypass lubricator design that reduces the number of valves required by prior art designs, while still optimizing the maintenance/positioning of a plunger in the lubricator and while still complying with the pertinent API specifications.
The details of the present invention are described in more detail below via exemplary embodiments and in conjunction with the following Figures.
The following presents a simplified summary of the invention in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not an exhaustive overview of the invention. It is not intended to identify key or critical elements of the invention or to delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is later discussed.
Described herein are embodiments of systems and apparatuses that include an improved bypass lubricator assembly for use on a well. The lubricator may include a body having a bore through which gas from the well travels, where the bore includes at least an upper exit bore and a lower exit bore. The lubricator may also include an exit flow path that also has a bore, wherein the bore of the exit flow path is in fluid communication with the upper exit bore, the lower exit bore, and an exit valve. The upper exit bore and the lower exit bore may be sized relative to one another to create a pressure differential between the upper and lower exit bores to assist in maintaining an artificial lift device in the lubricator’s bore. Shutting the exit valve shuts in the well.
The following disclosure may be understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals identify like elements. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate one or more exemplary embodiments of the present invention, except where the drawings are indicated to illustrate the prior art. In the drawings:
Various features and advantageous details are explained more fully with reference to the non-limiting embodiments that are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and detailed in the following description. Descriptions of well-known starting materials, processing techniques, components, and equipment are omitted so as not to unnecessarily obscure the invention. It should be understood, however, that the detailed description and the specific examples, while indicating embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, and not by way of limitation. Various substitutions, modifications, additions, and/or rearrangements within the spirit and/or scope of the underlying inventive concept will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.
The words and phrases used herein should be understood and interpreted to have a meaning consistent with the understanding of those words and phrases by those skilled in the relevant art. No special definition of a term or phrase, i.e., a definition that is different from the ordinary and customary meaning as understood by those skilled in the art, is intended or implied. To the extent that a term or phrase is intended to have a special meaning, i.e., a meaning other than that understood by skilled artisans, such special definition will be expressly set forth in the specification in a definitional manner that directly and unequivocally provides the special definition for the term or phrase.
The present exemplary embodiments describe an improved bypass lubricator assembly. For example,
Orifice 50 can be a removable orifice such as via a threaded connection in lower exit bore 45. Exemplary details of orifice 50 are described in more detail below in connection with
The position in which artificial lift device 60 is maintained is preferably a position (as shown) that does not block flow through lower exit bore 45. By maintaining artificial lift device 60 in its preferred position in lubricator 10, an operator can avoid using catcher 65 to otherwise maintain artificial lift device 60 in is preferred position, as well as any other timing or other processes necessary to activate and deactivate catcher 65. While no orifice is shown in upper exit bore 40, one could be used there as well for the purpose of controlling flow through upper exit bore 40 and/or the pressure in the vicinity of upper exit bore 40 and/or to further establish a desired pressure differential in the lubricator bore between at least upper exit bore 40 and lower exit bore 45. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that artificial lift device 60 can be any artificial lift device including plungers. One advantage to this particular arrangement of components is that, during well operation, artificial lift device 60 can be maintained in its preferred location in lubricator 10 and the well can be shut in via a single valve, such as exit valve 35, used on or in connection with the lubricator.
Another advantage of this particular arrangement of components, aside from its functionality as described above, is the fact that it can be arranged to comply with all applicable API specifications. For example, the distance between the centerline for the bore of body 15 and outlet flange 25 can be manufactured to be API complaint. Those skilled in the art will be familiar with the API specifications for such lubricators and related equipment.
As explained above, bore 70 can take on any number of inside diameters, the selection of which may depend on well conditions and/or the specific artificial lift device used. Indeed, in this embodiment the orifice is made to be interchangeable so that orifices of different bore size can be readily interchanged in order to accommodate the operational parameter(s) of the lubricator desired by the well operator. In that context, as also described above, orifice 50 may be maintained in lower exit bore 45 via threads 90 so that the orifice can be readily inserted/removed from the lubricator via orifice access port 75. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that mechanisms other than threads can be used to retain orifice 50 in the lubricator.
Although the invention(s) is/are described herein with reference to specific embodiments, various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention(s), as set forth in the claims below. Accordingly, the specification and Figures are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention(s). Any benefits, advantages, or solutions to problems that are described herein with regard to specific embodiments are not intended to be construed as a critical, required, or essential feature or element of any or all the claims.
Unless stated otherwise, terms such as “first” and “second” are used to arbitrarily distinguish between the elements such terms describe. Thus, these terms are not necessarily intended to indicate temporal or other prioritization of such elements. The terms “coupled” or “operably coupled” are defined as connected, although not necessarily directly, and not necessarily mechanically. The terms “a” and “an” are defined as one or more unless stated otherwise. The terms “comprise” (and any form of comprise, such as “comprises” and “comprising”), “have” (and any form of have, such as “has” and “having”), “include” (and any form of include, such as “includes” and “including”) and “contain” (and any form of contain, such as “contains” and “containing”) are open-ended linking verbs. As a result, a system, device, or apparatus that “comprises,” “has,” “includes” or “contains” one or more elements possesses those one or more elements but is not limited to possessing only those one or more elements. Similarly, a method or process that “comprises,” “has,” “includes” or “contains” one or more operations possesses those one or more operations but is not limited to possessing only those one or more operations.
Accordingly, the protection sought herein is as set forth in the claims below.
This application claims priority to provisional patent application serial number 63/318,091 filed Mar. 9, 2022, which is fully incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63318091 | Mar 2022 | US |
