Downhole motor assemblies, such as mud motors, are used to supplement drilling operations by turning fluid power into mechanical torque and applying this torque to a drill bit. The drilling fluid or drilling mud is used to cool and lubricate the drill bit, carry away drilling debris, and provide a mud cake on the walls of the annulus to prevent the hole from sloughing in upon itself or from caving in all together.
One example of a drilling assembly using a mud motor is illustrated in
The downhole assembly has a longitudinal axis 35 that coincides with the longitudinal axis of the motor 11. The rotor 21 will orbit eccentrically relative to the axis 35, as indicated by the numeral 37. The amount of lateral deviation from the axis 35 may be on the order of about 3.1 mm to about 6.4 mm (about ⅛ to ¼ inch), for example. The rotor 21 is connected to a connector shaft 39 by a rotor coupling 41. The rotor coupling 41 forms a rigid connection that causes the upper end of the connector shaft 39 to orbit in unison with the lower end of rotor 21. The lower end of the connector shaft 39 connects to a drive shaft coupling 43, which is also a rigid coupling. The drive shaft coupling 43 rotates concentrically on the longitudinal axis 35. The connector shaft 39 will flex along its length because of the orbiting movement of its upper end. The drive shaft coupling 43 is then connected via a drive shaft 45, directly or indirectly, to the drill bit.
In operation, the motor assembly will be assembled and lowered into a well on a string of tubing. Once in place, drilling mud is supplied to the motor 11, causing the rotor 21 to rotate eccentrically. This causes the connector shaft 39 to rotate, which in turn rotates the drive shaft 45 and the drill bit (not shown) connected thereto. The motor 11 will discharge the fluid out the lower end and thence to the drill bit for cooling of the drill bit and removal of drill cuttings, where it flows to the surface. Because of the severe operating and environmental conditions associated with oilfield applications, mud motors may fail due to insufficient adhesion or bonding between materials forming the components of the mud motors.
In one aspect, embodiments disclosed herein relate to a method of manufacturing at least a portion of a progressive cavity motor or pump. The method includes disposing a cylindrical shell within a cylindrical housing, disposing a stator mold within the cylindrical shell, disposing an elastomeric material between the stator mold and the cylindrical shell, removing the stator mold from within the elastomeric material, thereby forming an elastomeric material layer having a stator profile within the cylindrical shell, and removing the cylindrical shell from within the cylindrical housing, thereby forming a cartridge having the elastomeric material layer disposed within the cylindrical shell.
In another aspect, embodiments disclosed herein relate to a stator that includes a stator housing, a cylindrical shell disposed within the stator housing, and an elastomeric material layer disposed within the cylindrical shell, the elastomeric material layer defining a stator profile within the cylindrical shell.
In another aspect, embodiments disclosed herein relate to a method of manufacturing at least a portion of a progressive cavity motor or pump. The method includes treating an inner surface of a cylindrical shell to facilitate adhering an elastomeric material to the cylindrical shell, thereby forming an adhesive treatment layer on the inner surface of the cylindrical shell, disposing the cylindrical shell within a cylindrical housing, disposing a stator mold within the cylindrical shell, injecting the elastomeric material between the stator mold and the cylindrical shell, curing the elastomeric material, adhering the elastomeric material to the cylindrical shell, removing the stator mold from within the elastomeric material, thereby forming an elastomeric material layer having a stator profile within the cylindrical shell, removing the cylindrical shell from within the cylindrical housing, thereby forming a cartridge having the elastomeric material layer disposed within the cylindrical shell, disposing an adhesive material comprising a metal-to-metal bonding agent within the stator housing, thereby forming an adhesive layer within the stator housing, and adhering the cartridge within the stator housing.
This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts that are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in limiting the scope of the claimed subject matter.
Specific embodiments will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying Figures. Like elements in the various figures may be denoted by like reference numerals for consistency. Further, in the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the disclosed embodiments. However, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments disclosed herein 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.
In the following discussion and in the claims, the terms “including” and “comprising” are used in an open-ended fashion, and thus should be interpreted to mean “including, but not limited to . . . ” Further, the terms “axial” and “axially” generally mean along or parallel to a central or longitudinal axis, while the terms “radial” and “radially” generally mean perpendicular to a central longitudinal axis. Additionally, directional terms, such as “above,” “below,” “upper,” “lower,” “horizontal,” “vertical,” “top,” “bottom,” etc., are used for convenience in referring to the accompanying drawings, and the terms are not meant to limit the disclosure.
Furthermore, those having ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that when describing connecting or coupling a first element to a second element, it is understood that connecting or coupling may be either directly connecting or coupling the first element to the second element, or indirectly connecting or coupling the first element to the second element. For example, a first element may be directly connected or coupled to a second element, such as by having the first element and the second element in direct contact with each other, or a first element may be indirectly connected or coupled to a second element, such as by having a third element, and/or additional elements, connected or coupled between the first and second elements.
Embodiments disclosed herein relate to at least a portion of a progressive cavity motor or pump, and methods of manufacturing at least a portion of a progressive cavity motor or pump. An embodiment in accordance with the present disclosure may include a stator having a stator housing, a cylindrical shell disposed within the stator housing, and an elastomeric material layer disposed within the cylindrical shell, in which the elastomeric material layer defines a stator profile within the cylindrical shell. The stator may also include an adhesive layer between the cylindrical shell and the stator housing, in which the adhesive layer may include a metal-to-metal bonding agent. Further, the cylindrical shell may include a treatment on an inner surface thereof, thereby forming an adhesive treatment layer on the inner surface of the cylindrical shell, to facilitate adhering the elastomeric material layer to the cylindrical shell. The treatment on the inner surface of the cylindrical shell may include a mechanical treatment and/or a chemical treatment, in which the mechanical treatment may include a thermal spray treatment, a laser beam treatment, a plasma coating treatment, and/or a machining treatment, and the chemical treatment may include an etching treatment and/or a primer and adhesive treatment.
Further, an embodiment in accordance with the present disclosure may include disposing a cylindrical shell within a cylindrical housing, disposing a stator mold within the cylindrical shell, disposing an elastomeric material between the stator mold and the cylindrical shell, removing the stator mold from within the elastomeric material, thereby forming an elastomeric material layer having a stator profile within the cylindrical shell, and removing the cylindrical shell from within the cylindrical housing, thereby forming a cartridge having the elastomeric material layer disposed within the cylindrical shell. The method may further include disposing the cartridge within a stator housing, thereby forming a stator of the progressive cavity motor or pump.
Disposing the cartridge within the stator housing may include disposing an adhesive material within the stator housing, thereby forming an adhesive layer within the stator housing, and adhering the cartridge within the stator housing. Further, disposing the elastomeric material between the stator mold and the cylindrical shell may include injecting the elastomeric material between the stator mold and the cylindrical shell, curing the elastomeric material, and adhering the elastomeric material to the cylindrical shell. The method may further include treating an inner surface of the cylindrical shell to facilitate the adhering the elastomeric material to the cylindrical shell, thereby forming an adhesive treatment layer between the elastomeric material layer and the cylindrical shell.
Referring now to
As mentioned, the treatment on the inner surface 312 of the cylindrical shell 310 may include a mechanical treatment and/or a chemical treatment to facilitate adhering an elastomeric material to the inner surface 312 of the cylindrical shell 310 and increase a bond or adhesion strength between the elastomeric material and the inner surface 312 of the cylindrical shell 310. As such, the treatment may extend to only a portion of the inner surface 312 of the cylindrical shell 310, as desired, or may include substantially the entirety of the inner surface 312 of the cylindrical shell 310. In one or more embodiments, the mechanical treatment may include a thermal spray treatment, a laser beam treatment, a plasma coating treatment, and/or a machining treatment, and the chemical treatment may include an etching treatment and/or a primer and adhesive treatment. The total thickness of the adhesive treatment layer may vary, such as from about 10 microns to about 1 mm (about 3.94×10−4 in to about 3.94×10−2 in), depending on the type and/or amount of treatment used.
For example, a thermal spray treatment and/or a plasma coating treatment may refer to a group of treatments in which metallic, ceramic, tungsten carbide, cermet, and/or some polymeric materials in the form of powder, wire, and/or rod are fed to a torch or gun. The materials are then heated to near or somewhat above the respective melting point. The resulting molten or nearly molten droplets of material are accelerated in a gas stream and projected against the surface to be coated, which in the present case would include the inner surface 312 of the cylindrical shell 310. On impact, the droplets flow into thin lamellar particles adhering to the surface, overlapping, and interlocking as until solidification, thereby resulting in an adhesive treatment layer on the inner surface 312 of the cylindrical shell 310. The total thickness of the adhesive treatment layer may vary, depending on the number of passes from a coating device. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/224,642, which is assigned to the assignee of the present disclosure, describes methods of using plasma treatment when forming and/or manufacturing directional drilling assemblies in accordance with the present disclosure.
As mentioned above, another type of treatment in accordance with the present disclosure may include a machining treatment. In accordance with one or more embodiments disclosed herein, a machining treatment may include a treatment in which protrusions and/or pores or voids are formed on the inner surface 312 of the cylindrical shell 310. For example, one or more protrusions, one or more hooks, one or more voids, one or more holes, one or more craters, one or more pinholes, one or more needles, and/or otherwise one or more patterns may be used to form the adhesive treatment layer on the inner surface 312 of the cylindrical shell 310. As such, the adhesive treatment layer may facilitate adhering an elastomeric material to the inner surface 312 of the cylindrical shell 310, such as increasing a bond or adhesion strength between the elastomeric material and the inner surface 312 of the cylindrical shell 310.
Referring still to
The treatment discussed above may be applied to the inner surface 312 of the cylindrical shell 310 either before and/or after the cylindrical shell 310 has been formed. For example, in an embodiment in which the cylindrical shell 310 is formed by rolling sheet metal, the treatment may be applied to the sheet metal before rolled to form the cylindrical shell 310, and/or the treatment may be applied after the sheet metal has been rolled to form the cylindrical shell 310. In an embodiment in which the treatment is applied after the cylindrical shell 310 has been formed, one or more portions from the cylindrical shell 310 may need to be removed to facilitate treatment of the inner surface 312 of the cylindrical shell 310.
For example, as shown in
As shown in
Referring now to
Referring now to
Referring now to
Accordingly, as shown in the detailed image in
An apparatus and method in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure may be helpful in multiple areas, such as within the oil and gas industry. For example, embodiments disclosed herein may be used to form or manufacture a stator for a progressive cavity motor or pump. Further, embodiments disclosed herein may be used to form or manufacture a cartridge for use within a stator housing of a stator. A cartridge may be used within the present disclosure to facilitate adhering an elastomeric material to a cylindrical shell, and facilitate adhering the cylindrical shell to a stator housing. By using these multiple layers and materials, the adhesion and bonding strength between the layers of the cartridge and the stator may be increased.
Although only a few example embodiments 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 a method and apparatus to manufacture progressive cavity motors or pumps as described herein. Accordingly, all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of this disclosure. In the claims, means-plus-function clauses are intended to cover the structures described herein as performing the recited function and not only structural equivalents, but also equivalent structures. Thus, although a nail and a screw may not be structural equivalents in that a nail employs a cylindrical surface to secure wooden parts together, whereas a screw employs a helical surface, in the environment of fastening wooden parts, a nail and a screw may be equivalent structures. It is the express intention of the applicant not to invoke means plus function treatment for any limitations of any of the claims herein, except for those in which the claim expressly uses the words ‘means for’ together with an associated function.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/US2014/020325 | 3/4/2014 | WO | 00 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2014/138068 | 9/12/2014 | WO | A |
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