Patent Application
20120298210
Embodiments disclosed herein are generally related to systems, apparatus and/or methods of clearing obstructions within a metering system.
In hydraulic fracturing, fracturing fluid is injected into a wellbore, penetrating a subterranean formation and forcing the fracturing fluid at pressure to crack and fracture the strata or rock. Proppant is placed in the fracturing fluid and thereby placed within the fracture to form a proppant pack to prevent the fracture from closing when pressure is released, providing improved flow of recoverable fluids, i.e., oil, gas, or water. The success of a hydraulic fracturing treatment is related to the fracture conductivity which is the ability of fluids to flow from the formation through the proppant pack. In other words, the proppant pack or matrix must have a high permeability relative to the formation for fluid to flow with low resistance to the wellbore. Permeability of the proppant matrix may be increased through distribution of proppant and non-proppant materials within the fracture to increase porosity within the fracture.
Prior to injection of the fracturing fluid, the proppant and other components of the fracturing fluid must be blended. Gravity fed proppant addition systems may transfer proppant via gravity free fall to a mixer in order to be added to fracturing fluid. Metering the proppant volume in a gravity fed system may be calculated by determining the flow rate of the proppant through an orifice of a known size when the proppant is in gravity free fall through the orifice. Gravity fed systems may also employ the use of pressurization to aid in transferring proppants into the fluid stream or mixer. Pressurization methods in gravity fed systems may include pressurizing the proppant container subject to the gravity feed or utilizing a venture effect where a smaller diameter pipe is connected to a larger diameter pipe to draw the proppant from the proppant container into the mixer or fluid stream.
Moist, damp proppant is a serious problem that negatively affects the service quality of oilfield well fracturing and gravel packing operations. Existing slurry blending equipment typically relies on the use of proppant that is gravity fed through metering orifices of varying geometry whose openings are adjusted using a mechanical gate. These mechanical metering systems work optimally when proppant is dry and can flow freely. However, moist proppant does not flow in the same manner as dry proppant, and can interfere with the flow of dryer proppant to the point of completely blocking off proppant flow out of the metering gate in some situations, thus affecting the desired proppant concentration in the slurry and negatively affecting service quality of oilfield operations.
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.
According to one aspect of the present disclosure, at least one embodiment relates to a proppant metering gate obstruction removal system for clearing obstructions or clogs from a metered orifice.
In this aspect, the proppant metering gate obstruction removal system has an oilfield material reservoir, a fluid nozzle, and a fluid supplier. The oilfield material reservoir has an opening for receiving an oilfield material and a first orifice for discharging the oilfield material. The fluid nozzle is positioned adjacent to the first orifice, and may be comprised of a solid member. The fluid nozzle has a through hole, a first inlet, a second inlet, and a slot. The fluid nozzle may be mounted on the oilfield material reservoir in such a manner that the slot of the fluid nozzle corresponds to the first orifice for directing a fluid flow through the first orifice. The fluid supplier may be connected to the fluid nozzle by both the first inlet and the second inlet, and may be in fluid communication with the fluid nozzle and the oilfield material reservoir. The proppant metering gate obstruction removal system further comprises an automatic control unit that regulates at least one parameter of a fluid flow through the fluid nozzle.
According to another aspect of the present disclosure, at least one embodiment relates to a method for removing an obstruction or clog from the first orifice, where an electromechanical control valve, disposed between the fluid supplier and the fluid nozzle automatically controls, via the automatic control unit, at least one parameter of a fluid flow through the fluid nozzle.
However, many modifications are possible without materially departing from the teachings of this disclosure. Accordingly, such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of this disclosure as defined in the claims.
Embodiments of systems, apparatus and/or methods of clearing obstructions within a metering system are described with reference to the following figures. The same numbers are used throughout the figures to reference like features and components. Implementations of various technologies will hereafter be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, it should be understood that the accompanying drawings illustrate the various implementations described herein and are not meant to limit the scope of various technologies described herein.
At the outset, it should be noted that in the development of any such actual embodiment, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made to achieve the developer's specific goals, such as compliance with system related and business related constraints, which will vary from one implementation to another. Moreover, it will be appreciated that such a development effort might be complex and time consuming but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking for those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure. In addition, the composition used/disclosed herein can also comprise some components other than those cited. In the Summary and this Detailed Description, each numerical value should be read once as modified by the term “about” (unless already expressly so modified), and then read again as not so modified unless otherwise indicated in context. Also, in the Summary and this Detailed Description, it should be understood that a concentration range listed or described as being useful, suitable, or the like, is intended that any and every concentration within the range, including the end points, is to be considered as having been stated. For example, “a range of from 1 to 10” is to be read as indicating each and every possible number along the continuum between about 1 and about 10. Thus, even if specific data points within the range, or even no data points within the range, are explicitly identified or refer to only a few specific, it is to be understood that inventors appreciate and understand that any and all data points within the range are to be considered to have been specified, and that inventors possessed knowledge of the entire range and all points within the range.
The statements made herein merely provide information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art, and may describe some embodiments illustrating the invention.
Referring now to
For purposes of conciseness, the term “oilfield material” as used herein may include proppant, but may also include and should not be limited to, dry guar, cement, suspending agents of the type used in drilling mud, such as polymers, clays, emulsions, transition metal oxides and hyroxides, as will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art.
The term “proppant” as used herein relates to sized particles mixed with fracturing fluid to provide an efficient conduit for production of fluid from the reservoir to the wellbore. For example, the term “proppant” as used herein may include extramatrical channel-forming materials, referred to as channelant, and also may include naturally occurring sand grains or gravel, man-made or specially engineered proppants, such as resin-coated sand or high-strength ceramic materials like sintered bauxite. Proppant materials may also include fibers. The fibers can be, for example, glass, ceramics, carbon including carbon-based compounds, metal including metallic alloys, or the like, or a combination thereof, or a polymeric material such as PLA, PGA, PET, polyol, or the like, or a combination thereof.
In
The sidewall 24 of the body 18 may be configured with a first side 34 and a second side 36 which taper from the upper end 20 to the lower end 22. As shown in
The first orifice 30 is defined by the lower end 22 of the body 18 and may be in the shape of a trapezoid, triangle, square, rectangle, or other polynomial. The size of the first orifice 30 may be manipulated with the metering gate 32, which is connected to the lower end 22 of the body 18 to allow for the proppant flow rate to be regulated through the first orifice 30. Regulation of the flow rate may involve the creation of a mathematical model where the proppant rate may be expressed as a function of factors representing the effects of physical proppant properties and environmental factors to achieve a desired flow rate of proppant in gravity free fall through the first orifice 30.
As shown in
formed within the base 38, a knife gate 42 connected to the base 38 and configured to slidably cover the first and second orifices 30 and 40, respectively, and an actuator 44 connected to the base 38 and the knife gate 42 configured to cause the knife gate 42 to slidably cover the first and second orifices 30 and 40. The second orifice 40, formed within the base 38, may be substantially trapezoidal in shape and overlaps the first orifice 30 of the body 18 of the proppant hopper 12, such that when the knife gate 42 slidably covers the second orifice 40, the knife gate 42 also slidably covers the first orifice 30. The base 38 may be connected to the lower end 22 by brazing, welding, bolting, or any other suitable means of connection. The knife gate 42 may be connected to the base 38 by brackets 46a and 46b, as shown in
The actuator 44 may be implemented as a pneumatic cylinder, hydraulic cylinder, electric cylinder, or any other actuator 44 suitable to cause the knife gate 42 to slidably cover the first and second orifices 30 and 40. As shown in
The proppant hopper 12 may have an opening 58 formed within the sidewall 24 substantially near the lower end 22 of the body 18. The opening 58 may be centered with respect to the first orifice 30 such that the opening 58 is aligned on the sidewall 24 with the center of the first orifice 30 and adjacent to one side of the first orifice 30. The proppant hopper 12 may also be provided with holes 60a and 60b to connect the fluid nozzle 14 to the sidewall 24 of the proppant hopper 12.
Referring now to
The fluid supplier 16 is connected to the first inlet 68 and the second inlet 70 of the fluid nozzle 14 via tubing 72 and an electromechanical control valve 74. The electromechanical control valve 74 may be mounted to the sidewall 24 of the proppant hopper 12 in any suitable manner such as by using nuts and bolts. The tubing 72 may be provided as rigid piping, flexible piping or hose, or any other suitable tubing capable of providing fluid communication between the fluid supplier 16 and the fluid nozzle 14. The fluid supplier 16 may be connected to the electromechanical control valve 74 via tubing 72a and 72b, with the electromechanical control valve 74 connected to the fluid nozzle 14 via tubing 72c and 72d. The tubing 72c and 72d may be connected to the first inlet 68 and second inlet 70 respectively, placing the fluid supplier 16 in fluid communication with the fluid nozzle 14 via the tubing 72 and the electromechanical control valve 74. The fluid communication between the fluid supplier 16 and the fluid nozzle 14 thereby places the first and second orifices 30 and 40 in fluid communication with the fluid supplier 16 via the recess 26 through the opening 58 and the fluid nozzle 14.
The proppant metering gate obstruction removal system 10, as shown in
The computer may include one or more processor, one or more non-transitory computer readable medium, one or more input devices, and one or more output devices. The one or more processor may be implemented as a single processor or multiple processors working together to execute computer executable instructions. Exemplary embodiments of the one or more processors include a digital signal processor, a central processing unit, a microprocessor, a multi-core processor, and combinations thereof. The one or more processor may be coupled to the one or more non-transitory computer readable medium and capable of communicating with the one or more non-transitory computer readable medium via a path, which may be implemented as a data bus, for example. The one or more processor may be capable of communicating with an input device and an output device via paths similar to the path described above coupling the one or more processor to the one or more non-transitory computer readable medium. The one or more processor is further capable of interfacing and/or communicating with one or more networks via a communications device such as by exchanging electronic, digital, and/or optical signals via the communications device using a network protocol such as TCP/IP. It is to be understood that in certain embodiments using more than one processor, the one or more processor may be located remotely from one another, locating in the same location, or comprising a unitary multicore processor. The one or more processor is capable of reading and/or executing computer executable instructions and/or creating, manipulating, altering, and storing computer data structures into the one or more non-transitory computer readable medium.
The one or more non-transitory computer readable medium stores computer executable instructions and may be implemented as any conventional non-transitory computer readable medium, such as random access memory (RAM), a hard drive, a DVD-ROM, a BLU-RAY, a floppy disk, an optical drive, and combinations thereof. When more than one non-transitory computer readable medium is used one or more non-transitory computer readable medium may be located in the same physical location as the one or more processor, and one or more non-transitory computer readable medium may be located in a remote physical location from the one or more processor. The physical location of the one or more non-transitory computer readable medium can be varied, and one or more non-transitory computer readable medium may be implemented as a “cloud memory,” i.e. one or more non-transitory computer readable medium which is partially, or completely based on or accessed using the network, so long as at least one of the one or more non-transitory computer readable medium is located local to the one or more processor.
The computer executable instructions stored on the one or more non-transitory computer readable medium may comprise logic representing the at least one parameter of a fluid flow through the fluid nozzle 14. The computer may cause the fluid supplier 16 and electromechanical control valve 74 to inject compressed fluid into the first and second orifices 30 and 40 in order to selectively apply fluid to obstructions or clogs located at varying points in the first and second orifices 30 and 40.
The fluid nozzle 14 may be mounted to the proppant hopper 12 via bolts, brazing, welding, or any other suitable connection method. Fluid may be supplied through the fluid supplier 16 and through the fluid nozzle 14 via the tubing 72 and the electromechanical control valve 74. The fluid supplied through the fluid supplier 16 and fluid nozzle 14 via the tubing 72 may be air, a gas, a liquid, compressed air, a compressed gas, or any other suitable fluid capable of being supplied through the fluid supplier 16 and fluid nozzle 14 to remove an obstruction or clog within the first orifice 30 and/or second orifice 40. Direction of the fluid through the fluid nozzle 14 may be controlled and used to remove a clog formed in the proppant hopper 12 at the first orifice 30 and/or the second orifice 40.
The proppant metering gate obstruction removal system 10, in operation, receives a proppant into the proppant hopper 12 through the opening 28 and discharges the proppant through the first and second orifices 30 and 40. As shown in
As shown in
The preceding description has been presented with reference to some embodiments. Persons skilled in the art and technology to which this disclosure pertains will appreciate that alterations and changes in the described structures and methods of operation can be practiced without meaningfully departing from the principle, and scope of this application. Accordingly, the foregoing description should not be read as pertaining only to the precise structures described and shown in the accompanying drawings, but rather should be read as consistent with and as support for the following claims, which are to have their fullest and fairest scope.
The present application claims priority to the provisional patent application identified by U.S. Ser. No. 61/490,708 filed on May 27, 2011, the entire content of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61490708 | May 2011 | US |
