Patent Application
20160298395
The present disclosure generally relates to downhole equipment for oil and gas wells and, more particularly, a method and apparatus for quick non-threaded connection of various elements of a downhole mud string.
During the drilling, work over, or plug and abandonment of oil and gas producing wellbores, a variety of downhole tools may be attached to a pipe or coiled tubing string used to perform various functions within the wellbore. Assembly and maintenance of these downhole tools pose significant safety hazards to operators when a downhole tool string must be often assembled several feet above ground level. This is a time consuming process, and often presents dangerous conditions for the operators as there is a chance that standard wrenches and tongs often used for assembly and maintenance may slip and fall, causing injury or even death.
While the appended claims set forth the features of the present techniques which may be best understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:
The following discussion is directed to various exemplary embodiments. However, one possessing ordinary skill in the art will understand that the examples disclosed herein have broad application, and that the discussion of any embodiment is meant only be exemplary of that embodiment, and not intended to suggest that the scope of the disclosure, including claims, is limited to that embodiment.
Certain terms are used throughout the following description to refer to particular features or components. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, different persons may refer to the same feature or component by different names. This document does not intend to distinguish between components or features that differ in name but not function. The drawing figures are not necessarily to scale. Certain features and components herein may be shown exaggerated in scale or in somewhat schematic form and some details of conventional elements may not be shown in interest of clarity and conciseness.
In an embodiment, the method for assembly of a downhole tool string is disclosed. The downhole tool string comprises a quick connect apparatus that includes a first member having a male locking profile on an outer surface and a second member having a female locking profile on an inner surface. The method includes stabbing the second member onto the first member to fully seat the first member within the second member, rotating the second member relative to the first member to lock the male locking profile to the female locking profile, and engaging a second locking mechanism to restrict further rotation of the second member relative to the first member.
According to an embodiment, the apparatus includes a first member having a male locking profile on an outer surface, a second member having a female locking profile on an inner surface. The male locking profile is configured to engage the female locking profile when the first member is rotated within the second member, and a second locking mechanism is configured to secure the first member to the second member to prevent additional rotation of the second member relative to the first member.
Turning to
In operation of the apparatus 5, an operator may threadedly connect a bottom sub 35 to the upper end of the tool string by a threaded connection 20, while a top sub 30 may be threadedly connected to the coiled tubing or pipe string by threaded connection 25. As will be discussed later with reference to
In this position, a plurality of lock screws 65, seen more clearly in
Turning now to
Once lock screws 65 have been engaged through the plurality of holes (45) provided on the bottom sub 35 and into the pockets 70 of the top sub 30, as shown in
A plurality of pins 125 are then inserted through the pin holes 115, which provide a means of retention between the bottom sub 140 and the top sub 145, as seen in
A person skilled in the art will appreciate that any number of combinations of the top sub and bottom sub structures discussed above with reference to apparatuses 5 and 155 may be used. For instance, according to other embodiments, the bottom sub may be configured to include the male locking profile and the top sub may be configured to include the female locking profile. Moreover, any number of pins 125 may be used to provide a secondary means of retention and/or torque transmission in conjunction with lock screws 65, according to an embodiment. Apparatus 5, although shown between the pipe string and BHA, may be used between components of a tool string. The top sub 30 may be threadedly attached to the lower end of one component within the tool string and the bottom sub 35 may be threadedly attached to the upper end of a second component of the tool string.
Apparatus 5, 155 therefore creates a safe and easy way for the two components of the tool string to be attached and detached quickly without the need for pipe wrenches or tongs. This is especially important when operators must join two components while elevated above the ground or rig floor. In coil tubing applications, the use of this apparatus eliminates the need for tongs, pipe wrenches, chain hoist, and etc., while working from a man basket on a man lift, elevated some height above the ground.
Although the disclosure above refers to the application of the apparatus 5, 155 in the context of a downhole mud motor, a person skilled in the art will understand that the apparatus 5, 155 may be used in various other systems where different components need to be assembled in an efficient and safe manner. For instance, according to an embodiment, the apparatus 5, 155 is configured to be used in a pipeline cleaning unit. In another exemplary embodiment, the apparatus 5, 155 is configured to be used in a heat exchanger cleaning unit.
For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the disclosure, reference has been made to the embodiments illustrated in the drawings, and specific language has been used to describe these embodiments. However, no limitation of the scope of the disclosure is intended by this specific language, and the disclosure should be construed to encompass all embodiments that would normally occur to one of ordinary skill in the art. The particular implementations shown and described herein are illustrative examples and are not intended to otherwise limit the scope of the disclosure in any way.
The steps of all methods described herein are performable in any suitable order unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context. The use of any and all examples, or exemplary language (e.g., “such as”) provided herein, is intended merely to better illuminate the disclosure and does not pose a limitation on scope unless otherwise claimed. Numerous modifications and adaptations will be readily apparent to those skilled in this art without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.
It will also be recognized that the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,” “including,” “has,” and “having,” as used herein, are specifically intended to be read as open-ended terms of art. 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 the context clearly indicates otherwise. In addition, it should be understood that although the terms “first,” “second,” etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms, which are only used to distinguish one element from another.
The present application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/144,693, entitled “QUICK CONNECT APPARATUS AND METHOD,” and filed on Apr. 8, 2015, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62144693 | Apr 2015 | US |
