Patent Application
20220381113
In the resource recovery and carbon dioxide sequestration industries, rupture disks are often used for various utilities. Generally, such disks work well for their intended purposes, but they do tend to suffer from fragmentation in ways that leave too large fragments that can interfere with other wellbore operations. This is clearly undesirable, and the art would well receive alternate constructions that avoid the unfortunate fragmentation.
An embodiment of a rupture disk including a body having an inside surface defining a hollow therein, a fluid port disposed to make fluid connection between the hollow and a fluid pressure source.
The following descriptions should not be considered limiting in any way. With reference to the accompanying drawings, like elements are numbered alike:
A detailed description of one or more embodiments of the disclosed apparatus and method are presented herein by way of exemplification and not limitation with reference to the Figures.
Referring to
At this stage of the discussion it is important to note that although the drawings show additional features, which will be described further hereunder, disk 10 may be employed just as described so far with the inside surface 26 having no special features. The disk 10 will still fracture with applied pressure through control line 28 at a predictable threshold pressure based upon material selection for the disk 10.
Alternatively, the inside surface 26 of disk 10 may also be provided with one or more stress risers 30 therein. A stress riser is any feature that tends to concentrate stress within the body 22 to cause an earlier failure of the material of the body 22. The stress risers 30 are not exposed to an environment external to the disk 10. Specifically, an outside surface 32 of disk 10 (whether the material of the disk itself or a coating on that material) is unbroken by stress risers 30. The addition of stress risers to the disk 10 has two effects on the disk 10. The first is that the applied pressure required to fracture the disk will be reduced since the stress riser 30 will tend to initiate a fracture at a lower applied pressure; and the second is that geometry of resulting fragments of the disk 10 may be directed using stress risers 30. Stress risers 30 may include one or more of discrete indentations, grooves and nodes. In one embodiment, illustrated in
In one convenient means for manufacturing the disk 10 with or without stress risers 30, an additive manufacture process may be employed.
In use, the disk 10 is placed in a string 14 and is a barrier to fluid flow therepast. When it is desired to open the fluid path, pressure is applied to the disk 10 through the line 28 to exceed a selected threshold pressure designed into the disk 10 during manufacture thereof. Upon reaching the threshold pressure, the disk 10 ruptures and fractures along a prescribed geometry due to the positioning of the stress risers 30.
Also disclosed referring to
Set forth below are some embodiments of the foregoing disclosure:
Embodiment 1: A rupture disk including a body having an inside surface defining a hollow therein, a fluid port disposed to make fluid connection between the hollow and a fluid pressure source.
Embodiment 2: The disk as in any prior embodiment, wherein the body comprises a rigid material.
Embodiment 3: The disk as in any prior embodiment, wherein the body is a ceramic material.
Embodiment 4: The disk as in any prior embodiment, wherein the inside surface includes a stress riser.
Embodiment 5: The disk as in any prior embodiment, wherein the stress riser extends through the inside surface and leaves unbroken an outside surface of the body.
Embodiment 6: The disk as in any prior embodiment, wherein the stress riser is a pattern of stress risers.
Embodiment 7: The disk as in any prior embodiment, wherein the pattern is a dot matrix.
Embodiment 8: The disk as in any prior embodiment, wherein the pattern includes grooves connecting nodes.
Embodiment 9: A method for operating a wellbore including applying pressure though the port of a disk as in any prior embodiment, and rupturing the disk with the applied pressure.
Embodiment 10: The method as in any prior embodiment, wherein the applying is from a surface source of pressure.
Embodiment 11: The method as in any prior embodiment, wherein the applying is from a downhole source of pressure.
Embodiment 12: The method as in any prior embodiment, wherein the rupturing includes initiating fractures at stress risers in the body.
Embodiment 13: The method as in any prior embodiment, wherein the stress risers are in fluid communication with the hollow.
Embodiment 14: A wellbore system including a borehole in a subsurface formation, a string in the borehole, and a disk as in any prior embodiment, disposed within or as a part of the string.
Embodiment 15: The system as in any prior embodiment, wherein the inside surface includes a stress riser.
Embodiment 16: The system as in any prior embodiment, wherein the stress riser extends through the inside surface and leaves unbroken an outside surface of the body.
Embodiment 17: The system as in any prior embodiment, wherein the stress riser is a pattern of stress risers.
Embodiment 18: The system as in any prior embodiment, wherein the pattern is a dot matrix.
Embodiment 19: The system as in any prior embodiment, wherein the pattern includes grooves connecting nodes.
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 otherwise indicated herein or clearly contradicted by context. Further, it should be noted that the terms “first,” “second,” and the like herein do not denote any order, quantity, or importance, but rather are used to distinguish one element from another. The terms “about”, “substantially” and “generally” are intended to include the degree of error associated with measurement of the particular quantity based upon the equipment available at the time of filing the application. For example, “about” and/or “substantially” and/or “generally” can include a range of ±8% or 5%, or 2% of a given value.
The teachings of the present disclosure may be used in a variety of well operations. These operations may involve using one or more treatment agents to treat a formation, the fluids resident in a formation, a wellbore, and/or equipment in the wellbore, such as production tubing. The treatment agents may be in the form of liquids, gases, solids, semi-solids, and mixtures thereof. Illustrative treatment agents include, but are not limited to, fracturing fluids, acids, steam, water, brine, anti-corrosion agents, cement, permeability modifiers, drilling muds, emulsifiers, demulsifiers, tracers, flow improvers etc. Illustrative well operations include, but are not limited to, hydraulic fracturing, stimulation, tracer injection, cleaning, acidizing, steam injection, water flooding, cementing, etc.
While the invention has been described with reference to an exemplary embodiment or embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the invention. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the invention without departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out this invention, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the claims. Also, in the drawings and the description, there have been disclosed exemplary embodiments of the invention and, although specific terms may have been employed, they are unless otherwise stated used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention therefore not being so limited.
