Patent Application
20140102725
1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention generally relate to tools having a seal assembly for sealing an annulus between a tubular seat in the wellbore and the outside of the tool disposed in the tubular seat.
2. Description of the Related Art
Surface-controlled, subsurface safety valves (SCSSVs) and plugs are commonly used to shut-in oil and/or gas wells. The SCSSV or plug fits into tubing in a hydrocarbon producing well and operates to block upward flow of formation fluid through the tubing. The tubing may include a landing nipple designed to receive the SCSSV or plug therein such that the SCSSV or plug may be installed and retrieved by wireline. During conventional methods for run-in of the SCSSV or plug to the landing nipple, a tool used to lock the SCSSV or plug in place within the nipple also temporarily holds the SCSSV or plug open until the SCSSV or plug is locked in place.
Most SCSSVs are “normally closed” valves, i.e., the valves utilize a flapper type closure mechanism biased to a closed position. During normal production, application of hydraulic fluid pressure transmitted to an actuator of the SCSSV maintains the SCSSV in an open position. A control line that resides within the annulus between production tubing and a well casing may supply the hydraulic pressure to a port in the nipple that permits fluid communication with the actuator of the SCSSV. In many commercially available SCSSVs, the actuator used to overcome the bias to the closed position is a hydraulic actuator that may include a rod piston or concentric annular piston. During well production, the flapper is maintained in the open position by a flow tube acted on by the piston to selectively open the flapper member in the SCSSV. Any loss of hydraulic pressure in the control line causes the piston and actuated flow tube to retract, which causes the SCSSV to return to the normally closed position. Thus, the SCSSV provides a shutoff of production flow once the hydraulic pressure in the control line is released.
The landing nipple within the tubing may become damaged by operations that occur through the nipple prior to setting the SCSSV or plug in the landing nipple. For example, operations such as snubbing and tool running using coiled tubing and slick line can form gouges, grooves, and/or ridges along the inside surface of the nipple as the operations pass through the nipple. Further, any debris on the inside surface of the nipple or any out of roundness of the nipple may prevent proper sealing of the SCSSV or plug within the nipple. Failure of the SCSSV or plug to seal in the nipple due to surface irregularities in the inner diameter of the nipple can prevent proper operation of the actuator to open the SCSSV and can prevent the SCSSV or plug from completely shutting-in the well when the SCSSV or plug is closed since fluid can pass through the annular area between the SCSSV or plug and the nipple due to the irregularities. Operating the well without a safety valve or with a safety valve or plug that does not function properly presents a significant danger. Thus, the current solution to conserve the safety in wells having damaged nipples includes an expensive and time consuming work over to replace the damaged nipples.
Therefore, a need exists for improved apparatus and methods for disposing a plug or SCSSV within tubing regardless of whether the tubing has a damaged or irregular inside surface.
Embodiments of the invention generally relate to a seal assembly for use in a tubular, comprising a mandrel, a compressible seal member disposed around the mandrel, a first piston assembly in contact with a first end of the compressible seal member, and a second piston assembly in contact with a second end of the compressible seal member. The first piston assembly may include a piston head, and a piston extension sealing member extending at least partially between the mandrel and of the compressible seal member, and integrally formed with the piston head. When at least one of the piston assemblies is urged towards the compressible seal member, the compressible seal member forms a seal with the tubular.
In one embodiment, the invention relates to an apparatus for use in a tubular, which may comprise a mandrel having a bore therethrough, a valve that is coupled to the mandrel, the valve selectively preventing fluid flow through the bore, and a seal assembly disposed around the mandrel. The seal assembly may include a compressible seal member and a piston assembly disposed on a first side of the compressible seal member. The piston assembly may include a piston head and a piston extension sealing member, the piston extension sealing member integrally formed with the piston head and extending at least partially between the mandrel and the compressible seal member. The piston assembly is movable to compress the compressible seal member from a first end, and the compressible seal member forms a seal with the tubular when the piston assembly moves toward the compressible seal member.
The invention also generally relates to method for creating a seal between an apparatus and a tubular, including positioning the apparatus in the tubular. The apparatus may include a seal assembly disposed around a mandrel, the seal assembly comprising a compressible seal member, a first piston assembly disposed on a first side of the compressible seal member, and a second piston assembly disposed on a second side of the compressible seal member. The first piston assembly may include a first piston head and a first piston extension sealing member, the first piston extension sealing member integrally formed with the first piston head and extending at least partially between the mandrel and the compressible seal member. The method for creating a seal between an apparatus and a tubular further includes moving at least one of the first or second piston assemblies towards the compressible seal member until the compressible seal member forms a seal with the tubular.
In one embodiment, the invention relates to a seal assembly for use in a tubular, which may comprise a mandrel, a compressible seal member disposed around the mandrel, a first sealing element at a first end of the compressible seal member, and a second sealing element at a second end of the compressible seal member. The compressible seal member forms a seal with the tubular when at least one of the first or second sealing elements is urged toward the compressible seal element. In addition, the first and second sealing elements may also form a seal with the tubular.
In one embodiment, the invention relates to a seal assembly for use in a tubular, comprising a mandrel and a compressible seal member disposed around the mandrel. The seal member comprises a plurality of concave sealing elements and a central sealing element. The seal assembly further comprises a first piston assembly in contact with a first end of the compressible seal member, the first piston assembly comprising a piston head and a piston extension sealing element extending at least partially between the mandrel and the compressible seal member, and integrally formed with the piston head. The seal assembly also comprises a second piston assembly in contact with a second end of the seal member, a first sealing element in contact with the first piston assembly, and a second sealing element in contact with the second piston assembly. When the first and second sealing elements are compressed, the sealing elements move the first and second piston assemblies toward the compressible seal member. Further, when at least one of the piston assemblies is urged towards the compressible seal member, the compressible seal member forms a seal with the tubular.
In one embodiment, the invention relates to a seal assembly for use in a tubular, comprising a mandrel, a compressible seal member, and a piston. The mandrel includes a first and second recess. The compressible seal member may be positioned around the first recess of the mandrel, and the compressible seal member may comprise a plurality of concave sealing elements and a central sealing element. The piston is in contact with the compressible seal member, and the piston may slide along the first and second recesses of the mandrel. The compressible seal member forms a seal with the tubular when the piston is urged toward the compressible seal member.
So that the manner in which the above recited features of the invention can be understood in detail, a more particular description of the invention, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only typical embodiments of this invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments.
Embodiments of the invention generally relate to seal assemblies for any type of safety valve, dummy valve, straddle or plug designed to be landed and set within a tubular member. For some embodiments, the tubular member may form a ported landing nipple to enable fluid actuation of the safety valve, a side pocket mandrel, a sliding sleeve valve or a solid walled landing nipple. The seal assembly may be implemented with other variations of plugs, dummy valves, and subsurface safety valves different than exemplary configurations and designs shown and described herein since many operational details of these tools function independent of the seal assembly. For example, the seal assemblies may be used in all types of tools designed for landing in a nipple including wireline retrievable tools that may utilize flapper type valves or concentric type valves.
Similarly, the lower seal assembly 103 is compressible and includes a lower seal member 113 formed by lower concave seal elements 112 disposed on each side of a lower central sealing element 116. The lower central sealing element 116 could be an o-ring, s-seal, or any other type of sealing element known in the art. Lower concave seal elements 112 could include V-seals, chevron seals, or any other type of sealing element known in the art. A lower first piston 104 is in contact with a lower end of the lower concave seal elements 112, and a lower second piston 108 is in contact with an upper end of the lower concave seal elements 112. The lower first piston 104 comprises a lower piston head 109A and a lower piston extension sealing member 109B that extends between the lower seal 113 and the mandrel 124. In one embodiment, the lower piston extension sealing member 109B of the lower second piston 104 may slide under a portion of the lower first piston 108. The pistons 102, 106, 108, 104 are preferably annular pistons. While both the upper and lower seal assemblies 101, 103 are shown in the embodiment in
The packing mandrel 124 includes an upper sub 126 and a middle sub 128 connected together such as by threads. However, the packing mandrel 124 may be made from an integral member or any number of subs. An annular shoulder 138 on the upper sub 126 provides a decompression stop for the upper first piston 102, which is slidable along a portion of an outer diameter of the upper sub 126. The upper piston extension sealing member 107B of the upper second piston 106 provides a compression stop for the upper first piston 102. Likewise, the upper first piston 102 provides a compression stop for the upper second piston 106. The upper second piston 106 is slidable along portions of the outer diameter of the upper sub 126 and the upper piston extension sealing member 107B is slidable between the upper concave sealing elements 110 and the upper sub 126. The middle sub 128 is fixed to the upper sub 126 and operates to longitudinally separate the upper and lower seal assemblies 111, 113. The middle sub 128 provides a decompression stop for the upper second piston 106 and a decompression stop for the lower second piston 108. The lower second piston 108 is slidable along a portion of the outer diameter of the middle sub 128. The lower piston extension sealing member 109B of the lower first piston 104 provides a compression stop for the lower second piston 108. Likewise, the lower second piston 108 provides a compression stop for the lower first piston 104. The lower first piston 104 is slidable along a portion of the outer diameter of the middle sub 128 and the lower piston cylinder 109B is slidable between the lower concave sealing elements 112 and the middle sub 128. An end face 144 of the actuator housing 152 provides a decompression stop for the lower first piston 104.
The compression and decompression stops operate to limit the sliding movement of the pistons 102, 106, 108, 104 of the sealing assemblies 101, 103. Inner seal members 120 A-D on the inside of the pistons 102, 106, 108, 104 provide a seal between each piston and the packing mandrel 124 that the pistons slide along. Outer seal members 118 A-D on the outside of the pistons 102, 106, 108, 104 provide an initial seal between each piston and the nipple 100. The outer seals 118 may be soft o-rings, or any other type of seal known in the art, with a large cross section to help ensure a sufficient initial seal between the pistons 102, 106, 108, 104 and the nipple 100. Thus, the initial seal provided by the outer seal members 118 sufficiently seals against the nipple 100 such that fluid pressure applied to the large surface areas of the pistons 102, 106, 108, 104 that are shown in contact with the decompression stops 138, 140, 142, 144 causes the pistons to slide along the packing mandrel 124 toward the respective seal 111, 113.
In the run in position of the SCSSV 10 as shown in
Once the SCSSV 10 is set or locked in the nipple 100 by conventional methods, the temporary opening member disengages and permits normal functioning of the SCSSV 10. Thus, the flapper 18 biases to a closed position unless fluid pressure is supplied through the control line 16 to a port 150 in the nipple 100 in order to actuate the SCSSV 10.
The fluid pressure supplied through the control line 16 used to actuate and open the SCSSV 10 additionally operates to place the seal assemblies 101, 103 in the first compressed position. The fluid pressure supplied from the control line 16 enters the port 150 where the fluid enters the interior of the nipple 100 and acts on the second pistons 106, 108 to slide the second pistons 106, 108 toward the respective seal members 111, 113. Any wellbore pressure on the first pistons 102, 104 is less than that on the second pistons 106, 108 such that the first pistons 102, 104 remain in contact with their respective decompression stops 138, 144. The sliding movement of the second pistons 106, 108 pushes on the concave sealing elements 110, 112, which in turn pushes on the central sealing elements 114, 116. Compression of the seal members 111, 113 caused by the sliding of the second pistons 106, 108 forces the central sealing elements 114, 116 and/or the concave sealing elements 110, 112 into sealing contact with the inside surface of the nipple 100. Preferably, the central sealing elements 114, 116 are soft o-rings with a large cross section made from a material such as Viton® (65 duro). However, the central sealing elements 114, 116 could be S-Seals or any other type of sealing element known in the art. Additionally, the chevrons 110, 112 are preferably made from a material such as Kevlar® filled Viton®, but also could be any other sealing element known in the art. Once the SCSSV is actuated open, wellbore fluid passes through the SCSSV 10 such that wellbore fluid pressure does not act to slide the first pistons 102, 104, and the first pistons 102, 104 remain in contact with their respective decompression stops 138, 144.
In both the first and second compressed positions as illustrated by
A method for sealing an SCSSV within a nipple located in a well is provided by aspects of the invention. The method includes locating the SCSSV in the nipple using conventional running methods. The SCSSV includes at least one seal assembly disposed about an outer surface thereof, and the at least one seal assembly includes a seal member, a first piston disposed on a first side of the seal member, and a second piston disposed on a second side of the seal member. Urging the first piston, the second piston or both the first and second pistons toward the seal member forces the seal member into sealing contact with an inside surface of the nipple. Urging the first piston is caused by wellbore fluid pressure applied to the first piston when the SCSSV is closed. Urging the second piston is caused by fluid pressure supplied from a control line to a fluid port in fluid communication with an inside portion of the nipple.
Other seal assemblies 111, 113 are also contemplated within the current invention.
While the foregoing is directed to embodiments of the invention, other and further embodiments of the invention may be devised without departing from the basic scope thereof, and the scope thereof is determined by the claims that follow.
