Patent Application
20160271833
The present disclosure relates generally to system, apparatus and method for blending cement, such as cement used in the underground hydrocarbon wells.
Various industries involve the mixing of cement and one or more additives to create a cement slurry having desired characteristics. For example, in the hydrocarbon exploration and production arena, cement is used for various cementing work in the underground wells, such as to affix the casing inside the well. Cement additives may be available in a variety of forms, such as powder and liquid. For cement slurry used in hydrocarbon wells, a variety of types of additives may be used, such as to modify the characteristics of the slurry or set cement. Examples of additives are accelerators, retarders, fluid-loss additives, dispersants, extenders, weighting agents, lost circulation additives and special additives designed for specific operating conditions.
In many applications, the cement slurry may be delivered across long distances and/or the slurry and set cement may be subject to high temperatures and pressures. For example, in some wells, Portland cement is used as the base material mixed with silica sand designed to prevent the cement from cracking at high temperatures, and one or more retarders to cause the cement slurry to stay liquid for a desired period of time. The proper proportions and type of additives used in the slurry can significantly affect cement performance. Poor cement performance can lead to substantially increased cost and loss of valuable time and revenue.
Various currently known techniques for blending cement may have one or more drawbacks or limitations. For example, existing “air bulk blending” and similar techniques often require first the loading of cement, followed by additives and then more cement into a mixing tank. High pressure air is blown inside the tank to push the cement up and down and blend the components. At completion of the blending job, the blender is emptied into containers for delivery. This process is not continuous—it requires interruption at the beginning and end of each blending job to load and unload the materials. It also requires on-site material handling personnel. Further, the blending job is limited to the volume capacity of the mixing tank. In some instances, potentially harmful dust may be spread into the ambient air in the work area. Sometimes, the cement and additives may be contaminated by moisture in the air during mixing, experience premature chemical reactions and/or adhere to the tank wall. Often, material segregation occurs in the mixing tank due to the differing specific gravities of the components because they are not continuously stirred and agitated, leading to a non-uniform slurry product. Further, low specific gravity components may float in the air, be carried away in vent lines and lost from the blended slurry.
It should be understood that the above-described features and examples are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope or subject matter of the appended claims or those of any related patent application or patent. None of the appended claims or claims of any related application or patent should be limited by the above discussion or construed to address, include or exclude each or any of the cited examples, features and/or disadvantages, merely because of the mention thereof herein.
Accordingly, there exists a need for improved systems, apparatus and methods for blending cement having one or more of the attributes or capabilities described or shown in, or as may be apparent from, the other portions of this patent.
In some embodiments, the present disclosure involves a system for blending cement and at least one additive during a blending job to create a cement slurry for use in an underground hydrocarbon well. The exemplary system includes a mixing tub having an upper end and a lower end and at least one outer wall extending therebetween. The upper end is at least partially open and the lower end is at least substantially closed. At least two inflow ports are formed in the outer wall proximate to the lower end of the tub. Each inflow port is configured to allow the flow of at least one among cement and at least one additive into the mixing tub. At least one discharge port is formed in the mixing tub proximate to the lower end thereof and configured to allow the discharge of cement slurry from the mixing tub.
At least first and second adjacent blenders are associated with the mixing tub and configured to mix the cement and at least one additive to form the cement slurry within the mixing tub. Each blender has at least a first elongated, rotatable, mixing blade extending into the mixing tub. The first mixing blade of the first blender is configured to rotate in a direction opposite to the rotational direction of the first mixing blade of the second blender. The exemplary system also includes a platform upon which the blenders are mounted and below which the mixing blades extend. The platform is configured to be positioned proximate to the upper end of the mixing tub and rotatable relative thereto.
In various embodiments, the present disclosure involves an internal cement slurry collection system for use in a cement mixing tub for blending cement and at least one additive during a blending job to create a cement slurry for use in an underground hydrocarbon well. The mixing tub includes upper and lower ends and at least one discharge port. The system includes at least one inner discharge tube and at least one outer discharge tube disposed within the mixing tub. The inner discharge tube is positioned concentrically within the outer discharge tube. The inner and outer discharge tubes having adjacent open upper and lower ends. The upper ends of the discharge tubes are positioned in the mixing tub closer to the upper end of the mixing tub as compared to the lower ends of the discharge tubes, while the lower ends of the discharge tubes are positioned in the mixing tub closer to the lower end of the mixing tub. The inner discharge tube is in fluid communication with at least one discharge port of the mixing tub. The discharge tubes are configured to allow cement slurry to flow from the mixing tub into the upper end of the inner discharge tube, through the inner discharge tube and out the mixing tub through at least one discharge port therein.
Each discharge tube has a wall extending between the upper and lower ends thereof and at least one window formed in the wall proximate to the lower end thereof. At least one window of the outer discharge tube is alignable over at least one window of the inner discharge tube. At least one among the inner and outer discharge tubes is selectively movable relative to the other discharge tube to move the respective alignable windows thereof between at least one aligned position and at least one misaligned position. The windows in the aligned position allow the flow of cement slurry therethrough from the mixing tub into the inner discharge tube. The windows in the misaligned position disallow the flow of cement slurry through the windows.
Accordingly, the present disclosure includes features and advantages which are believed to enable it to advance cement blending technology. Characteristics and advantages of the present disclosure described above and additional features and benefits will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of various embodiments and referring to the accompanying drawings.
The following figures are part of the present specification, included to demonstrate certain aspects of various embodiments of this disclosure and referenced in the detailed description herein:
Characteristics and advantages of the present disclosure and additional features and benefits will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure and referring to the accompanying figures. It should be understood that the description herein and appended drawings, being of example embodiments, are not intended to limit the claims of this patent or any patent or patent application claiming priority hereto. On the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the claims. Many changes may be made to the particular embodiments and details disclosed herein without departing from such spirit and scope.
In showing and described preferred embodiments in the appended figures, common or similar elements are referenced with like or identical reference numerals or are apparent from the figures and/or the description herein. The figures are not necessarily to scale and certain features and certain views of the figures may be shown exaggerated in scale or in schematic in the interest of clarity and conciseness.
As used herein and throughout various portions (and headings) of this patent application, the terms “invention”, “present invention” and variations thereof are not intended to mean every possible embodiment encompassed by this disclosure or any particular claim(s). Thus, the subject matter of each such reference should not be considered as necessary for, or part of, every embodiment hereof or of any particular claim(s) merely because of such reference. The terms “coupled”, “connected”, “engaged” and the like, and variations thereof, as used herein and in the appended claims are intended to mean either an indirect or direct connection or engagement. Thus, if a first device couples to a second device, that connection may be through a direct connection, or through an indirect connection via other devices and connections.
Certain terms are used herein and in the appended claims to refer to particular components. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, different persons may refer to a component by different names. This document does not intend to distinguish between components that differ in name but not function. Also, the terms “including” and “comprising” are used herein and in the appended claims in an open-ended fashion, and thus should be interpreted to mean “including, but not limited to . . . . ” Further, reference herein and in the appended claims to components and aspects in a singular tense does not necessarily limit the present disclosure or appended claims to only one such component or aspect, but should be interpreted generally to mean one or more, as may be suitable and desirable in each particular instance.
Referring to
The illustrated system 10 includes a mixing tub 18 having any suitable form, configuration and operation. In this example, the tub 18 is a cylindrical tank, has an upper end 24 and a lower end 28 and at least one outer wall 32 extending therebetween. The tub 18 will hold the cement and additives during blending. The upper end 24 is at least partially open and the lower end 28 is at least substantially closed. As used herein, the term “substantially” means completely or nearly completely. For example, a lower end 28 of a mixing tub 18 having one or more discharge ports 40 (as will be described further below) formed therein or proximate to is “substantially” closed.
The exemplary tub 18 includes at least two inflow ports 34 and at least one discharge port 40. The inflow and discharge ports 34, 40 may have any suitable size, configuration, form and operation. In this example, four inflow ports 34 are formed in the outer wall 32 of the tub 18, such as proximate to, and spaced apart around, the lower end 28 of the tub 18. As used herein, the term “proximate to” means at or near the referenced component feature, or closer to the referenced component feature than the opposing feature of the component. For example, “proximate to” the lower end 28 of the tub 18 means at or near the lower end 28 or closer to the lower end 28 than the upper end 24 of the tub 18.
Each exemplary inflow port 34 is configured to allow the flow of a desired cement slurry component (e.g. cement and/or at least one additive) into the mixing tub 18. In this embodiment, a single discharge port 40 is formed in the illustrated mixing tub 18 proximate to the lower end 28 thereof, such as to allow the discharge of cement slurry therefrom.
Still referring to the embodiment of
If desired, one or more scrapers 62 may extend from the platform 60 at least partially into the tub 18, such as to assist in moving the cement slurry around in the tub 18 and/or preventing the cement slurry from sticking to the interior side 33 of the wall 32 of the tub 18. The scraper 62 may have any suitable form, configuration and operation. For example, the scraper 62 may include a pair of plates (e.g. metal plates) 63 extending downwardly from the bottom of the platform 60 into an upper portion 19 of the tub 18. If desired, the plates 63 may extend down into the tub 18 to be near the top of a cement slurry collection system 100 (which will be described below). In this embodiment, the exemplary plates 63 are disposed in an X-type configuration relative to one another and positioned so that their respective outer edges abut or closely align with the interior side 33 of the tub wall 32 as the platform 60 rotates relative thereto.
Still referring to
As stated, each blade 52 of each illustrated blender 46 is rotatable in a direction opposite to the rotational direction of the mixing blade(s) 52 of each adjacent blender 46. For example, the blades 52 of the first and third blenders 46a, 46c may be rotatable in the clockwise direction, while the blades 52 of the second and fourth blenders 46b, 46d are rotatable in the counterclockwise direction.
The exemplary platform 60 is shown positioned proximate to the upper end 24 of the tub 18 and is itself rotatable relative thereto, so that the blenders 46 and their mixing blades 52 are concurrently rotatable within the mixing tub 18. Thus, in this example, the platform 60 provides for the “planetary” rotation of the blenders 46 and their blades 52 in the tub 18.
The blenders 46 may be powered in any suitable manner. For example, as shown in
Likewise, the platform 60 may be powered in any suitable manner. For example, a distinct electric motor may be electrically coupled to the platform 60 to rotate it. If desired, one of the motors 66 used to power one or more of the blenders 46 may be used to power the platform 60. For example, if a single electric motor provides power to all of the blenders 46, such motor 66 may also be used to power the platform 60, such as with the use of gear mechanisms (not shown). If desired, the speed of rotation of the mixing blades 52 and/or platform 60 may be selectively variable. For example, the motor(s) 66 may be variable speed. However, the blenders 46 and platform 60 may be powered with any other suitable power supply.
Referring back to
If desired, each material inflow conveyor 70 may be configured to be selectively controlled to provide a continuous, or varied, flow of the desired cement slurry component(s) into the tub 18 through its associated inflow port 34. For example, an information processing unit (IPU) 90, such as a general purpose computer 92, may communicate with each conveyor 70, such as through cables or wireless communication. The IPU 90 may include one or more computer-readable media, such as computer software 94, programmable to selectively vary or control the speed of the conveyor 70, or rate of delivery of the subject cement slurry component(s) via the conveyor 70, during the blending job. For example, the speed of the conveyor(s) 70 providing cement, such as Portland cement, to the mixing tub 18 may be determined based upon the weight of the cement. For another example, the speed of the conveyor(s) 70 providing additives may be based upon the speed of the conveyor(s) 70 providing the cement.
In some blending jobs, highly concentrated additives by weight of cement, such as, for example, silica flour, silica sand, hematite, fly ash and/or glass beads, may be continuously fed through one or more inflow ports 34. Low concentration additives by weight of cement, such as, for example, fluid loss control additives, retarders, suspending agents and dispersants, may be fed by one or more small capacity conveyors 74. When multiple conveyors 70 provide one or more cement slurry components to the same inflow port 34, each such conveyor 70 may be selectively controlled by the IPU 90 to provide the desired amount or mixture of delivered cement slurry component(s).
The material inflow conveyors 70 may have any suitable form, configuration and operation. The illustrated material inflow conveyor 70 is a conventional screw conveyor 72. In other embodiments, the material inflow conveyor 70 may, for example, include a conveyor belt.
Still referring to
The material discharge conveyor(s) 78 may have any suitable form, configuration and operation. For example, the capacity of the discharge conveyor 78 may be between approximately two to three times greater than the capacity of each inflow conveyor 70 which supplies cement to the mixing tub 18, such as to assist in preventing the system 10 from choking down during a blending job. The illustrated material discharge conveyor 78 is a conventional screw conveyor 80. In other embodiments, the material discharge conveyor 78 may, for example, include a conveyor belt.
Referring now to
For each exemplary tube 106, 110, a wall 138 extends between its respective ends. The illustrated tubes 106, 110 are shown vertically oriented in the center of the mixing tub 18 so that their upper ends 118, 124 are positioned in the mixing tub 18 closest to the upper end 24 thereof, while their lower ends 128, 132 are positioned closest to the lower end 28 of the mixing tub 18. If desired, the upper ends 118, 124 of the tubes 106, 110 may be selectively positioned at a desired height in the tub 18 to ensure the blended mixture will enter the tube 106 before overflowing out of the top (upper end 24) of the tub 18. In this example, the upper ends 118, 124 of the tubes 106, 110 are disposed at a height below the upper end 24 of the mixing tub 18. For example, the upper ends 118, 124 may be positioned down from the upper end 24 of the tub 18 a distance equal to between approximately 20%-40% of the overall height of the tub 18. However, in other embodiments, the tubes 106, 110 may be angularly oriented or otherwise not vertically oriented and at any desired location in the tub 18. Likewise, if desired, the upper ends 118, 124 of the tubes 106, 110 may be aligned with or above the upper end 24 of the tub 18.
The discharge tubes 106, 110 may be sized as desired. For example, the inner diameter of the inner discharge tube 106 may be between approximately two and approximately three times greater than the inner diameter of each inflow port 34 of the tub 18. The exemplary inner discharge tube 106 fluidly communicates with at least one discharge port 40 of the tub 18. In this embodiment, the tubes 106, 110 allow blended cement slurry to flow from the mixing tub 18 into the upper end 118 of the inner discharge tube 106, through the inner discharge tube 106 and out lower end 128 thereof and out the mixing tub 18 through the discharge port(s) 40 therein.
Still referring to
In this embodiment, the respective windows 144, 146 of the inner and outer discharge tubes 106, 110 are normally maintained in the misaligned position during the blending job. In the misaligned position, the illustrated respective windows 144,146 disallow the flow of cement slurry therethrough. In the aligned position, the respective windows 144, 146 allow the flow of cement slurry therethrough from the mixing tub 18 into the inner discharge tube 106. For example, the respective windows 144, 146 may be placed in the aligned position to allow the discharge of cement slurry remaining in the mixing tub 18 when the height of the cement slurry in the tub 18 falls below the height of the upper ends 118, 124 of the tubes 106, 110, such as at or near the end of a blending job. In some applications, for example, a significant quantity, such as approximately 10 cubic feet, of cement slurry may remain in the tub 18 below the height of the upper ends 118, 124 tubes 106, 110 near the end of the blending job. For another example, the windows 144, 146 may be aligned to allow cleaning of the tub 18, such as before starting another blending job.
Referring back to
In this embodiment, the cement slurry components are agitated and blended together in the mixing tub 18 to form a uniformly blended slurry output. In this example, the individual and planetary rotation of the exemplary blender blades 52 stirs and agitates the cement and additives in the mixing tub 18. For example, the rotation of the blades 52 may move the cement and additives up, down and sideways in, and around, the mixing tub 18. Referring to
The present embodiment requires neither stopping the blending operation to load slurry components and unload (or box) the blended slurry product, nor the material handling personnel required for air-bulk blending. In addition, the size of the blending tub does not limit the size of each blending job, which can be continuous and provide any desire slurry product capacity. Also, there is less, or no, loss of low-specific gravity components as compared to air-bulk blending. Using the exemplary methodology and/or equipment may avoid potential safety issues that could arise during air-bulk blending, such as with use of high pressure air equipment and the generation of dust in the ambient air. In many applications, the mixing tub may be completely or nearly completely emptied, helping reduce or prevent material contamination between jobs. The cement and additives may experience less air moisture contamination and premature chemical reaction during blending, leading to better performance of the cement slurry product. The blended slurry product may have less tendency to adhere to the tank wall, making transfer out of the mixing tub easier. Inspection, cleaning and maintenance of the mixing tub and related equipment may be easier. The present embodiment may provide for reduced manpower and labor costs due to less human handling of materials, and/or reduced costs associated with operations and maintenance of equipment, spillage and other factors.
Preferred embodiments of the present disclosure thus offer advantages over the prior art and are well adapted to carry out one or more of the objects of this disclosure. However, the present invention does not require each of the components and acts described above and is in no way limited to the above-described embodiments or methods of operation. Any one or more of the above components, features and processes may be employed in any suitable configuration without inclusion of other such components, features and processes. Moreover, the present invention includes additional features, capabilities, functions, methods, uses and applications that have not been specifically addressed herein but are, or will become, apparent from the description herein, the appended drawings and claims.
The methods that may be described above or claimed herein and any other methods which may fall within the scope of the appended claims can be performed in any desired suitable order and are not necessarily limited to any sequence described herein or as may be listed in the appended claims. Further, the methods of the present invention do not necessarily require use of the particular embodiments shown and described herein, but are equally applicable with any other suitable structure, form and configuration of components.
While exemplary embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, many variations, modifications and/or changes of the system, apparatus and methods of the present invention, such as in the components, details of construction and operation, arrangement of parts and/or methods of use, are possible, contemplated by the patent applicant(s), within the scope of the appended claims, and may be made and used by one of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit or teachings of the invention and scope of appended claims. Thus, all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings should be interpreted as illustrative, and the scope of the disclosure and the appended claims should not be limited to the embodiments described and shown herein.
