Tubular systems, such as those employed for transporting fluid often incorporate a plurality of tubulars that are movable sometime including moving one or more of the tubulars within another. Longitudinally positioning each of a plurality of the tubulars to specific positions within another of the tubulars has several useful benefits. For example, in a downhole application tubulars that serve as diverters could be positioned at desired locations along a casing to thereby allow additional tubulars run therein to be diverted though windows in the casing. New systems and methods, therefore that allow for such positioning are well received in the art.
Disclosed herein is a tubular positioning system which includes a first tubular having a plurality of unique inner profiles disposed at an inner surface thereof and a plurality of second tubulars, each having a unique outer profile disposed at an outer surface thereof, and runnable within the first tubular. The tubular positioning system is configured such that each of the plurality of second tubulars is prevented from passing one of the unique inner profiles when the unique outer profile thereon engages with one of the unique inner profiles. Each of the plurality of second tubulars is passable by each one of the unique inner profiles when the unique outer profile thereon is non-engagable with the one of the unique inner profiles.
Further disclosed is a method of selectively positioning tubulars including positioning a plurality of unique inner profiles along an inner surface of a first tubular, sequentially running each of a plurality of second tubulars having unique outer profiles thereon within the first tubular, and selectively passing or engaging each of the plurality of unique inner profiles with each of the unique outer profiles. The passing allows longitudinal passage of the plurality of second tubulars thereby and the engaging longitudinally prevents passage of the one of the plurality of second tubulars thereby.
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.
Among other things, embodiments of the tubular positioning system disclosed herein allow an operator to selectively position each of a plurality of tubulars within another tubular at selected longitudinal locations therealong.
Referring to
The foregoing structure allows an operator of the system 10 to attach the second tubular 22 to the third tubular 26 with engagement of the inner profile 46 with the outer profile 54. This attachment allows the second tubular 22 to be run within the first tubular 14 along with the running of the third tubular 26. As the running is performed, the unique outer profile 38 will sequentially encounter each of the plurality of unique inner profiles 30. Since, by design, the unique outer profile 38 has only one complementary unique inner profile 30 engagable therewith, the unique outer profile 38 will pass by each of the non-complementary unique inner profiles 30. Upon encountering the complementary unique inner profile 30, the unique outer profile 38 will engage therewith, thereby preventing the second tubular 22 from running further within the first tubular 14.
By mounting at least one of the inner profile 46 and the outer profile 54 on a radially flexible member, such as collet 62, for example, the outer profile 54 can be made to disengage upon movement of the third tubular 26 in a direction opposite to the running direction (which in this embodiment is in an upward direction), as long as the second tubular 22 is held engaged with the first tubular 14 with greater holding force than is required to disengage the outer profile 54 from the inner profile 46. This disengagement allows the third tubular 26 to be withdrawn from the second tubular 22. In an application where the second tubular 22 is a diverter (as is the case of this embodiment), this withdrawal will permit the third tubular 26 to then be rerun within the diverter 22 and diverted through a window (not shown) in the first tubular 14 in the process.
The plurality of unique inner profiles 30 allows for any number of diverters 22 to be positioned longitudinally along the first tubular 14. It may be desirable to situate the plurality of unique inner profiles 30 along the first tubular 14 in such a manner that the first diverter 22 will run past all but the last of the unique inner profiles 30 before the unique outer profile 38 disposed thereat engages with its complementary unique inner profile 30. Doing so will allow an operator to engage each and every one of the plurality of unique inner profiles 30 with a complementary unique outer profile 38. As such, each inner profile 30 can have a window associated therewith that one of the diverters 22 will be positioned relative thereto for diverting a tubular run thereagainst through the associated window.
Referring to
The foregoing tubular positioning system 10 allows an operator to run multiple diverters 22 into the wellbore 18 and to selectively position each of the diverters, both longitudinally and rotationally, relative to the wellbore.
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. Moreover, the use of the terms first, second, etc. do not denote any order or importance, but rather the terms first, second, etc. are used to distinguish one element from another. Furthermore, the use of the terms a, an, etc. do not denote a limitation of quantity, but rather denote the presence of at least one of the referenced item.