CA2921795A1 - Compound beam mechanical casing collar locator - Google Patents
Compound beam mechanical casing collar locator Download PDFInfo
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- CA2921795A1 CA2921795A1 CA2921795A CA2921795A CA2921795A1 CA 2921795 A1 CA2921795 A1 CA 2921795A1 CA 2921795 A CA2921795 A CA 2921795A CA 2921795 A CA2921795 A CA 2921795A CA 2921795 A1 CA2921795 A1 CA 2921795A1
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- 230000002787 reinforcement Effects 0.000 claims abstract description 79
- 241000282472 Canis lupus familiaris Species 0.000 claims abstract description 69
- 239000007787 solid Substances 0.000 claims description 16
- 230000008878 coupling Effects 0.000 claims description 11
- 238000010168 coupling process Methods 0.000 claims description 11
- 238000005859 coupling reaction Methods 0.000 claims description 11
- 230000007246 mechanism Effects 0.000 claims description 4
- 230000008859 change Effects 0.000 description 8
- 238000001514 detection method Methods 0.000 description 7
- 239000012530 fluid Substances 0.000 description 6
- 238000013461 design Methods 0.000 description 5
- 239000000463 material Substances 0.000 description 5
- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 description 4
- 230000008901 benefit Effects 0.000 description 3
- 230000004323 axial length Effects 0.000 description 2
- 238000006073 displacement reaction Methods 0.000 description 2
- 230000003993 interaction Effects 0.000 description 2
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Classifications
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- E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
- E21—EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; MINING
- E21B—EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; OBTAINING OIL, GAS, WATER, SOLUBLE OR MELTABLE MATERIALS OR A SLURRY OF MINERALS FROM WELLS
- E21B47/00—Survey of boreholes or wells
- E21B47/09—Locating or determining the position of objects in boreholes or wells, e.g. the position of an extending arm; Identifying the free or blocked portions of pipes
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- Environmental & Geological Engineering (AREA)
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- General Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
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Abstract
A mechanical casing collar locator is disclosed. The casing collar locator has an outermost, locator leaf spring cage, and one or more radially stacked reinforcement leaf spring cages. Each leaf spring cage has a plurality of flexible leaf spring beam members, each having a locator dog thereon for engage collar recesses, or other recesses, in the wellbore casing. The leaf spring beam members of the reinforcement leaf spring cages radially support the leaf spring beam members and the locator dogs of the locator leaf spring cage for providing enhanced radially outward spring force.
Description
2
3 CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
4 This application claims the benefit of US Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/120,261, filed Feb. 24, 2015.
8 Embodiments herein relate generally to apparatus and methods for 9 detection of casing collars in a casing string for positioning of wellbore tools relative thereto, and in particular to a mechanical casing collar locator.
13 In the process of wellbore completion, a string of casing is typically run 14 into an open borehole and is cemented into place. Various downhole components can be located along the casing, including sleeve valves for access to a formation of 16 interest. A downhole tool can be run into the casing string on a conveyance string 17 and the tool is located at specific downhole components by feedback from a locater 18 positioned on the tool. The locator detects the component itself, or another feature 19 on the casing, such as collars that can be spacially related to the position of the component. It is important that the tools are locatable at known and desired 21 locations within the casing for performance of well operations, including actuation of 22 the downhole components in the string of casing.
1 In conventional embodiments, the casing comprises lengths or joints 2 of tubing which are connected by threaded collars. Ends of the axially aligned joints 3 of casing are threaded into the collars. Once threaded therein, the ends of the 4 casing do not abut, leaving an axial space therebetween. The axial space or recess formed in the collar has a greater radial dimension than a bore of the joints of 6 casing, forming a locatable feature in the casing string. Alternatively, where casing connections do not provide such a gap, specially designed locator tubulars or 8 collars having a recess formed therein may be installed in the casing string for the 9 express purpose of location.
As is also known, locators can be used not only to detect the collar 11 gap or recess, but can be used to locate any suitable recess or profile in the string 12 of casing, which may be formed at the downhole component, such as a sleeve 13 valve.
For example, a suitable profile can be formed at an end of a shifting sleeve 14 movable therein.
A variety of apparatus are known to locate the collars within the casing 16 string to better understand the positioning of tools run into the wellbore relative to 17 the casing component. Known casing collar locators include those using electronic 18 or magnetic sensors in an attempt to consistently locate the collars.
19 Other known locators are mechanical locators which comprise arrangements of radially extending, biased members, including protruding dogs, 21 which releasably engage a respective axial space along the casing string. Once 22 engaged in the collar or other recess, axial load or weight at surface on the downhole tool is resisted by the locater engagement in the recess, the shift in load 1 or weight to the conveyance string being observable at surface as an indication of 2 having reached the desired location.
3 The reliability of location using mechanical locators is generally related 4 to the resolvable change in the force applied to the tool's conveyance string during movement. When the locator engages a recess, a certain axial force is required to 6 dislodge the locator therefrom. If the locator engages the recess during a running in 7 stage, an increased downhole force is required to dislodge it from the recess. If the 8 locator engages the recess during a pulling out of hole stage, an increased uphole 9 force is required to dislodge it from the recess. The increased force is measured by a change in the surface weight of the conveyance string. Typically, when running in 11 using coiled tubing, lifting weight is used as a marker of locator positioning, and thus, 12 the nature of the locator/recess interaction is designed for release of the locater 13 from the recess during pulling out. Others may use a reduction in weight or a 14 pushing force and, in those instances, the nature of the locator/recess interaction is designed for release of the locater from the recess during running in.
16 The release force is a function of a radially outward, recess 17 engagement force and a ramping interface of the locator and recess interface. The 18 recess has uphole and downhole edges and the locator has leading and trailing 19 ramp surfaces. Pulling or pushing of the tool and locator forms axial loading of the locator ramp against a recess edge. The interface imposes a radially inward 21 release force on the locator, resisted by a biasing of the locator.
22 The mechanical advantage of a shallow or small interface angle 23 produces large, radially inward force with small axial applications of weight, 1 resulting in relatively indistinguishable weight change and poor locator resolution. A
2 steep or large interface angle produces a small radially inward force, even at large 3 axial applications of weight, providing easily detectable weight changes but at a risk 4 of non-release of the locator and a stuck tool and/or erratic performance.
For example, Fig. 1 is a portion of a cross-sectional view of a prior-art 6 mechanical casing collar locator 10 with a locator dog 12 located in a collar recess 7 14 formed by a collar 16 and adjacent casing joints 18 and 20. The locator dog 12 is 8 profiled, having an uphole ramp or interface 22 and a downhole ramp or 9 interface 24. The dog 12 is typically driven outward with a spring. The spring force, and ramp, determines the release behavior of the dog 12 from the recess 14.
11 As described above, the interface angle significantly affects the 12 performance of the casing collar locator. In this example, the uphole interface 22 13 has an interface angle 8 greater than 60 degrees with respect to a direction 26 14 parallel to the axis of the casing 18. Consequently, the radial spring force Fs required to maintain the locator dog in the recess is relatively small.
However, a 16 large uphole force Fp is required to pull the locator dog 12 out of the recess 14.
17 It is believed that the release behavior or predictability of a locator dog 18 having an interface angle greater than 60 degrees can become erratic due to the 19 requirement of a large release force for releasing the locator dog out of the collar recess, even if the radial spring force is small. As the interface angle becomes 21 larger, even up to 90 degrees, the locator dog becomes stuck.
22 At 60 degrees or smaller, release is much more predictable, however 23 in order to provide a visual indication at surface, the spring force must be quite high.
Ideally, the interface and biasing force are complementary to provide sufficient 2 weight change for consistent detection of locator engagement, yet not so great as to 3 risk tool entrapment or a non-consistent release force.
4 Given the risk of entrapment or poor detection resolution, there is still room for improvement to locator technology.
8 Given that tool entrapment is highly undesirable, the designed interface angles at the locator and recess are usually shallow and therefore robust radial biasing is required to provide engagement indication. Biasing is typically associated with the spring material selection and dimensions. Given limited selections in material, the industry typically employs larger springs for applying 13 more force. Larger springs, coil springs or spring beams, require a significant 14 portion of the tool cross-section. If smaller robust springs are required, material properties need to be increased, however only at the risk of limited elastic displacement before entering the plastic range of deformation. Further, springs such 17 as coil springs are prone to trapping of debris therein which may affect tool 18 performance.
19 In conventional downhole tools, the cross-section typically includes fluid passageways and apparatus, including equalization valves, sliding members 21 and the like. Robust locators, having structure to provide high radial engagement biasing, can interfere with the sizing and placement of tool components and thus the strength of the biasing is generally limited. Known prior art apparatus have such
8 Embodiments herein relate generally to apparatus and methods for 9 detection of casing collars in a casing string for positioning of wellbore tools relative thereto, and in particular to a mechanical casing collar locator.
13 In the process of wellbore completion, a string of casing is typically run 14 into an open borehole and is cemented into place. Various downhole components can be located along the casing, including sleeve valves for access to a formation of 16 interest. A downhole tool can be run into the casing string on a conveyance string 17 and the tool is located at specific downhole components by feedback from a locater 18 positioned on the tool. The locator detects the component itself, or another feature 19 on the casing, such as collars that can be spacially related to the position of the component. It is important that the tools are locatable at known and desired 21 locations within the casing for performance of well operations, including actuation of 22 the downhole components in the string of casing.
1 In conventional embodiments, the casing comprises lengths or joints 2 of tubing which are connected by threaded collars. Ends of the axially aligned joints 3 of casing are threaded into the collars. Once threaded therein, the ends of the 4 casing do not abut, leaving an axial space therebetween. The axial space or recess formed in the collar has a greater radial dimension than a bore of the joints of 6 casing, forming a locatable feature in the casing string. Alternatively, where casing connections do not provide such a gap, specially designed locator tubulars or 8 collars having a recess formed therein may be installed in the casing string for the 9 express purpose of location.
As is also known, locators can be used not only to detect the collar 11 gap or recess, but can be used to locate any suitable recess or profile in the string 12 of casing, which may be formed at the downhole component, such as a sleeve 13 valve.
For example, a suitable profile can be formed at an end of a shifting sleeve 14 movable therein.
A variety of apparatus are known to locate the collars within the casing 16 string to better understand the positioning of tools run into the wellbore relative to 17 the casing component. Known casing collar locators include those using electronic 18 or magnetic sensors in an attempt to consistently locate the collars.
19 Other known locators are mechanical locators which comprise arrangements of radially extending, biased members, including protruding dogs, 21 which releasably engage a respective axial space along the casing string. Once 22 engaged in the collar or other recess, axial load or weight at surface on the downhole tool is resisted by the locater engagement in the recess, the shift in load 1 or weight to the conveyance string being observable at surface as an indication of 2 having reached the desired location.
3 The reliability of location using mechanical locators is generally related 4 to the resolvable change in the force applied to the tool's conveyance string during movement. When the locator engages a recess, a certain axial force is required to 6 dislodge the locator therefrom. If the locator engages the recess during a running in 7 stage, an increased downhole force is required to dislodge it from the recess. If the 8 locator engages the recess during a pulling out of hole stage, an increased uphole 9 force is required to dislodge it from the recess. The increased force is measured by a change in the surface weight of the conveyance string. Typically, when running in 11 using coiled tubing, lifting weight is used as a marker of locator positioning, and thus, 12 the nature of the locator/recess interaction is designed for release of the locater 13 from the recess during pulling out. Others may use a reduction in weight or a 14 pushing force and, in those instances, the nature of the locator/recess interaction is designed for release of the locater from the recess during running in.
16 The release force is a function of a radially outward, recess 17 engagement force and a ramping interface of the locator and recess interface. The 18 recess has uphole and downhole edges and the locator has leading and trailing 19 ramp surfaces. Pulling or pushing of the tool and locator forms axial loading of the locator ramp against a recess edge. The interface imposes a radially inward 21 release force on the locator, resisted by a biasing of the locator.
22 The mechanical advantage of a shallow or small interface angle 23 produces large, radially inward force with small axial applications of weight, 1 resulting in relatively indistinguishable weight change and poor locator resolution. A
2 steep or large interface angle produces a small radially inward force, even at large 3 axial applications of weight, providing easily detectable weight changes but at a risk 4 of non-release of the locator and a stuck tool and/or erratic performance.
For example, Fig. 1 is a portion of a cross-sectional view of a prior-art 6 mechanical casing collar locator 10 with a locator dog 12 located in a collar recess 7 14 formed by a collar 16 and adjacent casing joints 18 and 20. The locator dog 12 is 8 profiled, having an uphole ramp or interface 22 and a downhole ramp or 9 interface 24. The dog 12 is typically driven outward with a spring. The spring force, and ramp, determines the release behavior of the dog 12 from the recess 14.
11 As described above, the interface angle significantly affects the 12 performance of the casing collar locator. In this example, the uphole interface 22 13 has an interface angle 8 greater than 60 degrees with respect to a direction 26 14 parallel to the axis of the casing 18. Consequently, the radial spring force Fs required to maintain the locator dog in the recess is relatively small.
However, a 16 large uphole force Fp is required to pull the locator dog 12 out of the recess 14.
17 It is believed that the release behavior or predictability of a locator dog 18 having an interface angle greater than 60 degrees can become erratic due to the 19 requirement of a large release force for releasing the locator dog out of the collar recess, even if the radial spring force is small. As the interface angle becomes 21 larger, even up to 90 degrees, the locator dog becomes stuck.
22 At 60 degrees or smaller, release is much more predictable, however 23 in order to provide a visual indication at surface, the spring force must be quite high.
Ideally, the interface and biasing force are complementary to provide sufficient 2 weight change for consistent detection of locator engagement, yet not so great as to 3 risk tool entrapment or a non-consistent release force.
4 Given the risk of entrapment or poor detection resolution, there is still room for improvement to locator technology.
8 Given that tool entrapment is highly undesirable, the designed interface angles at the locator and recess are usually shallow and therefore robust radial biasing is required to provide engagement indication. Biasing is typically associated with the spring material selection and dimensions. Given limited selections in material, the industry typically employs larger springs for applying 13 more force. Larger springs, coil springs or spring beams, require a significant 14 portion of the tool cross-section. If smaller robust springs are required, material properties need to be increased, however only at the risk of limited elastic displacement before entering the plastic range of deformation. Further, springs such 17 as coil springs are prone to trapping of debris therein which may affect tool 18 performance.
19 In conventional downhole tools, the cross-section typically includes fluid passageways and apparatus, including equalization valves, sliding members 21 and the like. Robust locators, having structure to provide high radial engagement biasing, can interfere with the sizing and placement of tool components and thus the strength of the biasing is generally limited. Known prior art apparatus have such
5 1 restricted diametrical area, and the integration of a locator in such an environment 2 limits the biasing strength. Such restrictions can compromise the radial force 3 needed to achieve a pull-through force which is high enough to be consistently 4 detected and ensure positive and reliable location. In Canadian Patent Application No. 2,693,676 to NCS Oilfield Services Inc., the locator is physically positioned in
6 the tool to reside within the sleeve valve, such as to engage ends of the tubular
7 sleeve. The tool is fit with fluid passageways to conduct fluid across the tool,
8 including through the locator. A spring-loaded dog locator is provided having a
9 locator body, dogs and coil springs between the dogs and the body for urging the dogs radially outwardly. The body structure occupies a significant portion of the tool 11 cross-section and thus, the spring aspect is minimized, limiting the biasing force 12 possible. Further, with respect to published patent application CA
2,856,184 to 13 NCS Oilfield Services Inc., a locator comprising a leaf spring cage having dog 14 formed thereon is positioned concentrically about at least a J-slot arrangement. The J-slot arrangement occupies a significant portion of the tool cross-section and thus, 16 the spring aspect is also minimized, limiting the biasing force possible.
17 Solutions to constraints on the spring can, to a certain extent, be 18 managed with changes to spring material or spring thickness, however, this is also 19 associated with reduced elastic range and potential for reduced fatigue life or even plastic deformation. Further, attempts to counter reduced radial biasing forces by 21 increasing the interface angle increases the risk of tool entrapment or inconsistent 22 release loads.
1 According to one aspect of this disclosure, there is provided an 2 apparatus for locating an annular recess along a wellbore string. The apparatus 3 comprises: a plurality of circumferentially-spaced, radially outwardly extending dogs 4 for engaging the recess; and a plurality of supporting structures for supporting the plurality of dogs; wherein each supporting structure comprises: two or more radially 6 stacked layers of circumferentially-spaced, radially flexible, leaf spring beam 7 members extending along an axial direction.
8 In some embodiments, each dog comprises a first interface for 9 engaging an edge of the recess, the first interface being angled from the axial direction at a first interface angle of about or less than 60 degrees.
11 In some embodiments, the first interface angle is about 50 degrees.
12 In some embodiments, the first interface is an uphole interface.
13 In some embodiments, at least a first layer of the two or more layers of 14 circumferentially spaced leaf spring beam members form a locator cage.
In some embodiments, the locator cage is a slotted tubular.
16 In some embodiments, the circumferentially spaced leaf spring beam 17 members of the locator cage are supported at at least one of two axially opposite 18 ends thereof by a solid tubular portion.
19 In some embodiments, the circumferentially spaced leaf spring beam members of the locator cage are supported at each of two axially opposite ends 21 thereof by a solid tubular portion.
1 In some embodiments, the at least first layer is the radially outmost 2 layer, and wherein at least a second layer of the two or more layers of 3 circumferentially spaced leaf spring beam members form a reinforcement cage.
4 In some embodiments, the reinforcement cage is a slotted tubular.
In some embodiments, the circumferentially spaced leaf spring beam 6 members of the locator cage are supported at at least one of two axially opposite 7 ends thereof by a solid tubular portion.
8 In some embodiments, the circumferentially spaced leaf spring beam 9 members of the locator cage are supported at each of two axially opposite ends thereof by a solid tubular portion.
11 In some embodiments, the reinforcement cage is concentrically 12 received in the locator cage.
13 In some embodiments, each dog is supported by at least one beam 14 member of the first layer, and each beam member of the first layer is supported by at least one beam member of the at least second layer.
16 In some embodiments, the locator cage further comprises a first coupling mechanism at an uphole end thereof for coupling the locator cage to a first 18 sub and a second coupling mechanism at a downhole end thereof for coupling the 19 locator cage to a second sub.
In some embodiments, after the locator cage is coupled to a first sub 21 at the uphole end thereof and to a second sub at the down hole thereof, the at least 22 first reinforcement cage is axially fixed or axially moveable within a predefined 23 range.
1 In some embodiments, the two or more radially stacked layers of leaf 2 spring beam members are radially aligned.
3 In some embodiments, the reinforcement cage is circumferentially 4 fixed with respect to the locator cage.
In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises: a delimit pin extending from the reinforcement cage radially outwardly into a slot between two adjacent positioned in a slot between two adjacent spring beam members of the 8 locator cage, for preventing the reinforcement cage from rotating with respect to the 9 locator cage.
According to another aspect of this disclosure, there is provided an apparatus for locating an annular recess along a wellbore string. The apparatus comprises: a tubular locator cage having a plurality of circumferentially-spaced, radially flexible, locator leaf spring beam members extending along an axial direction, each locator leaf spring beam member having a locator dog thereon and extending radially outwardly, the locator cage having a locator bore; and at least a 16 first tubular reinforcement cage fit concentrically within the locator bore, each of the 17 at least a first tubular reinforcement cage having a plurality of circumferentially-18 spaced, radially flexible, reinforcement spring beam members extending along the 19 axial direction and for supporting the locator leaf spring beam members.
22 Figure 1 is a portion of a cross-sectional view of a prior-art casing 23 collar locator having a dog thereon engaging a casing collar recess, the dog having 1 an uphole interface with a relatively large interface angle greater than 60 degrees, 2 resulting in a requirement of a large uphole pulling force to pull the dog from the 3 recess, and resulting in risk of trapping of the dog in the recess;
4 Figure 2 is a perspective view of an assembled casing collar locator, according to an embodiment;
6 Figure 3 is an end view of the casing collar locator of Fig. 1, showing 7 an outmost, locator leaf spring cage and two reinforcement leaf spring cages being 8 arranged concentrically;
9 Figure 4 is a perspective view of a partially assembled casing collar locator with the locator leaf spring cage and two reinforcement leaf spring cages 11 being axially offset, the leaf spring beam members of the locator leaf spring cage 12 and two reinforcement leaf spring cages being aligned;
13 Figure 5 is a perspective view of the locator leaf spring cage, 14 Figure 6 is an end view of the locator leaf spring cage of Fig. 5;
Figure 7 is a cross-sectional view of the locator leaf spring cage of 16 Fig. 5;
17 Figure 8 is a perspective view of a reinforcement leaf spring cage;
18 Figure 9 is a cross-sectional view of the reinforcement leaf spring 19 cage of Fig. 8;
Figure 10 is a cross-sectional view of the casing collar locator of Fig. 1;
21 Figure 11 is a portion of a cross-sectional view showing the casing 22 collar locator of Fig. 1 engaging a collar recess;
1 Figure 12 is an enlarged view of portion A of Fig. 11, showing an 2 uphole interface of a dog engaging an uphole edge of the collar recess;
3 Figure 13 is a perspective view of the locator leaf spring cage, 4 according to some alternative embodiments;
Figure 14 is a perspective view of a reinforcement leaf spring cage, 6 according to some alternative embodiments; and 7 Figure 15 is a perspective view of the locator leaf spring cage, 8 according to some other embodiments.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
11 Various embodiments of a mechanical casing collar locator are 12 disclosed herein, comprising an outermost, locator leaf spring cage, and one or 13 more radially stacked reinforcement leaf spring cages. Each leaf spring cage 14 comprises a plurality of circumferentially-spaced, flexible, leaf spring beam members. Each flexible leaf spring beam member of the locator leaf spring cage 16 comprises a locator dog formed to extend radially outwardly from an intermediate 17 position thereof. The reinforcement leaf spring cage radially supports the locator 18 leaf spring cage for providing enhanced radially outward spring force.
19 Each locator dog is a profiled dog, extending radially outwardly from each flexible leaf spring beam member of the locator leaf spring cage so as to 21 engage collar recesses, or other recesses, in the wellbore casing. The profiling 22 includes uphole and downhole interfaces or ramps, the selected angle of which is 23 discussed below for adjusting pull-through forces in combination with the recess.
1 The resulting casing collar locator provides significant radially outward directed engagement force (i.e., a force of a direction perpendicular to and pointing 3 away from an axis of the casing collar locator), enabling a reduction in the interface 4 angle of an engagement interface of each of one or more profiled dogs, such that, the profiled dogs of the casing collar locator can engage a collar recess with a low 6 risk of tool entrapment and higher weight resolution at surface for consistent detection of casing collar recesses. The casing collar locator disclosed herein achieves high engagement force while able to use a minimum of the locator cross-section, or simply provide significantly higher radial biasing forces while remaining within the elastic range of operation of the biasing with the radial range of 11 displacement required to enter and exit casing recesses.
12 In embodiments, the present locator achieves sufficient outwardly directed radial force therein, such that an angle of an uphole interface or ramp of a profiled dog formed thereon is maintained at an angle below that at which erratic pull-through force could occur. In combination, the strong radial force and dog interface angle achieve an optimum pull-through force, such as about 3000-4000 17 dN, for positive, consistent and reliable location. The pull-through force can also be 18 varied from tool to tool, such as depending upon the number of spring cages utilized.
19 Thus, in addition to the ability to provide suitable engagement force with low interface angles for restricted diametrical environments, further advantage 21 is obtained where larger diametrical extent is available, and greater weight resolution can be achieved at surface. The casing collar locator disclosed herein is particularly useful for tool strings which are arrange to position the locator therein away from other internal apparatus so as to provide maximum diametric space therein. Generally, if the locator is used to locate a casing collar spaced axially from 3 a shifting sleeve, rather than to the end of the shifting sleeve as known in the prior 4 art, the locator can be spaced below other apparatus in the tool string where increased diametrical area is available therein to accommodate the locator disclosed herein and maximize the release resolution. Embodiments disclosed 7 herein can locate within a sleeve, however the sleeve length must be adjusted 8 accordingly.
9 Thus, the locator disclosed herein may be used in various scenarios.
For example, in some embodiments, a downhole tool may comprise a bottom hole assembly (BHA) coupled to the locator disclosed herein. The locator comprises a 12 bore forming a flow path, which is in fluid communication with a flow path of the 13 BHA.
14 Turning now to Figs. 2 to 4, a mechanical casing collar locator is shown, and is referenced using numeral 100. Similar to traditional casing collar locators, the collar locator 100 may be coupled to, at either or both ends thereof, suitable subs 106 such as a crossover sub, and is used for locating one or more 18 locator recesses of a casing string such as at collar recesses 14. The one or more 19 collar recesses 14 are formed as described above, and each collar recess has a recess diameter.
21 As shown, the collar locator 100 is a beam-type locator having a 22 tubular locator leaf spring cage 102 with a bore for receiving therein one or more concentrically arranged, stacked reinforcement leaf spring cages 104. Fig. 4 shows 1 a partially assembled locator leaf spring cage 102 and two reinforcement leaf spring 2 cages 104A and 1046, axially offset for better illustration.
3 As shown in Figs. 5 to 7, in this embodiment, the locator leaf spring 4 cage 102 comprises a tubular housing 110 having a bore formed therethrough. The housing 110 is machined to form a plurality of circumferentially and alternately 6 arranged slots 108 and resilient, leaf spring beam members 112 (denoted as locator 7 leaf spring beam members 112), extending along an axial or longitudinal direction.
8 Therefore, the locator leaf spring beam members 112 are spaced from each other, 9 and are separated by the slots 108.
Each leaf spring beam member 112 comprises a radially outwardly 11 extending dog 114 formed intermediate therealong. For example, in Figs.
5 to 7, 12 eight (8) leaf spring beam members 112 are formed, each having an integrated, 13 radially outwardly extruded dog 114 located at about a mid-point of the 14 corresponding leaf spring beam member 112. The leaf spring beam members are made of metal material with suitable elasticity to provide required radial flexibility 16 for dogs 114 to enter and exit the recess 14.
17 In this embodiment, each slot 108 terminates at an end 112A/112B
spaced axially inwardly from each opposing end of the housing 110, leaving a rigid, .
19 solid tubular portion 118 at opposing ends of the locator leaf spring cage 102. The tubular portion 118 supports the ends 112A and 112B of each beam member 112, 21 and provides a structure for retaining the beam members 112 in axial and 22 circumferential alignment.
1 In an unbiased position, the diameter about the dogs 114 is greater 2 than that of the inside diameter of the casing, and corresponds more to a diameter 3 of, or larger than that of, the circumferential collar recess.
Accordingly, the dogs 114 4 drag along the casing string, biased to enter any recess therealong.
Referring to Fig. 7, the dog 114 of each leaf spring beam member 112 6 is profiled, having an uphole locator ramp or interface 122 and a downhole locator 7 ramp or interface 124. The interface angles a and 13 of the locator interfaces 122 8 and 124, respectively, with respect to a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of 9 the locator leaf spring cage 102 are chosen to be relatively small angles, depending on the design requirements. For example, in the embodiment shown in Fig. 7, the 11 casing collar locator 100 is used for locating collar recesses during a pull-out-of-hole 12 stage. Therefore, the downhole interface is angled such that the downhole tool 13 including the casing collar locator 100 can be readily run in and moved downhole 14 along the casing and past the recesses therein. For example, the downhole interface angle 13 in this example is a relatively small angle such as about 16 degrees for ease of insertion of the locator into the casing. The uphole interface 17 angle a may be an angle suitable for a sufficiently high resolution to locate a collar 18 recess with sufficient accuracy, e.g., about 60 degrees or smaller.
19 In this embodiment, the locator leaf spring cage 102 also has a plurality of screw holes 116 on each ends thereof for locking the casing collar 21 locator 100 to suitable subs (not shown).
1 To provide the radial range of motion, while maintaining the radially 2 elastic deflection of the locator leaf spring cage 102, one or more concentrically 3 arranged, stacked reinforcement spring cages 104 are provided.
4 As shown in Figs. 8 and 9, the structure of the reinforcement spring cage 104 is similar to that of the locator leaf spring cage 102. In particular, the reinforcement spring cage 104 comprises a tubular housing 130 having a bore 7 formed therethrough. The housing 130 is machined to form a plurality of circumferentially and alternately arranged slots 132 and resilient, leaf spring beam 9 members 134 (denoted as reinforcement beam members 134), extending along a longitudinal direction. At least the leaf spring beam members 134 are made of metal material with suitable elasticity to provide required radial flexibility.
However, in this embodiment the leaf spring beam members 134 do not comprise any radially 13 outward protrusion.
14 In this embodiment, the number of leaf spring beam members 134 of each reinforcement spring cage 104 can correspond to that of the leaf spring beam 16 members 112 of the locator leaf spring cage 102 such that each locator leaf spring 17 beam member 112 is supported by at least one reinforcement beam member 134 to 18 reinforcing the biasing thereof.
19 Similar to the slots 108 of the locator leaf spring cage 102, each of the slot 132 of the reinforcement spring cage 104 terminates spaced axially inwardly 21 from each opposing end of the housing 130, leaving a rigid, solid tubular portion 22 at opposing ends of the reinforcement spring cage 104 for providing fixed supports at the end of each beam member 134 and a structure for retaining the beam 2 members 134 in axial and circumferential alignment.
3 In this embodiment, each reinforcement spring cage 104 also 4 comprises an alignment port 136 axially spaced from a slot 132 for receiving an alignment pin (described later).
6 The outer diameters of the reinforcement spring cages 104 are such 7 that each reinforcement spring cage 104 fits concentrically within the bore of an 8 adjacent outer spring cage, which may be the locator leaf spring cage 102 or an 9 outer reinforcement spring cage 104.
In this embodiment, each reinforcement spring cage 104 has a length 11 shorter than that of the locator leaf spring cage 102 to allow the locator leaf spring 12 cage 102 to receive other subs extending thereinto for coupling thereto.
13 As described above, a casing collar locator 100 may be assembled 14 using a locator leaf spring cage 102 and one or more reinforcement spring cages 104. In an example shown in Figs. 2 to 4 and 10, a casing collar locator 100 is 16 assembled using a locator leaf spring cage 102. Concentrically received within the 17 locator cage 102 are two reinforcement spring cages 104A and 104B, with the 18 spring cage 104B received within the spring cage 104A. As shown in Fig.
4, the 19 spring cages 102, 104A and 104B are circumferentially aligned such that the slots 108 and 132 thereof are aligned and the leaf spring beam members 112 and 134 21 are also aligned.
22 After the spring cages 102, 104A and 104B are axially in position (see 23 Figs. 1 and 10), the alignment ports 136 of the reinforcement spring cages 104A
and 104B are also aligned. As the lengths of the two reinforcement spring cages 2 104A and 104B are shorter than that of the locator leaf spring cage 102, the 3 alignment ports 136 thereof are exposed through a slot 108A of the locator leaf 4 spring cage 102. As shown in Fig. 1, a delimit pin 140, such as a socket head cap screw, extends through the slot 108a and is secured into the alignment ports 136 of 6 the reinforcement spring cages 104A and 104B. The head of the pin 140 prjects 7 from the cage 105A to be circumferentially constrained within the slot 108A to 8 prevent relative rotation between the spring cages 102, 104A and 104B so as to 9 maintain the radially stacked alignment of the leaf spring beam members 112 and 134.
11 As persons skilled in the art appreciate, the aligned slots 108 and 132 12 in the concentric spring cages 102 and 104 can also provide fluid pathways 13 therethrough, such as to a bore of the locator and tool string. Such fluid pathways 14 are useful in flushing debris therethrough.
After assembling, the reinforcement spring cages 104A and 104B are 16 circumferentially constrained, but are allowed to move or slide axially.
For ease of 17 storage and transportation, the assembled casing collar locator 100 may be capped 18 at both ends thereof to prevent the inner, reinforcement spring cages 104A and 19 104B from moving out of the outer, locator spring cage 102.
As shown in Fig. 10, in use, the assembled casing collar locator 100 is 21 coupled to subs 106A and 106B on the uphole and downhole ends thereof.
As 22 shown, the outermost, locator leaf spring cage 102 comprises inwardly threaded 23 ends, operatively connected to outwardly threaded respective ends of subs 106A
and 106B. The connections of the locator leaf spring cage 102 and subs 106A
and 2 106B are further secured by the screws 142 screwing through the holes 116 of the 3 locator leaf spring cage 102 and onto the respective subs 106A and 106B. Of 4 course, other known methods of coupling the locator leaf spring cage 102 to subs 106A and 106B are also readily available and may be alternatively used.
6 After coupling the locator leaf spring cage 102 to subs 106A and 106B, 7 the reinforcement spring cages 104A and 104B are then axially sandwiched 8 between the subs 106A and 106B, with the opposite ends of the reinforcement 9 spring cages 104A and 104B loosely facing the butt ends of subs 106A and 106B.
The axial location of the reinforcement spring cages 104A and 104B is thus 11 delimited by the subs 106A and 106B respectively at the uphole and downhole 12 sides thereof.
13 As the spring cages 102, 104A and 104B have the same number of 14 leaf spring beam members 112, 134, and are aligned circumferentially, after assembly, the leaf spring beam members 112, 134 of the spring cages 102, 104A
16 and 104B are radially aligned and stacked "on top of one another". As will be 17 described in more detail below, the stacked leaf spring beam members 112, 134 18 provide higher radial spring force Fs for maintaining the locator dogs 114 in the 19 collar recess.
As described above, in a radially unbiased position, the diameter 21 about the dogs 114 is greater than that of the inside diameter of the casing. In some 22 embodiments, the diameter about the dogs 114 is about, or even larger than, a 23 diameter of the circumferential collar recess. While running in, each dog 114 and 1 the corresponding leaf spring beam member 112 are deflected radially inward to a 2 smaller diameter, such as the inner diameter of the casing or the downhole component or sleeve. Any axial length change due to the radial deflection of the 4 spring cage 102 is reflected in a change in the axial spacing of the subs 106A and 106B. However, any change of axial length of the reinforcement cages 104A and are unconstrained as the delimit pin 140 can move axially in slot 108A, and 7 thus the reinforcement cages 104A and 104B can float axially between subs 106A
8 and 106B.
9 The inward, elastic deflection of the leaf spring beam member 112 of the outmost locator leaf spring cage 102 urges and inwardly and elastically deflects 11 the radially stacked, one or more leaf spring beam members 134 of the one or more 12 inner, reinforcement spring cages 104. As the corresponding leaf spring beam 13 members 112 and 134 are not mounted together, they can deflect radially and can 14 shift axially with respect to each other. Comparing to the embodiment of a locator cage having "thick" leaf spring beam members but with no reinforcement cages, the 16 above design shown in Fig. 10 allows larger elastic range. Comparing to the embodiment that the reinforcement cage(s) 104 are also axially fixed to the locator 18 cage 102 (described later), the above design shown in Fig. 10 avoids stress caused 19 by different deflections and/or different length changes of the leaf spring beam members 112 and 134.
21 As each leaf spring beam member 112 of locator leaf spring cage 102 22 is elastically supported radially by the respective leaf spring beam members 134 of 23 the one or more inner, reinforcement spring cages 104, the total radially outwardly 1 directed spring force Fs is an aggregated radial spring force exerted by the stacked 2 leaf spring beam members 112 and 134. For example, in the embodiment of Fig. 10, 3 the casing collar locator 100 comprises three spring cages 102, 104A and 104B, 4 and the outward radial force Fs is much larger than that of a single spring cage 102, 104A or 104B. Those skilled in the art appreciate that an estimate or calculation of 6 the radial force Fs is readily available using known theories.
7 When the dogs 114 move into a collar recess, the radially outward 8 force Fs causes the dogs 114 and the leaf spring beam members 112 and 134 to 9 return towards their normal, radially unbiased positions.
Fig. 11 is an illustration showing a portion of the casing collar locator 11 100 being pulled uphole and having engaged a collar recess 14 formed by a casing 12 collar 16 between two adjacent casing joints 18 and 20. The aggregated force Fs 13 allows the casing collar locator 100 to provide higher recess detection resolution (or 14 weight resolution if using weigh change as an indication of detection) at surface.
As shown in Figs. 11 and 12, when the tubing string and therefore the 16 casing collar locator 100 is again pulled uphole by an uphole force Fp, the edge 152 17 of the collar recess 14 pushes the uphole locator interface 122 of the dog 114 18 engaged therewith, with a force Fr perpendicular to the plane of the uphole locator 19 interface 122. The force Fr corresponds to an axially downhole force Fd combatting the pulling force Fp, and a radially inward force Fi combatting the radially outward 21 spring force Fs to urge the leaf spring beam members 112 and 134 to deflect 22 radially inwardly against the combined or aggregated beam biasing.
1 As described above, the angle a of the uphole locator interface 122 is relatively small, e.g., about or smaller than 60 degrees. However, by reinforcing the 3 dog 114 with two or more leaf spring beam members 112 and 134 to obtain an aggregated radial spring force Fs, a large force is then required to pull the dog 114 out of the recess, giving rise to a higher weight resolution at surface for recess 6 detection.
Further, at about 60 degrees or less, risk of jamming between the 8 uphole locator interface 122 and the edge 152 of the collar recess 14 and/or tool entrapment is minimized. In some embodiments, the uphole locator interface 122 may be angled at about 50 degrees. The degree of angle of the uphole locator interface 122 can be balanced with the number of stacked spring cages 102 and 12 104 to provide the desired pull-through force to achieve reliable location. With the 13 above described casing collar locator 100, locating a collar recess 14 by the casing 14 collar locator 100 can be consistently observed at surface, and the profiled dog 114 can also be reliably disengaged and removed from the recess 14.
16 As a comparison, the traditional mechanical casing collar locator 10 of 17 Fig. 1, assuming that it is manufactured using the same material as the casing collar 18 locator 100 disclosed herein, provides a smaller spring force Fs. Consequently, a 19 large interface angle a, e.g., larger than 60 degrees and up to 90 degrees, is needed to provide sufficient weight resolution at surface. However, such a large 21 interface angle a has a high risk of jamming and/or entrapment.
22 In a process for locating a casing collar recess 14, the tool string, 23 having the casing collar locator 100 positioned therein, is deployed into the wellbore, 1 such as on coiled tubing. The tool string is run into the wellbore below a depth at 2 which the operator anticipates a collar of interest to be located as is well understood 3 in the art. The tubing string is then lifted until the profiled dogs 114 reach the collar 4 recess 14 at which time the deflected, stacked spring cages 102 and 104 are able to release and apply the radial outwardly force, resulting in positive engagement of 6 the profiled dogs 114 within the recess 14. As the dogs 114 engage in the recess 14, 7 weight applied to the coiled tubing is transferred to the casing which can be observed at surface. When the tool string is to be moved within the wellbore, a 9 pulling force Fp is applied to the coiled tubing string. At the design pull-through force, for example at about 3000-4000 daN (Decanewton), the profiled dogs 114 are 11 pulled out of the recess 14 and the tool can thereafter be moved within the wellbore.
12 In some alternative embodiments, the collar recess 14 may also have 13 angled uphole and/or downhole edges, and the angles of the uphole and/or downhole locator interface 122, 124 may be selected to mate the angles of uphole and/or downhole edges, respectively.
16 In above embodiments, the uphole interface angle a is larger than the downhole interface angle 13. However, those skilled in the art appreciate that the 18 uphole and downhole angles a and 6 may be any suitable values. For example, in 19 some alternative embodiments, the uphole and downhole interfaces 122 and 124 have the same interface angle, i.e., a=6, and in some other embodiments, the 21 uphole interface angle a may be smaller than the downhole interface angle 13.
Referring again to Figs. 7 and 10, in above embodiments, the leaf 23 spring beam members 112 of the locator leaf spring cage 102 are also profiled at an 1 inner surface thereof beneath the respective dogs 114, forming discontinuous areas 2 or points of contact between the leaf spring beam members 112 of the locator leaf 3 spring cage 102 and the leaf spring beam members 134A of the adjacent 4 reinforcement leaf spring cage 104A.
In some alternative embodiments, the leaf spring beam members 112 6 of the locator leaf spring cage 102 are not profiled at the inner surface thereof (in 7 other words, having a local, thicker cross-section at the dog location), and are in 8 contact with the leaf spring beam members 134A of the adjacent reinforcement leaf 9 spring cage 104A substantially along their entirety.
In some other embodiments, the leaf spring beam members 112 of the 11 locator leaf spring cage 102 are profiled at the inner surface thereof.
12 Correspondingly, the leaf spring beam members 134A of the adjacent reinforcement 13 leaf spring cage 104A are also profiled accordingly such that the leaf spring beam 14 members 112 are in contact with corresponding leaf spring beam members thereunder substantially along their entirety.
16 In above embodiments, the leaf spring beam members 112 and 134 of 17 the locator leaf spring cage 102 and reinforcement leaf spring cage(s) 104, 18 respectively, are supported at both ends 112A and 112B thereof.
19 In some alternative embodiments as shown in Fig. 13, the leaf spring beam members 112 may be supported only at one end 112A thereof by a solid 21 tubular portion 118, being cantilevered therefrom. In such cantilevered 22 embodiments, additional spring force Fs may be required compared to the above 23 described embodiments to achieve the design pull-through force. Additional 1 concentric reinforcement leaf spring cages 104 or other types of springs may be 2 added to increase the spring force.
3 Similarly in some alternative embodiments as shown in Fig. 14, the 4 leaf spring beam members 134 may be supported only at one end 134A
thereof by a solid tubular portion 138, being cantilevered therefrom.
6 In some alternative embodiments as shown in Fig. 15, some leaf 7 spring beam members 112-1 may be supported only at one end 112A thereof by a 8 solid tubular portion 118A, being cantilevered therefrom, and other leaf spring beam 9 members 112-2 are supported at both ends 112A and 112B thereof by solid tubular portions 118A and 118B, respectively. Similarly, in some alternative embodiments, 11 some of the leaf spring beam members 134 may be supported only at one end 12 thereof by a solid tubular portion, being cantilevered therefrom, and others of the 13 leaf spring beam members 134 are supported at both ends thereof by solid tubular 14 portions, respectively.
In above embodiments, the leaf spring beam members 112 and 134 of 16 the locator leaf spring cage 102 and reinforcement leaf spring cage(s) 104, 17 respectively, are radially aligned, and each of the leaf spring beam members 112 18 and 134 (except those of the innermost reinforcement leaf spring cage) is supported 19 by one leaf spring beam member 134 thereunder. In some alternative embodiments, at least one of the leaf spring beam members 112 and/or 134 is supported by two or 21 more leaf spring beam members 134 thereunder. For example, at least one 22 reinforcement leaf spring cage may be misaligned with the (locator or reinforcement) 23 leaf spring cage adjacent and radially outward thereof such that each leaf spring beam member of the outer leaf spring cage is supported by two leaf spring beam 2 members of the inner leaf spring cage.
3 In above embodiments, each leaf spring cage comprises a same 4 number of leaf spring beam members. In some alternative embodiments, at least one leaf spring cage comprises a different number of leaf spring beam members.
6 In above embodiments, the leaf spring cages 102 and 104 are 7 circumferentially fixed to each other by a delimit pin 140. In some alternative 8 embodiments, at least some of the leaf spring cages 102 and 104 are not 9 circumferentially fixed such that they may rotate and circumferentially misaligned.
In above embodiments, each dog 114 is an integrated part of the 11 respective leaf spring beam member 112 formed by outwardly extending a mid-12 portion of the leaf spring beam member 112. In some alternative embodiment, at 13 least some dogs 114 are manufactured separately, and then each dog 114 is 14 mounted to an outer surface of the respective leaf spring beam member 112 using suitable means such as welding, screwing and the like.
16 In above embodiments, the dogs 114 are at about a mid-point of their 17 respective leaf spring beam members 112. In some alternative embodiments, the 18 dogs 114 are at a point axially offset from the mid-point of the respective leaf spring 19 beam members 112.
In some alternative embodiments, some leaf spring beam members 21 112 of the locator leaf spring cage 102 may not comprise any dogs.
22 In some alternative embodiments, the spring cages 102 and 104 are 23 also axially fixed to each other using suitable fastening means, e.g., screws.
In the casing collar locator 100 disclosed herein, each dog 114 is 2 supported by two or more leaf spring beam members 112 and 134, i.e., directly 3 supported by a locator leaf spring beam member 112 and further reinforced by one 4 or more reinforcement leaf spring beam members 134. In above embodiments, the casing collar locator 100 comprises a locator spring cage 102 for forming the locator 6 leaf spring beam members 112, and one or more reinforcement spring cage 104 for 7 forming the reinforcement leaf spring beam members 134.
8 In some alternative embodiments, the casing collar locator 100 9 comprises a locator spring cage 102 for forming the locator leaf spring beam members 112 for directly supporting the dogs 114. However, the casing collar 11 locator 100 does not comprise any reinforcement spring cage 104. Rather, one or 12 more laminated, reinforcement leaf spring beams each having one or more layers of 13 leaf spring beam members 134 is coupled to each locator leaf spring beam member 14 112 by using suitable fasteners. The reinforcement leaf spring beam may be circumferentially constrained, but may be allowed to move axially within a 16 predefined range. The laminated, reinforcement leaf spring beams may be coupled 17 to the inner surface, outer surface or both surfaces of the locator leaf spring beam 18 member 112, as needed or desired.
19 In above embodiments, after the locator leaf spring cage 102 is coupled to a first and a second subs 106 at the uphole and downhole ends thereof, 21 respectively, the reinforcement leaf spring cage(s) 104 are axially fixed in a 22 predefined position. In some alternative embodiments, after the locator leaf spring 23 cage 102 is coupled to a first and a second subs 106 at the uphole and downhole 1 ends thereof, respectively, the reinforcement leaf spring cage(s) 104 may still be 2 axially moveable within a predefined range.
3 Although embodiments have been described above with reference to 4 the accompanying drawings, those of skill in the art will appreciate that variations and modifications may be made without departing from the scope thereof as defined 6 by the appended claims.
2,856,184 to 13 NCS Oilfield Services Inc., a locator comprising a leaf spring cage having dog 14 formed thereon is positioned concentrically about at least a J-slot arrangement. The J-slot arrangement occupies a significant portion of the tool cross-section and thus, 16 the spring aspect is also minimized, limiting the biasing force possible.
17 Solutions to constraints on the spring can, to a certain extent, be 18 managed with changes to spring material or spring thickness, however, this is also 19 associated with reduced elastic range and potential for reduced fatigue life or even plastic deformation. Further, attempts to counter reduced radial biasing forces by 21 increasing the interface angle increases the risk of tool entrapment or inconsistent 22 release loads.
1 According to one aspect of this disclosure, there is provided an 2 apparatus for locating an annular recess along a wellbore string. The apparatus 3 comprises: a plurality of circumferentially-spaced, radially outwardly extending dogs 4 for engaging the recess; and a plurality of supporting structures for supporting the plurality of dogs; wherein each supporting structure comprises: two or more radially 6 stacked layers of circumferentially-spaced, radially flexible, leaf spring beam 7 members extending along an axial direction.
8 In some embodiments, each dog comprises a first interface for 9 engaging an edge of the recess, the first interface being angled from the axial direction at a first interface angle of about or less than 60 degrees.
11 In some embodiments, the first interface angle is about 50 degrees.
12 In some embodiments, the first interface is an uphole interface.
13 In some embodiments, at least a first layer of the two or more layers of 14 circumferentially spaced leaf spring beam members form a locator cage.
In some embodiments, the locator cage is a slotted tubular.
16 In some embodiments, the circumferentially spaced leaf spring beam 17 members of the locator cage are supported at at least one of two axially opposite 18 ends thereof by a solid tubular portion.
19 In some embodiments, the circumferentially spaced leaf spring beam members of the locator cage are supported at each of two axially opposite ends 21 thereof by a solid tubular portion.
1 In some embodiments, the at least first layer is the radially outmost 2 layer, and wherein at least a second layer of the two or more layers of 3 circumferentially spaced leaf spring beam members form a reinforcement cage.
4 In some embodiments, the reinforcement cage is a slotted tubular.
In some embodiments, the circumferentially spaced leaf spring beam 6 members of the locator cage are supported at at least one of two axially opposite 7 ends thereof by a solid tubular portion.
8 In some embodiments, the circumferentially spaced leaf spring beam 9 members of the locator cage are supported at each of two axially opposite ends thereof by a solid tubular portion.
11 In some embodiments, the reinforcement cage is concentrically 12 received in the locator cage.
13 In some embodiments, each dog is supported by at least one beam 14 member of the first layer, and each beam member of the first layer is supported by at least one beam member of the at least second layer.
16 In some embodiments, the locator cage further comprises a first coupling mechanism at an uphole end thereof for coupling the locator cage to a first 18 sub and a second coupling mechanism at a downhole end thereof for coupling the 19 locator cage to a second sub.
In some embodiments, after the locator cage is coupled to a first sub 21 at the uphole end thereof and to a second sub at the down hole thereof, the at least 22 first reinforcement cage is axially fixed or axially moveable within a predefined 23 range.
1 In some embodiments, the two or more radially stacked layers of leaf 2 spring beam members are radially aligned.
3 In some embodiments, the reinforcement cage is circumferentially 4 fixed with respect to the locator cage.
In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises: a delimit pin extending from the reinforcement cage radially outwardly into a slot between two adjacent positioned in a slot between two adjacent spring beam members of the 8 locator cage, for preventing the reinforcement cage from rotating with respect to the 9 locator cage.
According to another aspect of this disclosure, there is provided an apparatus for locating an annular recess along a wellbore string. The apparatus comprises: a tubular locator cage having a plurality of circumferentially-spaced, radially flexible, locator leaf spring beam members extending along an axial direction, each locator leaf spring beam member having a locator dog thereon and extending radially outwardly, the locator cage having a locator bore; and at least a 16 first tubular reinforcement cage fit concentrically within the locator bore, each of the 17 at least a first tubular reinforcement cage having a plurality of circumferentially-18 spaced, radially flexible, reinforcement spring beam members extending along the 19 axial direction and for supporting the locator leaf spring beam members.
22 Figure 1 is a portion of a cross-sectional view of a prior-art casing 23 collar locator having a dog thereon engaging a casing collar recess, the dog having 1 an uphole interface with a relatively large interface angle greater than 60 degrees, 2 resulting in a requirement of a large uphole pulling force to pull the dog from the 3 recess, and resulting in risk of trapping of the dog in the recess;
4 Figure 2 is a perspective view of an assembled casing collar locator, according to an embodiment;
6 Figure 3 is an end view of the casing collar locator of Fig. 1, showing 7 an outmost, locator leaf spring cage and two reinforcement leaf spring cages being 8 arranged concentrically;
9 Figure 4 is a perspective view of a partially assembled casing collar locator with the locator leaf spring cage and two reinforcement leaf spring cages 11 being axially offset, the leaf spring beam members of the locator leaf spring cage 12 and two reinforcement leaf spring cages being aligned;
13 Figure 5 is a perspective view of the locator leaf spring cage, 14 Figure 6 is an end view of the locator leaf spring cage of Fig. 5;
Figure 7 is a cross-sectional view of the locator leaf spring cage of 16 Fig. 5;
17 Figure 8 is a perspective view of a reinforcement leaf spring cage;
18 Figure 9 is a cross-sectional view of the reinforcement leaf spring 19 cage of Fig. 8;
Figure 10 is a cross-sectional view of the casing collar locator of Fig. 1;
21 Figure 11 is a portion of a cross-sectional view showing the casing 22 collar locator of Fig. 1 engaging a collar recess;
1 Figure 12 is an enlarged view of portion A of Fig. 11, showing an 2 uphole interface of a dog engaging an uphole edge of the collar recess;
3 Figure 13 is a perspective view of the locator leaf spring cage, 4 according to some alternative embodiments;
Figure 14 is a perspective view of a reinforcement leaf spring cage, 6 according to some alternative embodiments; and 7 Figure 15 is a perspective view of the locator leaf spring cage, 8 according to some other embodiments.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
11 Various embodiments of a mechanical casing collar locator are 12 disclosed herein, comprising an outermost, locator leaf spring cage, and one or 13 more radially stacked reinforcement leaf spring cages. Each leaf spring cage 14 comprises a plurality of circumferentially-spaced, flexible, leaf spring beam members. Each flexible leaf spring beam member of the locator leaf spring cage 16 comprises a locator dog formed to extend radially outwardly from an intermediate 17 position thereof. The reinforcement leaf spring cage radially supports the locator 18 leaf spring cage for providing enhanced radially outward spring force.
19 Each locator dog is a profiled dog, extending radially outwardly from each flexible leaf spring beam member of the locator leaf spring cage so as to 21 engage collar recesses, or other recesses, in the wellbore casing. The profiling 22 includes uphole and downhole interfaces or ramps, the selected angle of which is 23 discussed below for adjusting pull-through forces in combination with the recess.
1 The resulting casing collar locator provides significant radially outward directed engagement force (i.e., a force of a direction perpendicular to and pointing 3 away from an axis of the casing collar locator), enabling a reduction in the interface 4 angle of an engagement interface of each of one or more profiled dogs, such that, the profiled dogs of the casing collar locator can engage a collar recess with a low 6 risk of tool entrapment and higher weight resolution at surface for consistent detection of casing collar recesses. The casing collar locator disclosed herein achieves high engagement force while able to use a minimum of the locator cross-section, or simply provide significantly higher radial biasing forces while remaining within the elastic range of operation of the biasing with the radial range of 11 displacement required to enter and exit casing recesses.
12 In embodiments, the present locator achieves sufficient outwardly directed radial force therein, such that an angle of an uphole interface or ramp of a profiled dog formed thereon is maintained at an angle below that at which erratic pull-through force could occur. In combination, the strong radial force and dog interface angle achieve an optimum pull-through force, such as about 3000-4000 17 dN, for positive, consistent and reliable location. The pull-through force can also be 18 varied from tool to tool, such as depending upon the number of spring cages utilized.
19 Thus, in addition to the ability to provide suitable engagement force with low interface angles for restricted diametrical environments, further advantage 21 is obtained where larger diametrical extent is available, and greater weight resolution can be achieved at surface. The casing collar locator disclosed herein is particularly useful for tool strings which are arrange to position the locator therein away from other internal apparatus so as to provide maximum diametric space therein. Generally, if the locator is used to locate a casing collar spaced axially from 3 a shifting sleeve, rather than to the end of the shifting sleeve as known in the prior 4 art, the locator can be spaced below other apparatus in the tool string where increased diametrical area is available therein to accommodate the locator disclosed herein and maximize the release resolution. Embodiments disclosed 7 herein can locate within a sleeve, however the sleeve length must be adjusted 8 accordingly.
9 Thus, the locator disclosed herein may be used in various scenarios.
For example, in some embodiments, a downhole tool may comprise a bottom hole assembly (BHA) coupled to the locator disclosed herein. The locator comprises a 12 bore forming a flow path, which is in fluid communication with a flow path of the 13 BHA.
14 Turning now to Figs. 2 to 4, a mechanical casing collar locator is shown, and is referenced using numeral 100. Similar to traditional casing collar locators, the collar locator 100 may be coupled to, at either or both ends thereof, suitable subs 106 such as a crossover sub, and is used for locating one or more 18 locator recesses of a casing string such as at collar recesses 14. The one or more 19 collar recesses 14 are formed as described above, and each collar recess has a recess diameter.
21 As shown, the collar locator 100 is a beam-type locator having a 22 tubular locator leaf spring cage 102 with a bore for receiving therein one or more concentrically arranged, stacked reinforcement leaf spring cages 104. Fig. 4 shows 1 a partially assembled locator leaf spring cage 102 and two reinforcement leaf spring 2 cages 104A and 1046, axially offset for better illustration.
3 As shown in Figs. 5 to 7, in this embodiment, the locator leaf spring 4 cage 102 comprises a tubular housing 110 having a bore formed therethrough. The housing 110 is machined to form a plurality of circumferentially and alternately 6 arranged slots 108 and resilient, leaf spring beam members 112 (denoted as locator 7 leaf spring beam members 112), extending along an axial or longitudinal direction.
8 Therefore, the locator leaf spring beam members 112 are spaced from each other, 9 and are separated by the slots 108.
Each leaf spring beam member 112 comprises a radially outwardly 11 extending dog 114 formed intermediate therealong. For example, in Figs.
5 to 7, 12 eight (8) leaf spring beam members 112 are formed, each having an integrated, 13 radially outwardly extruded dog 114 located at about a mid-point of the 14 corresponding leaf spring beam member 112. The leaf spring beam members are made of metal material with suitable elasticity to provide required radial flexibility 16 for dogs 114 to enter and exit the recess 14.
17 In this embodiment, each slot 108 terminates at an end 112A/112B
spaced axially inwardly from each opposing end of the housing 110, leaving a rigid, .
19 solid tubular portion 118 at opposing ends of the locator leaf spring cage 102. The tubular portion 118 supports the ends 112A and 112B of each beam member 112, 21 and provides a structure for retaining the beam members 112 in axial and 22 circumferential alignment.
1 In an unbiased position, the diameter about the dogs 114 is greater 2 than that of the inside diameter of the casing, and corresponds more to a diameter 3 of, or larger than that of, the circumferential collar recess.
Accordingly, the dogs 114 4 drag along the casing string, biased to enter any recess therealong.
Referring to Fig. 7, the dog 114 of each leaf spring beam member 112 6 is profiled, having an uphole locator ramp or interface 122 and a downhole locator 7 ramp or interface 124. The interface angles a and 13 of the locator interfaces 122 8 and 124, respectively, with respect to a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of 9 the locator leaf spring cage 102 are chosen to be relatively small angles, depending on the design requirements. For example, in the embodiment shown in Fig. 7, the 11 casing collar locator 100 is used for locating collar recesses during a pull-out-of-hole 12 stage. Therefore, the downhole interface is angled such that the downhole tool 13 including the casing collar locator 100 can be readily run in and moved downhole 14 along the casing and past the recesses therein. For example, the downhole interface angle 13 in this example is a relatively small angle such as about 16 degrees for ease of insertion of the locator into the casing. The uphole interface 17 angle a may be an angle suitable for a sufficiently high resolution to locate a collar 18 recess with sufficient accuracy, e.g., about 60 degrees or smaller.
19 In this embodiment, the locator leaf spring cage 102 also has a plurality of screw holes 116 on each ends thereof for locking the casing collar 21 locator 100 to suitable subs (not shown).
1 To provide the radial range of motion, while maintaining the radially 2 elastic deflection of the locator leaf spring cage 102, one or more concentrically 3 arranged, stacked reinforcement spring cages 104 are provided.
4 As shown in Figs. 8 and 9, the structure of the reinforcement spring cage 104 is similar to that of the locator leaf spring cage 102. In particular, the reinforcement spring cage 104 comprises a tubular housing 130 having a bore 7 formed therethrough. The housing 130 is machined to form a plurality of circumferentially and alternately arranged slots 132 and resilient, leaf spring beam 9 members 134 (denoted as reinforcement beam members 134), extending along a longitudinal direction. At least the leaf spring beam members 134 are made of metal material with suitable elasticity to provide required radial flexibility.
However, in this embodiment the leaf spring beam members 134 do not comprise any radially 13 outward protrusion.
14 In this embodiment, the number of leaf spring beam members 134 of each reinforcement spring cage 104 can correspond to that of the leaf spring beam 16 members 112 of the locator leaf spring cage 102 such that each locator leaf spring 17 beam member 112 is supported by at least one reinforcement beam member 134 to 18 reinforcing the biasing thereof.
19 Similar to the slots 108 of the locator leaf spring cage 102, each of the slot 132 of the reinforcement spring cage 104 terminates spaced axially inwardly 21 from each opposing end of the housing 130, leaving a rigid, solid tubular portion 22 at opposing ends of the reinforcement spring cage 104 for providing fixed supports at the end of each beam member 134 and a structure for retaining the beam 2 members 134 in axial and circumferential alignment.
3 In this embodiment, each reinforcement spring cage 104 also 4 comprises an alignment port 136 axially spaced from a slot 132 for receiving an alignment pin (described later).
6 The outer diameters of the reinforcement spring cages 104 are such 7 that each reinforcement spring cage 104 fits concentrically within the bore of an 8 adjacent outer spring cage, which may be the locator leaf spring cage 102 or an 9 outer reinforcement spring cage 104.
In this embodiment, each reinforcement spring cage 104 has a length 11 shorter than that of the locator leaf spring cage 102 to allow the locator leaf spring 12 cage 102 to receive other subs extending thereinto for coupling thereto.
13 As described above, a casing collar locator 100 may be assembled 14 using a locator leaf spring cage 102 and one or more reinforcement spring cages 104. In an example shown in Figs. 2 to 4 and 10, a casing collar locator 100 is 16 assembled using a locator leaf spring cage 102. Concentrically received within the 17 locator cage 102 are two reinforcement spring cages 104A and 104B, with the 18 spring cage 104B received within the spring cage 104A. As shown in Fig.
4, the 19 spring cages 102, 104A and 104B are circumferentially aligned such that the slots 108 and 132 thereof are aligned and the leaf spring beam members 112 and 134 21 are also aligned.
22 After the spring cages 102, 104A and 104B are axially in position (see 23 Figs. 1 and 10), the alignment ports 136 of the reinforcement spring cages 104A
and 104B are also aligned. As the lengths of the two reinforcement spring cages 2 104A and 104B are shorter than that of the locator leaf spring cage 102, the 3 alignment ports 136 thereof are exposed through a slot 108A of the locator leaf 4 spring cage 102. As shown in Fig. 1, a delimit pin 140, such as a socket head cap screw, extends through the slot 108a and is secured into the alignment ports 136 of 6 the reinforcement spring cages 104A and 104B. The head of the pin 140 prjects 7 from the cage 105A to be circumferentially constrained within the slot 108A to 8 prevent relative rotation between the spring cages 102, 104A and 104B so as to 9 maintain the radially stacked alignment of the leaf spring beam members 112 and 134.
11 As persons skilled in the art appreciate, the aligned slots 108 and 132 12 in the concentric spring cages 102 and 104 can also provide fluid pathways 13 therethrough, such as to a bore of the locator and tool string. Such fluid pathways 14 are useful in flushing debris therethrough.
After assembling, the reinforcement spring cages 104A and 104B are 16 circumferentially constrained, but are allowed to move or slide axially.
For ease of 17 storage and transportation, the assembled casing collar locator 100 may be capped 18 at both ends thereof to prevent the inner, reinforcement spring cages 104A and 19 104B from moving out of the outer, locator spring cage 102.
As shown in Fig. 10, in use, the assembled casing collar locator 100 is 21 coupled to subs 106A and 106B on the uphole and downhole ends thereof.
As 22 shown, the outermost, locator leaf spring cage 102 comprises inwardly threaded 23 ends, operatively connected to outwardly threaded respective ends of subs 106A
and 106B. The connections of the locator leaf spring cage 102 and subs 106A
and 2 106B are further secured by the screws 142 screwing through the holes 116 of the 3 locator leaf spring cage 102 and onto the respective subs 106A and 106B. Of 4 course, other known methods of coupling the locator leaf spring cage 102 to subs 106A and 106B are also readily available and may be alternatively used.
6 After coupling the locator leaf spring cage 102 to subs 106A and 106B, 7 the reinforcement spring cages 104A and 104B are then axially sandwiched 8 between the subs 106A and 106B, with the opposite ends of the reinforcement 9 spring cages 104A and 104B loosely facing the butt ends of subs 106A and 106B.
The axial location of the reinforcement spring cages 104A and 104B is thus 11 delimited by the subs 106A and 106B respectively at the uphole and downhole 12 sides thereof.
13 As the spring cages 102, 104A and 104B have the same number of 14 leaf spring beam members 112, 134, and are aligned circumferentially, after assembly, the leaf spring beam members 112, 134 of the spring cages 102, 104A
16 and 104B are radially aligned and stacked "on top of one another". As will be 17 described in more detail below, the stacked leaf spring beam members 112, 134 18 provide higher radial spring force Fs for maintaining the locator dogs 114 in the 19 collar recess.
As described above, in a radially unbiased position, the diameter 21 about the dogs 114 is greater than that of the inside diameter of the casing. In some 22 embodiments, the diameter about the dogs 114 is about, or even larger than, a 23 diameter of the circumferential collar recess. While running in, each dog 114 and 1 the corresponding leaf spring beam member 112 are deflected radially inward to a 2 smaller diameter, such as the inner diameter of the casing or the downhole component or sleeve. Any axial length change due to the radial deflection of the 4 spring cage 102 is reflected in a change in the axial spacing of the subs 106A and 106B. However, any change of axial length of the reinforcement cages 104A and are unconstrained as the delimit pin 140 can move axially in slot 108A, and 7 thus the reinforcement cages 104A and 104B can float axially between subs 106A
8 and 106B.
9 The inward, elastic deflection of the leaf spring beam member 112 of the outmost locator leaf spring cage 102 urges and inwardly and elastically deflects 11 the radially stacked, one or more leaf spring beam members 134 of the one or more 12 inner, reinforcement spring cages 104. As the corresponding leaf spring beam 13 members 112 and 134 are not mounted together, they can deflect radially and can 14 shift axially with respect to each other. Comparing to the embodiment of a locator cage having "thick" leaf spring beam members but with no reinforcement cages, the 16 above design shown in Fig. 10 allows larger elastic range. Comparing to the embodiment that the reinforcement cage(s) 104 are also axially fixed to the locator 18 cage 102 (described later), the above design shown in Fig. 10 avoids stress caused 19 by different deflections and/or different length changes of the leaf spring beam members 112 and 134.
21 As each leaf spring beam member 112 of locator leaf spring cage 102 22 is elastically supported radially by the respective leaf spring beam members 134 of 23 the one or more inner, reinforcement spring cages 104, the total radially outwardly 1 directed spring force Fs is an aggregated radial spring force exerted by the stacked 2 leaf spring beam members 112 and 134. For example, in the embodiment of Fig. 10, 3 the casing collar locator 100 comprises three spring cages 102, 104A and 104B, 4 and the outward radial force Fs is much larger than that of a single spring cage 102, 104A or 104B. Those skilled in the art appreciate that an estimate or calculation of 6 the radial force Fs is readily available using known theories.
7 When the dogs 114 move into a collar recess, the radially outward 8 force Fs causes the dogs 114 and the leaf spring beam members 112 and 134 to 9 return towards their normal, radially unbiased positions.
Fig. 11 is an illustration showing a portion of the casing collar locator 11 100 being pulled uphole and having engaged a collar recess 14 formed by a casing 12 collar 16 between two adjacent casing joints 18 and 20. The aggregated force Fs 13 allows the casing collar locator 100 to provide higher recess detection resolution (or 14 weight resolution if using weigh change as an indication of detection) at surface.
As shown in Figs. 11 and 12, when the tubing string and therefore the 16 casing collar locator 100 is again pulled uphole by an uphole force Fp, the edge 152 17 of the collar recess 14 pushes the uphole locator interface 122 of the dog 114 18 engaged therewith, with a force Fr perpendicular to the plane of the uphole locator 19 interface 122. The force Fr corresponds to an axially downhole force Fd combatting the pulling force Fp, and a radially inward force Fi combatting the radially outward 21 spring force Fs to urge the leaf spring beam members 112 and 134 to deflect 22 radially inwardly against the combined or aggregated beam biasing.
1 As described above, the angle a of the uphole locator interface 122 is relatively small, e.g., about or smaller than 60 degrees. However, by reinforcing the 3 dog 114 with two or more leaf spring beam members 112 and 134 to obtain an aggregated radial spring force Fs, a large force is then required to pull the dog 114 out of the recess, giving rise to a higher weight resolution at surface for recess 6 detection.
Further, at about 60 degrees or less, risk of jamming between the 8 uphole locator interface 122 and the edge 152 of the collar recess 14 and/or tool entrapment is minimized. In some embodiments, the uphole locator interface 122 may be angled at about 50 degrees. The degree of angle of the uphole locator interface 122 can be balanced with the number of stacked spring cages 102 and 12 104 to provide the desired pull-through force to achieve reliable location. With the 13 above described casing collar locator 100, locating a collar recess 14 by the casing 14 collar locator 100 can be consistently observed at surface, and the profiled dog 114 can also be reliably disengaged and removed from the recess 14.
16 As a comparison, the traditional mechanical casing collar locator 10 of 17 Fig. 1, assuming that it is manufactured using the same material as the casing collar 18 locator 100 disclosed herein, provides a smaller spring force Fs. Consequently, a 19 large interface angle a, e.g., larger than 60 degrees and up to 90 degrees, is needed to provide sufficient weight resolution at surface. However, such a large 21 interface angle a has a high risk of jamming and/or entrapment.
22 In a process for locating a casing collar recess 14, the tool string, 23 having the casing collar locator 100 positioned therein, is deployed into the wellbore, 1 such as on coiled tubing. The tool string is run into the wellbore below a depth at 2 which the operator anticipates a collar of interest to be located as is well understood 3 in the art. The tubing string is then lifted until the profiled dogs 114 reach the collar 4 recess 14 at which time the deflected, stacked spring cages 102 and 104 are able to release and apply the radial outwardly force, resulting in positive engagement of 6 the profiled dogs 114 within the recess 14. As the dogs 114 engage in the recess 14, 7 weight applied to the coiled tubing is transferred to the casing which can be observed at surface. When the tool string is to be moved within the wellbore, a 9 pulling force Fp is applied to the coiled tubing string. At the design pull-through force, for example at about 3000-4000 daN (Decanewton), the profiled dogs 114 are 11 pulled out of the recess 14 and the tool can thereafter be moved within the wellbore.
12 In some alternative embodiments, the collar recess 14 may also have 13 angled uphole and/or downhole edges, and the angles of the uphole and/or downhole locator interface 122, 124 may be selected to mate the angles of uphole and/or downhole edges, respectively.
16 In above embodiments, the uphole interface angle a is larger than the downhole interface angle 13. However, those skilled in the art appreciate that the 18 uphole and downhole angles a and 6 may be any suitable values. For example, in 19 some alternative embodiments, the uphole and downhole interfaces 122 and 124 have the same interface angle, i.e., a=6, and in some other embodiments, the 21 uphole interface angle a may be smaller than the downhole interface angle 13.
Referring again to Figs. 7 and 10, in above embodiments, the leaf 23 spring beam members 112 of the locator leaf spring cage 102 are also profiled at an 1 inner surface thereof beneath the respective dogs 114, forming discontinuous areas 2 or points of contact between the leaf spring beam members 112 of the locator leaf 3 spring cage 102 and the leaf spring beam members 134A of the adjacent 4 reinforcement leaf spring cage 104A.
In some alternative embodiments, the leaf spring beam members 112 6 of the locator leaf spring cage 102 are not profiled at the inner surface thereof (in 7 other words, having a local, thicker cross-section at the dog location), and are in 8 contact with the leaf spring beam members 134A of the adjacent reinforcement leaf 9 spring cage 104A substantially along their entirety.
In some other embodiments, the leaf spring beam members 112 of the 11 locator leaf spring cage 102 are profiled at the inner surface thereof.
12 Correspondingly, the leaf spring beam members 134A of the adjacent reinforcement 13 leaf spring cage 104A are also profiled accordingly such that the leaf spring beam 14 members 112 are in contact with corresponding leaf spring beam members thereunder substantially along their entirety.
16 In above embodiments, the leaf spring beam members 112 and 134 of 17 the locator leaf spring cage 102 and reinforcement leaf spring cage(s) 104, 18 respectively, are supported at both ends 112A and 112B thereof.
19 In some alternative embodiments as shown in Fig. 13, the leaf spring beam members 112 may be supported only at one end 112A thereof by a solid 21 tubular portion 118, being cantilevered therefrom. In such cantilevered 22 embodiments, additional spring force Fs may be required compared to the above 23 described embodiments to achieve the design pull-through force. Additional 1 concentric reinforcement leaf spring cages 104 or other types of springs may be 2 added to increase the spring force.
3 Similarly in some alternative embodiments as shown in Fig. 14, the 4 leaf spring beam members 134 may be supported only at one end 134A
thereof by a solid tubular portion 138, being cantilevered therefrom.
6 In some alternative embodiments as shown in Fig. 15, some leaf 7 spring beam members 112-1 may be supported only at one end 112A thereof by a 8 solid tubular portion 118A, being cantilevered therefrom, and other leaf spring beam 9 members 112-2 are supported at both ends 112A and 112B thereof by solid tubular portions 118A and 118B, respectively. Similarly, in some alternative embodiments, 11 some of the leaf spring beam members 134 may be supported only at one end 12 thereof by a solid tubular portion, being cantilevered therefrom, and others of the 13 leaf spring beam members 134 are supported at both ends thereof by solid tubular 14 portions, respectively.
In above embodiments, the leaf spring beam members 112 and 134 of 16 the locator leaf spring cage 102 and reinforcement leaf spring cage(s) 104, 17 respectively, are radially aligned, and each of the leaf spring beam members 112 18 and 134 (except those of the innermost reinforcement leaf spring cage) is supported 19 by one leaf spring beam member 134 thereunder. In some alternative embodiments, at least one of the leaf spring beam members 112 and/or 134 is supported by two or 21 more leaf spring beam members 134 thereunder. For example, at least one 22 reinforcement leaf spring cage may be misaligned with the (locator or reinforcement) 23 leaf spring cage adjacent and radially outward thereof such that each leaf spring beam member of the outer leaf spring cage is supported by two leaf spring beam 2 members of the inner leaf spring cage.
3 In above embodiments, each leaf spring cage comprises a same 4 number of leaf spring beam members. In some alternative embodiments, at least one leaf spring cage comprises a different number of leaf spring beam members.
6 In above embodiments, the leaf spring cages 102 and 104 are 7 circumferentially fixed to each other by a delimit pin 140. In some alternative 8 embodiments, at least some of the leaf spring cages 102 and 104 are not 9 circumferentially fixed such that they may rotate and circumferentially misaligned.
In above embodiments, each dog 114 is an integrated part of the 11 respective leaf spring beam member 112 formed by outwardly extending a mid-12 portion of the leaf spring beam member 112. In some alternative embodiment, at 13 least some dogs 114 are manufactured separately, and then each dog 114 is 14 mounted to an outer surface of the respective leaf spring beam member 112 using suitable means such as welding, screwing and the like.
16 In above embodiments, the dogs 114 are at about a mid-point of their 17 respective leaf spring beam members 112. In some alternative embodiments, the 18 dogs 114 are at a point axially offset from the mid-point of the respective leaf spring 19 beam members 112.
In some alternative embodiments, some leaf spring beam members 21 112 of the locator leaf spring cage 102 may not comprise any dogs.
22 In some alternative embodiments, the spring cages 102 and 104 are 23 also axially fixed to each other using suitable fastening means, e.g., screws.
In the casing collar locator 100 disclosed herein, each dog 114 is 2 supported by two or more leaf spring beam members 112 and 134, i.e., directly 3 supported by a locator leaf spring beam member 112 and further reinforced by one 4 or more reinforcement leaf spring beam members 134. In above embodiments, the casing collar locator 100 comprises a locator spring cage 102 for forming the locator 6 leaf spring beam members 112, and one or more reinforcement spring cage 104 for 7 forming the reinforcement leaf spring beam members 134.
8 In some alternative embodiments, the casing collar locator 100 9 comprises a locator spring cage 102 for forming the locator leaf spring beam members 112 for directly supporting the dogs 114. However, the casing collar 11 locator 100 does not comprise any reinforcement spring cage 104. Rather, one or 12 more laminated, reinforcement leaf spring beams each having one or more layers of 13 leaf spring beam members 134 is coupled to each locator leaf spring beam member 14 112 by using suitable fasteners. The reinforcement leaf spring beam may be circumferentially constrained, but may be allowed to move axially within a 16 predefined range. The laminated, reinforcement leaf spring beams may be coupled 17 to the inner surface, outer surface or both surfaces of the locator leaf spring beam 18 member 112, as needed or desired.
19 In above embodiments, after the locator leaf spring cage 102 is coupled to a first and a second subs 106 at the uphole and downhole ends thereof, 21 respectively, the reinforcement leaf spring cage(s) 104 are axially fixed in a 22 predefined position. In some alternative embodiments, after the locator leaf spring 23 cage 102 is coupled to a first and a second subs 106 at the uphole and downhole 1 ends thereof, respectively, the reinforcement leaf spring cage(s) 104 may still be 2 axially moveable within a predefined range.
3 Although embodiments have been described above with reference to 4 the accompanying drawings, those of skill in the art will appreciate that variations and modifications may be made without departing from the scope thereof as defined 6 by the appended claims.
Claims (20)
1. An apparatus for locating an annular recess along a wellbore string, comprising a plurality of circumferentially-spaced, radially outwardly extending dogs for engaging the recess; and a plurality of supporting structures for supporting the plurality of dogs, wherein each supporting structure comprises:
two or more radially stacked layers of circumferentially-spaced, radially flexible, leaf spring beam members extending along an axial direction.
two or more radially stacked layers of circumferentially-spaced, radially flexible, leaf spring beam members extending along an axial direction.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein each dog comprises a first interface for engaging an edge of the recess, the first interface being angled from the axial direction at a first interface angle of about or less than 60 degrees
3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the first interface angle is about 50 degrees.
4. The apparatus of claim 2 or 3 wherein the first interface is an uphole interface
5. The apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 4 wherein at least a first layer of the two or more layers of circumferentially spaced leaf spring beam members form a locator cage.
6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the locator cage is a slotted tubular.
7. The apparatus of claim 5 or 6 wherein the circumferentially spaced leaf spring beam members of the locator cage are supported at one of two axially opposite ends thereof by a solid tubular portion.
8. The apparatus of claim 5 or 6 wherein the circumferentially spaced leaf spring beam members of the locator cage are supported at each of two axially opposite ends thereof by a solid tubular portion.
9. The apparatus of any one of claims 5 to 8 wherein the at least first layer is the radially outmost layer, and wherein at least a second layer of the two or more layers of circumferentially spaced leaf spring beam members form a reinforcement cage.
10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the reinforcement cage is a slotted tubular.
11. The apparatus of claim 9 or 10 wherein the circumferentially spaced leaf spring beam members of the locator cage are supported at one of two axially opposite ends thereof by a solid tubular portion.
12. The apparatus of claim 9 or 10 wherein the circumferentially spaced leaf spring beam members of the locator cage are supported at each of two axially opposite ends thereof by a solid tubular portion.
13. The apparatus of any one of claims 9 to 12 wherein the reinforcement cage is concentrically received in the locator cage.
14. The apparatus of any one of claims 9 to 13 wherein each dog is supported by at least one beam member of the first layer, and each beam member of the first layer is supported by at least one beam member of the at least second layer.
15. The apparatus of any one of claims 9 to 14 wherein the locator cage further comprises a first coupling mechanism at an uphole end thereof for coupling the locator cage to a first sub and a second coupling mechanism at a downhole end thereof for coupling the locator cage to a second sub.
16. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein, after the locator cage is coupled to a first sub at the uphole end thereof and to a second sub at the downhole thereof, the at least first reinforcement cage is axially fixed or axially moveable within a predefined range.
17. The apparatus of any one of claims 9 to 16 wherein the reinforcement cage is circumferentially fixed with respect to the locator cage.
18. The apparatus of claim 17 further comprising:
a delimit pin extending from the reinforcement cage radially outwardly into a slot between two adjacent positioned in a slot between two adjacent spring beam members of the locator cage, for preventing the reinforcement cage from rotating with respect to the locator cage.
a delimit pin extending from the reinforcement cage radially outwardly into a slot between two adjacent positioned in a slot between two adjacent spring beam members of the locator cage, for preventing the reinforcement cage from rotating with respect to the locator cage.
19. The apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 18 wherein the two or more radially stacked layers of leaf spring beam members are radially aligned.
20. An apparatus for locating an annular recess along a wellbore string, comprising:
a tubular locator cage having a plurality of circumferentially-spaced, radially flexible, locator leaf spring beam members extending along an axial direction, each locator leaf spring beam member having a locator dog thereon and extending radially outwardly, the locator cage having a locator bore; and at least a first tubular reinforcement cage fit concentrically within the locator bore, each of the at least a first tubular reinforcement cage having a plurality of circumferentially-spaced, radially flexible, reinforcement spring beam members extending along the axial direction and for supporting the locator leaf spring beam members
a tubular locator cage having a plurality of circumferentially-spaced, radially flexible, locator leaf spring beam members extending along an axial direction, each locator leaf spring beam member having a locator dog thereon and extending radially outwardly, the locator cage having a locator bore; and at least a first tubular reinforcement cage fit concentrically within the locator bore, each of the at least a first tubular reinforcement cage having a plurality of circumferentially-spaced, radially flexible, reinforcement spring beam members extending along the axial direction and for supporting the locator leaf spring beam members
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| US201562120261P | 2015-02-24 | 2015-02-24 | |
| US62/120,261 | 2015-02-24 |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2921795A1 true CA2921795A1 (en) | 2016-08-24 |
Family
ID=56692964
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA2921795A Abandoned CA2921795A1 (en) | 2015-02-24 | 2016-02-24 | Compound beam mechanical casing collar locator |
Country Status (2)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| US (2) | US20160245029A1 (en) |
| CA (1) | CA2921795A1 (en) |
Families Citing this family (3)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CN109184673B (en) * | 2018-11-12 | 2023-11-24 | 美钻深海能源科技研发（上海）有限公司 | Mechanical pipe column coupling detection device and method |
| CN109252822A (en) * | 2018-11-12 | 2019-01-22 | 中国石油集团渤海钻探工程有限公司 | Coiled tubing casing collar locator (CCL) |
| US20220049595A1 (en) * | 2018-11-28 | 2022-02-17 | Oxy Usa Inc. | Method and apparatus for determining optimal installation of downhole equipment |
Family Cites Families (5)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US3643739A (en) * | 1966-09-06 | 1972-02-22 | Weatherford Oil Tool Co Inc | Centralizer |
| US4067386A (en) * | 1976-07-23 | 1978-01-10 | Dresser Industries, Inc. | Casing collar indicator |
| US5398763A (en) * | 1993-03-31 | 1995-03-21 | Halliburton Company | Wireline set baffle and method of setting thereof |
| CA2481601A1 (en) * | 2004-09-14 | 2006-03-14 | Explosives Limited | Auto release coupling head |
| US9574439B2 (en) * | 2014-06-04 | 2017-02-21 | Baker Hughes Incorporated | Downhole vibratory communication system and method |
-
2016
- 2016-02-24 US US15/052,663 patent/US20160245029A1/en not_active Abandoned
- 2016-02-24 CA CA2921795A patent/CA2921795A1/en not_active Abandoned
-
2018
- 2018-11-01 US US16/178,094 patent/US20190071964A1/en not_active Abandoned
Also Published As
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|---|---|
| US20160245029A1 (en) | 2016-08-25 |
| US20190071964A1 (en) | 2019-03-07 |
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