US2621743A - Side wall tester - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 16, 1952 Filed July 12, 1947 M. o. JOHNSTON SIDE WALL TESTER 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 lNVENTbR; ww/aa 0. J0/1/Y50/7 ATTORN EY Dec 16, 1952 M. o. JOHNSTON 2,621,743

SIDE WALL TESTER Filed July 12; 1947 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 5a\ if l'j 54 w 43 52 w G ATTORNEY,

Patented Dec. 16, 1952 "SIDE WALL TESTER Mordica 0. Johnston, Glendale, Calif., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Johnston Testers, Inc.,.Houston, Tex., a corporation. of Delaware Application July 12, 1947, Serial No.'760,594

1 Claim.

This invention relates to oil well testing tools, and particularly pertains to a side wall tester.

In testing oil wells in the open hole it has been the usual practice to drill a small bore at the bottom of the open hole and set a rathole packer on the shoulder thus formed so that a sample of the connate fluid from the formation maybe entrapped within a testing tool, and when elevated to the surface may be examined to ascertain the fluid yield of the formation. 'It has been found desirable to make tests above the bottom of the well bore and without employing a rathole packer by segregating a selected section of the well bore to obtain a sample of connate fluid flowing into the segregated area from the side walls of the well bore. In accomplishing this purpose difficulties have been encountered due to the fact that it is always necessary to maintain testing tool equipment so that in an emergency fluid circulation maybe created through the testing tool and into the well bore beneath the packer structure. It is the principal object of the present invention, therefore, to provide a well formation tester of the sidewall type which may be set in a well bore at a desired level and which will permit fluid circulation through the tester structure under emergency conditions, and will also allow a sample of the fluid yield from the formation to be drawn into the tester structureand entrapped.

The present invention contemplates the provision of a formation tester structure provided with valve means whereby the tester may be opened and closed bymanipulation of a supporting string of pipe, said tester carrying a dual packer unit which may be set at a desired level in a well and 'a'sample of the connate fluid from the formation between the dual packers may be withdrawn.

The invention is illustrated by Way of example in the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a view in vertical section and elevation indicating a length of well bore and showing the complete tester structure by which side wall fluid samples may be obtained.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view in central longitudinal section through the upper portion of the dual packer unit of the tester.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view in central longitudinal section showing a lower portion of the dual packer unit of the tester.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view in central longitudinal section of the tester below the portion shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a view in transverse section through the intermediate element of the dual packer unit as seen on the'line 33 of Fig. 2.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, lil indicates an open well bore within which a test is'to be made. Extending downwardly in the well bore from the derrick at the surface level is a drill string H carryin a formation tester structure l2. The tester structure here shown is known commercially as the Johnston formation tester. Reference may be had to my prior Patent No. 2,073,107 for an illustration and description of oneform of such device. This tester embodies the use of a poppet valve structure l3 which will be opened when the weight of the drill string II is imposed upon it, and will close when the drill string weight is'lifted. The tester also includes the use of a trip valve l4 which may be tripped by the dropping of a go-devil through the drill string when a test is made. Mounted on the lower end of the testing unit 12 is an equalizer valve structure l3 which permits fluid in the well to bypass a packer as the structure is run into the well bore. All of the equipment mentioned thus far in this description is standard equipment and is used in accordance with standard practice. Mounted below the equalizer valve is a dual packer unit 15 especially designed for side wall testing and with which unit the present invention is particularly concerned. This unit comprises a sub l6 formed with a threaded box portion at its upper end to receive a pin I8 carried at the lower end of the tester. A pin I9 is'formed at the lower end of the sub and is threaded into a sleeve 20. The sleeve 20 carries an upper packer element 2! which is formed with an upper threaded pin 22 which extends into a threaded end 23 of the sleeve. An expansible sleeve packer 24 is disposed at the'lower end of the upper packer element 2! and is secured into position by an annular clamp structure 25 which is channelshaped. One leg of the channel extends into a groove 26 formed around the circumference of the upper packer element and the other leg of the channel extends into a groove 21 formed around the other end of the upper sleeve packer 24. The lower end of the upper sleeve packer is formed with an annular groove 28. This receives the upper leg of an annular clampin ring 29 which is of channel section, the other leg of the channel section of the ring 29 fitting into a groove 36 formed in an induction fitting 3! which is cylindrical and agrees in outside diameter with the clamping member 29. At'the lower end of the induction fitting 3| is an annular groove 32 which receives one leg of a, channel-shaped clamping ring 33. The other leg of the ring seats within an annular-groove 34 Man expansible lower sleeve packer 35. The'lower'end of the sleeve packer 35 is formed with an annular groove 36 to receive one channel leg of a clamping ring 3?. The other leg of this ring fits within an annular groove 38 formed around the body of a lower packer element 39. This packer element terminates in a threaded pin 49 which is received by a coupling 4!. The lower end of the coupling is formed with a threaded box portion 42 which receives the upper threaded end of a perforated anchor pipe 43. The lower end of the anchor pipe is fitted with a cap 44 which will rest directly upon the bottom of the well bore and which will support the weight of the drill string when the sleeve packers are to be set. The coupling 4| is formed with a relatively large central bore 45 above the box 42 and communicates with the anchor pipe through a restricted opening 46. The lower packer element 39 is formed with a central bore 41 Which is of reduced diameter as compared with the bore 45 and receives a lower mandrel section 48. The lower end of the mandrel section 48 is threaded at 49 and receives a nut 59 which limits the upward movement of the mandrel since the nut will encounter the end face i of the lower packer element 39. The upper end of the lower mandrel section 48 is threaded at 52 and is received by a threaded bore 53 formed centrally of the lower end of the induction fitting 3!. The threaded bore 53 communicates with a series of ducts 54 which extend upwardly through the induction fitting 3i and communicate with an upper threaded bore 55 in the fitting. The threaded bore 53, the ducts 54 and the bore 55 provide a passageway for circulating fluid which may .pass upwardly through the central bore 55 of the lower mandrel section 48. Formed in a transverse plane substantially midway the length of the induction fitting 3| is a plurality of radially disposed induction ports 56 which extend outwardly through the sides of the induction fitting 3| to receive a sample of connate fluid which is to be entrapped in the formation tester. The inner ends of the induction ducts 56' communicate with a central bore 51 extending upwardly through the body of the induction fitting 3!. The upper end of this bore terminates with the lower end of the bore 55 and is internally threaded as indicated at 58. This threaded bore receives a sample tube 59 which extends upwardly through the central bore 65 of an upper mandrel section B I. The lower end of the mandrel section 6| is threaded into the threaded bore 55. The upper end of the mandrel section Bi passes through a bore '52 in-the upper packer element 2|, and at a point above the packer element 2| is threaded to receive a nut 63. The nut 63 rests upon a shoulder 54 presented by the upper end of the packer element 2|. Thus, when the nuts 59 and 63 are properly tightened the entire structure including the mandrel sections 48 and 5|, the upper packer element 2|, the induction fitting 5! and the lower packer element 39 will be held in assembled relation to each other and against separation when assembled with the packer sleeves. Attention is directed to the fact that the length of the bore 45 in the couplin 4! is sufficient to permit downward movement of the lower mandrel 48 when the sleeve packers are compressed.

The sample tube 59 extends upwardly through a central opening 95 formed through the upper sub 16. A packing gland 65 is mounted within this sub to form a telescoping packing joint for the tube 59 so that the test fluid will not be contaminated with well fluid as it flows upwardly to the tester. The circulating fluid from the well may flow upwardly into the bore 55 and then within the passageway 61 occurring between the walls of the bore 68 and the tube 59 in the upper mandrel section 5 l This fluid may return to the well bore through ports 58 formed through the wall of the sleeve 20,

It is desirable to set the sleeve packers 24 and 35 in sequence and to set the lower sleeve packer 35 before setting the upper sleeve packer. This is done by providing a shear pin 69 which extends through the lower packer element and into an openin '59 of the lower mandrel section and to provide a shear pin H which extends through the upper packer element and into an opening '52 of the upper mandrel section 5|. The lower shear pin 59 requires a lesser shearing force than the upper shear pin .l. Thus as the weight of thedrill string is imposed upon the entire structure supported upon the anchor pipe 43 the lower pin 69 will shear first to allow the lower sleeve packer 35 to expand and set in the well bore, after which additional weight will cause the upper shear pin TI to shear off so that the upper sleeve packer 24 may expand and set. When this has been accomplished the induction fitting 3! will occupy a testing area which occurs between the two expanded sleeve packers 24 and 35. It will be evident that when these sleeve packers are set that a free circulation of fluid can take place from below the lowermost sleeve packer to the area above the upper sleeve packer 24. This will maintain an unimpaired hydrostatic head within the well bore so that a cave-in is not likely to occur, particularly in the area occupied by the anchor pipe 43. At this time the testing zone occuring between the two sleeve packers will be in communication with the test tube 59 through the radial ducts 55. This makes it possible for the connate fluid from the formation to rise in the test tube 59 to fill the same and to then flow upwardly through the equalizer valve l3 and the main tester valve 13 to the level of the closed trip valve [4. When the operator is sure that the sleeve 1 packers are properly set he may then drop a godevil down through the drill string to strike the trip valve l4 and release it so that it will open. A sample of the connate fluid will then flow upwardly through the tester unit 12 and to a level in the drill string I! as would be created by the native pressure in the formation. The operator may then lift the drill string. This will cause the main valve l3 to close, after which a lifting action on the sub l6 will be imparted to the packer unit. It will be recognized that due to the interlocking character of the clamping rings 25, 29, 33 and 37 a longitudinal strain will be imparted to the sleeve packers 24 and 35. This will cause the sleeve packers to contract circumferentially and to be stretched longitudinally so that they will be drawn away from the the walls of the well bore to allow the complete testing structure to be withdrawn from the well with its entrapped sample.

In the event the packer unit should become lodged in the well bore it is possible to create circulation within the well bore and down around the drill stem to the ports 68 in the sleeve 20 so that drilling fluid could be forced downwardly through the lower mandrel 48 and outwardly through the perforated anchor 43. Thus fluid pressure would be created beneath the lower sleeve packer 35 if required.

It will thus be seen that the side wall tester structure here disclosed provides a simple means whereby connate fluid samples may be taken at any level in an open well bore, and. that the packer unit embodied in such structure can be easily set and released, and that circulation at all times can be maintained within the well bore from the bottom of the well and beneath the lowermost sleeve packer.

While I have shown the preferred form of my invention as now known to me, it will be understood that various changes may be made in combination, construction and arrangement of parts by those skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit of the invention as claimed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A Well testing device adapted to be connected to a formation testing unit for conducting connate fluid from a portion of a well formation to the tester in uncontaminated condition while providing for continued circulation of other fluid in the well, comprising a sub attachable to the lower end of a formation tester, a tubular member disposed beneath the sub, a laterally ported sleeve having a bore larger than that of the tubular member and being disposed between and secured at its opposite ends to the sub and tubular member, a fitting beneath the tubular member, a sleeve-type expansible packer disposed between and secured at its opposite ends to the tubular member and fitting, a tubular mandrel slidably received within the tubular member and packer and having an enlarged upper end engaging the upper end of the tubular member to limit downward movement of the mandrel relative thereto and being secured at its lower end to the fitting, whereby downward movement of the tubular member relative to the mandrel will cause eXpansion of the packer and upward movement of the tubular member relative to the mandrel will collapse and contract the packer, a sample tube disposed within the tubular mandrel, secured at its lower end to the fitting and slidably received at its upper end by the sub so as to slide relative thereto when the packer is set and to convey fluid upwardly to the formation tester, said fitting having a passage therein communicating at one end with the interior of the tube and at its other end with the exterior of the fitting, a lower tubular member disposed beneath the fitting, a lower sleeve-type expansible packer disposed between and secured at its opposite ends to the lower tubular member and said fitting, a sleeve secured to the lower end of the lower tubular member and having a bore larger than the bore of the lower tubular member, a lower tubular mandrel secured at its upper end to the fitting and slidably received by the lower packer and lower tubular member and having an enlarged lower portion engageable with the lower end of the lower tubular member, whereby a lowering movement of the lower tubular mandrel relative to the lower tubular member will cause an expansion of the lower packer, said fitting having passages therethrough communicating at their opposite ends with the interiors of tubular mandrels, and a laterally ported well-bottom engaging member secured to the lower end of the lower sleeve, whereby, when the well testing device has been lowered to a point where the well-bottom engaging member engages the bottom of the well, a succeeding lowering movement of the drill string supporting the tester will cause relative sliding movement between the mandrels and their associated tubular members to cause expansion of the packers, and after a test is made an upward lifting movement on said sub Will positively contract said packers to enable a ready release of the testing device from the well bore.

MORDICA O. JOHNSTON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,956,694 Parrish May 1, 1934 1,970,362 Dix et al Aug. 14, 1934 2,073,107 Johnston Mar. 9, 1937 2,162,261 Layne June 13, 1939 2,190,250 Blackburn Feb. 13, 1940 2,214,121 Costello Sept. 10, 1940 2,387,003 Barnes Oct. 16, 1945 2,390,372 Johnston et al Dec. 4, 1945

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