US3860068A

US3860068A - Well packer zone activated valve

Info

Publication number: US3860068A
Application number: US411984A
Authority: US
Inventors: David Lewis Abney; Robert Carl Williams
Original assignee: Dresser Industries Inc
Current assignee: Dresser Industries Inc
Priority date: 1973-11-01
Filing date: 1973-11-01
Publication date: 1975-01-14
Anticipated expiration: 1992-01-14

Abstract

A sliding valve located in the lower end of a packer assembly utilizes two differential pressure areas for receiving hydraulic pressure from inside the tubing to actuate the packer and then selectively receiving formation pressure when it exceeds the casing pressure and using the higher formation pressure to maintain the packer set in the casing.

Description

United States Patent Abney et al.

[451 Jan. 14,1975

WELL PACKER ZONE ACTIVATED VALVE Inventors: David Lewis Abney, Stafford;

Robert Carl Williams, Spring, both of Tex.

Assignee: Dresser Industries, Inc., Dallas, Tex.

Filed: Nov. 1, 1973 Appl. No.: 411,984

US. Cl 166/120, 166/134, 166/224 Int. Cl E2lb 23/00, E21b 33/12 Field of Search 166/120, 134

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 12/1963 Myers 166/120 10/1965 Mott 166/120 3,233,675 2/1966 3,338,308 8/1967 3,339,637 9/1967 3,426,846 2/1969 Young 166/120 X Primary Examiner-David H. Brown Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Michael J. Caddell [5 7] ABSTRACT A sliding valve located in the lower end of a packer assembly utilizes two differential pressure areas for re ceiving hydraulic pressure from inside the tubing to actuate the packer and then selectively receiving formation pressure when it exceeds the casing pressure and using the higher formation pressure to maintain the packer set in the casing.

7 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures Pmmmm 1 4191s sum 1 or FIG. 15

FIG.IA

PATENTEU 1 41975 3. 860.068

' sum 2 or a FIG. IC,

PATENTEB JAN 1 4|975 H 22 20b l9 sum 30F FIG. 2

Fae. 2A

WELL PACKER ZONE ACTIVATED VALVE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the completion and production of multizone wells with two or more producing formations penetrated by the wellbore it is frequently the practice to utilize a number of well packers to isolate the formations.

Often the tool string or production string will be lowered into the hole and all the packers will be set, usually with one or more packers between the formations producing hydrocarbons. Then it is frequently the case that not all the formations will be opened to flow up the production tubing since one or more may be high pressure formations and there may be a low pressure formation also on the production string which, if they are all on production flow, will result in gas and fluid moving from the high pressure zones into the low pressure zone. Thus during production from one zone the others are usually closed off.

This oftentimes results in the problem that if a high pressure zone is closed in, it may build up a pressure below one of its isolating packers greater than the hydraulic actuating pressure in the tubing with the result that the packer and tubing will tend to float up in the casing and destroy the desired zone location.

The present invention solves this problem by providing a packer lower valve mechanism which allows hydraulic actuation of the packer through the tubing string and, when the zone pressure builds up higher than the setting pressure, switches the packer setting mechanism from tubing pressure to formation pressure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGS. la-lc illustrate a cross-sectional side view of a packer assembly containing the invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a cross-sectional side view of the valve assembly;

FIG. 2a shows a cross-sectional side view of the actuating valve seat.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIGS. 1a through 10, the packer assembly 1 is shown having hydraulic gripping buttons 2, resilient packer elements 3 and mechanical anchors 4 mounted on an internal tubular mandrel 5 and a concentric external mandrel 6.

Secured to the lower ends of

mandrels

5 and 6 is the activating valve assembly 7. It should be noted that the packer assembly is a standard hydraulically actuated packer having radially expanding resilient packer elements and mechanical anchor means for anchoring the assembly in the wellbore.

Nonnal operation of the packer is accomplished by applying hydraulic pressure to chamber 8 whereupon the pressure acts upward on piston head 9 and downward on cylinder sleeve 10, compressing packers 3 and wedging anchors 4 outward into engagement with the well casing.

Hydraulic pressure is applied to chamber 8 by closing off the tubing bore below valve assembly 7 by standard valving means such as a dropped plug or ball in the tubing or mechanically actuated sleeve valve means. The tubing is then pressured up and hydraulic pressure acts through mandrel ports 11 up a concentric passage 12 and through channels 13 into actuation chamber 8.

A ported valve sleeve 14 and valve housing 15 comprise the lower valve assembly 7 and allow pressure from the formation to aid in maintaining the packer set in the well.

Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 2a a more detailed description of the zone activation valve assembly 7 is illustrated as having an external tubular cylindrical valve housing 15 with one or more radial ports 16 through the wall thereof. A lower threaded adapter 17 is attached to housing 15 at threaded section 18 and is adapted to be threadedly connected to a valve seating collar therebelow.

The inner mandrel 5 which is an elongated tubular cylindrical member is sealingly and snugly telescoped into the upper portion 17a of lower adapter 17 and abuts inner shoulder 17b of the adapter. A fluidic seal therebetween is provided by circular seal ring 19 located in an inner annular groove in the wall of section 17a of the lower housing.

Annular chamber 12 is formed between the inner mandrel 5 and housing 15 and consists of a lower portion 12a and a wider upper portion 12b.

A ported sleeve piston 14 is slidably and sealingly telescoped within chamber 12 and is arranged to continuously contact mandrel 5 with seal means 20a and 20b therein. Piston 14 further has ports 21 passing through an upper skirt 14a thereon and communicating Y with ports 11 when piston 14 is in the lower most position in chamber 12 as shown in the figure.

Sleeve piston 14 has an inner annular shoulder 14b arranged upon upward movement to abut a complementary external annular shoulder 5a on mandrel 5, thereby limiting upward movement of piston 14.

A circular seal 22 on piston 14 provides sealing contact with wall 23 of lower chamber 12a until the piston has moved upward sufficiently for seal 22 to clear shoulder 23:; and enter expanded chamber 12b. Piston 14 further has a lower annular differential pressure face 24 and an upper annular differential pressure face 25 formed thereon to receive pressure fluctuations and transmit their force to piston 14.

FIG. 2a illustrates a valve seat collar 30 which may be threadedly attached to the lower threaded end 26 of adapter 17 by threads 30a located internally in the upper end. Collar 30 has an inner, annular, bevelled valve seat 31 formed therein to receive an actuating valve member (not shown), as previously mentioned, to close off the tubing bore passage and allow hydraulic actuation of the packer assembly via

ports

11 and 21 in assembly 7. A lower threaded portion 30b is adapted for connection into a standard tubing section or an other tool or packer assembly.

METHOD OF OPERATION In typical operation, the valve assembly-7 is attached to the packer assembly 1 as shown in FIGS. la-lc. This string is then placed in the production string with additional packers in the desired quantity to provide proper isolation of the zones penetrated by the wellbore.

The entire production string is then lowered into the wellbore and the packers situated in the proper location to isolate the producing formations. A valve member such as a ball or plug can then be pumped down the string to seat in valve seat 31 of collar 30 and close off the tubing passage. The fluid in the tubing can then be pressured to the predetermined actuation pressure which acts through the inner bore passage of mandrel 5, through

ports

11 and 21, chamber 12, channels 13 and into chamber 8, thereby driving piston 9 out of cylinder 10, moving cylinder 10 downward, compressing packer elements 3 and wedging slips 4 outward into the casing. Usually shear pins are used to temporarily hold cylinder 10 to piston 9 until actuation pressure is reached in the tubing whereupon the pins will shear and the packer will set.

At this time the packer is set and, assuming that the formation below this packer assembly is one of the high pressure formations which it is desirable to maintain closed-in during production of a low pressure formation elsewhere in the string, the pressure will begin to buildup below the packer elements 3 and the'pressure going beyond the tubing pressure will tend to unset the packer assembly. At this time valve assembly 7 automatically comes into action because of the pressure differential which develops across piston 14 from formation pressure acting through port 16 on differential pressure area 24. This reacts against tubingactuating pressure on upper area 25 and when it exceeds the tubing pressure will move piston 14 upward, closing off ports 11 by straddling them with seals 20a and 20b and piston 14. Piston 14 will move upward until shoulder 14b thereon abuts outer shoulder 5a on mandrel 5 which stops upward movement of the piston.

At this upward position of piston 14 ports 11 will be blocked off and ports 16 will now be in communication with enlarged chamber 12b and formation pressure will be transmitted via ports 16, chamber 12b and chamber 8 to'the packer setting mechanism, guaranteeing that the packer remains set.

Should the formation pressure drop below the tubing actuation pressure, for instance if the formation is finally placed on production and its pressure drops considerably, the tubing pressure acting downward on shoulder 14b through ports 11 will move the sleeve 14 back downward and once again communicate the tubing fluid with the packer actuating piston and cylinder via

ports

11 and 21 and

chambers

12 and 8.

Thus it can be seen that valve assembly 7 works autoan elongated tubular inner mandrel adapted to be connected into a string of well tubing and having an internal bore passage therein; hydraulic actuation means attached to said mandrel; external housing means located concentrically on said inner mandrel; resilient packer means on said;housing means arranged to be compressed longitudinally and expanded radially by said hydraulic actuation means; anchor slip means on said housing means adapted to be urged outward and grip the well 'casing wall in response to said hydraulic actuation means; valve assembly means on said well packer adapted to receive pressure from said inner mandrel bore passage and further adapted to receive pressure from the well formation below said resilient packer means; and I 4 said valve assembly means arranged to respond to the higher of said formation pressure and said inner mandrel pressure and to communicate said higherpressure to said hydraulic actuation means. 2. The well packer of claim 1 wherein said hydraulic actuation means comprises a piston head, a cylinder,

and annular passage means between said inner mandrel and said external housing means extending from said valve means to said piston and cylinder.

I 3. The well packer of claim 2 wherein said valve means comprises a telescoping valve sleeve piston located between said inner mandrel and said external housing means; said mandrel, said housing means, and said valve sleeve piston having port means passing therethrough; said valve sleeve piston having a differential pressure area exposed to said mandrel port means and a second differential pressure area exposed to said housing port means, and said valve sleeve piston arranged to move from a position communicating said inner mandrel bore passage with said annular passage means to an opposed position communicating said anmatically to maintain the higher of two pressures, ei-

ther tubing pressure or formation pressure, on the packer actuating assembly to maintain the packer in the set position. J

Although certain preferred embodiments of the present invention have been herein described in order to provide an understanding of the general principles of the invention, it will be appreciated that various changes and innovations can be effected in the described well packer zone activated valve assembly without departing from these principles; for example, it would be possible to utilize the valve assembly as some intermediate point in the packer apparatus ratherthan at the bottom or the valve assembly could be utilized in other types of pressure actuated packers than the one shown. All modifications and changes of this type are deemed to be embraced by the spirit and scope of the invention except as the same may be necessarily limited by the appended claims or reasonable equivalents thereof.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined asfollows: 1

; l. A well packer for use in an underground formation penetrated by a borehole, said well packer comprising:

nular passage means to said port means in said external housing means. I

4. The well packer of claim 3 wherein said piston comprises a cylindrical tubular sleeve having seal means thereon and being slidably located between said inner mandrel and said housing means; said annular passage meanscomprising a first internal-bore passage sealingly engaging said piston and a second larger internal bore passage allowing fluid flow past said piston when said piston is in said second internal bore passage.

5. In a hydraulically actuated well packer assembly of the type having an internal bore passage, hyraulic responsive actuating means, resiliently expandable packer elements, and mechanical gripping anchors; the improvement comprising:

valve means below the packer-elements having preselective communication between the internal bore passage of said well packer and the hydraulic actuating means in a first valve position, and communicating said hydraulic actuating means with the oil well formation pressure in a second valve position while blocking off communication from said internal bore passage to saidhydraulic actuating means; and, said valve means having differential pressure areas thereon arranged to respond to the higher of either the internal bore pressure or the formation pressure and automatically communicate said higher pressure to said hydraulic actuation means while blocking said lower pressure therefrom.

6. The well packer assembly of claim 5 wherein said valve means comprises:

hydraulic passage means communicating with said hydraulic actuating means;

first port means communicating between said passage means and the internal bore passage of said well packer assembly;

second port means communicating said passage means with the well formation pressure below the resilient packer elements;

sliding valve means in said passage means arranged in one position to block only second port means and in a second position to block only said first port means; and,

said valve means arranged to slide over said first or second port means in response to a pressure differential between formation pressure and the packer internal bore pressure.

7. The well packer assembly of claim 5 wherein said 5 valve means further comprises:

said cylindrical valve means.

Claims

1. A well packer for use in an underground formation penetrated by a borehole, said well packer comprising: an elongated tubular inner mandrel adapted to be connected into a string of well tubing and having an internal bore passage therein; hydraulic actuation means attached to said mandrel; external housing means located concentrically on said inner mandrel; resilient packer means on said housing means arranged to be compressed longitudinally and expanded radially by said hydraulic actuation means; anchor slip means on said housing means adapted to be urged outward and grip the well casing wall in response to said hydraulic actuation means; valve assembly means on said well packer adapted to receive pressure from said inner mandrel bore passage and further adapted to receive pressure from the well formation below said resilient packer means; and said valve assembly means arranged to respond to the higher of said formation pressure and said inner mandrel pressure and to communicate said higher pressure to said hydraulic actuation means.

2. The well packer of claim 1 wherein said hydraulic actuation means comprises a piston head, a cylinder, and annular passage means between said inner mandrel and said external housing means extending from saId valve means to said piston and cylinder.

3. The well packer of claim 2 wherein said valve means comprises a telescoping valve sleeve piston located between said inner mandrel and said external housing means; said mandrel, said housing means, and said valve sleeve piston having port means passing therethrough; said valve sleeve piston having a differential pressure area exposed to said mandrel port means and a second differential pressure area exposed to said housing port means, and said valve sleeve piston arranged to move from a position communicating said inner mandrel bore passage with said annular passage means to an opposed position communicating said annular passage means to said port means in said external housing means.

4. The well packer of claim 3 wherein said piston comprises a cylindrical tubular sleeve having seal means thereon and being slidably located between said inner mandrel and said housing means; said annular passage means comprising a first internal bore passage sealingly engaging said piston and a second larger internal bore passage allowing fluid flow past said piston when said piston is in said second internal bore passage.

5. In a hydraulically actuated well packer assembly of the type having an internal bore passage, hyraulic responsive actuating means, resiliently expandable packer elements, and mechanical gripping anchors; the improvement comprising: valve means below the packer elements having preselective communication between the internal bore passage of said well packer and the hydraulic actuating means in a first valve position, and communicating said hydraulic actuating means with the oil well formation pressure in a second valve position while blocking off communication from said internal bore passage to said hydraulic actuating means; and, said valve means having differential pressure areas thereon arranged to respond to the higher of either the internal bore pressure or the formation pressure and automatically communicate said higher pressure to said hydraulic actuation means while blocking said lower pressure therefrom.

6. The well packer assembly of claim 5 wherein said valve means comprises: hydraulic passage means communicating with said hydraulic actuating means; first port means communicating between said passage means and the internal bore passage of said well packer assembly; second port means communicating said passage means with the well formation pressure below the resilient packer elements; sliding valve means in said passage means arranged in one position to block only second port means and in a second position to block only said first port means; and, said valve means arranged to slide over said first or second port means in response to a pressure differential between formation pressure and the packer internal bore pressure.

7. The well packer assembly of claim 5 wherein said valve means further comprises: cylindrical sliding valve means located sealingly and slidably in an annular hydraulic passage means, said cylindrical valve means having bypass ports therethrough and said annular passage means having bypass passage means therein; said bypass ports allowing fluid communication from said first port means past said cylindrical valve means; and said bypass passage means arranged to allow fluid communication from said second port means past said cylindrical valve means.