Classifications

• • 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
  • E21B4/00—Drives for drilling, used in the borehole
  • E21B4/02—Fluid rotary type drives
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F04—POSITIVE - DISPLACEMENT MACHINES FOR LIQUIDS; PUMPS FOR LIQUIDS OR ELASTIC FLUIDS
  • F04C—ROTARY-PISTON, OR OSCILLATING-PISTON, POSITIVE-DISPLACEMENT MACHINES FOR LIQUIDS; ROTARY-PISTON, OR OSCILLATING-PISTON, POSITIVE-DISPLACEMENT PUMPS
  • F04C13/00—Adaptations of machines or pumps for special use, e.g. for extremely high pressures
  • F04C13/008—Pumps for submersible use, i.e. down-hole pumping
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F04—POSITIVE - DISPLACEMENT MACHINES FOR LIQUIDS; PUMPS FOR LIQUIDS OR ELASTIC FLUIDS
  • F04C—ROTARY-PISTON, OR OSCILLATING-PISTON, POSITIVE-DISPLACEMENT MACHINES FOR LIQUIDS; ROTARY-PISTON, OR OSCILLATING-PISTON, POSITIVE-DISPLACEMENT PUMPS
  • F04C2/00—Rotary-piston machines or pumps
  • F04C2/08—Rotary-piston machines or pumps of intermeshing-engagement type, i.e. with engagement of co-operating members similar to that of toothed gearing
  • F04C2/10—Rotary-piston machines or pumps of intermeshing-engagement type, i.e. with engagement of co-operating members similar to that of toothed gearing of internal-axis type with the outer member having more teeth or tooth-equivalents, e.g. rollers, than the inner member
  • F04C2/107—Rotary-piston machines or pumps of intermeshing-engagement type, i.e. with engagement of co-operating members similar to that of toothed gearing of internal-axis type with the outer member having more teeth or tooth-equivalents, e.g. rollers, than the inner member with helical teeth
  • F04C2/1071—Rotary-piston machines or pumps of intermeshing-engagement type, i.e. with engagement of co-operating members similar to that of toothed gearing of internal-axis type with the outer member having more teeth or tooth-equivalents, e.g. rollers, than the inner member with helical teeth the inner and outer member having a different number of threads and one of the two being made of elastic materials, e.g. Moineau type
  • F04C2/1073—Rotary-piston machines or pumps of intermeshing-engagement type, i.e. with engagement of co-operating members similar to that of toothed gearing of internal-axis type with the outer member having more teeth or tooth-equivalents, e.g. rollers, than the inner member with helical teeth the inner and outer member having a different number of threads and one of the two being made of elastic materials, e.g. Moineau type where one member is stationary while the other member rotates and orbits
  • F04C2/1075—Construction of the stationary member
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F04—POSITIVE - DISPLACEMENT MACHINES FOR LIQUIDS; PUMPS FOR LIQUIDS OR ELASTIC FLUIDS
  • F04C—ROTARY-PISTON, OR OSCILLATING-PISTON, POSITIVE-DISPLACEMENT MACHINES FOR LIQUIDS; ROTARY-PISTON, OR OSCILLATING-PISTON, POSITIVE-DISPLACEMENT PUMPS
  • F04C29/00—Component parts, details or accessories of pumps or pumping installations, not provided for in groups F04C18/00 - F04C28/00
  • F04C29/02—Lubrication; Lubricant separation
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F04—POSITIVE - DISPLACEMENT MACHINES FOR LIQUIDS; PUMPS FOR LIQUIDS OR ELASTIC FLUIDS
  • F04C—ROTARY-PISTON, OR OSCILLATING-PISTON, POSITIVE-DISPLACEMENT MACHINES FOR LIQUIDS; ROTARY-PISTON, OR OSCILLATING-PISTON, POSITIVE-DISPLACEMENT PUMPS
  • F04C2230/00—Manufacture
  • F04C2230/90—Improving properties of machine parts
  • F04C2230/91—Coating
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F05—INDEXING SCHEMES RELATING TO ENGINES OR PUMPS IN VARIOUS SUBCLASSES OF CLASSES F01-F04
  • F05C—INDEXING SCHEME RELATING TO MATERIALS, MATERIAL PROPERTIES OR MATERIAL CHARACTERISTICS FOR MACHINES, ENGINES OR PUMPS OTHER THAN NON-POSITIVE-DISPLACEMENT MACHINES OR ENGINES
  • F05C2203/00—Non-metallic inorganic materials
  • F05C2203/08—Ceramics; Oxides
  • F05C2203/0804—Non-oxide ceramics

Definitions

• Elastomeric parts such as downhole seals, for example, that are used to dynamically seal to other components located within a borehole of an earth formation often have durability issues. These durability issues are often due to wear resulting from frictional engagement between parts. Those who practice in downhole industries would welcome devices and methods to increase the useful life of downhole seals.
• the seal includes a body configured to dynamically seal to a portion of a downhole tool and a lubricant microencapsulated in a plurality of shells to form a plurality of micro particles dispersed within the body.
• the method includes, microencapsulating lubricant within a plurality of shells, distributing the plurality of shells microencapsulating lubricant within at least one of a first component and a second component that dynamically seal to one another, rupturing at least some of the plurality of shells microencapsulating lubricant, and releasing the lubricant
• FIG. 1 depicts a sectioned view of a portion of a downhole mud motor with a downhole seal disclosed herein employed in the mud motor as a stator having two parts;
• FIG. 2 depicts a sectioned view of a portion of the downhole mud motor of FIG. 1 showing the downhole seal disclosed herein in relation to a rotor;
• FIG. 3 depicts a sectioned view of a mud motor having an alternate downhole seal disclosed herein having a single body; and DHM4-50226WO (INT0363PCT)
• FIG. 4 depicts a sectioned view of an alternate embodiment of a seal disclosed herein.
• an embodiment of a downhole seal disclosed herein is illustrated generally at 10 as a stator of a motor, such as a mud motor.
• the stator could also be employed in a pump while still remaining within the scope disclosed herein.
• the stator 10, in this embodiment includes, a plurality of parts with a first part 14A being illustrated as a first layer 14A and a second part 14B being illustrated as a second layer, although alternate embodiments may have more layers or as few as one layer.
• the stator 10 is fixedly attached to a housing 16 and allows a rotor 18 engaged therewith to rotate relative thereto in response to fluid flowing between the stator 10 and the rotor 18.
• This relative motion causes some points along the first layer 14A of the stator 10 to repeatedly make and break contact with the rotor 18 while at other points the first layer 14A slides tangentially relative to the rotor 18.
• Dynamic sealing between the first layer 14A and the rotor 18 at points of contact and sliding is desirable for improved operation of the motor.
• the repeated contacting and sliding causes wear of the components.
• the first layer 14A as disclosed herein, is made primarily of an elastomer while the rotor 18 is made of metal. The difference in hardnesses of these materials typically causes the first layer 14A to wear more quickly than the rotor 18.
• Lubrication between a surface 28 of the first layer 14A and a surface 29 of the rotor 18 can increase the useful life of the first layer 14A, however, fluid flowing between the first layer 14A and the rotor 18 tends to purge lubrication from the surfaces 28, and 29.
• a majority of the first layer 14A is made of an elastomer 30.
• embedded in the elastomer 30 is at least one lubricant 34; small quantaties of which are microencapsulated within shells 38.
• a multitude of microcapsules 42, filled with the lubricant 34, are dispersed throughout a volume of the first layer 14A.
• the dispersion is accomplished by mixing the microcapsules 42 in with the elastomeric compound prior to molding the first layer 14A.
• the lubricant 34 can be introduced as coated micro or nano particles of carbonaceous nanoparticles, for example, with the coating defining the shell 38.
• the nanoparticles can include, carbon nanotubes (CNT), single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT), double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWCNT), and non-nanotube configurations such as graphenes, fullerenes and diamonds, for example.
• the lubricant could also be molybdenum disulfide, hexagonal boron nitride, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), or graphite.
• the shell 38 is constructed to sufficiently isolate the lubricant 34 from the elastomer 30 during manufacture to minimize degrading the material properties, such as, strength and thermal conductivity, for example, of the first layer 14A. Yet the shell 38 is fractured when exposed to loads generated as the surfaces 28, 29 contact and/or slide relative to one another. Upon fracturing of the shell 38 the lubricant 34 is released from the microcapsules 42 and is able to form a lubricating film 46 on one or both of the surfaces 28 and 29.
• the lubricant 34 is solid or fluid, such as a liquid lubricant like oil
• FIG. 3 an alternate embodiment of a downhole seal disclosed herein is illustrated at 60.
• the downhole seal 60 differs from the downhole seal 10 primarily in that the seal 60 is a single body 64, whereas the seal 10 is made of the first layer 14A and the second layer 14B.
• the seal 60 has the microcapsules 42 of the lubricant 34 dispersed throughout the elastomer 30 of the entire seal 60.
• Each of these two embodiments may have advantages over the other. For example, the seal 60 may be less expensive to fabricate since it doesn't require assembly of two different portions.
• the seal 10 may have advantages in durability since the second layer 14B can be made of a material having more robust mechanical properties and fluid chemical resistance while the first layer 14A is made of material, as described above, that has better friction and wear properties due to the lubricant 34 dispersed therein.
• the mud motor 110 includes, a stator 114 with a contoured surface 118 configured to functionally engage with a complementary surface 122 of a rotor 126.
• the rotor 126 has two parts, an outer layer 126A and an inner layer 126B, with at least the outer layer 126 A including a plurality of the microcapsules DHM4-50226WO (INT0363PCT)
• stator 114 can also be a single piece structure or a two-piece structure having the inner layer 114A and the outer layer 114B as is illustrated in this embodiment.
• the material of the stator 114 can vary with one embodiment being steel with an abrasion resistant coating on the surface 118. In embodiments wherein the stator 114 is metal the part material configuration is essentially reversed to that of the embodiments illustrated in Figures 1 and 3.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mining & Mineral Resources (AREA)
• Geology (AREA)
• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Geochemistry & Mineralogy (AREA)
• Fluid Mechanics (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Environmental & Geological Engineering (AREA)
• Sealing Devices (AREA)
• Lubricants (AREA)
• Earth Drilling (AREA)
• Gasket Seals (AREA)
• Drilling And Boring (AREA)
• Sealing Material Composition (AREA)

Priority Applications (5)

Applications Claiming Priority (4)

Publications (2)

Family

ID=45525576

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (7)

Cited By (1)

Families Citing this family (9)

Citations (4)

Family Cites Families (3)

• 2011
  • 2011-07-26 US US13/191,045 patent/US20120024632A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2011-07-27 GB GB1301278.6A patent/GB2496541A/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 2011-07-27 BR BR112013002004A patent/BR112013002004A2/pt not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2011-07-27 DE DE112011102497T patent/DE112011102497T5/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2011-07-27 CA CA2806109A patent/CA2806109A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2011-07-27 WO PCT/US2011/045543 patent/WO2012015927A2/en active Application Filing
• 2013
  • 2013-01-21 NO NO20130119A patent/NO20130119A1/no not_active Application Discontinuation

Patent Citations (4)

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