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
  • E21B33/00—Sealing or packing boreholes or wells
  • E21B33/10—Sealing or packing boreholes or wells in the borehole
  • E21B33/12—Packers; Plugs
  • E21B33/1208—Packers; Plugs characterised by the construction of the sealing or packing means
• • 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
  • E21B33/00—Sealing or packing boreholes or wells
  • E21B33/10—Sealing or packing boreholes or wells in the borehole
  • E21B33/12—Packers; Plugs
  • E21B33/127—Packers; Plugs with inflatable sleeve
  • E21B33/1277—Packers; Plugs with inflatable sleeve characterised by the construction or fixation of the sleeve

Definitions

• Filtering contaminates from flowing fluids is a common exercise in systems involved in transportation of fluids. Many such systems employ screens as the filtering mechanism. Screens that expand to substantially fill an annular gap, for example, between concentric tubulars, is another common practice. Some of these systems use swaging equipment to radially expand the screen. Although such equipment serves its purpose it has limitations, including a limited amount of potential expansion, complex and costly equipment and an inability to expand to fill a nonsymmetrical space. Apparatuses and methods that overcome these and other limitations with existing systems are therefore desirable to operators in the field.
• the screen includes, a body having a permeable material with energy stored therein configured to change the body from a first volume to a second volume, and a binder in operable communication with the body configured to retain the body in the first volume until the binder is weakened sufficiently for the energy stored within the body to overcome the binder and allow the body to change from the first volume toward the second volume.
• the method includes, generating energy within a permeable body sufficient to change the body from a first volume to a second volume, binding the permeable body to prevent the generated energy from expanding the permeable body from the first volume to the second volume, weakening the binding to a level sufficient to allow the generated energy to expand the permeable body from the first volume to the second volume, and expanding the body from the first volume toward the second volume
• the method includes, positioning a screen within a borehole, weakening a binding maintaining the screen at a first volume, expanding the screen toward a second volume with energy stored within the screen, and contacting walls of the borehole with the screen.
• FIG. 1 depicts a quarter cross sectional view of a screen disclosed herein in an unexpanded configuration
• FIG. 2 depicts a quarter cross sectional view of the screen of FIG. 1 in an expanded configuration.
• the screen 10 includes, a body 14 made of a fluid permeable material 18 with energy stored therein that allows the body 14 to expand from a first volume as illustrated in FIG. 1 to a second volume that is a larger than the first volume.
• the body 14, as illustrated in FIG. 2 has a larger volume than the first volume but is somewhat less than the second volume due to the body 14 contacting walls 22 of a borehole 26 within which the body 14 is positioned.
• a binder 30 made of a removable material 34 structurally constrains the body 14 at the first volume until the binder 30 is weakened sufficiently to allow the stored energy to be released. During release of the stored energy the body 14 expands toward the second volume.
• the binder 30, in this embodiment, is a solid that is distributed within the body 14 thereby structurally constraining the body 14 at the first volume. Weakening of the binder 30 can be accomplished in different ways, depending upon the material that the binder 30 is made of. For example, when the binder 30 is made of a dissolvable material exposing the binder 30 to an applicable solvent will allow the binder 30 to dissolve thereby allowing the stored energy to be released and the body 14 to expand toward the second volume.
• a usable binder material that is soluble in water is the synthetic polymer, polyvinyl alcohol.
• Dissolution of the binder 30 made of polyvinyl alcohol in water weakens the structural integrity thereof until the energy stored in the body 14 is able to break the binder 30 apart expanding the body 14 in the process. Dissolution of polyvinyl alcohol, like many soluble materials, is accelerated at increased temperatures.
• the binder 30 could be made of a material having a low melting temperature relative to that of the body 14. Such an embodiment would allow an operator to release the energy stored in the body 14 by increasing the temperature sufficiently to melt the binder 30.
• the binder 30 could be made of a material that can be chemically degraded when exposed to a chemical, such as an acid for example. An operator could then expose the binder 30 to an applicable acid to initiate the chemical degradation needed to release the energy within the body 14.
• Generating energy in the body 14 can be achieved in different ways depending upon the material, chemical and physical characteristics of the body 14.
• the body 14 could be made of a material capable of regaining its original shape after being deformed, such as a polymer, that is made into a mat of substantially randomly oriented filaments extruded from one or more spinnerets, for example. The mat could then be compacted to the first volume where it is bound by the binder 30.
• An alternate embodiment could employ open celled foam that is deformed through an extrusion process before being bound by the binder 30.
• the body 14 will have fluid filtration characteristics defined by the body 14.
• the filtration characteristics may differ depending upon what volume the body 14 is taking. As such, an operator may set the desired filtration characteristics at a volume that the body 14 is expected to have when fully deployed.
• the screen 10 is employed in a sand screen within the wellbore 26 in an earth formation 38.
• the body 14 of the screen 10 is run into the borehole 26 while in the compacted first volume configuration as shown in Figure 1.
• An annular gap 42 between an outer surface 46 of the body 14 and an inner surface 50 defined by the walls 22 of the borehole 26 allow the body 14 to be run without detrimentally scraping the walls 22.
• the nature of the structure of the body 14 allows it to contact the walls 22 regardless of whether the walls 22 are cylindrical or not and regardless of whether the annular gap 42 is of a consistent size or not.
• the walls 22 need not even be symmetrical about the body 14.
• the volume of the body 14, as illustrated in Figure 2 is less than the second volume the body 14 will exert a force against the walls 22. This force will help prevent erosion of the walls 22 that could occur due to fluid flow if a portion of the annular gap 42 were allowed to exist between the walls 22 and the outer surface 46 after the body 14 has expanded.
• the screen 10 is positioned on a tubular 54 having perforations 58 therethrough. Fluid, upon being filtered after it flows through the body 14 is able to flow through the perforations 58 and into an inside 62 of the tubular 54. Once on the inside 62 the fluid can flow longitudinally through the tubular 54 as desired.

Landscapes

• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Geology (AREA)
• Mining & Mineral Resources (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Environmental & Geological Engineering (AREA)
• Fluid Mechanics (AREA)
• General Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Geochemistry & Mineralogy (AREA)
• Filtering Materials (AREA)
• Prostheses (AREA)
• Manufacture Or Reproduction Of Printing Formes (AREA)

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Citations (4)

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• 2011
  • 2011-02-17 US US13/029,758 patent/US20120211226A1/en not_active Abandoned
• 2012
  • 2012-01-13 GB GB1314560.2A patent/GB2504010A/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 2012-01-13 CA CA2827203A patent/CA2827203A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2012-01-13 BR BR112013020783A patent/BR112013020783A2/pt not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2012-01-13 CN CN2012800091512A patent/CN103384751A/zh active Pending
  • 2012-01-13 WO PCT/US2012/021274 patent/WO2012112247A2/en active Application Filing
  • 2012-01-13 AU AU2012218167A patent/AU2012218167A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2012-01-13 RU RU2013142178/03A patent/RU2013142178A/ru not_active Application Discontinuation
• 2013
  • 2013-07-25 NO NO20131037A patent/NO20131037A1/no not_active Application Discontinuation

Patent Citations (4)

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