CA1178533A - Apparatus for forcing tubular elements into and out of boreholes - Google Patents

Abstract

ROY R. VANN OUR FILE #590 APPARATUS FOR FORCING TUBULAR
ELEMENTS INTO AND OUT OF BOREHOLES
ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
Apparatus for forcing small tubular elements, such as 0.10 inch outside diameter capillary tubing, into and out of a borehole.
The apparatus includes an annular seal means which sealingly receives the tubing therethrough. A pair of confronting rollers engage one another with the exterior surface of the tubing being compressed therebetween so that contra-rotational motion of the rollers in one direction or another forces the tubing uphole or downhole. A motor drives a shaft received through the rollers. The rollers engage and force the tubing to move uphole and downhole, thereby stripping the tubing through the seal means as well as overcoming the piston effect brought about by the pressure differential between the borehole and ambient.

Description

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R. R. VANN ~

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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In the art of well completion and well servicing, it is often necessary to run small tubular goods thousands of feet down-hole into a borehole, and to subse~uently retrieve the tubular element. The pressure differential effected between ambient and the production tubing of an oil well presents a piston effect which continually drives the tubular element uphole with considerable force. Sometimes the pressure differential is enormous. Accord-ingly, when the tubular element is subjected to very high pressure differentials, the tubing is forced upwards respective to the lubricator with a proportional force. This piston action causes considerable difficulty when various different packages must be lowered through the tubing string to the bottom of the borehole.
For example, it is often desirable to lower an instrument package to the bottom of the borehole in order to monitor the temperature and pressure. At other times, it is desirable to directly measure the bottom pressure of the wellbore by lowering one end of a small diame-ter tubing down to the production forma-tion. The pressure differential across the wellhead of a wellbore causes the introduction of a tubular element in-to the well to be analogous to one trying to push a rope or a long noodle, as opposed to pulling the rope.
It would therefore be desirable to have made available apparatus wh;ch can be attached to a wellhead in order to provide a downward thrust on a tubular element, and thereby oyercome the piston effect brought about by the wellbore pressure differential.
Such an apparatus is the subject of the present invention.

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SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Apparatus for forcing small tubular elements, such as wire-lines and small diameter tubings, into and out of boreholes. The apparatus comprises a lubricator connected to a sub. The sub is removably affixed to the upper end of a cased wellbore. An axi~l passageway is formed through the lubricator and sub. Annular seal means are provided in the upper marginal end of the passageway, so that a small tubular element is sealingly received by the apparatus when moved axially through the passageway.
A pair of roller means have confronting outer peripheral surfaces, and are placed in underlying relationship respective to the seal means. The roller means have axially aligned shafts arranged horizontally respective to one another which disposes the shafts normal respective to the axial passageway. The rollers drivingly engage one another and receive the tubular element more or less tangentially through a mid-portion of -the two confronting faces of the rollers.
Motor means are connected to drive the rollers in a contra-rotating direction so that the motor turns in one direction to drive the tubing downhole 7 and in a reverse direction to drive the -tubing back uphole, thereby stripping the tubing through the seal means and overcoming the piston effect brought about by the pres-sure differential across the well.
In another embodiment of the invention, the rollers are in the form of an oval track. The track is comprised of an endless belt supported by spaced wheels, with there being confronting belt~
surfaces, and with the tubing being received in compressed relation-ship therebetween.
The present apparatus is useful in running capillary tubing, wirelines, and slick lines into and out of boreholes.

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Accordingly, a primary object of the present invention is the provision o~ a means for overcoming the upthrust of tubular elements which must be forced downhole into a high pressure well-bore.
Another object of the present invention is the provision of apparatus for sealingly receiving a tubular element there-through, and forcing the tubular element into and out of a wellbore.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a combination of a wellbore and a small diameter tubing along with apparatus for forcing the tubing to move downhole and controlling the uphole movemen-t in a wellbore.
Another and still further object of the present invention is the provision of a sub assembly which sealingly receives a small diameter tubing therethrough and forces the tubing to move uphole and downhole against the pressure differential of the well.
These and various other objects and advantages of the in-vention wîll become readily apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the following detailed description and claims and by referring to the accompanying drawings.
The above objects are attained in accordance with the pre-sent in~ention by the provision of a combination of elements which are fabricated in a manner substantially as described in the above abstract and SUJnmary, .

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- ï-BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure 1 is a part diagrammatical, part schematical, part cross-sectional~ broken view of a wellbore having apparatus made in accordance with the present invention incorporated therewith;
Figure 2 is an enlarged, part cross-sectional view taken along line 2-2 of Figure l;
Figure 3 represents a different side elevational view of the apparatus disclosed in Figure 2, with some parts being removed therefrom;
Figure 4 is a cross-sec-tional view taken along line 4-4 of Figure 3;
Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 5-5 of Figure 3;
Figure 6 is a broken, schematical representation of a side elevational view o~ another embodiMent of the present inven-tion;
and, Figure 7 is another view of the apparatus disclosed in Figure 6.

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DETAILED DESCRIPTION ~F THE PREFERRED E~BO~IMENT
In Figure 1 of the drawings, there is disclosed a cased borehole 10. A sub 12, made in accordance with the present inven-tion, is removably affixed to the upper end of the casing. The sub includes a lubricator 14 attached at the upper end thereof and within which there is sealingly received a small diameter tubular ele~ent 16, specifically a capillary tube.
The tube 16 is continuously wound about a drum 18 which is suitably supported in aligned relationship respective to the longi-tudinal axial centerline of the wellbore. The drum preferably is of a large enough diame-ter to avoid deformably bending the small tubing.
A tubing string 20 is concentrically arranged within the casing and extends from the wellhead downhole adjacent to a hydro-carbon containing formation 22. ~ gun firing device 23 is attached to the lower end of the tube 16. The device 23 could equally well be an instrunlent package, as will be more fully discussed later on in this disclosure. A casing perforating gun 24 has a gun firing head 26 arranged at the upper end thereof which can be ac-tuated by device 23 to cause the illustrated shaped charges of the gun to be discharged. A vent assembly 28 underlies a packer 29.
The wellhead includes outlets 30 and 32, respectively, which are connected to the casing annulus and the production tubing, respectively. A measuring and recording ins-trument 34 is connected to receive a rate of flow signal from flow meter 36 and a pressure signal from flow line 42. Pressure regulator 38 is connected to a source of fluid pressure 40, and provides a cons-tant pressure at 39.

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Flow line 43 provides a signal for the recorder. Swivel 46 is connected to flow line 45 and to the uppermost end of capil-lary 16 so that fluid flow from 40 can be measured as it flows downhole to the outlet end thereof.
As seen illustrated in Figure 2, the lubricator includes a plurality of annular seals 48 which are positioned within the upper marginal end of the sub assembly. An axial passageway 50 extends through the seals for sealingly receiving the small diameter cylin-drical tubing 16 therethrough. Confronting rollers 52 and 54 are preferably made of resilient material so that the rollers can abut-tingly engage one another in a driving manner as they contra-rotate, with the tubing being located in captured relationship there-between.
As seen in Figures 2-5, and in particular Figure 4, the rollers are connected to shafts 56 and 58. Motor 60 drives roller 52, which engages roller 54 with great friction, so that the two rollers concurrently counter-rotate, Nu~neral 62 in Figure 3 indicates an inlet and outlet for air, gas, electrical power, or hydraulic fluid by which the motor 60 can be operated.
In the embodiment seen in ~igures 6 and 7, an endless track 64 is disposed between spaced rollers 66 and 68. A confronting endless belt 70 is likewise disposed between spaced rollers 72 and 74, with there being the tubing 16 received in captured relation-ship between the confronting belt faces at 76.
A right angle gear box 78 is driven by gas motor 80. A gas supply 82 flows into and out of the motor, thereby imparting rota-tional mo-tion into the spaced apart rollers, The rollers are ~ounted to shafts 84 and 86, Numeral 88 is a ported outlet pipe which mechanically connects the capillary 16 to the package 23, and ~1~7~53;~
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which allows fluid flow out of the ports 90.
In operation, the sub assembly, which includes the sub 12 along with the lubricator 14, is removably moun~ed to the top of the cased borehole. The drum 18 is supported in aligned relation-ship respective to the -tubing string. The val~e 92 is closed, the sub is attached to the wellhead, the lubricator is lifted from the sub 12, the tubing or elongated member 16 is placed through the axial passageway of the seal means, and the package 23 connected to the end of the small diameter tubing, whereupon the apparatus 12 is then engaged with the tubing so that the tubing can be forced to move downhole after the valve 92 has been opened.
The embodiment seen in Figures 6 and 7 provides a ~ery large interaction of surface areas between the confronting belt faces and the outer peripheral surface of the tubing string. The lS motors 60 and 80 can be fluid or electrical, In some instances, it may be desirable to use the produced gas from -the formation 22 for operating the mo-tor when entering completed boreholes.
The packer 29 and vent assembly 28 of Figure 1 can be of the type and operation as set forth in my previous Patent Nos.
3,871,448; 3,931,855; 4,040,485; and 4,151,880 to which reference is made for further background of this inyention.
The perforating gun 24 and gun firing head, along with package 23 can be made in accordance with my previous Patent Nos.
3,706,344; 3;717,095; and 3,717,099 to which reference is made for further background of this invention.
It is often desirable to monitor the downhole pressure simultaneously with the completion of the hydrocarbon producing formation. The present invention enables this dat~ to be obtained fro~ the surface o~ the earth, by forcing the package 23 to mo~e downhole in a new and unobvious manner against the piston effect of the wellbore.

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The tubular member 16 can be a slick line, wire line, or capillary tubing. The package or mass 23 can be any object, in-cluding a fishing tool or de-tonator device, which is to be moved downhole. The gun 24 is an illustrative example of one downhole device which can advantageously be used in combination with the present invention.
As noted above, the prime mover, or motor 60 or 80, can be a gas or expansion type motor, such as a commercially available air driven motor. As seen in Figure 7, the gas from the borehole can be valved to -the motor to provide a convenient supply of power fluid.

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Claims (10)

R. R. VANN

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY OR
PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
1. Claim 1. Apparatus for forcing a small diameter cylin-drical elongated member into and out of a borehole comprising, a sub, an axial passageway formed through said sub, annular seal means mounted in the upper marginal end of said passageway for sealingly engaging a marginal length of the cylindrical member;
   spaced confronting rollers having a central axis spaced from one another and placed perpendicular respective to said axial passageway, the cylindrical member being received between said confronting rollers;
   means contra-rotating said rollers about the central axis thereof, to cause the cylindrical member to be forced into and out of the borehole.
2. Claim 2. The apparatus of Claim 1 wherein said rollers are two resilient cylinders which abuttingly engage one another with sufficient force so that when one cylinder is rotated, the other cylinder is forced to counter-rotate.
3. Claim 3. The apparatus of Claim 1 wherein said rollers are two spaced oval track means, said track means each comprise an endless belt supported by spaced apart rotatable wheels, the con-fronting faces of the belt abuttingly engage one another with a marginal length of the cylindrical member being frictionally engaged by the confronting belt surfaces.
   
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4. Claim 4. Apparatus for attachment to a wellhead by which a tubular member can be moved downhole into a borehole, com-prising a sub having an axial passageway formed therethrough, seal means mounted in the upper marginal end of the passageway;
   two adjacent roller means each having an axial centerline which is parallel to one another and which is perpendicular respec-tive to the axial passageway; said rollers each have a circumfer-entially extending face, each said confronting face is brought together so that the rolling friction of one roller imparts rota-tional motion into the other roller;
   a tubular member extends between the roller means, a marginal length of the tubular member is forcibly engaged by the confronting faces of the rollers;
   means rotating one roller, thereby causing the tubular member to move along the length thereof and downhole into the borehole, and when the roller is rotated in the opposite direction, the tubular member moves uphole.
5. Claim 5. The apparatus of Claim 4 wherein said roller means is two adjacent oval tracks, each tract comprises an endless belt supported about two spaced wheels;
   said tracks are arranged with the confronting faces of the belts located along the longitudinal axial centerline of said passageway, with the tubular member being arranged in aligned rela-tionship between the confronting faces so that movement of the belt imparts movement into the tubular member.
   
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6. Claim 6. The apparatus of Claim 4 wherein said rollers are two resilient cylinders which abuttingly engage one another with sufficient force so that when one cylinder is rotated, the other cylinder is forced to counter-rotate.
7. Claim 7. The apparatus of Claim 4 wherein said confront-ing face of said rollers are made of resilient rubber-like material which deformably engage the outer peripheral surface of the tubular member with great friction;
   said means rotating one roller is a motor which is con-nected to a power source to force said one roller to rotate about the axial centerline thereof.
8. Claim 8. The apparatus of Claim 7 wherein said rollers are attached to a shaft which extends along said axial centerline;
   journal means at opposed shaft ends by which the rollers are rota-tably secured to said sub;
   said motor being located externally of said sub and con-nected to rotate one said shaft.
   
   R. R. VANN
9. Claim 9. The apparatus of Claim 4 wherein said tubular member is a capillary tube having one end connected to a mass, and the other end roved about a drum and connected to a source of pressure, the lower end of said capillary being open so that flow can occur therethrough;
   so that the pressure and flow rate at the upper end of the tube can be used to ascertain the downhole pressure at the outlet end of the tube.
10. Claim 10. The apparatus of Claim 9 wherein said capillary is about .089 inches outside diameter and .054 inches inside diameter.