US2796938A - Tool for treating, testing, and servicing wells - Google Patents

Description

June 25, 1957 J. LYNEs ETA.

TOOL FOR TREATING, TESTING AND SERVICING WELLS 3 Sheets-Sheet l Original Filed Nov. l, 1946 June 25, 1957 J. LYNES r-:rAL 2,796,938

Tool. FOR TREATING. TESTING AND SERVICING WELLS Original Filed Nov. l, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS BY w. ATTORNEY .Toma- Lues Gm. HALLE- II-Dmmn nmmnnm @DEBE BBBBBMMEB BBDDDDBBBDUBUEEBHm-m 004 6x7 l 5 e @5 lo| L hmu UBBHEDBUBEDDBBEUBUBBB 7 June 25, 1957 Y J. LYNES Erm.

' IOOL FOR TREATING, TESTING AND SERVICING WELLS 5 Sheets-Shea?l 3 Original Filed Nov. l, 1946 J'oHN Lnee GEo H. ALLEN 3- D GARouR INVENTORS ATTORNEY United States Patent TOOL FUR TREATING, TESTING, AND SERVICDJG WELLS John Lynes, Albuquerque, N. Mex., and George H. Allen,

lLa Porte, and Jimmy D. Gardner, Houston, Tex., assignors to Lynes, Inc., Houston, Tex., a corporation of Texas Continuation of application Serial No. 707,286, November 1, 1946. This application April 1, 1953, Serial No. 346,092

9 Claims. (Cl. 166-183) for the same invention, for Tool for Treating, Testing p and Servicing Wells, now abandoned.

In the production of oil and gas from wells, it is the practice to drill the well bore and to then complete the f well by setting a string of pipe or casing to prevent caving. Many formations are made up of ne sand and it is necessary to either perforate the casing or to set -screen or strainer pipe therein so as to exclude such sand or foreign matter. Often such strainer is supported upon a blank liner anchored in the lower part of the casing.

Often tine particles of sand become wedged in the openings. Various types of scale accumulate on the surface of the screen and often the screen becomes clogged with foreign matter of some sort or other to such an extent that the production of oil through the strainer is reduced or completely cut off.

Various types of tools have been devised with a view 0f cleaning screens, strainers, or liners in the well without removing such pipe from the well. Such screen is usually damaged or destroyed after an eiort is made to remove it from the well.

The present tool contemplates an assembly which may be lowered into the clogged section of the screen and manipulated and operated repeatedly so as to clean such screen by the application of various chemicals or liquid pressure in such a manner that the screen may be cleaned section by section or step by step so as to renew the ow of uid from the formation through the screen section into the production string or tubing.

It is one of the objects of the invention to provide a well tool having a mandrel with one or more spaced hydraulically inatable packer assemblies thereon and arranged with control mechanisms to determine the ination and deiiation of the packers by hydraulic pressure, and the opening and closing of the tool to the well screen by the circulation of liquid into and out of the mandrel and tool.

Another object of the invention is to provide an assembly wherein there is a barrier means in the mandrel of the tool and openings in the mandrel so that admission of liquid to the tool from the mandrel may be controlled, and so that communication between the mandrel and well bore may be controlled.

Another object of the invention is to provide a control assembly below the packer on a well tool so that the tool may be opened or closed to the well bore by operating such mechanism.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a tool for treating, testing and servicing of wells wherein spaced hydraulic packers are expanded so as to isolate a section of a well screen or strainer to be treated, tested or serviced.

Other and further objects of the invention will be readily apparent when the following description is considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a pipe in a Well bore through which the treating, testing and servicing tool is being lowered.

Figs. 2 and 3 when taken together show a vertical sectional view of the tool and the position of the parts thereof as the tool is being lowered into the well bore.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view of a well strainer with the tool expanded in position ready for operating upon the strainer.

Figs. 5 and 6 taken together illustrate a vertical sectional view of the tool as seen in Fig. 4, ready for operation with the tool opened between the packers.

Fig. 7 is a vertical sectional view of an attachment for the lower end of the operating mandrel and illustrating the mandrel open to the well bore at its lower end.

Fig. 8 is a vertical sectional view of the bottom attachment showing the position of parts following the iirst step in closing the mandrel oit from communication with the well bore.`

Fig. 9 is a vertical sectional View of the bottom attachment for the tool, illustrating the parts in nal closed position.

Fig. l0 is a vertical sectional view of the bottom attachment illustrating the third step taken preparatory to moving the mandrel to open position.

Fig. 11 is a vertical sectional view of the bottom attachment of the tool illustrating the position of the parts after the tool has been reopened.

Fig. 12 is a section taken on the line 12--12 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 13 is a section taken on the line 13-13 of Fig. 6.

In Fig. l a well casing 2 in a well bore is shown as having received the tool 3 for treating, testing or servicing the Well. This tool is best seen in Figs. 2 and 3 with the parts in the position occupied as the tool is lowered into the well bore. y

A length of pipe 4 which may be designated as a mandrel forms the base for supporting the various parts of the tool. Thismandrel will be connected to a suitable string of pipe such as a drill pipe or tubing, which is assembled -section by section as the tool is lowered into the well bore.4 The parts as assembled in Figs. 2 and 3 will be lowered by means of the operating pipe to the position shown in Fig. 4, where the upper packer assembly 5 and the lower packer assembly 6 have been yexpanded to form spaced seals with the section of strainer or screen 7. This screen 0r strainer is shown as connected to a pipe 8. This pipe may be the lower end of the casing 2, seen in Fig. l, but is ordinarily a section of blank pipe known as a liner, which is suitably anchored adjacent its upper end in the pipe 2.

The general arrangement and assembly of the packers and their arrangement upon the mandrel is disclosed and claimed in the copending application for patent of John Lynes, Serial No. 418,352, filed March 24, 1954, which is a continuation of application Serial Number 243,307, led August 23, 1951, now abandoned, which is a continuing application of application Serial Number 676,926, tiled June 15, 1946, now abandoned, but will be described generally herein.

The mandrel 4 may be provided with a collar or shoulder 11 which is arranged to engage the shoulder 10 forming a part of the head 12 of the upper packer assembly 5. The packer 13 of upper packer assembly 5 is lixed to the head by a retainer member 14 at its upper end and to a` similar inverted retainer 15 at its lower end. Disposed between the upper and lower packer assemblies is a control sleeve 16 to which the adjacent retainer members on the upper and lower packers are suitably threaded.

The mandrel is provided with a port 18 which is ar ranged for alignment with a port 19 in the control sleeve 16. Suitable seal rings 2li adjacent an extremity of each packer and positioned in the control sleeve form a seal with the surface of the mandrel above and below the port 19 so as to isolate the port 19 except when the port 1S is aligned therewith as seen in Fig. 5. Seal rings 2li' adjacent the other extremity of each packer also form a seal with the surface of the mandrel.

A stop shoulder 21 on the mandrel is arranged to engage the shoulder 22 in the control sleeve as seenlin Fig. so as to limit the' relative movement of the mandrel and the control sleeve when theports 18 and 19 are in alignment to open the tool.

In lowering the tool into the well bore, it may be desirable that the pressure on the inside of the tool and the outside thereof in the well bore be equalized and with this in mind, the lower end of the mandrel has been provided with a section 25 having a bottom port 26 therein. The section 25 has an extension 27 threaded into the lower end thereof `and this extension forms part of an attachment for the bottom end of the mandrel which includes the control bottom 28. This bottom is in the form of a closure member fitted about the section 25 and is provided with spaced annular seals 49 to form a seal with the surface of 2S. This bottom has an opening therein which receives the extension 27. The extension 27 carries a cross shaft 30 (see Fig. 3) having a star wheel 31 rotatably arranged in a cross slot 32 in the extension 27 so that it may tilt or rotate.. As shown in Fig. 3, the transverse pivot pin may have its axis radially spaced from the longitudinal axis of the mandrel.

Figs. 3 and 7 show the parts of this bottom attachment in the position in which they are preferably arranged as the tool is lowered into the well bore. This arrangement leaves the bottom port 26 open so that any pressure in the well will be equalized with that inside of the mandrel.

A coil spring 34 inside of the bottom 28 bears against the lower end of the extension 27 and normally vurges the bottom 38 off of the mandrel. The engaging faces 35 on the periphery of the opening in section 28 limit this movement of the parts away from each other so that the bottom is supported on the extension as seen in Fig. 3.

It is often desirable to 4circulate liquid through the tool prior to operating it in the screen to carry out the desired procedure and the open port 26 will permit such circulation, When, however, it is desired to inflate the packers, the bottom of the mandrel must be closed so that the liquid circulating down through the mandrel can be forced into packers. To accomplish this, the entire tool is lowered until it engages the bottom 37 of the Well borev as seen in Fig. 8 or any suitable obstruction which may be positioned in the well for such purpose. The lower end of the bottom 28 is closed by a plug 38 which is threaded therein and supports the spring 34. When this plug engages the bottom 37 of the well, any further downward movement of the bottom 28 is arrested and continued downward movement of the mandrel tends to compress the spring 34 and moves the extension 27 downwardly to the position shown in Fig. 8. The star wheel has three points or prongs indicated in Fig. 3 `as 4t), 41 and 42. As seen in Figs. 3 and 7, the point 4t) is in such a position that when the extension and the mandrel move downwardly into the bottom 28, this point 40 will engage the corner 44 on an upstanding portion 4S of the plug 38 as seen in Fig. 8. This causes a slight turning movement of the star wheel 31 so that the point 40 assumes the position shown in Fig. 8. The operating pipe and mandrel 4 will now be raised slightly so that theA spring 34 will be permitted to expand and urge the bottom 28 downwardly until the parts assume the position of Fig. 9 where the point 40 is shown as having engaged an inclined face 47 and the shoulder 48. This engagement stops any further 4 f movement of the bottom 28 and locks the parts with the bottom port 26 spaced between the seal rings 49 in the bottom 28. This closes and seals the lower end of the mandrel so that pressure may now be applied through the operating pipe to effect inflation of the packers. It will be understood that during the previous operations for manipulating the bottom attachment, the packers have moved as a unit with the mandrel. Now, however, when the packers are inilated, they will form a irictional en-v gagernent with the screen 7 as seen in Fig. 4 and the mandrel can be moved independently of the packers. The mandrel will now be lowered to the position of Fig. 5 until the collar 21 abuts the shoulder 22 on the control sleeve 16 in such a manner that the ports 18 and 19 are aligned to open the tool to the well bore.

Any suitable operation may now be performed. As examples, one operation could be the application of liquid under high pressure through the operating pipe and mandrel so as to force the liquid through the openings in the strainer. Another operation wouldV be to apply an acid or a suitable treating chemical tending to dissolve and loosen the'scale and foreign matter on the strainer. Another operation would be to create a reduction in pressure inside of the tool in any suitable manner so as to cause the liquid from outside of the strainer to ow thereinto in order to test the screen to see ifl it has been opened or to obtain a sample of liquid from the well bore outside of the screen. Other servicing operations may also be performed.

When it is desired to close the tool, it is only necessary to lift upon the operating pipe and the mandrel so as to move the port 18 above the seal 20 in the control sleeve and back into the upper packer 5. This releases the liquid that was locked in the packers so that it may return to the interior of the mandrel and equalize itself with the Well pressure. The inherent resiliency of the packing 13 will tend'to collapse the packers and effect the dellating thereof. If it is now desired to open the tool at the bottom to circulate liquid through the well to wash out any foreign matter loosened from the screen or to prepare the well for another operation, the tool may be lowered as a unit to bump bottom to carry on the sequence of operations of Figs. l0 and l1.

This sequence as` seen in Fig. l0 includes again bumping bottom with the attachment 28 so thatcontinued downward movement of the mandrel moves the star wheel to the position shown in Fig. ll), where the point 42 is shown as engaging a stop shoulder 43 in the plug 38. This causes a slight turning of the star wheel so as to move the point 40 inwardly a short distance. When the mandrel is now raised, the point 40 will move upwardly without contacting the shoulder 48 vso as to allow the mandrel to move upwardly to the open position as seen in Fig. 11,'where the port 26 is above the bottom attachment 28.

As shown in Fig. 1l the section 2S of the mandrel has not quite moved to its position as seen in Fig. 7 but the construction is shown in this manner to indicate that the inclined shoulder 46 tends to tilt the star wheel slightly so as to move the point 42 outwardly so that it will be readyto engage the corner 44 of the sleeve 45, as shown in Figs. 6-19. With this arrangement of a three point star, the attachment can be operated repeatedly to obtain the desired alternate opening and closing of the port in the Ysection 2S of the mandrel;

The tool now can be moved to another elevation in the open hole or section of the screen and the manipulations previously described repeated. In this manner, the entire section of the screen may be .cleaned or treated and the opening of the screen and the sampling of the well accomplished.

The lubricant tting 50 best seen in Figs. 3 and 6 on the bottom 28 is utilized to force lubricant into the interior of the bottom so as to prevent the entrance of well openings 51 upon upward movement of the bottom relative to the mandrel, the lubricant being of less specific gravity than the well liquid would remain about the working parts.

The lower packer assembly 6 is constructed in the same manner as the upper assembly and the heads 12 thereof may each have a valve 17 by which the packers may be tlushed out if desired.

In operating in some wells, particularly wells which may have been producing for some time, there may not be any substantial head of liquid in the well sucient to obtain the desired pressures and circulation and with this in mind, the mandrel may be equipped with an assembly 60 best seen in the upper end of Fig. 2. This assembly 60 embodies a housing 61 which is movably supported upon the pipe or mandrel and has the housing extension 63 in the form of an annular sleeve connected by the threads 62 to the lower end thereof.

This housin-g as best seen in the transverse section in Fig. 12, is provided with the drag blocks 64 which are arranged to engage the pipe in which the tool is being operated so as to prevent rotation of the housing 61 when the mandrel is rotated. This arrangement is provided in order that the dogs 65 which are engaged with the threaded area 66 on the periphery of the mandrel 4 may be unscrewed to move the mandrel 4 relative to the housing and the housing extension and to move the upper dogs 67 into the threaded area 68 on the periphery of the mandrel. By this construction the housing can be spaced in the lower position as seen in Fig. 2 or in the upper position as shown in Fig. 5.

In the lower position as seen in Fig. 2, a seal ring 69 inside of the housing extension will be located in sealing contact with the mandrel between the upper opening 69 and the lower opening 70 which are spaced on opposite sides of a barrier 71 which extends across the inside of the mandrel. It will be evident that in this position, there can be no flow of liquid down the operating pipe and mandrel because of the position of the housing.

Such an arrangement may be provided when it is desired to lower the tool into the hole with the operating pipe and the mandrel 4 empty or partly tilled with liquid or to prevent any inoW of well liquid into the operating pipe above the barrier.

When the housing is in this position, it will be noted that the inlet opening 74 in the housing extension 63 is aligned with the inlet opening 75 in the mandrel below the opening 70. This allows the well tluid to enter the portion of the mandrel below the barrier 71 so as to equalize with the pressure inside of the tool.

When it is desired to inate the packers, it is only necessary to rotate the operating pipe and mandrel until the housing moves to the position shown in Fig. 5, where it will be noted that the inlet port 75 in mandrel 4 has been covered by the lower portion of the extension and is spaced between the seal rings 76. At the same time, however, the packing 69 is in a position upwardly above the upper opening 69 so that the recess 78 in the lower portion of the housing will span the two openings 69 and 70 so that a ow of liquid may be had around barrier 71 and thence through the mandrel.

In the manner herein described the mandrel is closed off from communicating with the packers until a predetermined time. By operating the star wheel attachment at the bottom, the lower end of the mandrel may be closed so that when communication between the mandrel, or operating pipe, and hydraulic packers is effected, then pressure can be applied to inflate the packers.

It seems obvious that if it is desired to reopen the tool above the packers, then a slight amount of reverse rotation will unthread the housing from the mandrel (as shown in Fig. 5) so that by relative movement between the housing and mandrel will move the housing back to its initial position, as seen in Fig. 2, and thus reopen the tool to the well bore above the packers.

Broadly the invention contemplates a tool which is constructed so as to control communication between the operating pipe and tool, and between the tool and well bore and between the operating pipe and well bore.

What is claimed is:

1. A Well tool for treating, testing, and servicing wells comprising, a tubular mandrel, a pair of spaced, inflatable packers suspended thereon, a port in said mandrel, a bottom attachment slidably surrounding the lower part of said mandrel and connected therewith, and positioning means adapted to yieldably lock said bottom attachment and said lower mandrel part against relative axial movement to position said mandrel port above said attachment or to occlude said port Within said attachment, said positioning means including, a plug in the base of said attachment and an annular member upstanding therefrom and having an upwardly facing shoulder therein, a spring in said annular member to bear against the end of said lower mandrel part and said plug, a star wheel rotatably supported in said lower mandrel part with axis radially spaced from the axis Vof said mandrel and with each arm thereof of a radial length less than the distance from said star wheel axis to the annular member wall point farthest therefrom and greater than the distance from said star Wheel axis to the annular member wall point nearest thereto, and a downwardly facing shoulder in said attachment above said annular member with outer diameter greater than the inner diameter of said annular member, said star wheel arms engageable with said shoulders on said member and attachment respectively upon relative movement between said mandrel and attachment whereby said attachment and mandrel are positioned relatively to position said mandrel port above said attachment or to occlude said port within said attachment.

2. A well tool for servicing Wells comprising, a tubular mandrel, inatable packer means on said mandrel, seal means for sealing ot between said packer means and mandrel, a control sleeve joined to said packer means and disposed about said mandrel, there being port means in said mandrel for communicating the interior of said mandrel with said packer means whereby uid may be passed by said mandrel to inflate said packer means, and means on said mandrel above said packer means to control the fluid ow therethrough to the mandrel port means, said means including a housing slidable upon said mandrel and also having a recess therein, a barrier extending across said mandrel, there being opening means in said mandrel above and below said barrier, said mandrel and said housing being slidable with relation to each other and including means to lockably position said upper and lower opening means within said housing recess to How uid around said barrier to the mandrel port.

3. A well tool for treating, testing and servicing wells comprising a tubular mandrel, hydraulically inllatable packers suspended thereon, therebeing port means in said mandrel for flowing liquid therefrom and into said packers to inate said packers, seal means adjacent the extremities of said packers sealing olf between said packers and said mandrel, valve means on said mandrel above said packers to control the ow of liquid therethrough to the mandrel port means, said valve means including, a housing slidable upon said mandrel and also having a recess therein, a barrier extending across said mandrel, therebeing upper and lower opening means in said mandrel spanning said barrier, said mandrel and said housing being slidable with relation to each other and including means to lockably position said upper and lower opening means within said housing recess to ow iluid around said barrier to said mandrel port.

4. A well tool for treating, testing and servicing wells comprising a tubular mandrel, hydraulically inflatable packer means suspended thereon, there being a port in said mandrel for flowing liquid into said packer means to inflate said packer means, seal means adjacent the eX- tremities of said packer means sealing olf between said packer means and said mandrel, means on said mandrel above said packer means to control the flow of liquidV therethrough to the port, including a plurality of spaced openings in -said mandrel, said means also including a housing movable relative to said mandrel, seal means forming a viluid seal between said mandrel andv said housing, a barrier in said mandrel, the spaced openings being above and below said barrier, said housing upon relative movement with respect to said mandrel'acting to position said spaced openings in said mandrel so as to ow fluid around said mandrel barrier and to said packer means.

5. A well tool for treating, testing and servicing wells comprising a tubular mandrel, a pair of spaced inflatable packers suspendedthereon, a controlsleeve joining said packers and disposed about said mandrel, therebeing port means in said mandrel for discharging liquid to inate said packers, sealV means adjacent the extremities of said packers sealing off between said packers and said mandrel, therebeing passage means through said control sleeve joining said packers and a port in said control sleeve, said mandrel and packers being relatively slidable, a shoulder on each said mandrel and .said sleeve, said shoulders engageable to limit sliding movement of the mandrel relative to said sleeve whereby the mandrel and sleeve ports are aligned to open the mandrel to the `outside of said sleeve between said packers, valve means on said mandrel above said packers to control the ow of liquid therethrough to the mandrel port means, said valve means including, a housing slidable upon said mandrel and also having a recess therein, a barrier `extending across said mandrel, therebeing opening means in said mandrel above and below said barrier, said mandrel and said housing being slidable with relation to each other and including means to lockably position said upper and lower opening means within said housing recess to flow fluid around saidbarrier to the mandrel port means.

6. A well tool for servicing wells comprising, a tubular mandrel closed at its lower end, spaced inflatable packers on said mandrel, seal means for sealing o between said packers and mandrel, a control sleeve joining said packers and disposed about said mandrel, therebeing port means in said mandrel for communicating the interior of said mandrel with said packers whereby iluidmay be passed by said mandrel to inflate said packers, therebeing additional port means in the .lower end portion of said mandrel whereby the interior of said mandrel may be opened to the Well below said packers, a closure member longitudinally movable relative tothe lower end of said mandrel for occluding the additional port means in said mandrel to shut off communication between Vthe interior of the mandrel and the well, and yieldable means for urging said closure member longitudinally. of said mandrel to open said additional port means to the well, shoulder means on said closure member, and movable means on said mandrel engageable with said shoulder means upon relative movement of said closure member and mandrel to lock said closure member on said mandrel in position closing said additional port means in the lower portion of said mandrel.

7. A well tool for treating, testing and servicing Wells comprising a tubular mandrel closed at its lower end, hydraulically inflatable packers suspended thereon, there- .l CH

being a port in said mandrel for flowing liquid intoA said packers to inflate said packers, seal means adjacent thel extremities of said packers sealing olf betweenrsaid packers and said mandrel, therebeing additional Vport-means in the-lower end portion Vof said mandrel wherebythe interior of said mandrel may be opened to the ,well, a closure member longitudinally movable Yrelative to the lower end of said mandrel for occluding the additionall port means in said mandrel to shutV olf communication between the interior of the. mandreland the well,` means on said mandrel andsaid member coengageable upon reiative movement Abetween said mandrel and member' for locking said mandrel and member together in a position to occlude theadditional mandrel port means by said member and additional means'on said mandrel and closure member engageable .upon relative downward movement of saidy mandrel relative tol said member to disengage said locking means to permit` relative movement of said mandrel and member to open the mandrel port to the well.

8. A well tool including a tubular iluid conducting mandrel, a barrier across said mandrel for preventing communication therethrough, therebeing port means in said mandrel above and below said barrier, a housing movably mounted on said mandrel, therebeing a recess in said housing, seal means forming a uid seal between said housing and mandrel, means forming a releasable connection between said mandrel and housing whereby said housing and mandrel may be longitudinally positioned relative to each other, said means including threaded surfaces on each said mandrel and housing which may be disengaged by relative rotation of said housing and mandrel when it is desired to longitudinally position said'. housing and mandrel, said housing thereupon being movable relative to said mandrel whereby the recess therein may span the mandrel ports to conduct iluid from saidr mandrel aroundvsaidl barrier and back into said'mandrel on the other side of said barrier.'

9. A well tool including a tubular iluid conducting mandrel closed at -its lower end, therebeing a port in the lower end portion of said mandrel whereby the interior of said mandrel may be opened to the well, a closure member longitudinally movable relative 4to the lower end of said mandrel for occluding the mandrel port to shut oft" communication between the yinterior of the mandrelv References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,227,731 Lynes Jan. 7, 1941 A2,538,369 Williams et al. Jau. 4, 1944 2,404,876 Granger July 30, 1946 2,575.603 Taylor et al. Nov. 20, 1951

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