Plugging device deployment
AssigneeThru Tubing Solutions, Inc.
InventorsBrock W. Watson, Gary P. Funkhouser
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of deploying plugging devices in a well can include a spacing between the plugging devices by controlling a ratio flow rates through intersecting pipes. A deployment apparatus can include an actuator and a release structure that releases the plugging devices into a conduit connected to a tubular string in the well. Another method of deploying plugging devices in a well can include operating an actuator, thereby displacing a release structure, and the release structure releasing the plugging devices into the well in response to operating the actuator. Another deployment apparatus can include intersecting pipes and a valve that selectively permits and prevents displacement of the plugging devices through one of the pipes.
Claims14
A method of deploying plugging devices in a well, the method comprising:
- flowing a fluid through a conduit containing an uninterrupted queue of the plugging devices, wherein the queue is obstructed from passing through the conduit by a release structure;
- then operating an actuator, thereby displacing the release structure;
- and
- the release structure only releasing a portion of the queue of the plugging devices at a time into the well in response to the operating, wherein the releasing further comprises the fluid flow carrying the portion of the queue of the plugging devices from the conduit into the well.
A deployment apparatus for deploying plugging devices in a well, the deployment apparatus comprising:
- a first conduit containing an uninterrupted queue of the plugging devices, wherein a fluid flow passes through the first conduit;
- a release structure that obstructs passage of the queue through the first conduit;
- and
- an actuator that is configured to displace the release structure, wherein the release structure is adapted to only release a portion of the queue of the plugging devices at a time into a second conduit connected to a tubular string in the well, and wherein the fluid flow carries the portion of the queue of the plugging devices from the first conduit, through the second conduit, and into the tubular string.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.