Swellable packer for guiding an untethered device in a subterranean well
AssigneeSaudi Arabian Oil Company
InventorsSimone Musso, Carl Thaemlitz
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method for guiding an untethered measurement device used in a subterranean well ascending from a space provided by a casing and a terminus of a production conduit. The method includes the step of securing a swellable packer radially on an exterior surface of the production conduit at or proximate to the terminus of the production conduit. The swellable packer is in a non-swollen configuration. The method includes the step of deploying the production conduit into the subterranean well to a target depth. The method includes the step of contacting the swellable packer with a fluidic component at the target depth such that the swellable packer transitions to a swollen configuration.
Claims20
An apparatus for guiding an untethered measurement device used in a subterranean well ascending from a space provided by a casing and a terminus of a production conduit, the apparatus comprising:
- the production conduit;
- a swellable packer having a density less than a density of crude oil in the well and that comprises a meshed component with glass microspheres for reducing the density of the swellable packer, the swellable packer secured radially on an exterior surface of the production conduit at or proximate to the terminus of the production conduit;
- and swellable material in the swellable packer that selectively is reconfigured from a non-swollen configuration to a swollen configuration in response to contact with a fluidic component in the subterranean well and that is selectively delayed.
A method for measuring properties along a subterranean well, the method comprising the steps of:
- securing a swellable packer radially on an exterior surface of a production conduit at or proximate to a terminus of the production conduit, the swellable packer being in a non-swollen configuration;
- contacting the swellable packer with a fluidic component such that the swellable packer transitions to a swollen configuration;
- adjusting a pH of a fluid being injected into the well to delay when the swellable packer transitions to the swollen configuration until the swellable packer is at a target depth;
- deploying an untethered measurement device into the subterranean well;
- taking measurements using the untethered measurement device of one selected from the group consisting of:
- physical properties in the subterranean well, chemical properties in the subterranean well, structural properties in the subterranean well, dynamics of the untethered measurement device, position of the untethered measurement device, and combinations thereof;
- and
- retrieving the untethered measurement device from the subterranean well after the untethered measurement device changes at least one of:
- buoyancy and drag and ascends in the subterranean well.
A method for guiding an untethered measurement device used in a subterranean well ascending from a space provided by a casing and a terminus of a production conduit, the method comprising the steps of:
- securing a swellable packer radially on an exterior surface of the production conduit at or proximate to the terminus of the production conduit, the swellable packer being in a non-swollen configuration;
- deploying the production conduit into the subterranean well to a target depth;
- blocking access to an annulus circumscribing the production conduit to direct the untethered measurement device into the tubular by contacting the swellable packer with a fluidic component at the target depth such that the swellable packer transitions to a swollen configuration and defines a barrier in the annulus to passage of the untethered measurement device;
- and
- delaying transition of the swellable packer into a swollen configuration by controlling a temperature in the well.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.