Expandable metal wellbore anchor
AssigneeHalliburton Energy Services, Inc.
InventorsMichael Linley Fripp, Stephen Michael Greci
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Disclosed herein are aspects of an expandable metal wellbore anchor for use in a wellbore. The expandable metal wellbore anchor, in one aspect, includes one or more expandable members positionable on a downhole conveyance member in a wellbore, wherein the one or more expandable members comprise a metal configured to expand in response to hydrolysis, and wherein a combined volume of the one or more expandable members is sufficient to expand to anchor one or more downhole tools within the wellbore in response to the hydrolysis.
Claims25
An expandable metal wellbore anchor for use in a wellbore, comprising:
- one or more conductive expandable members positionable on a downhole conveyance member in the wellbore;
- wherein the one or more conductive expandable members comprise a metal configured to expand in response to hydrolysis;
- and
- wherein a combined volume of the one or more conductive expandable members is sufficient to expand to anchor one or more downhole tools having a combined weight of at least 11,000 Kg within the wellbore in response to the hydrolysis.
A well system, comprising:
- a wellbore positioned within a subterranean formation;
- a downhole conveyance located within the wellbore,
- an expandable metal wellbore anchor coupled to the downhole conveyance and expanded within the wellbore, the expandable metal wellbore anchor including;
- one or more conductive expandable members positioned on the downhole conveyance;
- and
- wherein the one or more conductive expandable members comprise a metal configured to expand in response to hydrolysis;
- and
- a downhole tool coupled to the expandable metal wellbore anchor, wherein a combined volume of the one or more expandable members is sufficient to expand to anchor the downhole tool having a combined weight of at least 11,000 Kg within the wellbore in response to the hydrolysis.
A method for setting an expandable metal wellbore anchor, comprising:
- positioning a downhole conveyance at a desired location within a wellbore of a subterranean formation, the downhole conveyance having a pre-expansion expandable metal wellbore anchor coupled thereto, the pre-expansion expandable metal wellbore anchor including;
- one or more conductive expandable members positioned on the downhole conveyance;
- wherein the one or more conductive expandable members comprise a metal configured to expand in response to hydrolysis;
- and
- wherein a combined volume of the one or more conductive expandable members is sufficient to expand to anchor one or more downhole tools having a combined weight of at least 11,000 Kg within the wellbore in response to the hydrolysis;
- and
- subjecting the pre-expansion wellbore anchor to a wellbore fluid to expand the one or more expandable members into contact with the wellbore and thereby anchor the one or more downhole tool within the wellbore.
The method as recited in 24, wherein the hydrolysis forms a structure comprising one of a Brucite, Gibbsite, bayerite, and norstrandite.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.