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US 12,655,714 B2Granted
Meltable material to seal flow-by passageways
AssigneeCameron International Corporation
InventorsKyle Sommerfeld, Andrew Sanders
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A wellhead includes a wellhead housing and a hanger configured to support a casing within the wellhead housing. The wellhead housing, the hanger, or both includes one or more passageways. A seal element is configured to transition from a solid state in a first configuration to a flowable state to flow into the one or more passageways and to transition from the flowable state to the solid state in a second configuration to seal the one or more passageways.
Claims20
A wellhead, comprising:
- a wellhead housing;
- a hanger positioned within the wellhead housing and configured to support a casing suspended within a wellbore, the hanger extending around a periphery of the wellbore;
- one or more passageways positioned within a body of the hanger, the one or more passageways providing fluid flow between portions of the body;
- a seal element configured to transition from a solid state in a first configuration to a flowable state to flow into the one or more passageways and to transition from the flowable state to the solid state in a second configuration to seal the one or more passageways;
- and
- a cup-shaped portion positioned within the one or more passageways, the cup-shaped portion facilitating accumulation of the seal element in the flowable state to provide a location at which the seal element seals the one or more passageways in the solid state.
3 more elements
A method of operating a wellhead, the method comprising:
- running a hanger with a seal element in a solid state in a first configuration, the hanger extending around a periphery of a wellbore;
- performing cementing operations using one or more passageways, wherein the one or more passageways are positioned within a body of the hanger, the one or more passageways providing fluid flow between portions of the body, and wherein the one or more passageways further comprise a cup-shaped portion positioned within the one or more passageways;
- applying heat to the seal element to transition the seal element to a flowable state;
- flowing the seal element into the cup-shaped portion at which the seal element accumulates while in the flowable state, the cup-shaped portion positioned in at least one of the one or more passageways;
- and
- removing the heat from the seal element to transition the seal element to the solid state in a second configuration to seal the one or more passageways.
3 more elements
A seal assembly for a wellhead, the seal assembly comprising:
- a hanger extending around a periphery of a wellbore and configured to support a casing suspended within the wellbore, the hanger comprising one or more passageways positioned within a body of the hanger, the one or more passageways providing fluid flow between portions of the body;
- a seal element configured to transition from a solid state in a first configuration to a flowable state to flow into the one or more passageways and to transition from the flowable state to the solid state in a second configuration to seal the one or more passageways;
- and
- a cup-shaped portion positioned within the one or more passageways, the cup-shaped portion facilitating accumulation of the seal element in the flowable state to provide a location at which the seal element seals the one or more passageways in the solid state.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.