Sand control seal for subsurface safety valve
AssigneeBaker Hughes Incorporated
InventorGrant R. Thompson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A seal is provided to prevent contamination by sand or grit in the clearance between a flow tube and the inner housing wall in a safety valve. An enlarged space is provided adjacent the seal to allow accumulation of sand or grit in the annular clearance space without causing seizure of the flow tube. The insert safety valve is assembled without a spacer with a seal mounted to the lower end of the insert valve to engage the bottom sub on the SSV. As a result, particularly for larger sizes of insert safety valves, the assembly is lighter and shorter, which facilitates use of readily available standard lubricator and wireline equipment.
Claims15
A safety valve for downhole use, comprising:
- a housing, comprising a flow passage therethrough;
- piston movably mounted in said housing and connected to a flow tube for moving the flow tube in said housing to operate the valve;
- said flow tube defining a clearance in said flow passage;
- and
- a particulate retention device spanning said clearance;
- said particulate retention device comprises a ring;
- said ring is mounted in a groove;
- said groove is sufficiently deep so that flexing of said housing will not bring an outer diameter of said ring in contact with a bottom of said groove.
An insert safety valve for insertion and operation through a tubing safety valve, said tubing safety valve further comprising a nipple adapter and a bottom sub having an internal bore, and a control system passage with an access opening provided from said control system into said bore in anticipation of insertion of said insert safety valve, said insert valve comprising:
- a valve housing having a pair of seals thereon positioned to engage said nipple adapter and said bottom sub in said bore of the tubing safety valve and straddle said opening, without the use of a spacer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.