Expander device
Assigneee2Tech Limited
InventorsPeter Oosterling, Alan MacKenzie
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Apparatus (9) for radially expanding an expandable member, the apparatus including a plurality of radially moveable fingers (22). The radially moveable fingers (22) can move between two positions; in a first position, the moveable fingers (22) are radially extended to a form a cone to facilitate radial expansion of the expandable member; in the second position, one or more of the radially movable fingers (22) can move radially inward so that restrictions in the path of the apparatus can be by-passed.
Claims28
An apparatus for expanding a downhole tubular, the apparatus comprising:
- a first member,
- at least one radially movable portion configured to radially expand the downhole tubular wherein the at least one radially movable portion is moveable between a first radially expanded position and a second radially retracted position;
- one or more pivot pins configured to pivotally couple the at least one radially movable portion to the first member, wherein the at least one radially movable portion is adapted to pivot about the pivot pins between the first radially expanded position and the second radially retracted position;
- a second member comprising a shaft having an enlarged portion configured to bear against the at least one radially movable portion in the first radially expanded position;
- and
- a force isolating mechanism acting between the first and second members.
An apparatus for expanding a tubular, comprising:
- a substantially cylindrical housing having at least two apertures through a wall of the cylindrical housing;
- at least two radially movable segments disposed at least partially within the apertures and configured to move through the at least two apertures and into contact with the tubular during expansion of the tubular;
- a shaft axially moveable between a first position and a second position relative to the housing, wherein in the first position an enlarged diameter portion of the shaft contacts an inside surface of the segments to maintain the segments in an extended position to radially expand the tubular, and in the second position the enlarged diameter portion displaces to permit inward movement of the segments;
- and
- a resilient member for biasing the shaft to the first position when an axial force is applied to the shaft and configured to move the shaft to the second position upon a larger predetermined axial force applied to the shaft.
A method of expanding a tubular in a wellbore, comprising:
- providing an expander device having one or more radially extendable members, the one or more radially extendable members are pivotally coupled to a housing;
- engaging the tubular with an outer surface of the one or more radially extendable members in order to expand the tubular while the one or more radially extendable members are in a first position in which the one or more radially extendable members have an extended outer diameter;
- actuating a force isolation member in response to increasing a pulling force in a shaft due to the encountering of a restriction in the wellbore thereby moving the shaft axially relative to the housing;
- and
- pivoting the one or more radially extendable members to a second position in which the one or more radially extendable members have a retracted outer diameter in response to moving the shaft.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.