Retractable ball seat having a time delay material
AssigneeBaker Hughes Incorporated
InventorYang Xu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Retractable ball seats having a housing, a seat, and a plug such as a ball are disclosed. The seat has a retracted position that prohibits the ball from passing through the passageway and an expanded position that permits the ball to pass through the passageway. A time delay material, such as a dissolvable material, maintains the seat in the retracted position. The time delay material disintegrates, degrades, or dissolves within a known period of time such that the retractable ball seat can be placed in a desired location in the wellbore and the ball will be released through the passageway within a known period of time.
Claims23
An apparatus for selectively closing a well conduit to enable pressure applied to the conduit to actuate a downhole tool, the apparatus comprising:
- a housing for connection into a conduit disposed in a well and having a bore disposed longitudinally therein;
- a seat disposed within the bore, the seat having a non-dissolvable expandable member having a retracted position and an expanded position;
- at least one dissolvable material operatively associated with the non-dissolvable expandable member such that the at least one dissolvable material maintains the non-dissolvable expandable member in the retracted position prior to dissolution;
- and
- a plug element adapted to be disposed into the conduit, the plug element landing on the seat and blocking fluid flow through the conduit when the non-dissolvable expandable member is in the retracted position to enable fluid pressure to be applied to the conduit for actuating a well tool connected into the conduit,
- wherein, the movement of the non-dissolvable expandable member from the retracted position to the expanded position is facilitated by dissolution of the dissolvable material, thereby permitting the plug element to pass completely through the seat.
An improvement in a retractable ball seat located within a string of conduit in a well, the ball seat comprising an expandable collet for releasably trapping a plug member dropped down the conduit, the improvement comprising:
- at least one dissolvable material disposed adjacent the expandable collet, preventing the expandable collet from expanding until the dissolvable material is dissolved.
A method of actuating a downhole tool disposed in the bore of a well, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing a seat having a retracted position and an expanded position;
- (b) lowering the seat and a downhole tool on a string of conduit into a bore of a well while the seat is retained in the retracted position with a dissolvable material;
- then
- (c) inserting a plug member into the conduit and landing the plug member on the seat;
- then
- (d) pumping fluid into the conduit, which is blocked by the plug member on the seat, thereby causing pressure within the conduit to increase to actuate the well tool;
- then
- (e) dissolving the dissolvable material;
- and then,
- (f) expanding the seat from the retracted position to the expanded position, and allowing the ball to move completely through the seat.
An apparatus for selectively closing a well conduit to enable pressure applied to the conduit to actuate a downhole tool, the apparatus comprising:
- a housing for connection into a conduit disposed in a well and having a bore disposed longitudinally therein;
- a seat disposed within the bore, the seat having a retracted position and an expanded position;
- at least one dissolvable material operatively connected to the seat such that the at least one dissolvable material maintains the seat in the retracted position prior to dissolution, the at least one dissolvable material comprises a bio-degradable polymer;
- and
- a plug element adapted to be disposed into the conduit, the plug element landing on the seat and blocking fluid flow through the conduit when the seat is in the retracted position to enable fluid pressure to be applied to the conduit for actuating a well tool connected into the conduit,
- wherein, the movement of the seat from the retracted position to the expanded position is facilitated by dissolution of the dissolvable material, thereby permitting the plug element to pass completely through the seat.
An apparatus for selectively closing a well conduit to enable pressure applied to the conduit to actuate a downhole tool, the apparatus comprising:
- a housing for connection into a conduit disposed in a well and having a bore disposed longitudinally therein;
- a seat disposed within the bore, the seat having a retracted position and an expanded position;
- at least one dissolvable material operatively connected to the seat such that the at least one dissolvable material maintains the seat in the retracted position prior to dissolution, the at least one dissolvable material comprises a polyvinyl-alcohol based polymer;
- and
- a plug element adapted to be disposed into the conduit, the plug element landing on the seat and blocking fluid flow through the conduit when the seat is in the refracted position to enable fluid pressure to be applied to the conduit for actuating a well tool connected into the conduit,
- wherein, the movement of the seat from the refracted position to the expanded position is facilitated by dissolution of the dissolvable material, thereby permitting the plug element to pass completely through the seat.
An apparatus for selectively closing a well conduit to enable pressure applied to the conduit to actuate a downhole tool, the apparatus comprising:
- a housing for connection into a conduit disposed in a well and having a bore disposed longitudinally therein;
- a seat disposed within the bore, the seat having a refracted position and an expanded position and the seat moving axially relative to an axis of the housing when moving from the refracted to the expanded position;
- at least one dissolvable material operatively connected to the seat such that the at least one dissolvable material maintains the seat in the refracted position prior to dissolution;
- and
- a plug element adapted to be disposed into the conduit, the plug element landing on the seat and blocking fluid flow through the conduit when the seat is in the refracted position to enable fluid pressure to be applied to the conduit for actuating a well tool connected into the conduit,
- wherein, the movement of the seat from the refracted position to the expanded position is facilitated by dissolution of the dissolvable material, thereby permitting the plug element to pass completely through the seat.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.