Control swelling of swellable packer by pre-straining the swellable packer element
AssigneeSchlumberger Technology Corporation
InventorsKuo-Chiang Chen, John Whitsitt
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A swellable packer including a first retainer, a second retainer, a swellable element, a piston, and a piston lock. The second retainer is spaced axially apart from the first retainer. The swellable element is at least partially disposed between and fixed to the first and second retainers. The piston is fixed to the second retainer and configured to move the second retainer from a first position in which the swellable element is unstrained, to a second position in which the swellable element is strained. The piston lock is configured to releasably fix the second retainer in the second position.
Claims15
A method of controlling a swell rate of a swellable element, comprising:
- stretching the swellable element disposed on a tubular member attached between a first retainer and a second retainer by moving the second retainer from a first position to a second position away from the first position, said stretching to retard swell;
- securing the second retainer in the second position with an actuation device;
- and
- actuating a trigger mechanism to cause the actuation device to release the second retainer from the second position to move toward the first retainer, said actuating comprising:
- forcing a hydraulic fluid through a flow control device to move a spool from a first position where a flow path between a chamber defined in the actuating mechanism and a downhole environment is obstructed to a second position where the flow path is at least partially unobstructed to allow a fluid flow therethrough;
- and
- moving a piston with a pressure applied by the fluid flow to release the second retainer from the second position.
A swellable packer, comprising:
- a tubular member;
- a first retainer fixed to the tubular member;
- a second retainer disposed on the tubular member, spaced axially apart from the first retainer, and axially movable between a first position and a second position;
- a swellable element disposed on the tubular member between and attached to the first retainer and the second retainer;
- an actuation device connected to the second retainer and configured to releasably secure the second retainer in the second position;
- to retard swell of said swellable element, said actuation device comprising:
- an actuation body disposed on the tubular member and comprising first and second actuation body sections spaced axially apart to define a chamber therebetween;
- a housing movably disposed around the actuation body;
- and
- a ring connected to an inner diameter of the housing and slidably disposed in the chamber, wherein the ring separates the chamber into a first chamber section and a second chamber section;
- and
- a trigger mechanism connected to the actuation device and configured to release the second retainer from the second position when the trigger mechanism is triggered.
A swellable packer, comprising:
- a first retainer;
- a second retainer spaced axially apart from the first retainer;
- a swellable element at least partially disposed between the first and second retainers and fixed to the first and second retainers;
- a piston fixed to the second retainer and configured to move the second retainer from a first position in which the swellable element is unstrained, to a second position in which the swellable element is strained;
- and
- a piston lock configured to releasably fix the second retainer in the second position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.