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US 9,260,933 B2Granted
Modular ball drop
AssigneeOil States Energy Services, L.L.C.
InventorsDanny Lee Artherholt, Bob McGuire, Mickey Claxton
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A modular ball drop made up of two or more identical ball drop modules that are vertically stacked in a desired number. Each ball drop module can drop one or more frac balls into a fluid stream being pumped into a well.
Claims17
A modular ball drop module, comprising:
- a tubular body having a central passage:
- a ball retainer mechanism comprising a retainer ball that is rotated by an actuator stem from a ball retention position in which the retainer ball retains at least one frac ball in the central passage to a ball released position in which the at least one frac ball is released from the central passage;
- and
- an actuator stem lock mechanism that automatically locks the retainer ball in the ball released position when the retainer ball is rotated from the ball retainer position to the ball released position, the actuator stem comprising a lock bolt that is constantly urged against a side of the actuator stem and is driven through a lock bore in the actuator stem when the retainer ball is moved from the ball retention position to the ball release position.
1 more element
A modular ball drop module, comprising:
- a top end and a bottom end, the top end comprising a tubular body having a central passage, the top end adapted to be mounted to another ball drop module or a purge valve:
- and the bottom end connected to the top end and having a central passage of the same diameter and aligned with the central passage of the top end, the bottom end being adapted to be mounted to any one of:
- another ball drop module, a frac head and a frac iron:
- a ball retainer mechanism housed by the tubular body and comprising a retainer ball that obstructs the central passage of the tubular body when the retainer ball is in a ball retention position, the retainer ball being rotated by an actuator stem from the ball retention position to a ball released position in which the central passage is unobstructed:
- and
- an actuator stem lock mechanism that automatically locks the retainer ball in the ball released position when the retainer ball is rotated from the ball retainer position to the ball released position, the actuator stem lock mechanism comprising a lock bolt that is constantly urged against a side of the actuator stem and is driven through a lock bore in the actuator stem when the retainer ball is rotated from the ball retention position to the ball released position.
3 more elements
A modular ball drop with at least two ball drop modules, the respective ball drop modules comprising:
- a central passage that stores frac balls to be dropped by a retainer ball of a ball retainer mechanism of the ball drop module, the retainer ball obstructing the central passage in a ball retention position and opens the passage in a ball released position to let the frac balls drop through the central passage of the ball drop module;
- an actuator stem connected to the ball retainer mechanism, the actuator stem being adapted to rotate the retainer ball from the ball retention position to the ball released position;
- and
- an actuator stem lock mechanism that is constantly urged against a side of an actuator stem that rotates the retainer ball to lock the actuator stem in the ball released position, the actuator stem lock mechanism comprising a fluid cylinder having a piston and a lock bolt attached to the piston, whereby fluid pressure in the cylinder constantly urges the lock bolt against the side of the actuator stem and the lock bolt is driven through a lock bore in the actuator stem when the actuator stem is rotated to move the retainer ball from the ball retention position to the ball release position.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.