3D Printed Subsurface Tool with Integral Stress Zone
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Solution Overview
Problem
Subsurface tools often require high forces to separate components, which can lead to increased complexity and component count, making it difficult to achieve separation with lower forces without affecting tool performance.
Innovation Solution
The integration of stress concentration zones within a single-component body using additive manufacturing, allowing for controlled separation by creating weakened areas that fracture under specific stresses, reducing the number of components and simplifying the tool's design.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Force
If traditional multi-component tool design is used, then separation force can be controlled, but device complexity and component count increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple components into a single monolithic body with internally integrated stress concentration zones. The stress concentration zones are formed within the solid body through additive manufacturing, eliminating the need for separate shear sleeves, pins, or other mechanical separation components. This integration maintains controllable separation force while reducing device complexity and component count.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by creating stress concentration zones with specific geometric features (such as varying cross-sectional areas, internal cavities, or material property variations) at specific locations within the monolithic body. These localized features concentrate stress in predetermined regions, enabling controlled separation at specific points while maintaining overall structural integrity elsewhere in the tool.
2Force
If high separation force is used, then tool portions can be separated, but tool performance and operation are affected
Solution Approach 1:
The stress concentration zones are designed with specific geometric characteristics (reduced cross-sectional area, internal voids, or material property variations) that locally reduce strength while maintaining overall tool performance. This allows separation to occur at predetermined low-force points without compromising the structural integrity and performance of the remaining tool portions.
3Force
If stress concentration zones are added to control separation, then separation force is reduced, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent utilizes additive manufacturing technology to create complex internal stress concentration zone geometries that would be difficult or impossible to achieve with traditional subtractive manufacturing. The layer-by-layer construction process allows for intricate internal cavities, varying cross-sections, and optimized stress distribution patterns to be directly fabricated, actually simplifying the manufacturing process compared to traditional methods that would require multiple components and assembly steps.
Data Source
AI summary
A subsurface tool adapted to extend within a wellbore includes an integrally formed single-component body that defines an external surface and an internal chamber isolated from the external surface. When the tool is subjected to one or more stresses, a stress concentration is created within a stress zone of the single-component body, the stress zone being adjacent the internal chamber.