Downhole Mobility Module With Expandable Tracks for Variable Well Diameters
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing robotic devices for monitoring oil and gas production wells struggle to navigate through production tubing and deep well passageways of varying diameters, particularly in complex lateral wells, due to their reliance on passive suspension and inability to handle significant diameter changes.
Innovation Solution
A robotic device equipped with multiple mobility modules, each featuring a central support member and expandable and collapsible casings with movable tracks, allowing for adjustable diameter navigation through varying passageways by collapsing for unimpeded movement and expanding for fixed engagement, enabling the device to traverse narrow and wide sections.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If robotic devices use passive suspension, then they are simpler in structure, but they can only navigate production tubing with minor diameter changes
Solution Approach 1:
The robotic device employs actively controlled linkages that can dynamically adjust the diameter of the casing, transforming it from a static structure to an adaptive one. This allows the device to navigate through production tubing with varying diameters by actively changing its own diameter to match the passageway dimensions.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the diameter parameter of the robotic device's casing through controlled expansion and collapse of the linkages. This parameter change enables the device to adapt to different passageway diameters, resolving the contradiction between structural simplicity and navigation versatility.
2Reliability
If the robotic device expands to engage with the well, then it achieves fixed engagement for stable operation, but it cannot move through narrow passages
Solution Approach 1:
The linkage system provides dynamic control over the device's diameter, allowing it to transition between expanded and collapsed states. This dynamic capability enables the device to achieve fixed engagement when needed while maintaining the ability to pass through narrow sections by collapsing.
Solution Approach 2:
The robotic device periodically expands and collapses the linkages as it progresses through the wellbore, alternating between engagement phases (for stability during operations) and transit phases (for navigating constrictions). This periodic action resolves the contradiction between needing large diameter for stability and small diameter for mobility.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the linkages are made expandable and collapsible, then the device can navigate varying diameters, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The casing is segmented into multiple sections connected by linkages, allowing independent control of each segment's position. This segmentation enables diameter adjustment while keeping each individual linkage component relatively simple in design.
Solution Approach 2:
The linkage mechanism serves multiple functions: it provides structural support, enables diameter adjustment, and facilitates navigation through varying passageways. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate specialized components, thereby limiting the increase in overall device complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A robotic device and mobility module for navigating through a passageway whose diameter may vary comprises a central support member, a first casing coupled to the elongate support member via a first expandable and collapsible linkage, the first casing having an external surface including a first movable track, and a second casing coupled to an opposite side of the elongate support member from the first casing, the second casing coupled to the elongate support member via a second expandable and collapsible linkage and including an external surface including a second movable track.