Downhole Tool Landing With Fluid Retention for Impact Mitigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
The inability to maintain a liquid-based fluid column within the drill string during tool deployment operations limits the safe and accurate delivery of tools into hydrocarbon wells, especially when the fluid escapes into the surrounding formation.
Innovation Solution
A tool deployment system that includes a tubular string with a seat and landing profile, using a plug to block fluid flow and fill the string with liquid-based fluid, allowing the tool to pass through and be retained at the landing profile, and a method to displace the plug for fluid circulation resumption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a liquid-based fluid is introduced through the drill string to slow tool descent and reduce impact damage, then tool deployment safety and accuracy are improved, but the fluid may be lost to the surrounding formation causing the drill string interior to become dry or gaseous
Solution Approach 1:
A plug is introduced into the drill string before tool deployment to preliminarily block fluid flow paths that lead to formation loss. This preliminary action prevents fluid from escaping during the critical tool dropping operation, ensuring the fluid column remains intact to cushion the tool descent and landing.
Solution Approach 2:
The plug acts as an intermediary element between the fluid column and the formation. It temporarily seals the drill string interior, mediating the fluid containment during tool deployment. After the tool is safely deployed, the plug can be retrieved or dissolved, allowing fluid circulation to resume.
2Productivity
If the drill string interior becomes dry or gaseous due to fluid loss, then fluid circulation is interrupted, but this limits options for safely deploying the tool into the well
Solution Approach 1:
The plug is placed in advance to prevent fluid loss before it can compromise tool deployment safety. This preliminary blocking action ensures the fluid column is maintained throughout the critical deployment phase.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically transitions between two states: during tool deployment, the plug blocks fluid flow to maintain the fluid column; after deployment, the plug is removed or dissolved to restore fluid circulation. This dynamic adaptation allows the system to optimize for safety during deployment and for productivity afterward.
3Reliability
If a plug is used to block fluid flow through the seat to fill the tubular string with liquid-based fluid, then the fluid column is maintained for tool safety, but the plug must be displaced to resume fluid circulation after deployment
Solution Approach 1:
The plug is designed as a temporary, disposable element that serves its purpose during tool deployment and then is discarded or dissolved. This eliminates the need for complex retrieval mechanisms, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining fluid column integrity during the critical operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The plug's physical or chemical parameters are designed to change after serving its function - it may dissolve in the circulating fluid, be pushed by pressure differential, or change state to allow easy removal. This parameter change simplifies the transition from fluid blocking to fluid circulation resumption.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Ensures safe and controlled tool deployment by maintaining a fluid column for slowing descent and reducing impact damage, enabling accurate landing and post-deployment fluid circulation.
Implementation Method 1
Passing the tool in the tool dropping operation through the fluid occurs until an outward extending landing element of the tool is retained at the landing profile
Implementation Method 2
dropping a plug into the tubular string and onto the seat to block fluid flow through the seat and filling the tubular string above the plug on the seat with a liquid-based fluid
Implementation Method 3
pushing the ball through the seat by increasing fluid pressure above the ball, catching the ball at a location in the drill string above the bit after the ball is pushed through the seat
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and systems provide for landing a tool downhole in a tool dropping operation. In situations where loss of fluid introduced into a tubular string occurs resulting in an interior volume of the tubular string becoming dry or gaseous, a plug is seated in the tubular string and the tubular string is filled with a liquid before the tool is lowered through the tubular string in the tool dropping operation. The tool travels safely through the liquid and lands at a profile above the plug. Thereafter, the plug may be unseated and caught lower within the tubular string to enable reestablishing flow from inside to outside of the tubular string.