Expandable Anchor Sleeve Conical Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional downhole tools for oil and gas extraction, such as packers and bridge plugs, often experience premature set conditions and reliability issues due to anchoring elements like slips with moving parts, which can lead to inconsistent performance.
Innovation Solution
An expandable anchor sleeve system with a conical anchoring element and an expansion device that uses a thruster to expand and engage with the base casing, eliminating moving parts and providing a reliable anchoring mechanism by increasing interference force, allowing for a larger passage and preventing premature set conditions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional anchoring elements like slips with moving parts are used, then the tool can be set in the casing, but premature set conditions occur and reliability decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and eliminates the moving parts (slips) from the anchoring system. Instead of using conventional slips with moving components that can fail or set prematurely, the patent employs a solid expandable anchor sleeve that expands radially to engage the casing, removing the problematic moving parts entirely while maintaining reliable anchoring function.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention inverts the conventional anchoring approach. Rather than using slips that slide and engage the casing through mechanical motion, the anchor sleeve is expanded radially outward to engage the casing wall. This inversion of the engagement mechanism eliminates premature setting and improves reliability by using a controlled expansion process instead of sliding motion.
2Area of stationary object
If conventional tools are used, then anchoring can be achieved, but the passage size is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The anchor sleeve transitions from a compact transport state to an expanded operational state. This dynamic transformation allows the tool to pass through the casing with a small profile and then expand to create a large passage area while providing reliable anchoring. The expandable design resolves the contradiction between passage size and premature set conditions by controlling when expansion occurs.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention resolves the passage size limitation by utilizing the radial dimension. The anchor sleeve expands radially outward to engage the casing wall, creating a large internal passage area without requiring the tool to be large during insertion. This dimensional transformation allows the tool to achieve both small initial profile and large final passage area.
3Force
If the anchoring element has increased radial thickness for better engagement, then interference force increases, but the tool complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The anchor sleeve features localized thickening at specific regions to maximize interference force where needed. Rather than uniformly increasing thickness throughout the entire sleeve (which would increase complexity), the patent applies increased radial thickness locally at the expansion zone to optimize engagement force while maintaining a simple overall design.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention utilizes parameter changes in the material and geometry of the anchoring element. The sleeve is designed with specific radial thickness parameters that increase interference force upon expansion. By carefully selecting and controlling these geometric parameters, the system achieves high engagement force without complicating the overall design.
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
The expandable anchor sleeve system ensures reliable anchoring and setting, preventing premature conditions and improving reliability by increasing the total cladding force through interference, allowing for efficient fracturing operations and larger passage sizes compared to conventional tools.
Implementation Method 1
utilizing metal plasticity resulting in eliminating moving parts and providing significantly larger passage through compared to conventional tools
Implementation Method 2
The thruster may be connected to the expansion swage and propels the expansion swage towards the connecting device
Implementation Method 3
the force for swage propagation increases due to interference force between anchoring element and the base casing
Data Source
AI summary
A device and method for an expandable anchor sleeve. An expandable anchor sleeve may comprise a front-end and a back-end for a wellbore comprising a base casing. The expandable anchor sleeve may further comprise an anchoring element having a conical shape with a front-end radial thickness being larger than a back-end radial thickness, not less than a difference between corresponding radii of maximum and minimum internal diameters of the base casing and providing the anchoring element is in interference contact with the base casing upon radial expansion of the expandable anchor sleeve by an expansion swage propagating in the front-end direction. A method for installation of an expandable anchor sleeve in a well comprising a base casing which may comprise connecting an expandable anchor sleeve to an expansion, deploying the expandable anchor sleeve, activating the expansion device, and removing the expansion device from the well.