Flexible Guide Pipe for Lateral Well Access
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for gaining lateral access to wells face challenges in limited space, particularly when dealing with shut-in casing pressure and the need to avoid damaging cement, and often require digging out concrete walls to accommodate intervention tools.
Innovation Solution
The use of an intervention apparatus comprising an outer pipe and a flexible guide pipe that deforms around bends, allowing a flexible conduit to be advanced and directed through a lateral access passage, minimizing radial space occupation and enabling simultaneous fluid pumping and gas bleeding without pressure cycles.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a rigid intervention tool is used to access the lateral inlet passage, then the tool can maintain structural integrity, but more space is required radially outwardly of the well
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a flexible guide pipe instead of a rigid intervention tool. The guide pipe is made of flexible material that allows it to bend and deform around obstacles while maintaining its structural integrity. This flexibility enables the tool to navigate the lateral access passage and the bend in the outer pipe without requiring excessive radial space, thus resolving the contradiction between strength and space occupation.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide pipe is designed to be dynamically adaptable, changing its shape from straight to bent configuration as it is pushed through the outer pipe. This dynamic transformation allows the tool to adjust to the spatial constraints of the well structure, reducing the radial space required while maintaining the ability to perform intervention functions.
2Area of stationary object
If the flexible guide pipe is made more flexible to navigate bends, then it can occupy less space, but its structural strength may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible guide pipe is constructed from composite materials that combine flexibility with structural strength. The composite structure allows the pipe to bend and deform around the lateral access passage and outer pipe bend while maintaining sufficient strength to push the bending head and guide the flexible conduit. This resolves the contradiction by providing both the flexibility needed for space reduction and the strength needed for structural integrity.
3Quantity of substance
If alternating steps of bleeding gas and pumping fluid are used, then fluid can be topped up in the annulus, but the annulus is pressurized in cycles risking cement damage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables continuous fluid pumping into the annulus through the lateral access passage while simultaneously bleeding gas from the annulus through the top of the well. This continuous action eliminates the cyclic pressurization-depressurization cycles inherent in alternating methods, maintaining steady pressure that prevents cement damage while still achieving the goal of topping up the annulus with fluid.
Solution Approach 2:
The lateral access passage serves as an intermediary pathway that allows fluid to be introduced into the annulus at a lower point while gas is bled off at a higher point. This intermediary access route enables simultaneous opposing operations (pumping and bleeding) that would not be possible through a single access point, thereby maintaining continuous fluid top-up without cyclic pressurization.
4Ease of operation
If the concrete wall is dug out to create space for intervention tools, then access to the lateral inlet passage is improved, but the structure is damaged and requires repair
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible guide pipe can be inserted through a small opening in the concrete wall and then bent to reach the lateral access passage. This flexibility allows the tool to access the inlet passage without requiring large openings or digging out the wall, thereby maintaining wall integrity while improving access. The flexible pipe adapts to the constrained space rather than requiring space creation.
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
This solution allows for efficient fluid injection into the annulus while bleeding off gas, maintaining hydrostatic pressure without damaging the cement and reducing the need for extensive space modifications, thus addressing the limitations of existing systems.
Implementation Method 1
the flexible guide pipe being arranged to be forwardly advanced in the outer pipe and to deform around a bend in the outer pipe as it is forwardly advanced
Data Source
AI summary
An intervention apparatus for gaining lateral access to a well via a lateral access passage of the well is provided, including an outer pipe and a flexible guide pipe for guiding a flexible conduit towards the lateral access passage, the flexible guide pipe being arranged to be forwardly advanced in the outer pipe and to deform around a bend in the outer pipe as it is forwardly advanced.