Jarring Tool Piston and Plug Seat for Repeated Activation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing jarring tools for subterranean wells lack efficiency in applying a jarring force to free stuck equipment and produce displacement, as they often require complex setups and limited activation cycles.
Innovation Solution
A jarring tool design featuring a piston and fluid chambers with flow controllers, allowing multiple activation cycles without interfering with ongoing operations, utilizing a plug that creates a pressure differential to generate a jarring force by expanding a plug seat and potentially eroding to reset, enabling repeated use without surface intervention.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a jarring tool is designed to apply jarring force to free stuck equipment, then the equipment can be freed, but the tool requires complex setup and limited activation cycles
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a hydraulic system with a piston, fluid chambers, and flow controllers to generate jarring forces. Fluid pressure differential moves the piston between first and second positions, creating repeated jarring actions. This hydraulic mechanism replaces complex mechanical setups with a more controllable and repeatable fluid-based system.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes changes in fluid pressure parameters to activate the jarring mechanism. By controlling fluid flow into and out of the chambers, the system can repeatedly change the piston position through parameter variation alone, enabling multiple activation cycles without complex mechanical reconfiguration.
2Productivity
If a jarring tool uses a plug to create pressure differential, then repeated activation cycles are enabled, but the plug must be eroded or discharged which requires surface intervention
Solution Approach 1:
The plug is designed to erode automatically through the action of fluid flow past it, without requiring external intervention. The fluid stream progressively erodes the plug material, allowing it to slowly move and eventually discharge through the seat. This self-eroding mechanism enables multiple activation cycles while eliminating the need for surface intervention between cycles.
Solution Approach 2:
The plug is designed as a consumable component that is gradually eroded and eventually discarded. Rather than being a permanent component requiring complex retrieval mechanisms, the plug serves its function of creating pressure differential and then is naturally disposed of through erosion and discharge, simplifying the overall system operation.
3Productivity
If the jarring tool allows continuous fluid flow, then ongoing well operations are maintained, but no pressure differential can be created to generate jarring force
Solution Approach 1:
The fluid flow path is segmented into separate chambers (first chamber and second chamber) with controlled flow paths between them. Flow controllers regulate fluid movement between chambers and to the environment, allowing the system to create temporary pressure differentials in one chamber while maintaining overall fluid circulation. This segmentation enables both continuous operation and periodic jarring force generation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements periodic activation of the jarring mechanism through controlled fluid flow cycles. Flow controllers periodically direct fluid to create pressure differentials that move the piston, then allow equalization. This periodic action generates discrete jarring forces while maintaining continuous well operations between cycles.
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
Enables convenient and repeated application of jarring forces in a single well trip, efficiently freeing stuck equipment and allowing continuous well operations with reduced complexity and surface intervention.
Implementation Method 1
applying a pressure differential across a plug in a jarring tool
Implementation Method 2
the plug restricting flow from a first flow passage section to a second flow passage section
Implementation Method 3
increasing a flow rate of fluid from the first flow passage section, the increased flow rate of the fluid thereby applying the jarring force to the stuck equipment
Data Source
AI summary
A jarring tool can include a longitudinally displaceable piston, a first fluid chamber having a volume that decreases in response to displacement of the piston, a flow controller that controls flow of fluid between the first fluid chamber and a second fluid chamber, and a plug seat secured to the piston. A method of applying a jarring force can include applying a pressure differential across a plug in a jarring tool, the plug restricting flow from a first flow passage section to a second flow passage section, then increasing a flow rate of fluid from the first flow passage section. Another jarring tool can include an outer housing with a longitudinal flow passage and seal surfaces at opposite ends of the outer housing, and a flow obstruction, fluid flow through the flow passage being increased in response to application of a pressure differential across the obstruction.