Orientable Eccentric Downhole Assembly Packer Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
The alignment of adjacent eccentric packers in downhole completions assemblies is challenging due to severe space limitations and lack of precision, leading to potential misalignment and inability to advance the assembly within the well without causing damage.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of an orientable eccentric downhole assembly with uphole and downhole eccentric devices positioned about a common mandrel, allowing for adjustable orientation of the packers without loosening the threaded joint, ensuring proper alignment and minimizing the assembly's diameter for safe advancement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If threaded joints are used to connect tubing segments with eccentric packers, then the assembly can be constructed and deployed, but the alignment precision of adjacent eccentric packers deteriorates due to manufacturing tolerances and threading variations
Solution Approach 1:
The uphole packer is made rotatable relative to the tubing segment through a bearing mechanism, allowing dynamic adjustment of its angular position. This transforms the static alignment problem into a dynamic adjustment problem, where the packer can be rotated to achieve precise alignment with the downhole packer after assembly, compensating for manufacturing tolerances in the threaded joint.
2Length of moving object
If the assembly diameter is reduced to fit within the wellbore clearance, then the assembly can advance through the well, but the space available for aligning eccentric packers deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The assembly is divided into separable tubing segments with threaded joints, allowing the eccentric packers to be positioned on different segments. The rotatable bearing mechanism on the uphole segment provides an additional degree of freedom for alignment adjustment, enabling precise packer alignment despite the constrained overall assembly diameter.
3Reliability
If misalignment of eccentric packers occurs, then the assembly cannot advance through the well without damage, but loosening the threaded joint to realign packers is impractical during deployment
Solution Approach 1:
The rotatable bearing mechanism allows the uphole packer to be adjusted to the correct angular position before the threaded joint is fully tightened and sealed. Once aligned, the joint can be securely fastened without needing to be loosened later, ensuring both safe advancement through the well and proper packer alignment.
Solution Approach 2:
The alignment adjustment is performed preliminarily, before the threaded joint is fully tightened and the assembly is deployed. The rotatable bearing provides a window of opportunity to align the eccentric packers correctly while the joint is still being assembled, preventing misalignment issues during deployment.
Data Source
AI summary
An assembly employing multiple eccentric devices about a mandrel. The assembly is configured such that at least one of the eccentric devices is adjustably orientable relative another. Thus, for example, where the devices are packers disposed about completions tubing, the adjustable orientation may be utilized to ensure enough clearance is available for downhole advancement of the assembly. As such, the assembly may remain eccentric in nature without concern over damage during positioning, particularly to a communication line running to actuatable implements of equipment coupled to the completions assembly.