High-Expansion Sealed Frac Windows for Rigless Multilateral Fracturing
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Solution Overview
Problem
The need for drilling or workover rigs in treatment fluid operations, particularly hydraulic fracturing, poses challenges in multilateral wellbores, especially when protecting existing equipment and tools, which increases complexity and cost.
Innovation Solution
A frac window system with high-expansion seals and enlarged internal diameters allows for hydraulic fracturing without the need for drilling rigs, using coiled tubing and high-strength materials to withstand pressures up to 30,000-psi, enabling operations like high-rate fracking and sequential fracturing of multiple laterals.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stress or pressure
If drilling or workover rigs are used in treatment fluid operations for hydraulic fracturing, then high-pressure operations can be performed, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the drilling rig from the hydraulic fracturing system by using a conveyance that can be deployed through the wellbore without requiring a drilling rig. The treatment fluid delivery system is separated from the drilling equipment, allowing high-pressure operations to be performed using only a conveyance and pumping system.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a conveyance as an intermediary component that delivers treatment fluid to the wellbore without requiring a drilling rig. The conveyance acts as a mediator between the pumping system and the formation, enabling high-pressure fluid delivery through a simpler deployment mechanism.
2Reliability
If drilling or workover rigs are used to protect existing equipment during hydraulic fracturing, then equipment protection is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by deploying a protective sleeve or liner through the wellbore before hydraulic fracturing operations. This protective component is installed in advance to shield existing equipment from high-pressure treatment fluids, eliminating the need for complex workover rigs during the fracturing process.
Solution Approach 2:
The protective sleeve acts as an intermediary between the high-pressure treatment fluid and the existing wellbore equipment. It mediates the interaction by absorbing or redirecting the pressure effects, allowing equipment protection without requiring a drilling or workover rig.
3Quantity of substance
If conventional conveyance with standard internal diameters is used, then equipment size is reduced, but treatment fluid flow capacity is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the parameter of conveyance internal diameter to a larger size to increase treatment fluid flow capacity. This parameter modification allows high-rate hydraulic fracturing operations by enabling greater volumes of treatment fluid to be pumped through the conveyance to the formation.
4Ease of manufacture
If high-pressure hydraulic fracturing is performed without drilling rigs, then cost is reduced, but the ability to withstand high pressures requires specialized materials
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs composite materials or high-strength materials in the construction of the conveyance and related components to withstand high hydraulic pressures. These specialized materials provide the necessary pressure resistance while maintaining a simpler, more cost-effective system architecture that eliminates drilling rig requirements.
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 efficient hydraulic fracturing in multilateral wellbores by eliminating the need for drilling rigs, protecting existing equipment, and allowing high-pressure operations with minimal wellbore damage, reducing costs and enhancing production.
Implementation Method 1
high-expansion seals
Implementation Method 2
pumping a treatment fluid (e.g., a fracturing fluid) into a wellbore that penetrates a subterranean formation at a sufficient hydraulic pressure to create one or more cracks, or 'fractures,' in the subterranean formation
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is a frac window system, a well system, and a wellbore stimulation method. The frac window system, in one aspect, includes an elongated tubular having a first end and a second end with an opening defined in a wall of the elongated tubular between the first end and the second end, the wall having an inner surface and an outer surface, wherein the opening in the wall is configured to align with a window of a wellbore casing. The frac window system, according to this aspect, may further include a polished bore receptacle coupled to the first end of the elongated tubular, the polished bore receptacle having an inside diameter (ID1) sufficient to engage with a high-pressure frac string.