Sectional Fluid End Housing for Selective Wear Section Replacement

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional fluid ends used in hydraulic fracturing operations experience frequent failures due to extreme pressures, vibrations, and erosion from proppants, leading to short operational lifetimes and high maintenance costs.

Innovation Solution

A modular fluid end assembly design featuring a multi-piece housing with interchangeable sections, including a static high-pressure section, a static low-pressure section, and a dynamic variable-pressure section, along with a fluid routing plug and valves, to distribute pressure and reduce wear, allowing for selective replacement of worn components without replacing the entire assembly.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If conventional fluid ends are used under extreme hydraulic fracturing conditions, then high pressure and flow delivery is achieved, but frequent failures and short operational lifetime occur due to wear and erosion

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveoperational lifetimeVSAvoidwear and erosion from proppants

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The housing is divided into multiple separable sections (first section, second section, third section) that can be independently removed and replaced. This segmentation allows worn sections to be replaced without replacing the entire fluid end assembly, reducing maintenance costs and extending operational lifetime by enabling selective component replacement.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

2Reliability

If the entire fluid end assembly is replaced when components wear, then reliability is restored, but maintenance costs and downtime increase significantly

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveoperational reliabilityVSAvoidmaintenance downtime

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The modular sectional housing allows operators to replace only the worn or failed section rather than the entire assembly. This reduces maintenance downtime and costs while restoring reliability, as only the problematic section needs to be removed and replaced.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The design enables selective replacement of worn sections while retaining and reusing intact sections. This recovers valuable components from the original assembly, reducing the frequency of complete replacements and associated downtime.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #34Discarding and recovering

3Ease of repair

If modular sectional housing is implemented, then selective replacement of worn components is enabled, but device complexity increases due to multiple sections and assembly requirements

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveselective component replacementVSAvoidmulti-section housing structure

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of repairVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

While segmentation does increase structural complexity by dividing the housing into multiple sections, it dramatically improves ease of repair by enabling selective replacement. The benefit of being able to replace only worn sections outweighs the complexity of assembling multiple sections, particularly in maintenance scenarios.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Data Source

PatentUS12092087B2Fluid end assembly

Publication Date: 2024.09.17 KERR MACHINE CO

AI summary

A fluid end assembly comprising a plurality of fluid end sections positioned in a side-by-side relationship. Each fluid end section comprises a housing made of multiple-piece construction. One or more pieces of the housing are configured to have a plurality of stay rods attached thereto. The stay rods interconnect the fluid end assembly and a power end assembly.