Shearing Tool for Retrieving Fined Downhole Tools
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Solution Overview
Problem
Downhole tools with protrusions, such as fins, often hinder their retrieval from drill strings due to increased diameter, causing obstacles during retrieval operations, especially when passing through restrictions in the drill string.
Innovation Solution
A shearing tool with a flange for secure placement within the drill string and a cutting surface for trimming or reducing protrusions, allowing the tool to pass through restrictions, comprising a body with a channel and spacers for centralization, enabling the tool to be retrieved to the surface.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If fins or protrusions are affixed to downhole tools for stabilization and centralization, then tool stability and operational performance are improved, but tool diameter increases causing obstruction during retrieval through drill string restrictions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the dynamics principle by making the fins detachable rather than permanently fixed. The fins can be installed during tool deployment to provide stability, and then removed or sheared off during retrieval operations to reduce diameter. This dynamic configuration allows the tool to transition between two states: stable during operation, and streamlined during retrieval, effectively resolving the contradiction between stability and retrieval ease.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies segmentation by dividing the tool into separate components: the main tool body and the detachable fins. This segmentation allows the fins to be independently managed - attached when needed for stabilization and removed when needed for retrieval. The modular design enables the tool to optimize its configuration for different operational phases, resolving the contradiction between requiring fins for stability and needing to remove them for easy retrieval.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If fins are made from pliable materials such as rubber or hard plastics for shock dampening, then vibration damping performance is improved, but shearing and trimming during retrieval becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by selecting materials with specific properties that balance vibration damping and shearing ease. The fins are made from pliable materials such as rubber or hard plastics that provide adequate shock dampening during operation, but can still be effectively sheared by the cutting surface during retrieval. The material parameters are carefully chosen to achieve both functions: sufficient elasticity for vibration absorption, yet sufficient brittleness or shear strength for clean cutting.
3Ease of operation
If a shearing tool is inserted into the drill string to trim fins, then retrieval capability is improved, but device complexity increases due to additional components like flanges and spacers
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies universality by designing the shearing tool with multi-functional components. The flange serves both as a structural element and as a mechanism for securing the tool within the drill string. The spacers serve both to centralize the tool and to position the cutting surface at the correct location. This multi-functionality reduces the need for additional separate components, thereby managing complexity while maintaining retrieval capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies the taking out principle by extracting only the essential components needed for the shearing function. Rather than incorporating a complex automated fin-removal system, the invention uses a simple cutting surface that shears fins as the tool passes through. This extraction of the core function (cutting) from complex auxiliary systems minimizes device complexity while effectively improving retrieval capability.
Data Source
AI summary
A shearing tool for shearing, trimming, or reducing objects being pulled through a drill string and methods for retrieving retrievable tools with fins from the drill string, where the retrievable tools must pass through restrictions in the drill string having interior diameters less than the outer diameters of the fins. The fins, affixed to the retrievable tools, provide stability to the tools, while within the drill string, and can be made of rubber, plastic, other shearable materials, or combinations thereof. The apparatuses and methods include inserting a shearing tool with a flange into a box end of a section of drill string, where the flange keeps the shearing tool in place. The shearing tool further comprising a cutting surface for cutting materials pulled through the shearing tool.