Single Trip Wellbore Cleaning and Sealing Tool
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current wellbore plugging and abandonment (P&A) operations are complex, costly, and require multiple trips into the wellbore, involving complicated tools that need expert personnel and are slow to deploy, with existing tools unable to effectively inject high viscosity fluids like cement into tight spaces for sealing.
Innovation Solution
A downhole tool assembly that performs multiple operations, including cleaning, perforating, and cementing, in a single trip, using a plugging tool that generates low frequency and high amplitude pulses of high viscosity fluids to improve injectivity and penetration, and a wash tool with fluid oscillator technology for enhanced cleaning and sealing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple separate tools are used for cleaning, perforating, and cementing in separate trips, then each operation can be performed with specialized equipment, but the overall process time, cost, and complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines cleaning, perforating, and cementing operations into a single integrated tool assembly that can perform all functions during one trip into the wellbore. The tool assembly includes a cleaning section with nozzles, a perforating section with charges, and a cementing section with a packer and cement injection ports, all integrated on one device.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated tool assembly is designed to perform multiple functions: cleaning the wellbore surface, creating perforations through the casing, and injecting cement for sealing. This multi-functional tool eliminates the need for multiple separate specialized tools and multiple trips into the wellbore.
2Device complexity
If conventional cementing tools are used, then the equipment is simpler, but they cannot effectively inject high viscosity cement into tight spaces for proper sealing
Solution Approach 1:
The cementing section incorporates a dynamic packer that can be expanded and contracted, and injection ports that can be opened and closed. The system uses pressure-activated mechanisms to control cement flow, allowing precise delivery of high viscosity cement into tight spaces through the perforations.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated tool assembly acts as an intermediary device that bridges the gap between the cement pump at surface and the tight perforation spaces. It includes pressure activation mechanisms and controlled release ports that mediate the delivery of high viscosity cement slurry into the confined perforation zones.
3Ease of manufacture
If existing abandonment techniques are used, then the process follows established procedures, but they require leaving tool components downhole and using jointed pipe or coiled tubing which adds complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The tool assembly is divided into distinct functional sections: a cleaning section with oscillating nozzles, a perforating section with explosive charges, and a cementing section with packer and injection ports. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized for its specific function while being integrated into a single deployable unit.
Solution Approach 2:
The tool assembly is designed to be self-contained and self-activating. The perforating charges are triggered by the cleaning operation, and the cement injection is pressure-activated by the sequence of operations itself, eliminating the need for complex external control systems or abandonment of tool components downhole.
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
The solution reduces costs and deployment time, eliminates the need for expert personnel, and provides a better seal by effectively injecting cement into tight spaces within the wellbore, enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the plugging process.
Implementation Method 1
a wash tool configured to generate pulses of fluid for washing the wellbore
Implementation Method 2
a plugging tool configured to generate low frequency and high amplitude pulses of high viscosity fluids to improve injectivity and penetration
Implementation Method 3
the desired location may be conditioned for sealing and the sealing material such as cement may be installed to seal the wellbore for abandonment
Data Source
AI summary
A downhole tool for cleaning and sealing a wellbore includes a wash tool configured at a downhole end of the downhole tool to generate pulses of a first fluid at a first frequency and a first pressure for washing a target interval of a wellbore. The downhole tool further includes a plugging tool configured uphole or downhole from the wash tool to generate pulses of a second fluid at a second frequency and a second pressure for depositing a sealing plug at the target interval of the wellbore. The second fluid has a higher viscosity than the first fluid, the second frequency is lower than the first frequency, and the second pressure is higher than the first pressure.