Sleeve Assembly Annular Stops and Ramps for Wellbore Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing sleeve valve assemblies in wellbore operations face issues with unreliable location, sealing, and erosion, leading to failed pressure tests and reduced service reliability during fracturing operations due to limited shift length and exposure to debris.
Innovation Solution
The use of co-operating uphole and downhole annular stops and shoulders isolated from the bore, combined with a locating tool that engages a shifting profile to positively locate and shift the sleeve, allowing increased travel distance and improved sealing interface, while ramps guide the tool to prevent false location and debris accumulation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the sleeve is allowed to shift freely within the casing, then the sleeve can be easily actuated to open and close ports, but the sleeve cannot be positively located, causing tools to be set at incorrect positions
Solution Approach 1:
The locating profile is pre-formed in the sleeve body before operation. When the locating tool is run through the bore, it automatically engages this pre-formed profile, achieving positive location without requiring preliminary manual positioning or complex alignment procedures.
Solution Approach 2:
A dedicated locating tool serves as an intermediary between the operator and the sleeve. This tool features a locating mechanism that specifically engages the locating profile, providing precise positioning indication to the operator while allowing the sleeve itself to remain simple and easily actuated.
2Measurement precision
If the delimiting stops are placed in the bore of the housing, then the sleeve shifting is limited, but the locating tool can engage unintendedly with the stops, falsely indicating tool location
Solution Approach 1:
The functional elements are segmented into distinct components: the locating profile is formed separately on the sleeve, while the delimiting stops are formed separately in the housing. This segmentation ensures that the locating tool engages only the locating profile during positioning, while the stops independently limit sleeve travel, eliminating false location indications.
Solution Approach 2:
The locating profile and delimiting stops are positioned at different axial locations along the sleeve-bore interface. The locating profile is positioned to engage the locating tool during the positioning phase, while the delimiting stops are positioned to engage the sleeve during the actuation phase, separating these functions in the axial dimension.
3Ease of operation
If the sleeve sealing interface is exposed to debris in the bore, then the sleeve can be actuated through the full range, but the seals are damaged or eroded, reducing service reliability
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing interface is extracted from the debris-prone bore environment. By forming the sealing interface on the exterior surface of the sleeve in the annulus between the sleeve and housing, the seals are removed from direct exposure to debris in the bore, while the sleeve retains its full actuation range through the bore.
Solution Approach 2:
The annulus between the sleeve and housing serves as an intermediary protective zone. The sealing interface is positioned in this annular space, which acts as a buffer zone protecting the seals from direct contact with debris in the bore, while still allowing the sleeve to shift freely for actuation.
4Reliability
If the sleeve shift length is limited by internal stops in the bore, then the sealing interface length is reduced, but the service reliability is improved by preventing debris damage
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing interface is repositioned from the internal bore surface to the exterior annular surface of the sleeve. This dimensional relocation allows the sealing interface to extend over a longer axial distance in the protected annulus, increasing the sealing length without being constrained by the bore diameter or internal stop positions.
Data Source
AI summary
A sleeve assembly has a sleeve axially moveable within a housing, the sleeve being positively locatable within a wellbore for reliable axial shifting of the sleeve between an uphole position and a downhole position. Stops and shoulders, which delimit the shifting of the sleeve between open and closed positions, are located in an annulus between the sleeve and the housing. Uphole and downhole ends of the sleeve and the housing have opposing ramps formed thereon. Locating shifting tools run through the sleeve assembly are engageable only in a locating profile in the sleeve and cannot engage in the annular stops or in gaps formed in the bore, uphole and downhole of the sleeve, as the ramps act to guide the locating tool therethrough. As the uphole and downhole sleeve ramps converge toward either of the uphole or downhole housing ramps during shifting thereof, debris is diverted into the bore allowing the sleeve to shift fully uphole or downhole.