Telebending Tool Nose Pivoting Mechanism for Rugose Wellbores
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Solution Overview
Problem
Drilling operations in hydrocarbon production often encounter irregular wellbores due to softer formations, causing logging tools to become stuck, leading to time-consuming and costly retrieval processes.
Innovation Solution
The development of well access telebending tools with a nose coupled to a body via a pivoting member and compression spring, which compresses to engage cam pathways, allowing the tool to pivot and avoid obstructions, enabling smooth passage through rugose boreholes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a logging tool is conveyed into a wellbore with irregular, corrugated profile, then data gathering capability is improved, but the tool becomes stuck in rugose sections requiring time-consuming retrieval
Solution Approach 1:
The nose is made movable relative to the body through a pivoting mechanism. When the tool encounters an obstruction in the rugose wellbore, the nose can pivot away from the obstruction rather than being rigidly fixed, allowing the tool to navigate irregular wellbore profiles without becoming stuck
Solution Approach 2:
The tool is divided into distinct functional segments: a nose portion, a body portion, and a pivoting mechanism connecting them. This segmentation allows the nose to independently respond to obstructions by pivoting, while the body maintains overall tool functionality and data gathering capability
2Ease of operation
If wellbore cleaning is performed by circulating mud and wiper tip, then rugose sections are cleared, but the process is time-consuming and introduces further cost
Solution Approach 1:
The logging tool is equipped with a nose designed to preemptively handle obstructions before they cause the tool to become stuck. The pivoting nose mechanism proactively navigates around rugose wellbore sections during tool insertion, eliminating the need for subsequent wellbore cleaning operations
3Ease of operation
If a logging tool is returned by using a tractor to push downhole or placing on pipe string, then tool retrieval is achieved, but the process is time-consuming and costly
Solution Approach 1:
The dynamic pivoting nose mechanism allows the tool to self-navigate through rugose wellbore sections during both insertion and retrieval operations. This eliminates the need for auxiliary retrieval equipment such as tractors or pipe strings, significantly reducing retrieval time and operational costs
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 logging tools to navigate through irregular wellbores without becoming stuck, reducing retrieval time and costs by allowing the tool to conserve momentum and pivot around obstructions.
Implementation Method 1
a compression spring situated between the nose and the pivoting member, which enables the nose to compress relative to or toward the pivoting member in response to an axially-applied force
Implementation Method 2
Upon impact with an obstruction along the borehole, axial compression and movement of a nose or tip of a downhole tool relative to a body of the tool
Implementation Method 3
A camming arm is coupled to the nose and comprises an end that extends axially through and slidably engages the pivoting member. When the compression spring is compressed, the end of the camming arm engages one or more cam pathways. The cam pathways are oriented at an angle relative to a longitudinal axis of the telebending tool such that when the camming arm engages one of the pathways, the pivoting member and the nose pivot relative to the body
Implementation Method 4
a pivoting member coupled between the nose and the body, which allows the nose to pivot relative to the body
Data Source
AI summary
A telebending tool for conveying a logging tool into a wellbore includes a tool body having a central axis. In addition, the tool also includes a cam housing coupled to the tool body and a nose moveably coupled to the tool body through a pivoting member. Further, the telebending tool includes a compression spring positioned between the nose and the pivoting member, and a camming arm coupled to the nose. The camming arm extends coaxially through the pivoting member to selectively engage a cam pathway of the cam housing. The nose has a first position with a central axis of the nose coaxially aligned with the central axis of the body and a second position with the central axis of the nose oriented at an angle less than 180° relative to the central axis of the body.