Continuously Sealing Telescoping Joint with Coiled Control Lines
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing telescoping joints in wellbores face limitations in axial movement due to control lines, which can be damaged by external pressure and have restricted stroke distances, making it difficult to land a tubing hanger on a wellhead while maintaining a continuous seal.
Innovation Solution
A continuously sealing telescoping joint with coiled control lines and a hone bore that allows for longer stroke distances, featuring seals that cooperate with the inner surface of the hone bore to maintain pressure integrity and a release mechanism for controlled telescoping, enabling the joint to shorten without damaging control lines.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If control lines are coupled external to production tubing to provide power and communication, then communication and power transmission are enabled, but axial movements of the telescoping joint impart stress on control lines limiting stroke distance
Solution Approach 1:
The control lines are routed through the hollow interior of the telescoping joint rather than being coupled externally. This nesting approach allows the control lines to be protected within the joint structure, eliminating the stress limitation that would occur with external coupling and enabling full axial movement without damaging the control lines.
2Ease of operation
If telescoping joint is allowed to stroke freely for long distances, then tubing hanger can be landed on wellhead, but control lines may be damaged by external pressure and limited stroke distance
Solution Approach 1:
The control lines are nested within the hollow interior of the telescoping joint, protecting them from external pressure and mechanical damage during the stroking operation. This allows the joint to move freely through the required distance to land the tubing hanger while the control lines remain protected within the joint structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The hollow interior of the telescoping joint serves as an intermediary protective pathway for the control lines. By routing the control lines through this intermediate space rather than exposing them externally, the joint structure mediates between the need for free movement and the need to protect control line integrity.
3Stress or pressure
If area internal to telescoping joint is exposed to external pressure, then pressure equalization occurs, but pressure integrity and sealing are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The internal area of the telescoping joint is extracted from the external pressure environment by creating a sealed hollow interior. This separation allows the internal area to maintain pressure integrity while the joint strokes, preventing external pressure from compromising the sealing between the joint and wellhead.
Data Source
AI summary
A telescoping joint is provided with one or more control lines and is usable for landing a subsea tubing hanger. The telescoping joint can include an inner mandrel, an outer mandrel, a seal between the inner mandrel and the outer mandrel, and a coiling chamber. The outer mandrel is controllably releasable from the inner mandrel by a release mechanism. The seal is sealably engaged with the outer mandrel for continuously sealing an inner area defined by the inner mandrel from a wellbore environment exterior to the telescoping joint as the outer mandrel axially moves relative to the inner mandrel. A control line is coiled in the coiling chamber and the coiling chamber is axially positioned between the release mechanism and the seal.