CA1200194A - Side pocket mandrel with improved orienting means - Google Patents
Side pocket mandrel with improved orienting meansInfo
- Publication number
- CA1200194A CA1200194A CA000419410A CA419410A CA1200194A CA 1200194 A CA1200194 A CA 1200194A CA 000419410 A CA000419410 A CA 000419410A CA 419410 A CA419410 A CA 419410A CA 1200194 A CA1200194 A CA 1200194A
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- orienting
- mandrel
- slot
- sleeve
- side pocket
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Expired
Links
- 230000003213 activating effect Effects 0.000 claims description 6
- 210000001015 abdomen Anatomy 0.000 claims description 5
- 241001504663 Onychostoma elongatum Species 0.000 claims 1
- 239000000945 filler Substances 0.000 description 20
- 239000012530 fluid Substances 0.000 description 4
- 230000004913 activation Effects 0.000 description 2
- 238000013459 approach Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000010276 construction Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000006073 displacement reaction Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000003116 impacting effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000009533 lab test Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000007257 malfunction Effects 0.000 description 1
- 239000000463 material Substances 0.000 description 1
- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000010008 shearing Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000006641 stabilisation Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000011105 stabilization Methods 0.000 description 1
- XLYOFNOQVPJJNP-UHFFFAOYSA-N water Substances O XLYOFNOQVPJJNP-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 1
Classifications
-
- E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
- E21—EARTH DRILLING; MINING
- E21B—EARTH DRILLING, e.g. DEEP DRILLING; OBTAINING OIL, GAS, WATER, SOLUBLE OR MELTABLE MATERIALS OR A SLURRY OF MINERALS FROM WELLS
- E21B23/00—Apparatus for displacing, setting, locking, releasing, or removing tools, packers or the like in the boreholes or wells
- E21B23/03—Apparatus for displacing, setting, locking, releasing, or removing tools, packers or the like in the boreholes or wells for setting the tools into, or removing the tools from, laterally offset landing nipples or pockets
Abstract
SIDE POCKET MANDREL WITH IMPROVED ORIENTING MEANS
Abstract A side pocket mandrel having an orienting sleeve therein with improved guide surfaces for more reliably orienting a kickover tool with respect to the mandrel preparatory to installing a flow control device in or removing such a device from the mandrel's offset receptacle bore.
background of the Invention Field of the Invention This invention relates to gas lift apparatus and more particularly to side pocket mandrels for use in gas lift wells.
Description of the Prior Art Side pocket mandrels with orienting means therein for orienting a kickover tool used in installing well flow control devices in or removing them from their offset receptacles have been used for many years. Side pocket mandrels and kickover tools therefor have been supplied by a number of suppliers in the industry. Kickover tools from one supplier may not work well in the side pocket mandrels of another supplier even though such kickover tool may have been intended for use in such side pocket mandrel. It has been desirable to provide a side pocket mandrel which would be compatible with virtually any kickover tool designed for use with such mandrel and to minimize difficulties arising from such mismatching.
The orienting means in side pocket mandrels have been in the form of a sleeve surrounding the bore through the side pocket mandrel, this sleeve being provided with a pair of symmetrical guide surfaces generally helical in shape leading from a point at the lower end of the sleeve upwardly to the lower end of a longitudinal orienting slot. In some cases
Abstract A side pocket mandrel having an orienting sleeve therein with improved guide surfaces for more reliably orienting a kickover tool with respect to the mandrel preparatory to installing a flow control device in or removing such a device from the mandrel's offset receptacle bore.
background of the Invention Field of the Invention This invention relates to gas lift apparatus and more particularly to side pocket mandrels for use in gas lift wells.
Description of the Prior Art Side pocket mandrels with orienting means therein for orienting a kickover tool used in installing well flow control devices in or removing them from their offset receptacles have been used for many years. Side pocket mandrels and kickover tools therefor have been supplied by a number of suppliers in the industry. Kickover tools from one supplier may not work well in the side pocket mandrels of another supplier even though such kickover tool may have been intended for use in such side pocket mandrel. It has been desirable to provide a side pocket mandrel which would be compatible with virtually any kickover tool designed for use with such mandrel and to minimize difficulties arising from such mismatching.
The orienting means in side pocket mandrels have been in the form of a sleeve surrounding the bore through the side pocket mandrel, this sleeve being provided with a pair of symmetrical guide surfaces generally helical in shape leading from a point at the lower end of the sleeve upwardly to the lower end of a longitudinal orienting slot. In some cases
Description
~2~
SIDE ~OCKEI' MANDREL WITH IMPRO~ED ORIENTING ~IEANS
Absiract A side pocket mandrel having an orienting sleeve therein with improved guide surfaces for more reliably orienting a kickover tool with respect to the mandrel preparatory to installing a flow control device in or removing such a device from the mandrel's offset receptacle bore.
Backyround of the lnventiorl Field of the Invention This invention relates to gas lift apparatus and more particularly to side pocket mandrels for use in gas lift wells.
Description of the Prior Art Side pocket mandxels with orienting means therein for orienting a kickover tool used in installing well flow control devices in or removing them from their offset receptacles have been used ~or many years. Side pocket mandrels and kickover tools therefor have been supplied by a number of suppliers in the industry. Kickover tools from one supplier may not work well in the side pocket mandrels of another supplier even though such kickover tool may have been intended for use in such side pocket mandrel. It has been desirable to provide a side pocket mandrel which would be compatible with virtually any kickover tool designed for use with such mandrel and to minimize difficulties arising from such mismatching.
The orienting means in side pocket mandrels have been in the form of a sleeve surrounding the bore through the side pocket mandrel~ this sleeve being provided with a pair of symmetrical guide surfaces generally helical in shape leading from a point at the lower end of the sleeve upwardly to the lower end of a longitudinal orienting slot. In some cases , .. .
9~
where the sleeve provides orientation only, this slot may pass completely through the sleeve. In other mandrels the slot may be provided with a shoulder, and in some cases this shoulder completely blocks the slot~ Such shoulder at the upper end of the slot is utilized in activating a kickover tool after it has first been oriented.
Kickover tools of the orienting type are provided with an orienting key sufficiently narrow to enter the orienting slot in the orienting sleeve and have an abrupt upwardly facing shoulder thereon. When this abrupt shoulder engages the orienting sleeve, it will follow one of the guide surfaces causing the kickover tool to rotate about its longitudinal axis until the key becomes aligned with and enters the slot, thus or.tenting the kickover tool with respect to the side pocke-t mandrel, that is, positioning the kickover tool for installing a device in the offset receptacle of the side pocket mandrel. In some cases, as where wireline equipment is used, the same abrupt shoulder of the orienting key also engages the shoulder in the slot, and further movement of the kickover tool causes it to be ac-tivated such that a portion thereof is shifted laterally into alignment with the offset receptacle of the side pocket mandrel.
Kickover tools are commonly run into wells and removed therefrom by conventional wireline equipment or by conventlon-al pumpdown operations. In the latter, the kickover tool and a string of pumpdown tools including piston units are moved by fluid pressure into and out of the well by circulation of fluids through the well. Whether the kickover tool is run by wireline or by pumpdown methods~ it is sometimes d:ifficult to control the velocity of the kickover tool with respect to -the side pocket mandrel. ~hus, it often occurs that the kickover tool moves through the side pocket mandrel at e~cessive velocities. This may be due to the drag of the tools in the well tubing durlng pumpdown operations and also due to the fluid bypass through the kickover tool. These may cause the tools to lodge momentarily in tight places in the tubing and then move quickly until stabilization occurs and norrnal velocity is restored. Similarly, in wireline operations (the wireline being elastic), such a condition can occur. This condition can be further aygravated where the wireline reel is mounted on a floating vessel which tosses about on the water's surface relative to the well which is stationary with the earth. When the kickover tool moves too fast relative to the side pocket mandrel, its orienting key may fail to enter the slot of the orienting sleeve. One particular type of orient-ing key has failed frequently and caused considerable diffi-culty. When this type of key engages one of the guide sur-faces on an orientlng sleeve while the kickover tool is moving rapidly with relation thereto, considerable rotational force is applied to the kickover tool~ In such case, the orienting key may strike the juncture of the opposite guide surface and the opposite wall of the slot in such manner that it causes the orienting key to retract momentarily and pass through the sleeve without ever orlenting the kickover tool.
The present invention overcomes such difficulty in a manner which will be hereinafter e~plained.
A search of the prior art was made, and the followiny U.S. patents ~ere located, each of which illustrates an orienting sleeve in a side po~ket mandrel.
SIDE ~OCKEI' MANDREL WITH IMPRO~ED ORIENTING ~IEANS
Absiract A side pocket mandrel having an orienting sleeve therein with improved guide surfaces for more reliably orienting a kickover tool with respect to the mandrel preparatory to installing a flow control device in or removing such a device from the mandrel's offset receptacle bore.
Backyround of the lnventiorl Field of the Invention This invention relates to gas lift apparatus and more particularly to side pocket mandrels for use in gas lift wells.
Description of the Prior Art Side pocket mandxels with orienting means therein for orienting a kickover tool used in installing well flow control devices in or removing them from their offset receptacles have been used ~or many years. Side pocket mandrels and kickover tools therefor have been supplied by a number of suppliers in the industry. Kickover tools from one supplier may not work well in the side pocket mandrels of another supplier even though such kickover tool may have been intended for use in such side pocket mandrel. It has been desirable to provide a side pocket mandrel which would be compatible with virtually any kickover tool designed for use with such mandrel and to minimize difficulties arising from such mismatching.
The orienting means in side pocket mandrels have been in the form of a sleeve surrounding the bore through the side pocket mandrel~ this sleeve being provided with a pair of symmetrical guide surfaces generally helical in shape leading from a point at the lower end of the sleeve upwardly to the lower end of a longitudinal orienting slot. In some cases , .. .
9~
where the sleeve provides orientation only, this slot may pass completely through the sleeve. In other mandrels the slot may be provided with a shoulder, and in some cases this shoulder completely blocks the slot~ Such shoulder at the upper end of the slot is utilized in activating a kickover tool after it has first been oriented.
Kickover tools of the orienting type are provided with an orienting key sufficiently narrow to enter the orienting slot in the orienting sleeve and have an abrupt upwardly facing shoulder thereon. When this abrupt shoulder engages the orienting sleeve, it will follow one of the guide surfaces causing the kickover tool to rotate about its longitudinal axis until the key becomes aligned with and enters the slot, thus or.tenting the kickover tool with respect to the side pocke-t mandrel, that is, positioning the kickover tool for installing a device in the offset receptacle of the side pocket mandrel. In some cases, as where wireline equipment is used, the same abrupt shoulder of the orienting key also engages the shoulder in the slot, and further movement of the kickover tool causes it to be ac-tivated such that a portion thereof is shifted laterally into alignment with the offset receptacle of the side pocket mandrel.
Kickover tools are commonly run into wells and removed therefrom by conventional wireline equipment or by conventlon-al pumpdown operations. In the latter, the kickover tool and a string of pumpdown tools including piston units are moved by fluid pressure into and out of the well by circulation of fluids through the well. Whether the kickover tool is run by wireline or by pumpdown methods~ it is sometimes d:ifficult to control the velocity of the kickover tool with respect to -the side pocket mandrel. ~hus, it often occurs that the kickover tool moves through the side pocket mandrel at e~cessive velocities. This may be due to the drag of the tools in the well tubing durlng pumpdown operations and also due to the fluid bypass through the kickover tool. These may cause the tools to lodge momentarily in tight places in the tubing and then move quickly until stabilization occurs and norrnal velocity is restored. Similarly, in wireline operations (the wireline being elastic), such a condition can occur. This condition can be further aygravated where the wireline reel is mounted on a floating vessel which tosses about on the water's surface relative to the well which is stationary with the earth. When the kickover tool moves too fast relative to the side pocket mandrel, its orienting key may fail to enter the slot of the orienting sleeve. One particular type of orient-ing key has failed frequently and caused considerable diffi-culty. When this type of key engages one of the guide sur-faces on an orientlng sleeve while the kickover tool is moving rapidly with relation thereto, considerable rotational force is applied to the kickover tool~ In such case, the orienting key may strike the juncture of the opposite guide surface and the opposite wall of the slot in such manner that it causes the orienting key to retract momentarily and pass through the sleeve without ever orlenting the kickover tool.
The present invention overcomes such difficulty in a manner which will be hereinafter e~plained.
A search of the prior art was made, and the followiny U.S. patents ~ere located, each of which illustrates an orienting sleeve in a side po~ket mandrel.
2,942,671 3l807,498 4,034,806 2,948,3~1 3,827,489 ~,051~895
3,353,607 3,827~490 4,066,128 3,581,818 3,837,398 4,103,740 3~10,336 3l874,445 4,106,563 ~-3~
0:~L9~L
3,727,683 3,876,001 4,106,564 3,732,928 3,889,748 4,135,576 3,7~1,299 3,891,032 4,1~6,091 3,741,303 3,965,979 4,197,909 3,752,231 ~,002,203 4,239,082 3,788,397 ~,031,g54 4,271,902 3,796,259 4,033,409 4,294,313 Included in the above list are three patents which are considered exemplary of the types of side pocket mandrel orienting sleeves of which the present invention is an im-provement. The list also includes a fourth patent which illustrates and describes a kickover tool having an orienting key of the type which has been associated with the failures discussed hereinabove.
U.S. Patent No. 2,942,671 which issued to Harry B.
Schramm on June 28, 1960 discloses a side pocket mandrel with an orienting sleeve therein, the orienting sleeve having a pair of guide surfaces which lead to a longitudinal orienting slot which passes completely through the sleeve.
V.S. Patent No. 2,948,341 which issued to John V. Fredd on Au~ust 9, 1960 discloses a side pocke-t mandrel having an orienting sleeve therein which is provided with guide surfaces leading to a longitudinal orienting slot which passes com-pletely through the sleeve, but the sleeve is ~urther provided with shoulder means located in the slot.
U.S. Patent No. 3,827,490 which issued to Howard H.
Moore, Jr~ and Harold E. McGowan, Jr. on August 6, ~974 discloses a side pocket mandrel having an orienting sleeve therein having a pair of guide surfaces leadiny to an orien-t-ing slot and a trip shoulder at the end of the slot which completel~ blocks the slot. These three patents are typical ~2(~9~
of the types of orienting sleeves which are disclosed in the other patents listed above.
U.S. Patent No. 3,876,001 which issued to William B.
Goode on April 8, 1975 illustrates and describ~s a kickover tool for use in side pocket mandrels which are equipped with orienting sleeves such as that just mentioned with respect to Patent No. 3,827,490. This kickover tool is equipped with an orienting key having a portion thereof protruding from a window and presenting cam surfaces which would tend to cam t~)e key inwardly toward retracted position when meeting with obstructions in the well tubing. This key has an upwardly opening radial slot at its upper end and has a filler piece pivotally mounted in the slot. This filler piece is shear-pinned in place to releasably hold it in the position shown, in which position the filler piece presents an abrupt upwardly facing shoulder to engage the guide surfaces and trip shoulder of an orienting sleeve. Upon shearing the shear pin, the filler piece becomes inoperative, and the key will there~
after pass shoulders or obstructions with readiness because of the key's cam surfaces mentioned earlier camming the key toward retracted position upo~ encountering obstructions in the well tubing.
There was not found in the prior art patents a side pocket mandrel having a longitudinal orientation slot and a pair of guide surfaces therebelow directed upwardly toward the lower end of the slot but intersecting the slot at different levels which are spaced apart longitudinally. Neither was there found a side pocket mandrel having an orienting sleeve with a longitudinal orientation slot therein and a single guide surface therebelow directed upwardly toward the lower end of the slot from a point at the lower end of the orienting 9~
sleeve via a helical path and making substantially a full revolution before intersecting the slot.
The present invention overcomes the problems and shortcomings discussed hereinabove by providing side pocket mandrels having orienting sleeves therein with yuide sur~aces of a novel form which eliminate malfunctioning clS described above and thus saves much time and money.
Summary of the Invention The present invention is directed to side pocket mandrels having orienting means therein comprising an orienting sleeve having an orienting slot and a pair of guide surfaces below the slot and directed upwardly toward the slot, these two guide surfaces having their upper ends spaced apart longi-tudinally with respect to the longitudinal axis of the orient-ing sleeve. In one aspect of the invention, the orienting sleeve has but a single guide surface.
It is therefore one object of this invention to provide a side pocket mandrel having an orienting sleeve therein, the sleeve having an orienting slot and a guide surface below the slot leading upwardly to the bottom of the slot for orienting a kickover tool in the mandrel with respect to its offset receptacle bore~
Another object of this invention is to provide such a side pocket mandrel with an orienting sleeve therein having an orienting slot and a pair of guide surfaces below the slot directed upwardly toward the bottom of the slot, the two guide surfaces having their upward ends spaced apart longitudinally~
~nother object is to provide a side pocket mandrel having an orienting sleeve with a slot therein and a pair of guide surfaces directed upwardly toward the bottom of the slot, these two guide surfaces being helical in form and haviny unequal helix an~les.
L9~
Another object of the invention is to provide a side pocket mandrel with such an orienting sleeve wherein the two guide sur~aces extend upwardly from a point which i6 angularly displaced from the location of the orienting slot by approxi-mately 90 degrees.
Another ob~ect of this invention is to provide side pocket mandrels o-f the character just described wherein there is provided a stop shoulder in the orienting slot of the orienting sle~ve ~or activating a kickover tool.
Another object is to provide side pocket mandrels of the character described wherein the stop shoulder completely blocks the slot in the orienting sleeve.
Another object of this invention is to provide a side pocket mandrel of the character described having an orienting sleeve located above the belly in the side pocket mandrel.
Another object of this invention is to provide side pocket mandrels of the character described having an orienting sleeve positioned below the upper end of the offset recepta-cle.
In accordance with this invention, there is provided an improved orienting-type side pocket mandrel, including:
elongate body means having a main passage therethrough;
connecting means on its opposite ends for attachment to a string of well tubing; receptacle bore means in said body means offset from and extending alongside said main passage for receiving a flow control device; port means in said body means communi.cating said receptacle bore means with the exterior of said mandre.l; offset belly means in said body means above said receptacle bore means providing space for operation of a handling tool for installing a device in said receptacle bore means; and an orienting sleeve in said body means ~or ori.enting said handling tool relative to said . ~,, :~2~
receptacle bore means, said orienting sleeve haviny: a longi-tudinally extending orienting slot therein, and a pair of guide surfaces below said slot and directed upwardly toward the bottom of said slo-t, said pair of guide surfaces having their upper ends longitudinally spaced apart.
Other objects and advantages will become apparent from reading the description which follows and from studying the accom~anying drawings wherein:
Brief Description of the Drawing Figures lA and lB taken together constitute a longitudi-nal sectional view of a side pocket mandrel constructed in accordance with the present invention and showing an orienting sleeve near its upper end.
Figure 2 is a side elevational view of an orienting sleeve constructed in accordance with this invention.
Figure 3 is a fragmentary side elevational view showing a portion of a kickover tool having an orienting key usable with the present invention.
Figures ~A and 4B taken together constitute a longitudi-nal sectional view of a side pocket mandrel constructed in accordance w:Lth thLs invention and having an orienting sleeve therein positioned near its lower end.
Figure 5 is a side elevational view of the orienting sleeve which forms a part of the mandrel of Figure ~B~
Figure 6 is a side elevational view of a modified form of orienting sleeve.
Figure 7 is a lower end view of the orienting sleeve of Figure 6.
Figure 8 is a side elevational view of a further modified 3n form of orien-ting sleeve.
-7a~
Description o-E the Preferred Embodiments Referring now to Fiyures lA, lB and 2, it will be seen that the side pocket mandrel i5 indicated generally by the numeral 10. This mandrel for illustration purposes is con-structed generally according to the application of H:Lggins and Merritt, filed September 10, 1980, Serial No. 360,055, now Canadian Patent No. 1144066. It is thus shown provided with a welded body 11 having a full-openiny bore extending there-through from end to end and an offset receptacle bore 13 extending alongside the main bore 12 and with means at its upper end and lower ends as at 14 and 15 for attachment to a string of well tubing. Lateral flow ports 16 communicate the receptacle bore 13 with the exterior of the mandrel in the well-known manner. Near its upper end, the mandrel is pro-vided with an orienting sleeve 20 which is welded in place as at 21; and this sleeve has a bore 22 which surrounds the main bore 12 through the mandrel. The orienting sleeve 20 is provided with a longitudinal orienting slot 24 having a downwardly facing shoulder 25 at the upper end thereof which may or may not completely block the slot. Sleeve 20 is further prov.ided with a pair of _~_ ~z~
downwardly facing guide surfaces 26 which are directed upward-ly toward the lower end of the slot ~, and these guide surfaces are en~a~eable by an orienting key of a kickover tool ~not shown). The guide key upon enyaging one of the guide surfaces will follow it causing the kickover tool to rotate about its lon~itudinal axis until its orienting key becornes aligned with and enters the orienting slot~ When the orient-ing key is in the orienting slot, the kickover tool is proper-ly oriented in the side pocket mandrel with respect to the receptacle bore 13.
In the past, the two guide surfaces on orienting sleeves have been syr~etrical, that is, they have been equal in length, and if helical, have had equal helix angles. In each case, their upper ends have intersected the slot on a cor~mon level. Such orienting sleeves worked well with most kickover tools, however, when kickover tools having a certain type of key were used, it was often necessary to make several trips through the side pocket mandrel before orientation of the kickover tool was achieved. Such a kickover tool is partially illustrated in Figure 3, which see. In ~igure 3, the kickover tool is generally indicated by the numeral 30, and the orient-ing key is indicated by the numeral 32. The orienting key 32 is bifurcated at its upper end, being provided with an upward-ly opening slot 33 in which is disposed a filler piece 34 releasably held in the position shown by a shear pin 35O I'he orienting key is beveled at its lower end 36 for guidiny the key past obstructions as the kickover tool is lowered in the well and is similarly beveled at its upper end as at 37 for guiding the key past obstructions during upward travel of the kickover tool in the well. When the filler piece 3~ is in the pinned position shown, its upper end 38 provides an abrupt upwardly facing shoulder on the key which will engage one or _g_ the other of the guide surfaces 26 on the sleeve 20 and will follow the guide surface thus causing the kickover tool to rotate about its longitudinal aYis until the ke~ becomes aligned with the orienting slot 24 and moves upwardly therein.
When the orienting key 32 reaches the upper end of the slot, its filler piece 3~ engages the shoulder 25, the filler piece 34 being held in operating position by the shear pin 35.
Thus, upward movement of the orienting key 32 is arrested, and further upward movement of the kickover tool will cause relative longitudinal movement between the orienting key and the kickover tool and cause the kickover tool to be activated.
With the orienting key in the orienting slot, the kickover tool is correctly oriented with respect to the offset recepta-cle bore 13, and the kickover tool can be operated to install a device therein or remove a device therefrom. Afterwards, it is necessary to withdraw the kickover tool from the side pocket mandrel. For this operation the kickover tool is lifted again until the filler piece 34 engages the downwardly facing shoulder 25 in the orienting sleeve and sufficient force applied thereto to cause pin 35 to shear allowing the filler piece 34 to rotate about a pivot pin (not shown~ to its inoperative position within the key 32. With the filler piece 34 out of the way, the beveled surface 37 at the upper end of the orienting key 32 becomes effective to guide the orienting key past any downwardly facing obstructions such as the downwardly facing shoulder 25 at the upper end of the slot in the orienting sleeve 20, and the kickover tool may thus be withdrawn from the well without difficultyv If the guide surfaces on an orienting sleeve have their upper ends termi-nate at a common level~ as is the case with the prior art devices, and the orienting key of the kickover tool engages one of them at considerable speed, the sudden cam action of the key and guide surface will impart considerable rotational force to the kickover tool and rotate it about its longitudi-nal axis with considerable angular velocity. This may cause cam surface 37 on the orienting key to strike the far side of the slot at about the junc-ture of the slot wall with the opposite guide surface and cause the key to be cammed inwardly allowing it to enter the bore of the sleeve and thus pass through the s]eeve without orienting the kickover tool and without the filler piece 34 ever contacting the downwardly facing shoulder at the upper end of the slot. Such difficulty happens with considerable frequency, and in some cases it is very difficult to achieve proper orientation and activation of the kickover tool at all.
It will be noticed in the Figure 2 that the orien-ting sleeve 20 of this invention has a bore 22 and is provided with a longitudinally directed orientation slot 24. Near the upper end of the sleeve a downwardly facing shoulder 25 is located in the slot~ Tne shoulder 25 may completely block the slot as shown, or if desired, a narrow slot similar to slot 24a can extend from the shoulder to the upper end of the sleeve as shown in dotted lines. A pair of guide surfaces 26a and 26b are formed on the lower end of the sleeve, and both are directed upwardl~ toward the bottom of the slot 24.
It will be noticed that the guide surface 26a is longer than the guide surface 26b. It may be preferable for these guide surfaces to be helical and to have different helix angles. Guide surface 26a intersects the slot at thP higher position than does the guide sur~ace 26b so that the two places of intersection~ 26c and 26d, are spaced apart longi~
tudinall~ relative to the longitudinal axis of the orienting sleeve. This displacement in mos-t cases will be somewhere near two inches for common si2es of side pocket mandrels.
1 ~ -When a kickover tool such as the kickover tool 30 having a key such as the orienting key 32 thereon approaches the orienting sleeve 20, as when the kickover tool would be lifted through the side pocket mandrel 10, the top end 38 of the filler piece 34 of the key will, in all like]ihood, engage one of the guide surfaces 26a, and the kickover tool will be rotated in a counterclockwise direction as seen from the top of the sleeve until the key 32 enters the slot 24. When the kickover tool is lifted further, the filler piece 34 engages the downwardly facing shoulder 25 at the top of the slot 24, the key 32 is stopped, and further movement of the kickover tool may be utilized to bring about relative longitudinal movement between the key and the kickover tool in order to activate the kickover tool in the well-known manner. When the kickover tool is passing through the orienting sleeve 20 at considerable rate of speed and the filler piece 34 of the key engages the guide surface 26a, rapid rota-tion to the kickover tool occurs, and the momentum causes the kickover tool to tend to rotate past the slot. It will clearly be seen that in such case the key will strike the right-hand wall 24b of the slot, and this rotation of the tool will be stopped allowing the key to then enter the slot. Since the filler piece at this time would be above the point 26d at which the right-hand wall of the slot 24b is intersected by the right-hand guide surface 26b, there is no chance that the key 32 will be cammed inward-ly and cause the key to fail to engage the shoulder 25 at the top of the slot.
In similar but different manner, when the kickover tool is lifted at considerable velocity through the side pocket mandrel and the filler piece 34 of the key 32 engages the guide surface 26b of the orienting sleeve, the kickover tool will he rotated rapidly clockwise. When the key reaches the ~2~
upper end of the guide surface 26b, the momentum will cause the kickover tool to tend to rotate past the slot, but in any event the filler piece 34 of the key 32 should engaye the guide surface 26a on the left hand side of the orienting sleeve as seen in E'igure 2, and the guide surface 26a should then rotate the kickover tool back in the other direction.
This time, should the momentum of the kickover tool cause the same to rotate with any considerable force, the side of the key would then strike the right-hand wall surface 24b of the slot above the point 26d as before, and further lifting of the kickover tool would cause the key to move upwardly in the slot. It will be noticed that in this case there has been no tendency for the beveled surface 37 at the upper end of the key to strike the point 26c at which the guide surface 26a intersects the left-hand wall 24c of the slot 24. Thus, the tool should be properly orientedt and there should be little chance that a malfunction in this respect would occur.
Therefore, it has been shown that when a kic]cover tool such as the kickover tool 30 of Figure 3 having an orienting key 32 with a filler piece 34 mounted therein is moved upward-ly, and the key engages one of the guide surfaces 26a or 26b of the orienting sleeve, even though the kickover tool is moving at considerable velocity, the key will still enter the slot 24, and the filler piece 3~ at the upper end thereof will engage the downwardly facing shoulder 25 at the top of the slot. Laboratory tests have shown thak in situations where it was difficult to achieve proper orientation and activation of the kickover tool in the mandrel, replacemenk of the conven~
tional orienting sleeve having conventional c3uide surEaces with an orienting sleeve having novel guide surfaces such as shown in Figure ~ has solved the problem. After changing the conventional sleeve for the sleeve of this invention, it was ~3 ~Z~
very difficult to pull the kickover tool therethrough without achieving proper orientation.
Referring now -to Figures 4A, ~B and 5, it will be seen that a side pocket mandrel of modified form is provided.
Whereas the mandrel 10 o~ Figures lA and lB had its orienting sleeve near the top and thus was for use with kickover tools lowered into the well on a wireline, the mandrel 110 of Figures 4A, 4B and 5 has its orienting sleeve near the bottom and is intended for use in pumpdown wells where the kickover tool is moved into and out of the well by circulation of fluids through the well. Pumpdown kickover tools are artic-ulated for passage through flow lines having bends therein as sharp as 60-inch radius, and it so happens that it is more practical to place the orienting ~ey at the lower end of the kickover tool and the orienting sleeve near the lower end of the side pocket mandrel.
Mandrel 110 is seen to comprise a bod~ 111 having a full-opening passage 112 extending therethrough from end to end and having a receptacle bore 113 offset from and extending along-side the main full-open bore 112. Connection means are provided at the upper and lower ends of the mandrel as at 114 and 115 for attachment to a string of well tubing to become a part thereof. Lateral ports such as ports 116 are provided in the wall of the body at the receptacle bore 113 to communicate the bore 113 with the exterior of the mandrel. An orientiny sleeve 120 is welded as at 121 into the lower portion of the mandrel as seen in the drawing so that it surrounds the main passage 112. The orienting sleeve 120 is provided with a longitudinally directed orientation slot 124, and thls slot may pass completely through the sleeve or may terminate with a cam shoulder such as cam shoulder 152 which is inclined inwardly and upwardly as shown in Figure ~s. Although the 9~
upper end of the pumpdown kicko~er tool key will not be beveled at its upper end like the key 32, the cam shoulder 125 will cam thls key inwardly and will allow the key to pass through the orienting sleeve in the well-known manner. Below the slot 124, the orienting sleeve is provided with guide surfaces 126a and 126b which are not unlike guide surfaces 26a and 26b of sleeve 20 previously described and are directed upwardly from the lower end of the sleeve toward the lower end of the slot. Either of the guide surfaces 126a or 12~b is of course engageable by the orienting key and will impart thereto a cam action resulting in rotational movement to the kickover tool to cause the kickover tool to rotate about its longitudi-nal axis as it is moved through the mandrel in order to bring the orienting key into alignment with the orienting slot.
When the orienting key is in the orienting slot, the kickover tool is positioned in the side pocket mandrel is that it is properly aligned with respect to the offset receptacle ~ore 113. A pumpdown type kickover tool as presently known is not activated by the orienting key striking a shoulder at the upper end of the slot. Instead the kickover tool (not shown) is provided with separate releasable locating means at its upper end which engages a downwardly ~acing shoulder such as shoulder 140 near the upper end of the side pocket mandrel.
This type of kickover tool is illustrated and described in U~S. Patent No. 3,837,398 which issued Sep-tember 24, 1974 to John H. Yonker.
It will be noticed that the orienting sleeve 120 of the mandrel 112 is provided with one or more ports 14~ through the wall thereof which communicate th~ interior of the sleeve with the exterior of the mandrel through the lower end of the receptacle bore 113 and the lateral ports 11~.
It will be seen in Figure 5 that the guide surfaces 126a and 126b of sleeve 120 axe related to the orienting slot 12~
in exactly the same way and perform exactly -the ~ame functivns as the corresponding guide surfaces 26a and 26b of the orient-iny sleeve 20 as shown in Figure 2 and before e~plained.
These guide surfaces 126a and 126b intersect the slot 12~ at points spaced apart lonyitudinally and cooperate with the orienting key of a kickover too] in the side pocket mandrel with much greater reliability even though the kickover tool be moved through the mandrel at rela-tively high velocity. Rfter the pumpdown kickover tool has been oriented and activated and has done its work, the kickover tool is lifted with respect to the side poc~et mandrel. This causes its locating means at its upper end to again engage the downwardly facing shoulder 140 near the upper end of the side pocket mandrel. A yreater force is now applied thereto than was applied earlier, causing this mechanism to release and permitting the kickover tool then to be lifted out of the mandrel and withdrawn from the well.
Both of the orienting sleeves thus far discussed have been provided with a pair of guide surfaces which have been unequal in length and having their upper ends intersect the orienting slot at different levels, that is, at levels that are displaced longitudinally from one another with respect to the longitudinal axis of the sleeve and both of the guide surfaces have come together at their lower ends to form a point. As was mentioned, the two guide surfaces are of unequal length and preferably different helix angles. rrhe two guide surfaces, however, could be of different lengths and yet hav~ equal helix anyles in which case the point at the lower end of the sleeve would be displaced angularly wlth respect to the slotO r~his, however, ma~ not be as desirable as having \
unequal helix angles as the sleeves in Figures 2 and 5 appear to have, but if it is desired to provide a point which is displaced angularly from the slot by something other 'chan 180 degrees, this can be done, and such a sleeve i5 shown in Flgures 6 and 7.
In Figures ~ and 7 orienting sleeve 220 is seen to have an orienting slot 224 and a trip shoulder at the upper end of the slot. A pair of guide surfaces 226a and 226b are directed upwardly towards the bottom of the slot from a point 227. The point 227 is shown in Figures 7 to be angularly displaced from the slot 224 by an angle which i5 shown for illustration purposes to be approximately 90 degrees. The point 227 could as well be displaced some other amount, but in most cases and for practical reasons, the point would be preferred to be either 180 degrees or 90 degrees approximately from the slot.
The orienting sleeve 220 is shown formed with the guide surface 225b having a considerably greater lead than the lead of guide surface 226a.
It is possible to provide an orienting sleeve having only a single guide surface, and such sleeve is illustrated in Figure 8. Hexe the guide sleeve 32Q has an orientation slot 32~ and a trip shoulder 325 a-t the upper end of the slot~ The sleeve as a single guide surface 326 below the slot but directed upwardly toward the lower end of the slot~ In this case, the guide surface makes almost a full revolution, and of course the shape of the guide surface is shown to be helical, this being the most practical form.
An orienting sleeve such as -the sleeve 320 shown in Figure ~ will perform quite commendably, but it may not be the most practical in design. It will be noticed that the lower end of the orlenting sleeve 320 terminates with a rather sharp point, and this point may be more readily damaged since ~17-99~
impacting a kickover tool against it may cause upsetting of the me-tal. It will be noticed, too, that if such a sleeve is formed with a helical guide surface such as yuide surface 3~6, the distance from the top of the slot to the bottom end of the sleeve is twice what it would be with a conventional ~ype orienting sleeve having two symmetrical guide surfaces. Thus, the sleeve is longer than it ideally needs to be, and since most mandrels are designed so that they are about short as can be and still be practical, such a sleeve as orienting sleeve 320 just may be simply too long, and a sleeve such as that shown in Figure 2 or in Figure 6 may be preferred by most operators.
Thus it has been shown that the side pocket mandrels and orienting sleeves illustrated and described herein fulfill all of the objects of the invention set forth at the beginning of this application.
The foregoiny description and drawings of the invention are explanatory a~d illustrative thereof/ and various changes in si~es, shapes, materials and arrangement of parts, as well as certain details of the illustrated construction, ma~ be made within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the true spirit of the invention.
0:~L9~L
3,727,683 3,876,001 4,106,564 3,732,928 3,889,748 4,135,576 3,7~1,299 3,891,032 4,1~6,091 3,741,303 3,965,979 4,197,909 3,752,231 ~,002,203 4,239,082 3,788,397 ~,031,g54 4,271,902 3,796,259 4,033,409 4,294,313 Included in the above list are three patents which are considered exemplary of the types of side pocket mandrel orienting sleeves of which the present invention is an im-provement. The list also includes a fourth patent which illustrates and describes a kickover tool having an orienting key of the type which has been associated with the failures discussed hereinabove.
U.S. Patent No. 2,942,671 which issued to Harry B.
Schramm on June 28, 1960 discloses a side pocket mandrel with an orienting sleeve therein, the orienting sleeve having a pair of guide surfaces which lead to a longitudinal orienting slot which passes completely through the sleeve.
V.S. Patent No. 2,948,341 which issued to John V. Fredd on Au~ust 9, 1960 discloses a side pocke-t mandrel having an orienting sleeve therein which is provided with guide surfaces leading to a longitudinal orienting slot which passes com-pletely through the sleeve, but the sleeve is ~urther provided with shoulder means located in the slot.
U.S. Patent No. 3,827,490 which issued to Howard H.
Moore, Jr~ and Harold E. McGowan, Jr. on August 6, ~974 discloses a side pocket mandrel having an orienting sleeve therein having a pair of guide surfaces leadiny to an orien-t-ing slot and a trip shoulder at the end of the slot which completel~ blocks the slot. These three patents are typical ~2(~9~
of the types of orienting sleeves which are disclosed in the other patents listed above.
U.S. Patent No. 3,876,001 which issued to William B.
Goode on April 8, 1975 illustrates and describ~s a kickover tool for use in side pocket mandrels which are equipped with orienting sleeves such as that just mentioned with respect to Patent No. 3,827,490. This kickover tool is equipped with an orienting key having a portion thereof protruding from a window and presenting cam surfaces which would tend to cam t~)e key inwardly toward retracted position when meeting with obstructions in the well tubing. This key has an upwardly opening radial slot at its upper end and has a filler piece pivotally mounted in the slot. This filler piece is shear-pinned in place to releasably hold it in the position shown, in which position the filler piece presents an abrupt upwardly facing shoulder to engage the guide surfaces and trip shoulder of an orienting sleeve. Upon shearing the shear pin, the filler piece becomes inoperative, and the key will there~
after pass shoulders or obstructions with readiness because of the key's cam surfaces mentioned earlier camming the key toward retracted position upo~ encountering obstructions in the well tubing.
There was not found in the prior art patents a side pocket mandrel having a longitudinal orientation slot and a pair of guide surfaces therebelow directed upwardly toward the lower end of the slot but intersecting the slot at different levels which are spaced apart longitudinally. Neither was there found a side pocket mandrel having an orienting sleeve with a longitudinal orientation slot therein and a single guide surface therebelow directed upwardly toward the lower end of the slot from a point at the lower end of the orienting 9~
sleeve via a helical path and making substantially a full revolution before intersecting the slot.
The present invention overcomes the problems and shortcomings discussed hereinabove by providing side pocket mandrels having orienting sleeves therein with yuide sur~aces of a novel form which eliminate malfunctioning clS described above and thus saves much time and money.
Summary of the Invention The present invention is directed to side pocket mandrels having orienting means therein comprising an orienting sleeve having an orienting slot and a pair of guide surfaces below the slot and directed upwardly toward the slot, these two guide surfaces having their upper ends spaced apart longi-tudinally with respect to the longitudinal axis of the orient-ing sleeve. In one aspect of the invention, the orienting sleeve has but a single guide surface.
It is therefore one object of this invention to provide a side pocket mandrel having an orienting sleeve therein, the sleeve having an orienting slot and a guide surface below the slot leading upwardly to the bottom of the slot for orienting a kickover tool in the mandrel with respect to its offset receptacle bore~
Another object of this invention is to provide such a side pocket mandrel with an orienting sleeve therein having an orienting slot and a pair of guide surfaces below the slot directed upwardly toward the bottom of the slot, the two guide surfaces having their upward ends spaced apart longitudinally~
~nother object is to provide a side pocket mandrel having an orienting sleeve with a slot therein and a pair of guide surfaces directed upwardly toward the bottom of the slot, these two guide surfaces being helical in form and haviny unequal helix an~les.
L9~
Another object of the invention is to provide a side pocket mandrel with such an orienting sleeve wherein the two guide sur~aces extend upwardly from a point which i6 angularly displaced from the location of the orienting slot by approxi-mately 90 degrees.
Another ob~ect of this invention is to provide side pocket mandrels o-f the character just described wherein there is provided a stop shoulder in the orienting slot of the orienting sle~ve ~or activating a kickover tool.
Another object is to provide side pocket mandrels of the character described wherein the stop shoulder completely blocks the slot in the orienting sleeve.
Another object of this invention is to provide a side pocket mandrel of the character described having an orienting sleeve located above the belly in the side pocket mandrel.
Another object of this invention is to provide side pocket mandrels of the character described having an orienting sleeve positioned below the upper end of the offset recepta-cle.
In accordance with this invention, there is provided an improved orienting-type side pocket mandrel, including:
elongate body means having a main passage therethrough;
connecting means on its opposite ends for attachment to a string of well tubing; receptacle bore means in said body means offset from and extending alongside said main passage for receiving a flow control device; port means in said body means communi.cating said receptacle bore means with the exterior of said mandre.l; offset belly means in said body means above said receptacle bore means providing space for operation of a handling tool for installing a device in said receptacle bore means; and an orienting sleeve in said body means ~or ori.enting said handling tool relative to said . ~,, :~2~
receptacle bore means, said orienting sleeve haviny: a longi-tudinally extending orienting slot therein, and a pair of guide surfaces below said slot and directed upwardly toward the bottom of said slo-t, said pair of guide surfaces having their upper ends longitudinally spaced apart.
Other objects and advantages will become apparent from reading the description which follows and from studying the accom~anying drawings wherein:
Brief Description of the Drawing Figures lA and lB taken together constitute a longitudi-nal sectional view of a side pocket mandrel constructed in accordance with the present invention and showing an orienting sleeve near its upper end.
Figure 2 is a side elevational view of an orienting sleeve constructed in accordance with this invention.
Figure 3 is a fragmentary side elevational view showing a portion of a kickover tool having an orienting key usable with the present invention.
Figures ~A and 4B taken together constitute a longitudi-nal sectional view of a side pocket mandrel constructed in accordance w:Lth thLs invention and having an orienting sleeve therein positioned near its lower end.
Figure 5 is a side elevational view of the orienting sleeve which forms a part of the mandrel of Figure ~B~
Figure 6 is a side elevational view of a modified form of orienting sleeve.
Figure 7 is a lower end view of the orienting sleeve of Figure 6.
Figure 8 is a side elevational view of a further modified 3n form of orien-ting sleeve.
-7a~
Description o-E the Preferred Embodiments Referring now to Fiyures lA, lB and 2, it will be seen that the side pocket mandrel i5 indicated generally by the numeral 10. This mandrel for illustration purposes is con-structed generally according to the application of H:Lggins and Merritt, filed September 10, 1980, Serial No. 360,055, now Canadian Patent No. 1144066. It is thus shown provided with a welded body 11 having a full-openiny bore extending there-through from end to end and an offset receptacle bore 13 extending alongside the main bore 12 and with means at its upper end and lower ends as at 14 and 15 for attachment to a string of well tubing. Lateral flow ports 16 communicate the receptacle bore 13 with the exterior of the mandrel in the well-known manner. Near its upper end, the mandrel is pro-vided with an orienting sleeve 20 which is welded in place as at 21; and this sleeve has a bore 22 which surrounds the main bore 12 through the mandrel. The orienting sleeve 20 is provided with a longitudinal orienting slot 24 having a downwardly facing shoulder 25 at the upper end thereof which may or may not completely block the slot. Sleeve 20 is further prov.ided with a pair of _~_ ~z~
downwardly facing guide surfaces 26 which are directed upward-ly toward the lower end of the slot ~, and these guide surfaces are en~a~eable by an orienting key of a kickover tool ~not shown). The guide key upon enyaging one of the guide surfaces will follow it causing the kickover tool to rotate about its lon~itudinal axis until its orienting key becornes aligned with and enters the orienting slot~ When the orient-ing key is in the orienting slot, the kickover tool is proper-ly oriented in the side pocket mandrel with respect to the receptacle bore 13.
In the past, the two guide surfaces on orienting sleeves have been syr~etrical, that is, they have been equal in length, and if helical, have had equal helix angles. In each case, their upper ends have intersected the slot on a cor~mon level. Such orienting sleeves worked well with most kickover tools, however, when kickover tools having a certain type of key were used, it was often necessary to make several trips through the side pocket mandrel before orientation of the kickover tool was achieved. Such a kickover tool is partially illustrated in Figure 3, which see. In ~igure 3, the kickover tool is generally indicated by the numeral 30, and the orient-ing key is indicated by the numeral 32. The orienting key 32 is bifurcated at its upper end, being provided with an upward-ly opening slot 33 in which is disposed a filler piece 34 releasably held in the position shown by a shear pin 35O I'he orienting key is beveled at its lower end 36 for guidiny the key past obstructions as the kickover tool is lowered in the well and is similarly beveled at its upper end as at 37 for guiding the key past obstructions during upward travel of the kickover tool in the well. When the filler piece 3~ is in the pinned position shown, its upper end 38 provides an abrupt upwardly facing shoulder on the key which will engage one or _g_ the other of the guide surfaces 26 on the sleeve 20 and will follow the guide surface thus causing the kickover tool to rotate about its longitudinal aYis until the ke~ becomes aligned with the orienting slot 24 and moves upwardly therein.
When the orienting key 32 reaches the upper end of the slot, its filler piece 3~ engages the shoulder 25, the filler piece 34 being held in operating position by the shear pin 35.
Thus, upward movement of the orienting key 32 is arrested, and further upward movement of the kickover tool will cause relative longitudinal movement between the orienting key and the kickover tool and cause the kickover tool to be activated.
With the orienting key in the orienting slot, the kickover tool is correctly oriented with respect to the offset recepta-cle bore 13, and the kickover tool can be operated to install a device therein or remove a device therefrom. Afterwards, it is necessary to withdraw the kickover tool from the side pocket mandrel. For this operation the kickover tool is lifted again until the filler piece 34 engages the downwardly facing shoulder 25 in the orienting sleeve and sufficient force applied thereto to cause pin 35 to shear allowing the filler piece 34 to rotate about a pivot pin (not shown~ to its inoperative position within the key 32. With the filler piece 34 out of the way, the beveled surface 37 at the upper end of the orienting key 32 becomes effective to guide the orienting key past any downwardly facing obstructions such as the downwardly facing shoulder 25 at the upper end of the slot in the orienting sleeve 20, and the kickover tool may thus be withdrawn from the well without difficultyv If the guide surfaces on an orienting sleeve have their upper ends termi-nate at a common level~ as is the case with the prior art devices, and the orienting key of the kickover tool engages one of them at considerable speed, the sudden cam action of the key and guide surface will impart considerable rotational force to the kickover tool and rotate it about its longitudi-nal axis with considerable angular velocity. This may cause cam surface 37 on the orienting key to strike the far side of the slot at about the junc-ture of the slot wall with the opposite guide surface and cause the key to be cammed inwardly allowing it to enter the bore of the sleeve and thus pass through the s]eeve without orienting the kickover tool and without the filler piece 34 ever contacting the downwardly facing shoulder at the upper end of the slot. Such difficulty happens with considerable frequency, and in some cases it is very difficult to achieve proper orientation and activation of the kickover tool at all.
It will be noticed in the Figure 2 that the orien-ting sleeve 20 of this invention has a bore 22 and is provided with a longitudinally directed orientation slot 24. Near the upper end of the sleeve a downwardly facing shoulder 25 is located in the slot~ Tne shoulder 25 may completely block the slot as shown, or if desired, a narrow slot similar to slot 24a can extend from the shoulder to the upper end of the sleeve as shown in dotted lines. A pair of guide surfaces 26a and 26b are formed on the lower end of the sleeve, and both are directed upwardl~ toward the bottom of the slot 24.
It will be noticed that the guide surface 26a is longer than the guide surface 26b. It may be preferable for these guide surfaces to be helical and to have different helix angles. Guide surface 26a intersects the slot at thP higher position than does the guide sur~ace 26b so that the two places of intersection~ 26c and 26d, are spaced apart longi~
tudinall~ relative to the longitudinal axis of the orienting sleeve. This displacement in mos-t cases will be somewhere near two inches for common si2es of side pocket mandrels.
1 ~ -When a kickover tool such as the kickover tool 30 having a key such as the orienting key 32 thereon approaches the orienting sleeve 20, as when the kickover tool would be lifted through the side pocket mandrel 10, the top end 38 of the filler piece 34 of the key will, in all like]ihood, engage one of the guide surfaces 26a, and the kickover tool will be rotated in a counterclockwise direction as seen from the top of the sleeve until the key 32 enters the slot 24. When the kickover tool is lifted further, the filler piece 34 engages the downwardly facing shoulder 25 at the top of the slot 24, the key 32 is stopped, and further movement of the kickover tool may be utilized to bring about relative longitudinal movement between the key and the kickover tool in order to activate the kickover tool in the well-known manner. When the kickover tool is passing through the orienting sleeve 20 at considerable rate of speed and the filler piece 34 of the key engages the guide surface 26a, rapid rota-tion to the kickover tool occurs, and the momentum causes the kickover tool to tend to rotate past the slot. It will clearly be seen that in such case the key will strike the right-hand wall 24b of the slot, and this rotation of the tool will be stopped allowing the key to then enter the slot. Since the filler piece at this time would be above the point 26d at which the right-hand wall of the slot 24b is intersected by the right-hand guide surface 26b, there is no chance that the key 32 will be cammed inward-ly and cause the key to fail to engage the shoulder 25 at the top of the slot.
In similar but different manner, when the kickover tool is lifted at considerable velocity through the side pocket mandrel and the filler piece 34 of the key 32 engages the guide surface 26b of the orienting sleeve, the kickover tool will he rotated rapidly clockwise. When the key reaches the ~2~
upper end of the guide surface 26b, the momentum will cause the kickover tool to tend to rotate past the slot, but in any event the filler piece 34 of the key 32 should engaye the guide surface 26a on the left hand side of the orienting sleeve as seen in E'igure 2, and the guide surface 26a should then rotate the kickover tool back in the other direction.
This time, should the momentum of the kickover tool cause the same to rotate with any considerable force, the side of the key would then strike the right-hand wall surface 24b of the slot above the point 26d as before, and further lifting of the kickover tool would cause the key to move upwardly in the slot. It will be noticed that in this case there has been no tendency for the beveled surface 37 at the upper end of the key to strike the point 26c at which the guide surface 26a intersects the left-hand wall 24c of the slot 24. Thus, the tool should be properly orientedt and there should be little chance that a malfunction in this respect would occur.
Therefore, it has been shown that when a kic]cover tool such as the kickover tool 30 of Figure 3 having an orienting key 32 with a filler piece 34 mounted therein is moved upward-ly, and the key engages one of the guide surfaces 26a or 26b of the orienting sleeve, even though the kickover tool is moving at considerable velocity, the key will still enter the slot 24, and the filler piece 3~ at the upper end thereof will engage the downwardly facing shoulder 25 at the top of the slot. Laboratory tests have shown thak in situations where it was difficult to achieve proper orientation and activation of the kickover tool in the mandrel, replacemenk of the conven~
tional orienting sleeve having conventional c3uide surEaces with an orienting sleeve having novel guide surfaces such as shown in Figure ~ has solved the problem. After changing the conventional sleeve for the sleeve of this invention, it was ~3 ~Z~
very difficult to pull the kickover tool therethrough without achieving proper orientation.
Referring now -to Figures 4A, ~B and 5, it will be seen that a side pocket mandrel of modified form is provided.
Whereas the mandrel 10 o~ Figures lA and lB had its orienting sleeve near the top and thus was for use with kickover tools lowered into the well on a wireline, the mandrel 110 of Figures 4A, 4B and 5 has its orienting sleeve near the bottom and is intended for use in pumpdown wells where the kickover tool is moved into and out of the well by circulation of fluids through the well. Pumpdown kickover tools are artic-ulated for passage through flow lines having bends therein as sharp as 60-inch radius, and it so happens that it is more practical to place the orienting ~ey at the lower end of the kickover tool and the orienting sleeve near the lower end of the side pocket mandrel.
Mandrel 110 is seen to comprise a bod~ 111 having a full-opening passage 112 extending therethrough from end to end and having a receptacle bore 113 offset from and extending along-side the main full-open bore 112. Connection means are provided at the upper and lower ends of the mandrel as at 114 and 115 for attachment to a string of well tubing to become a part thereof. Lateral ports such as ports 116 are provided in the wall of the body at the receptacle bore 113 to communicate the bore 113 with the exterior of the mandrel. An orientiny sleeve 120 is welded as at 121 into the lower portion of the mandrel as seen in the drawing so that it surrounds the main passage 112. The orienting sleeve 120 is provided with a longitudinally directed orientation slot 124, and thls slot may pass completely through the sleeve or may terminate with a cam shoulder such as cam shoulder 152 which is inclined inwardly and upwardly as shown in Figure ~s. Although the 9~
upper end of the pumpdown kicko~er tool key will not be beveled at its upper end like the key 32, the cam shoulder 125 will cam thls key inwardly and will allow the key to pass through the orienting sleeve in the well-known manner. Below the slot 124, the orienting sleeve is provided with guide surfaces 126a and 126b which are not unlike guide surfaces 26a and 26b of sleeve 20 previously described and are directed upwardly from the lower end of the sleeve toward the lower end of the slot. Either of the guide surfaces 126a or 12~b is of course engageable by the orienting key and will impart thereto a cam action resulting in rotational movement to the kickover tool to cause the kickover tool to rotate about its longitudi-nal axis as it is moved through the mandrel in order to bring the orienting key into alignment with the orienting slot.
When the orienting key is in the orienting slot, the kickover tool is positioned in the side pocket mandrel is that it is properly aligned with respect to the offset receptacle ~ore 113. A pumpdown type kickover tool as presently known is not activated by the orienting key striking a shoulder at the upper end of the slot. Instead the kickover tool (not shown) is provided with separate releasable locating means at its upper end which engages a downwardly ~acing shoulder such as shoulder 140 near the upper end of the side pocket mandrel.
This type of kickover tool is illustrated and described in U~S. Patent No. 3,837,398 which issued Sep-tember 24, 1974 to John H. Yonker.
It will be noticed that the orienting sleeve 120 of the mandrel 112 is provided with one or more ports 14~ through the wall thereof which communicate th~ interior of the sleeve with the exterior of the mandrel through the lower end of the receptacle bore 113 and the lateral ports 11~.
It will be seen in Figure 5 that the guide surfaces 126a and 126b of sleeve 120 axe related to the orienting slot 12~
in exactly the same way and perform exactly -the ~ame functivns as the corresponding guide surfaces 26a and 26b of the orient-iny sleeve 20 as shown in Figure 2 and before e~plained.
These guide surfaces 126a and 126b intersect the slot 12~ at points spaced apart lonyitudinally and cooperate with the orienting key of a kickover too] in the side pocket mandrel with much greater reliability even though the kickover tool be moved through the mandrel at rela-tively high velocity. Rfter the pumpdown kickover tool has been oriented and activated and has done its work, the kickover tool is lifted with respect to the side poc~et mandrel. This causes its locating means at its upper end to again engage the downwardly facing shoulder 140 near the upper end of the side pocket mandrel. A yreater force is now applied thereto than was applied earlier, causing this mechanism to release and permitting the kickover tool then to be lifted out of the mandrel and withdrawn from the well.
Both of the orienting sleeves thus far discussed have been provided with a pair of guide surfaces which have been unequal in length and having their upper ends intersect the orienting slot at different levels, that is, at levels that are displaced longitudinally from one another with respect to the longitudinal axis of the sleeve and both of the guide surfaces have come together at their lower ends to form a point. As was mentioned, the two guide surfaces are of unequal length and preferably different helix angles. rrhe two guide surfaces, however, could be of different lengths and yet hav~ equal helix anyles in which case the point at the lower end of the sleeve would be displaced angularly wlth respect to the slotO r~his, however, ma~ not be as desirable as having \
unequal helix angles as the sleeves in Figures 2 and 5 appear to have, but if it is desired to provide a point which is displaced angularly from the slot by something other 'chan 180 degrees, this can be done, and such a sleeve i5 shown in Flgures 6 and 7.
In Figures ~ and 7 orienting sleeve 220 is seen to have an orienting slot 224 and a trip shoulder at the upper end of the slot. A pair of guide surfaces 226a and 226b are directed upwardly towards the bottom of the slot from a point 227. The point 227 is shown in Figures 7 to be angularly displaced from the slot 224 by an angle which i5 shown for illustration purposes to be approximately 90 degrees. The point 227 could as well be displaced some other amount, but in most cases and for practical reasons, the point would be preferred to be either 180 degrees or 90 degrees approximately from the slot.
The orienting sleeve 220 is shown formed with the guide surface 225b having a considerably greater lead than the lead of guide surface 226a.
It is possible to provide an orienting sleeve having only a single guide surface, and such sleeve is illustrated in Figure 8. Hexe the guide sleeve 32Q has an orientation slot 32~ and a trip shoulder 325 a-t the upper end of the slot~ The sleeve as a single guide surface 326 below the slot but directed upwardly toward the lower end of the slot~ In this case, the guide surface makes almost a full revolution, and of course the shape of the guide surface is shown to be helical, this being the most practical form.
An orienting sleeve such as -the sleeve 320 shown in Figure ~ will perform quite commendably, but it may not be the most practical in design. It will be noticed that the lower end of the orlenting sleeve 320 terminates with a rather sharp point, and this point may be more readily damaged since ~17-99~
impacting a kickover tool against it may cause upsetting of the me-tal. It will be noticed, too, that if such a sleeve is formed with a helical guide surface such as yuide surface 3~6, the distance from the top of the slot to the bottom end of the sleeve is twice what it would be with a conventional ~ype orienting sleeve having two symmetrical guide surfaces. Thus, the sleeve is longer than it ideally needs to be, and since most mandrels are designed so that they are about short as can be and still be practical, such a sleeve as orienting sleeve 320 just may be simply too long, and a sleeve such as that shown in Figure 2 or in Figure 6 may be preferred by most operators.
Thus it has been shown that the side pocket mandrels and orienting sleeves illustrated and described herein fulfill all of the objects of the invention set forth at the beginning of this application.
The foregoiny description and drawings of the invention are explanatory a~d illustrative thereof/ and various changes in si~es, shapes, materials and arrangement of parts, as well as certain details of the illustrated construction, ma~ be made within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the true spirit of the invention.
Claims (14)
1. An improved orienting-type side pocket mandrel, including:
a. elongate body means having a main passage therethrough;
b. connecting means on its opposite ends for attachment to a string of well tubing;
c. receptacle bore means in said body means offset from and extending alongside said main passage for receiving a flow control device;
d. port means in said body means communicating said receptacle bore means with the exterior of said mandrel;
e. offset belly means in said body means above said receptacle bore means providing space for operation of a handling tool for installing a device in said receptacle bore means; and f. an orienting sleeve in said body means for orienting said handling tool relative to said receptacle bore means, said orienting sleeve having:
i. a longitudinally extending orienting slot therein, and ii. a pair of guide surfaces below said slot and directed upwardly toward the bottom of said slot, said pair of guide surfaces having their upper ends longitudinally spaced apart.
a. elongate body means having a main passage therethrough;
b. connecting means on its opposite ends for attachment to a string of well tubing;
c. receptacle bore means in said body means offset from and extending alongside said main passage for receiving a flow control device;
d. port means in said body means communicating said receptacle bore means with the exterior of said mandrel;
e. offset belly means in said body means above said receptacle bore means providing space for operation of a handling tool for installing a device in said receptacle bore means; and f. an orienting sleeve in said body means for orienting said handling tool relative to said receptacle bore means, said orienting sleeve having:
i. a longitudinally extending orienting slot therein, and ii. a pair of guide surfaces below said slot and directed upwardly toward the bottom of said slot, said pair of guide surfaces having their upper ends longitudinally spaced apart.
2. The mandrel of claim 1, wherein the guide surfaces on said orienting sleeve are unequal in length.
3. The mandrel of claim 2, wherein the guide surfaces on said orienting sleeve are helical and have unequal helix angles.
4. The mandrel of claim 2, wherein the lower ends of said guide surfaces of said orienting sleeve converge at a point angularly displaced from said slot by approximately 90 degrees.
5. The mandrel of claim 1, including a stop shoulder in said orienting slot for stopping said handling tool for activating said handling tool.
6. The mandrel of claim 2, including a stop shoulder in said orienting slot for stopping said handling tool for activating said handling tool.
7. The mandrel of claim 3, including a stop shoulder in said orienting slot for stopping said handling tool for activating said handling tool.
8. The mandrel of claim 4, including a stop shoulder in said orienting slot for stopping said handling tool for activating said handling tool.
9. The mandrel of claims 5 or 6, wherein said stop shoulder completely blocks said orienting slot.
10. The mandrel of claims 7 or 8, wherein said stop shoulder completely blocks said orienting slot.
11. The mandrel of claims 5 or 6, wherein said orienting sleeve is located in said body means above said offset belly means.
12. The mandrel of claims 7 or 8, wherein said orienting sleeve is located in said body means above said offset belly means.
13. The mandrel of claims 1 or 2, wherein said orienting sleeve is located in said body means below the upper end of said receptacle bore means.
14. The mandrel of claims 3 or 4, wherein said orienting sleeve is located in said body means below the upper end of said receptacle bore means.
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| US06/351,628 | 1982-02-24 | ||
| US06/351,628 US4440222A (en) | 1982-02-24 | 1982-02-24 | Side pocket mandrel with improved orienting means |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1200194A true CA1200194A (en) | 1986-02-04 |
Family
ID=23381656
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA000419410A Expired CA1200194A (en) | 1982-02-24 | 1983-01-13 | Side pocket mandrel with improved orienting means |
Country Status (4)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| US (1) | US4440222A (en) |
| CA (1) | CA1200194A (en) |
| GB (1) | GB2115455B (en) |
| SG (1) | SG88585G (en) |
Families Citing this family (33)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US4524833A (en) * | 1983-09-23 | 1985-06-25 | Otis Engineering Corporation | Apparatus and methods for orienting devices in side pocket mandrels |
| US4541482A (en) * | 1984-06-25 | 1985-09-17 | Camco, Incorporated | Offset open bore sidepocket mandrel |
| US4825946A (en) * | 1984-09-24 | 1989-05-02 | Otis Engineering Corporation | Apparatus for monitoring a parameter in a well |
| US4846269A (en) * | 1984-09-24 | 1989-07-11 | Otis Engineering Corporation | Apparatus for monitoring a parameter in a well |
| US4828027A (en) * | 1984-09-24 | 1989-05-09 | Otis Engineering Corporation | Apparatus for monitoring a parameter in a well |
| US4757859A (en) * | 1984-09-24 | 1988-07-19 | Otis Engineering Corporation | Apparatus for monitoring a parameter in a well |
| US4715441A (en) * | 1985-10-18 | 1987-12-29 | Crawford Douglass W | Side pocket mandrel |
| US4765403A (en) * | 1984-12-07 | 1988-08-23 | Crawford Douglas W | Apparatus for placing and removing well flow control devices |
| US4640350A (en) * | 1985-02-11 | 1987-02-03 | Ava International Corporation | Kickover tool |
| MX172479B (en) * | 1988-02-03 | 1993-12-17 | William B Crawford Y Perry J D | T-SLOT CHUCK AND STARTING TOOL |
| US5224545A (en) * | 1992-04-10 | 1993-07-06 | Otis Engineering Corporation | Eccentrically actuated perforating guns |
| US5439051A (en) * | 1994-01-26 | 1995-08-08 | Baker Hughes Incorporated | Lateral connector receptacle |
| US5564503A (en) * | 1994-08-26 | 1996-10-15 | Halliburton Company | Methods and systems for subterranean multilateral well drilling and completion |
| US5507348A (en) * | 1994-11-16 | 1996-04-16 | Scientific Drilling International | Apparatus for locking wire line instrument to drill collar |
| AUPN673995A0 (en) * | 1995-11-22 | 1995-12-14 | Down Hole Technologies Pty Ltd | A sleeve for orientating a tool |
| AU700257B2 (en) * | 1995-11-22 | 1998-12-24 | Dht Technologies Limited | A sleeve for orientating a tool |
| US5862859A (en) * | 1995-11-30 | 1999-01-26 | Camco International Inc. | Side pocket mandrel orienting device with integrally formed locating slot |
| US6009942A (en) * | 1997-06-10 | 2000-01-04 | Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. | Wye block having a rotary guide incorporated therein |
| GB2348908B (en) * | 1998-01-30 | 2002-09-11 | Dresser Ind | Method and apparatus for running two tubing strings into a well |
| US6196321B1 (en) | 1999-01-29 | 2001-03-06 | Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. | Wye block having automatically aligned guide structure |
| US6543536B2 (en) * | 1999-05-19 | 2003-04-08 | Smith International, Inc. | Well reference apparatus and method |
| US6499537B1 (en) * | 1999-05-19 | 2002-12-31 | Smith International, Inc. | Well reference apparatus and method |
| US6568480B2 (en) * | 2001-05-03 | 2003-05-27 | Smith International, Inc. | Orientation and locator system and method of use |
| US7900717B2 (en) * | 2006-12-04 | 2011-03-08 | Baker Hughes Incorporated | Expandable reamers for earth boring applications |
| US8657039B2 (en) * | 2006-12-04 | 2014-02-25 | Baker Hughes Incorporated | Restriction element trap for use with an actuation element of a downhole apparatus and method of use |
| US8028767B2 (en) * | 2006-12-04 | 2011-10-04 | Baker Hughes, Incorporated | Expandable stabilizer with roller reamer elements |
| US7882905B2 (en) * | 2008-03-28 | 2011-02-08 | Baker Hughes Incorporated | Stabilizer and reamer system having extensible blades and bearing pads and method of using same |
| US8205689B2 (en) * | 2008-05-01 | 2012-06-26 | Baker Hughes Incorporated | Stabilizer and reamer system having extensible blades and bearing pads and method of using same |
| EP2408993A4 (en) * | 2009-03-03 | 2014-04-09 | Baker Hughes Inc | Chip deflector on a blade of a downhole reamer and methods therefor |
| US8297381B2 (en) | 2009-07-13 | 2012-10-30 | Baker Hughes Incorporated | Stabilizer subs for use with expandable reamer apparatus, expandable reamer apparatus including stabilizer subs and related methods |
| NO347493B1 (en) * | 2013-12-20 | 2023-11-27 | Halliburton Energy Services Inc | Downhole tool with retrievable electronics |
| WO2020005297A1 (en) | 2018-06-29 | 2020-01-02 | Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. | Multi-lateral entry tool with independent control of functions |
| US20220220818A1 (en) * | 2021-01-14 | 2022-07-14 | Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. | Gauge sensor for downhole pressure/temperature monitoring of esp intake pressure and discharge temperature |
Family Cites Families (5)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US2942671A (en) * | 1958-06-30 | 1960-06-28 | Otis Eng Co | Means for installing subsurface tools |
| US3052309A (en) * | 1958-10-30 | 1962-09-04 | Eastman Oil Well Survey Co | Apparatus for orienting well drilling equipment |
| US3827490A (en) * | 1968-05-01 | 1974-08-06 | Camco Inc | Apparatus for installing and removing flow valves |
| US4034806A (en) * | 1976-09-13 | 1977-07-12 | Production Specialties, Inc. | Tubing side pocket mandrel |
| US4368780A (en) * | 1981-08-14 | 1983-01-18 | Otis Engineering Corporation | Kickover tool |
-
1982
- 1982-02-24 US US06/351,628 patent/US4440222A/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
-
1983
- 1983-01-13 CA CA000419410A patent/CA1200194A/en not_active Expired
- 1983-01-24 GB GB08301925A patent/GB2115455B/en not_active Expired
-
1985
- 1985-11-25 SG SG885/85A patent/SG88585G/en unknown
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| SG88585G (en) | 1986-07-18 |
| GB2115455A (en) | 1983-09-07 |
| US4440222A (en) | 1984-04-03 |
| GB2115455B (en) | 1985-08-14 |
| GB8301925D0 (en) | 1983-02-23 |
Similar Documents
| Publication | Publication Date | Title |
|---|---|---|
| CA1200194A (en) | Side pocket mandrel with improved orienting means | |
| US6488090B1 (en) | Method and apparatus for accurate milling of windows in well casings | |
| US7431082B2 (en) | Retaining lines in bypass groove on downhole equipment | |
| US4976314A (en) | T-slot mandrel and kickover tool | |
| US4928767A (en) | Method and apparatus for setting and retrieving a deflection tool | |
| US4647099A (en) | Lifting head | |
| US3863716A (en) | Cementing plug release assist apparatus | |
| MX9707639A (en) | A surface controlled wellbore directional steering tool. | |
| US4964474A (en) | Flexible tunneling apparatus and method | |
| US4449593A (en) | Guide for sidewall coring bit assembly | |
| US3891032A (en) | Apparatus for installing and removing flow control devices | |
| US4396074A (en) | Drill bit extension for sidewall corer | |
| US3717208A (en) | Seal and equalizing arrangement for a directional drilling apparatus | |
| US3627356A (en) | Directional drilling apparatus with retrievable limiting device | |
| CA1176975A (en) | Kickover tool | |
| US3561528A (en) | Apparatus for simultaneously guiding at least two insertable mechanisms in a well tubing | |
| EP0777033B1 (en) | Side pocket mandrel for gas lift wells and method for its manufacturing | |
| US5131467A (en) | System for deflecting through-the-flowline tools | |
| US4146091A (en) | Apparatus for installing and removing flow valves | |
| US4033409A (en) | Well tubing mandrel with orienting sleeve with trash relieving slot | |
| SE460142B (en) | PILLAR DRILL HEAD OR BORING DEVICE | |
| US4583590A (en) | Slip releasing apparatus | |
| EP0204823B1 (en) | Side pocket mandrel | |
| EP1186743B1 (en) | Wireline centralisation apparatus and method | |
| US6045171A (en) | Spear head assembly |
Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| MKEX | Expiry |