Screened well drainage pipe structure with sealed, variable length labyrinth inlet flow control apparatus
First Claim
1. Production fluid drainage apparatus for a subterranean well, comprising:
- a base pipe having a sidewall inlet opening therein;
a tubular structure coaxially circumscribing the base pipe and forming therewith an annular fluid flow passage communicating with the interior of the base pipe through the sidewall inlet opening, the tubular structure having a fluid filtering section axially offset from the sidewall inlet opening and through which well fluid may flow into the annular fluid flow passage; and
an adjustable fluid flow control structure operative to selectively vary well fluid inflow through the fluid filtering section into the base pipe and including (1) an annular flow control member coaxially circumscribing the base pipe and interposed in the fluid flow passage between the sidewall inlet opening and the fluid filtering section, the flow control member having an outer side surface and further having a selectively variable length flow passage for permitting well fluid to axially traverse the flow control member, and (2) a first resilient sealing material adhered to the outer side surface of the annular flow control member and being compressed between the flow control member and the tubular structure.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A drainage pipe section for a horizontal subterranean well has a base pipe coaxially circumscribed by a tubular structure having a longitudinally intermediate portion defined by a sand screen assembly. An annular flow passage is formed between the base pipe and the tubular structure and communicates with the interior of the base pipe via base pipe sidewall openings positioned inwardly adjacent opposite end portions of the tubular structure. Annular adjustable flow control members having variable length labyrinth passages recessed into their outer sides are coaxially interposed in the annular flow passage between the opposite ends of the sand screen assembly and the base pipe sidewall openings. The flow control members are sealed within the annular flow passage by means of a rubber coating adhered to their outer side surfaces, and an adhesive type sealant material injected into annular spaces between the flow control members and facing portions of the base pipe. Specially designed plugs having resilient portions are used to selectively seal off portions of the labyrinth passage to selectively vary its effective length and thus the resistance to flow therethrough and the fluid flow into the base pipe interior through the annular flow passage. Additional seal structures are provided at the opposite ends of the tubular structure, each including a quantity of adhesive type resilient sealant material injected between the tubular structure end portion and the base pipe, and two annular resilient elastomeric backup seals.
225 Citations
48 Claims
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1. Production fluid drainage apparatus for a subterranean well, comprising:
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a base pipe having a sidewall inlet opening therein; a tubular structure coaxially circumscribing the base pipe and forming therewith an annular fluid flow passage communicating with the interior of the base pipe through the sidewall inlet opening, the tubular structure having a fluid filtering section axially offset from the sidewall inlet opening and through which well fluid may flow into the annular fluid flow passage; and an adjustable fluid flow control structure operative to selectively vary well fluid inflow through the fluid filtering section into the base pipe and including (1) an annular flow control member coaxially circumscribing the base pipe and interposed in the fluid flow passage between the sidewall inlet opening and the fluid filtering section, the flow control member having an outer side surface and further having a selectively variable length flow passage for permitting well fluid to axially traverse the flow control member, and (2) a first resilient sealing material adhered to the outer side surface of the annular flow control member and being compressed between the flow control member and the tubular structure. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. Production fluid drainage apparatus for a subterranean well, comprising:
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a base pipe having a sidewall inlet opening therein; a tubular structure coaxially circumscribing the base pipe and forming therewith an annular fluid flow passage communicating with the interior of the base pipe through the sidewall inlet opening, the tubular structure having a fluid filtering section axially offset from the sidewall inlet opening and through which well fluid may flow into the annular fluid flow passage; and an adjustable fluid flow control structure operative to selectively vary well fluid inflow through the fluid filtering section into the base pipe and including (1) an annular flow control member coaxially circumscribing the base pipe and interposed in the fluid flow passage between the sidewall inlet opening and the fluid filtering section, the flow control member having an inner side surface and further having a selectively variable length flow passage for permitting well fluid to axially traverse the flow control member, and (2) an adhesive type resilient sealant material interposed and forming an annular resilient seal between the flow control member and the base pipe. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. Production fluid drainage apparatus for a subterranean well, comprising:
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a base pipe having a sidewall inlet opening therein; a tubular structure coaxially circumscribing the base pipe and forming therewith an annular fluid flow passage communicating with the interior of the base pipe through the sidewall inlet opening, the tubular structure having a fluid filtering section axially offset from the sidewall inlet opening and through which well fluid may flow into the annular fluid flow passage; and an adjustable fluid flow control structure operative to selectively vary well fluid inflow through the fluid filtering section into the base pipe and including; an annular flow control member coaxially circumscribing the base pipe and interposed in the fluid flow passage between the sidewall inlet opening and the fluid filtering section, the flow control member having an outer side surface into which a labyrinth flow passage, through which pressurized well fluid may axially traverse the flow control member, is recessed, the labyrinth flow passage having a plurality of outlet portions spaced apart along its length which may be selectively blocked to correspondingly vary the fluid flow length of the labyrinth flow passage, a spaced series of plug openings extending through the tubular structure in overlying alignment with the labyrinth flow passage outlet portions, and a series of first plug structures operative to sealingly block selected ones of the labyrinth flow passage outlet portions, each first plug structure having (1) a resilient portion with a first section positionable in one of the labyrinth flow passage outlet portion, and a second section positionable in the overlying plug opening, and (2) a rigid portion securable in the overlying plug opening in forcible engagement with the second resilient section in a manner deforming the resilient portion into a sealingly blocking relationship with its associated plug opening and labyrinth flow passage outlet portion. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. An inlet flow control device for a well fluid drainage pipe section, comprising:
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an annular body member having an outer side surface, an inner side surface, an inlet end, an outlet end, and a well fluid flow passage recessed into the outer side surface, the well fluid flow passage having an inlet portion extending inwardly from the inlet end of the body member, a labyrinth portion communicating with the inlet portion and extending circumferentially around the annular body member, and a circumferentially spaced series of outlet portions extending axially outwardly from the labyrinth portion through the outlet end of the annular body member; and a layer of resilient sealing material secured to essentially the entire nonrecessed portion of the outer side surface of the annular body member. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. Production fluid drainage apparatus for a subterranean well, comprising:
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a base pipe having a sidewall inlet opening therein; a tubular structure coaxially circumscribing the base pipe and forming therewith an annular fluid flow passage communicating with the interior of the base pipe through the sidewall inlet opening, the tubular structure having a fluid filtering section axially offset from the sidewall inlet opening and through which well fluid may flow into the annular fluid flow passage, and an axially outer end portion forming between itself and the base pipe an annular gap disposed axially outwardly of the base pipe sidewall inlet opening and through which the annular fluid flow passage outwardly opens; an adjustable fluid flow control structure operative to selectively vary well fluid inflow through the fluid filtering section into the base pipe and including a flow control member coaxially interposed in the fluid flow passage between the sidewall inlet opening and the fluid filtering section; and seal apparatus disposed axially outwardly of the base pipe sidewall opening and being operative to essentially prevent pressurized well fluid from entering the annular fluid flow passage through the annular gap, the seal apparatus including; an annular interior side surface recess disposed axially inwardly of the annular gap and defining a radial enlargement thereof, and a quantity of an adhesive type resilient sealant material filling the interior side surface recess and extending therefrom into the annular gap. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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45. A method of constructing a drainage pipe section for a subterranean well, the method comprising the steps of:
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providing a base pipe having a sidewall fluid inlet opening therein; coaxially positioning a tubular structure around the base pipe to form therebetween an annular passage that communicates with the interior of the base pipe through its sidewall fluid inlet opening; coaxially positioning an annular flow control member in the annular passage in an axially offset relationship with the sidewall fluid inlet opening, the positioned tubular structure and flow control member being relatively configured in a manner creating an annular gap therebetween; forming a circumferentially spaced series of radially extending holes inwardly through the tubular structure and the flow control member into the annular gap; and injecting an adhesive type resilient sealant material inwardly through the holes into the annular gap in a manner forming therein a continuous annular resilient seal structure radially extending between facing surface portions of the base pipe and flow control member. - View Dependent Claims (46)
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47. A method of constructing a drainage pipe section for a subterranean well, the method comprising the steps of:
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providing a base pipe having a sidewall fluid inlet opening therein; coaxially positioning a tubular structure around the base pipe to form therebetween an annular passage that communicates with the interior of the base pipe through its sidewall fluid inlet opening, the positioned tubular structure having an axially outer end portion disposed axially outwardly of the sidewall fluid inlet opening and forming an annular gap between itself a facing portion of the base pipe; coaxially positioning an annular flow control member in the annular passage in an axially inwardly offset relationship with the sidewall fluid inlet opening; and forming an essentially fluid tight seal between the axially outer end portion of the tubular structure and the facing portion of the base pipe by (1) forming in the axially outer end portion of the tubular structure an annular interior side surface recess which is positioned axially inwardly of and defines a radial enlargement of the annular gap, (2) forming an injection opening in the tubular structure that extends into the annular interior side surface recess, and (3) forcing an adhesive type sealant material inwardly through the injection opening in a manner causing the sealant material to fill the annular interior side surface recess and flow into and fill at least a portion of the annular gap. - View Dependent Claims (48)
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Specification