Method and apparatus for surge reduction

• US 6,520,257 B2
• Filed: 03/20/2001
• Issued: 02/18/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Frank's International LLC (Frank's International N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Jerry P Allamon, Shirley C. Allamon
• Inventors: Allamon, Jerry P., Miller, Jack E.
• Primary Examiner(s): NEUDER, WILLIAM P
• Application Number:
  US09/812,522
• Publication Number:
  US 20020074128A1
• Time in Patent Office: 700 Days
• Field of Search: 166/285, 166/291, 166/70, 166/165, 166/177.4, 166/332.4, 166/324.4
• US Class Current: 166/291
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 21/103 Down-hole by-pass valve arrangements, i.e. between the inside of the drill string and the annulus valves specifically for maintaining circulation of drilling fluid while connecting or disconnecting tubular joints E21B21/019
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 34/102 with means for locking the closing element in open or closed position E21B34/105 and E21B34/108 take precedence

Abstract

Improvements are disclosed in surge reduction tools for running in casings or casing liners downhole with the ability to restore circulation in the event a tight hole condition is encountered. The improved tool includes among other features 1.) an axial indexing apparatus which allows the valving sleeve to be moved downward in predetermined increments to allow alternate closing and opening of the vent ports, 2.) a camming sleeve and Bellville spring washers which provide the surge reduction tool with a more predictable release pressure than has heretofore been available, 3.) a dart directing sleeve which has a smaller, smoother bore than the drill string and provides the important function of aligning the dart before it lands in the seat so that the dart resistance when passing through the seat is minimized, and 4.) chevron seals arranged in the housing above and below the vent port which reduces the potential for hydraulic lock and provides a seal mechanism that is more reliable while running in downhole conditions.

Claims

1. Apparatus for use in reducing surge pressure while running a tubular member in a borehole containing drilling fluid, which comprises:

a housing having a top end and having a bottom end for connection to a casing hanger, said housing having at least one set of housing flow ports formed therein;

a drill pipe connected to the top end of the housing for suspending the housing and the tubular member and for providing a communication conduit between a drilling rig and the borehole;

a valving sleeve within the housing, which valving sleeve has at least two sets of sleeve flow ports formed therein at spaced axial locations, the valving sleeve being initially positioned in the housing such that a first open port condition exists; and

indexing apparatus for axially moving the valving sleeve downward from the first open port position to a first closed port position, from the first closed port position to a second open port position and from the second open port position to a second closed port position.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the indexing apparatus comprises:

a plurality of protrusions that are formed in the housing at axially spaced locations;

a threaded sleeve which is attached to the top of the valving sleeve;

a plurality of latching fingers having first and second ends, the first ends of said latching fingers being attached to the threaded sleeve and the second ends of said latching fingers being machined to engage the protrusions in the housing, some of the latching fingers having a length which is longer than the length of the remainder of the latching fingers;

spring washers which are supported by the threaded sleeve; and

a camming sleeve including a yieldable ball seat, which camming sleeve is supported by the spring washers and movable from a first axial position to a second axial position, where the camming sleeve in said first axial position contacts the second ends of the longer latching fingers to force them into engagement with one of the protrusions in the housing and where the movement of the camming sleeve to the second axial position releases the longer latching fingers from engagement with the protrusion and forces the second ends of the shorter latching fingers into contact with the inside of the housing.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, further comprising:

a first ball which is dropped down the drill string which seats in said yieldable ball seat;

means for establishing a pressure above the first ball which is sufficient to move the camming sleeve from its first axial position to its second axial position and to move the valving sleeve from the first open port position to the first closed port position; and

means for establishing a second pressure above the first ball which is sufficient to force the first ball through the yieldable ball seat.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, further comprising:

a second ball which is dropped down the drill string and which seats in said yieldable ball seat, said second ball having a larger diameter than said first ball;

means for establishing a pressure above the second ball which is sufficient to move the camming sleeve from its first axial position to its second axial position and to move the valving sleeve from the first open port position to the first closed port position; and

means for establishing a second pressure above the second ball which is sufficient to force the second ball through the yieldable ball seat.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising:

a third ball which is dropped down the drill string and which seats in said yieldable ball seat, said third ball having a larger diameter than said second ball;

means for establishing a pressure above the third ball which is sufficient to move the camming sleeve from its first axial position to its second axial position and to move the valving sleeve from the first open port position to the first closed port position; and

means for establishing a second pressure above the third ball which is sufficient to force the third ball through the yieldable ball seat.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising seals positioned between the housing and the valving sleeve and arranged above and below the housing flow port on the inside of the housing.

7. Apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a dart directing sleeve arranged between the drill pipe and the seat and providing a passage for a dart to travel from the drill pipe and into the seat, said sleeve having a smaller diameter and smoother inside wall than the drill pipe.

8. Apparatus for use in reducing surge pressure while running a tubular member in a borehole containing drilling fluid, which comprises:

a housing having a top end and having a bottom end for connection to a casing hanger, said housing having at least two sets of housing flow ports formed therein at axially spaced locations;

a pipe connected to the top end of the housing for suspending the housing and tubular member and for providing a communication conduit between a drilling rig and the borehole;

a valving sleeve within the housing, which valving sleeve has a set of sleeve flow ports formed therein, the valving sleeve being initially positioned in the housing such that a first open port condition exists; and

indexing apparatus for axially moving the valving sleeve downward from the first open port position to a first closed port position, from the first closed port position to a second open port position and from the second open port position to a second closed port position.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising seals positioned between the housing and the sleeve and arranged above and below the housing flow ports on the inside of the housing.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising a dart directing sleeve arranged between the drill pipe and the seat and providing passage for a dart to travel from the drill pipe and into the seat, said dart directing sleeve having a smaller diameter and smoother inside wall than the drill pipe.

11. A method for reducing surge pressure while running in a tubular member in a borehole containing drilling fluid, comprising:

connecting a surge reduction device between the drill string and the casing liner, the surge reduction device having a plurality of alternating open port and closed port positions and having an internal sleeve that can be moved downwardly from one port position to the next;

lowering the tubular member into the wellbore with the surge reduction device in the first open port position;

moving the sleeve of the surge reduction device downward from the first open port position to the first closed port position;

moving the sleeve of the surge reduction device downward from the first closed port position to the second open port position; and

moving the sleeve of the surge reduction device downward from the second open port position to the second closed port position.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein each step of moving the movable sleeve comprises:

dropping a ball into a seat, said ball sealing with the seat;

increasing drilling fluid pressure to a first predetermined level above the ball and against the sleeve to move the sleeve downward; and

further increasing drilling fluid pressure to a second predetermined level above the ball to expand the seat to allow the ball to pass through the seat.

13. A system for reducing surge pressure while running drilling fluid in a borehole, and fixing the casing within the borehole, said system comprising:

a housing connected between a drill pipe and a casing hanger, said housing having an opening at its top end and an opening at its bottom end and at least one housing flow port to permit drilling fluid to flow from inside the housing into the annulus above the housing while running downhole;

a sleeve in the housing which is initially in an open port position while running downhole, and which is axially movable to closed port position, and then axially movable to an open port position and then axially movable to closed port position;

a plurality of drop balls; and

a seat connected to the sleeve said sleeve movable between a plugged condition and yielding condition, said movement occurring when one of the drop balls is in said seat and drilling fluid pressure is increased above the ball to a first predetermined level.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein it further comprises means for increasing the drilling fluid pressure to a second predetermined level to blast the drop ball through the seat and create a passage through the housing for drilling fluid to flow.

15. The system of claim 13, further comprising a dart directing sleeve residing within the housing and arranged between the drill pipe and the seat.

16. The system of claim 13, further comprising a dart which is dropped into the drill pipe, and a dart directing sleeve in the housing through which the dart passes, and which seats into the seat, said dart being pressured with drilling fluid to push a predetermined amount of cement through the casing and into annulus between the casing and the borehole thereby fixing the casing.

17. An apparatus for reducing surge pressure while running in a casing through drilling fluid and down a borehole, said apparatus comprising:

a housing releasably connecting to a drill string and having an opening at a top end and an opening at a bottom end and at least one housing flow port to permit the flow of drilling fluid from the housing into an annulus above the housing when in one open port position;

at least one sliding sleeve in the housing and a latching mechanism to index the sleeve axially downward, said sleeve having more than one sleeve flow ports at different axial locations along the sleeve and movable axially downward between an open port position and closed port position;

a seat connected with the sleeve and moveable between a plugged position and yield position;

a ball which is dropped through the drill string and which plugs the seat; and

means for increasing the pressure above the ball to move the sleeve axially downward.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the housing further comprises protrusions in the housing which are positioned such that each protrusion corresponds to either an open port or closed port position.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the sleeve further comprises a plurality of latching fingers that engage each protrusion to halt the downward motion of the sleeve.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, further comprising a spring washer and a supporting sleeve for the spring washer to resist the pressure applied to the sleeve via the ball and seat.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising a ball which is dropped into the seat to plug the seat and means for applying a predetermined pressure to the ball and seat to move the sleeve against the pressure of said spring washer and release the latching fingers from the housing ring to permit the sleeve to drop to next latching ring level.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising means for applying a predetermined pressure to the ball to expand the seat to allow the ball to pass through the seat and out of the housing.

23. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising chevron seals placed above and below the housing flow holes on the inside of the housing.

24. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising a dart directing sleeve arranged in the housing for aligning a dart with the seat as the dart passes through the drill string and into the housing, said dart directing sleeve having an inner wall smaller and smoother in diameter than the drill string, but larger in diameter than a dart being passed from the drill string and into the seat.

25. Apparatus for use in reducing surge pressure while running a tubular member in a borehole containing drilling fluid, which comprises:

a housing having a top end and having a bottom end for connection to a casing hanger, said housing having a set of housing flow ports formed therein;

a pipe connected to the top end of the housing for suspending the housing and tubular member and for providing a communication conduit between a drilling rig and the borehole;

a valving sleeve within the housing, which valving sleeve has a set of sleeve flow ports formed therein, the valving sleeve being initially positioned in the housing such that an open port condition exists;

a first protrusion and second protrusion that are formed in the housing at axially spaced locations;

a threaded sleeve which is attached to the top of the valving sleeve;

a plurality of latching fingers having first and second ends, the first ends of said latching fingers being attached to the threaded sleeve and the second ends of said latching fingers being machined to engage the first protrusion in the housing;

spring washers which are supported by the threaded sleeve; and

a camming sleeve including a yieldable ball seat, which camming sleeve is supported by the spring washers and movable from a first axial position to a second axial position, where the camming sleeve in said first axial position contacts the second ends of the latching fingers to force them into engagement with the first protrusion in the housing and where the movement of the camming sleeve to the second axial position releases the latching fingers from engagement with the first protrusion to permit the valving sleeve to move to a closed port position.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the latching fingers engage the second protrusion in the closed port position.

27. A method for reducing surge pressure while running in a tubular member in a maintaining drilling fluid, comprising:

connecting a surge reduction device between the drill string and the casing liner, the surge on device having a plurality of alternating open port and closed port positions and having an sleeve that can be moved downwardly from one port position to the next, each open port position providing an upward path for drilling fluid to flow from the borehole into the tubular member, from the tubular member to the surge reduction device, and from the surge reduction device into an annular space between the drill string and the borehole and each closed port position providing a downward path for drilling fluid to flow from a drilling rig to the drill string, from the drill string to the surge reduction device, from the surge reduction device to the tubular member, and from the tubular member into the borehole;

lowering the tubular member into the wellbore with the surge reduction device in the first open port position;

moving the sleeve of the surge reduction device downward from the first open port position to the first closed port position;

moving the sleeve of the surge reduction device downward from the first closed port position to the second open port position; and

moving the sleeve of the surge reduction device downward from the second open port position to the second closed port position.