Wells – Processes – Producing the well
Reexamination Certificate
2001-04-06
2002-10-08
Bagnell, David (Department: 3672)
Wells
Processes
Producing the well
C166S053000, C417S036000, C294S068220
Reexamination Certificate
active
06460622
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an oil bailer apparatus for use in bailing oil from an oil well as well as removing natural gas.
2. Description of Related Art
Oil bailers are known in the art. However, previous methods of extracting oil, in particular, the bailers and controls used with such bailers fail to differentiate between oil and water in a given well. The problem of non-differentiating between water and oil is especially experienced in low producing wells.
Known related art includes the solid state control system for the oil bailer depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 4,516,911 to Senghaas et al., the oil bailer depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 4,368,909 to Alexander, Jr., and the automated bailer depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 4,037,662 to Bowling.
None of the devices in the above references solve the problem of differentiating between water and oil, especially in low producing wells, and at the same time, address the recovery of natural gas from the oil pumping operation.
It is therefore the intention of this invention to provide an improved oil bailing system, which differentiates between oil and water in a given well, removes only oil, capable of operating on 5,000 foot wells and operates at the removal rate of 25-35 barrels per day. It is also an object of the invention to accomplish the differentiation between water and oil by the incorporation in the system design of a programmable logic control (PLC) to operate the mechanical system portion of the apparatus, and to provide means for accessing data from multiple field sites through a server from a website. This will be used to gather and supply daily data to the manufacture and customer which includes daily output of gas and oil, system error data and daily activities.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a generally 100 percent sealed apparatus so that a vacuum can be applied to recover the natural gas. Most conventional pump jacks and other oil recovery systems use high energy consuming methods and pump out polluted water that must be processed and re-injected back into the oil column, and most allow oil to spill out on to the ground surface. A sealed apparatus will solve these problems.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention which is an apparatus and system control for the removal of fluids and gas from a well includes means for removing fluids from a well bore, the well bore having a well casing therein, and the fluids being substantially oil and water.
The invention further includes a temporary storage tank which has an upper end and a lower end, the lower end being in fluid communication with the well casing. The lower end of the temporary storage tank further includes a first bailer tube guide pipe having means for mechanically coupling the first bailer tube guide pipe at one end to the well casing. The first bailer tube guide pipe sealingly extends into an interior of the temporary storage tank.
The means for mechanically coupling the first bailer tube guide pipe at the one end to the well casing further includes natural gas recovery means for recovering a natural gas exhausting from the well casing.
The first bailer tube guide pipe extends a predetermined height into the interior of the temporary storage tank and has tank valve means for selectively opening and closing an opening of the first bailer tube guide pipe.
The upper end of the temporary storage tank is mechanically coupled to a second bailer tube guide pipe, which sealingly extends a predetermined depth into the interior of the temporary storage tank. The second bailer tube guide pipe has means for mechanically coupling the second bailer tube guide pipe to a third bailer tube guide pipe of predetermined length and axially aligned with the second bailer tube guide pipe. The second and third bailer tube guide pipes are also axially aligned with the first bailer tube guide pipe. Each of the first, second and third bailer tube guide pipes have internal diameters sized to allow a free up and down travel of a bailer tube, also referred to herein as a bailer housing, therein.
Included is pulley means proximate an upper end of the third bailer tube guide pipe over which a cable wire attached to a first end of the bailer tube is run. An opposite end of the cable wire is attached to the means for removing fluids from the well bore, which is typically a driven winch means for pulling the bailer tube out from the well casing and for lowering the bailer tube into the well casing.
A second end of the bailer tube typically has a bailer housing valve, typically a two way direct current (DC) valve, for selectively capturing a column of oil inside the well casing when said bailer tube is lowered therein, and for discharging said captured column of oil into the temporary storage tank when said bailer tube is raised out of the well casing. The bailer housing valve is in electrically operative communication with a programmable logic controller (PLC) means, which is typically an electrical enclosure housing with various processing capabilities which include a micro-processing unit typical of computers, gauges for monitoring various desired operating parameters such as flow rates of oil and gases, oil level in temporary storage tank, pressures, bailer tube travel speeds, etc., actuator switches for activating and controlling the winch and pumping means to empty the temporary storage tank, among other functions. That is, the PLC means is a means for monitoring, operating and controlling the apparatus and for translating readable information to obtain and record operational parameters.
The second end of the bailer tube also includes oil and water sensor means for differentiating between the water and oil inside the well casing as the bailer tube descends therein. The oil and water sensor means defines a top and bottom of a well casing column of oil, as well as the top of water, which essentially coincides with the bottom of the oil column.
The cable wire is preferably a multiple conductor cable wire which is in electrical communication between the bailer housing valve and the driven winch means. The cable wire is also electrically and operatively connected to the PLC means.
The PLC means calculates changes in the size of the oil column, decreasing or increasing the adjustable travel speed of the bailer tube to recover an optimum oil recovery without depleting the oil column. Once correctly positioned at the optimum depth inside the well casing, the bailer housing valve is closed thereby capturing oil inside said bailer tube and the bailer tube is elevated so that bailer housing valve, also referred to herein as bailer valve, is inside and at the upper end of the temporary storage tank at which location, the tank valve means for selectively opening and closing an opening of the first bailer tube guide pipe is closed after which the bailer valve is opened and the captured oil in the bailer tube is discharged into the temporary storage tank.
The tank valve means for selectively opening and closing the opening of the first bailer tube guide pipe, the driven winch means, the oil and water sensor means are also each in electrical and operative communication with the PLC means.
The PLC means controls and monitors a speed of the bailer tube at each location of the bailer tube inside the well casing as the bailer tube is being lowered into and elevated out of the well casing.
In a practical application of the invention, the oil and water sensor means is typically a ground probe switch located at a leading edge of the bailer tube which is activated when a conductive path between a terminal of said ground probe switch is established as the terminal contacts the oil and water under the oil in the well casing thereby defining the top of the oil column, and the bottom of the oil column which also coincides with the top of the water in the well casing.
The driven winch means preferably comprises encoder means in electrical communication with the PLC means for converting a rotation of the winch means into a linear motion to determine a speed of th
Bagnell David
Global Energy Research LLC
LaPointe Dennis G.
Mason & Associates P.A.
Stephenson Daniel P
LandOfFree
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