Wells – Processes – Producing the well
Reexamination Certificate
2002-10-04
2003-09-09
Bagnell, David (Department: 3672)
Wells
Processes
Producing the well
C166S053000, C417S036000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06615925
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, wherein a bailer tube is lowered to collect the fluid and raised above ground for the depositing of the fluids into a reservoir.
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. The invention can differentiate 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 and collecting data of the operation of the equipment including system errors. This will be used to gather and record daily gas and oil production and then transfer all data to a central terminal PC by way of the internet.
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 casing, and the fluids being substantially oil and water.
The means for removing fluids from the well casing is coupled directly to an upper end of the well casing and further includes a bailer tube sized to allow an up and down travel of the bailer tube inside the well casing and inside a bailer tube housing assembly vertically aligned with the well casing. The direct coupling may be made by a number of ways known in the art such as a flanged pipe connection or preferably a union connection. The bailer tube housing assembly has an actuated 3-way valve means proximate a lower end of the bailer tube housing assembly for selectively opening the bailer tube housing assembly when allowing the bailer tube to travel into the well casing and for closing the bailer tube housing assembly after the bailer tube has traveled up into the bailer tube housing assembly and for directing a captured column of oil to a temporary storage tank.
Also included is pulley means proximate an upper end of and above the bailer tube housing assembly over which a cable wire attached to an upper end of the bailer tube is run. An opposite end of the cable wire is attached to driven winch means for pulling the bailer tube out of the well casing and for lowering the bailer tube into the well casing. A lower end of the bailer tube has a bailer valve for selectively capturing the 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 the bailer tube is raised out of the well casing. The bailer valve is typically a two-way direct current (DC) valve.
The bailer valve is in electrical operative communication with a programmable logic controller (PLC) means for monitoring, operating and controlling the apparatus and for translating readable information to obtain and record operational parameters. The PLC means is typically an electrical enclosure housing with various processing capabilities which includes 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 the 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 several other necessary or desired functions.
The lower end of the bailer tube further includes at least one oil and water sensing means, that is, at least one oil sensor and at least one water sensor, for differentiating between the water and oil inside the well casing as the bailer tube descends therein, the oil and water sensing means facilitating the defining of a top of the water and a bottom of a well casing column of oil. The cable wire is typically a multiple conductor cable wire, which is in electrical communication between the bailer valve and the driven winch means.
The cable wire is also electrically and operatively connected to the programmable logic controller means. The programmable logic controller means calculates an optimum depth required for removal of oil without water from the well casing and once correctly positioned, the bailer valve is closed thereby capturing oil inside said bailer tube and the bailer tube is elevated so that the bailer valve is inside the bailer housing assembly and above the actuated 3-way valve means at which location, the actuated 3-way valve means 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 actuated 3-way valve means, the driven winch means, the oil and water sensor means are each in electrical and operative communication with the programmable logic controller means. The programmable logic controller 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.
The invention further includes natural gas recovery means for recovering a natural gas exhausting from the well casing. The natural gas recovery means comprises a gas and oil separator means, which directs the natural gas exiting the well casing from a location below the actuated 3-way valve means, and means for draining a condensate and means for directing a separated gas to gas distribution means.
The oil and water sensor means is typically a ground probe switch which is activated when a conductive path between a terminal of said ground probe switch is established as the terminal contacts the water under the oil in the well casing thereby defining the top of the water and the bottom of the well casing column of oil.
The driven winch means preferably further comprises encoder means in electrical communication with the programmable logic controller means for converting a rotation of the winch means into a linear motion to determine a speed of the bailer tube traveling inside the well casing and a location within said well casing.
The temporary storage means comprises means for monitoring the level of captured oil in the temporary storage tank, and actuation means operatively connected to pumping means for pumping the captured oil from the temporary storage tank to a predetermined storage location.
The actuated 3-way valve means is preferably one of a slide gate valve and a ball valve.
The natural gas recovery means further comprises means for monitoring one of a flow rate of natural gas exhausting from the well casing, a volumetric quantity of natural gas exhausting from the well casing, and a combination thereof. A corresponding natural gas recovery means data from the means for monitoring one of the flow rate of natural gas exhausting from the well casing, the volumetric quantity of natural gas exhausting from the well casing, and the combination thereof is transmitted to the programmable logic controller means.
Support and guide means at the upper end of the bailer housing assembly for supporting and guiding the wire cable are also incl
Bagnell David
Global Energy Research LLC
LaPointe Dennis G.
Mason Law PA
Stephenson Daniel P
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