Wells – With heating – refrigerating or heat insulating means – Electrical heater in well
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-15
2001-09-18
Tsay, Frank S. (Department: 3672)
Wells
With heating, refrigerating or heat insulating means
Electrical heater in well
C166S077100, C175S050000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06289985
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system intended for permanently installing measuring sondes against the inner wall of pipes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well-known to lower seismic receivers into a well by means of a support such as a tube lowered in the well to a working depth. The receivers are placed in sondes. mobile boxes or pads secured to anchor systems suited to move on request the receivers until they are coupled with the well wall, directly or by means of a casino pipe. The anchor systems can comprise mobile arms that can be shifted by hydraulic jacks or springs. Displacement to an expanded position is performed by electric or hydraulic triggering means controlled by an operator from the surface, once the depth of installation is reached. They can also be secured to flexible blades such as tube off-centering blades and pressed against the well wall thereby.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,181,565 describes a system for permanent installation, in a well, of a sonde for seismic or acoustic pickups by means of a tubular string such as a production tubing for example. The sonde (or each one of them) is associated with a system externally fastened to the string. At the operator's request, each sonde can be moved from a set back position where it is coupled with the string to a position of coupling with the wall of the well (or a well casing tube) and acoustically decoupled from the string.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The system according to the invention installs, at an operator's request, at least one measuring sonde (containing seismic receivers for example) against the wall of a pipe such as a well or a tube, at a point thereof where it is brought by displacement of a sufficiently rigid elongate support element (an electrocarrying cable, a rod, a tube, a tubing, etc.). The system comprises at least one device for coupling each sonde, comprising at least one deformable element made at least partly of a shape-memory alloy to which the sonde is fastened, this deformable element being suited to be brought, under the action of a temperature variation, from a set back position at a distance from the wall of the tube or of the well to an expanded position where said sonde is pressed against the wall of this tube or well and acoustically decoupled from the elongate support element, and devices which intermittently heat the shape-memory element.
The installation system according to the invention has applications in many industries and is useful for positioning various measuring sondes useful for long-life monitoring of underground zones, such as hydrocarbon reservoirs during exploration and/or production stages, or storage or burial reservoirs. The system can be used for example for installing seismic pickups (geophones, hydrophones, etc) coupled with the wall of a well for monitoring operations, whether for active monitoring using a seismic source placed at the surface, in another well or in the same well, or passive monitoring for detecting reactions of the zone in response to production operation carried out therein.
It can also be used for anchoring in wells sondes lowered at the end of a cable comprising receivers, notably seismic pickups.
According to a first embodiment, the system comprises means for transverse positions of the support element in the well or tube, the coupling device comprising, a tubular sleeve supporting each deformable element, the cross-section of the tubular sleeve being larger than that of the support element, the deformable element being dimensioned so as to immobilize the tubular sleeve against the support element in the set back position thereof and to decouple the tubular sleeve from the support element in the expanded position thereof, as a result of the deformation of this part through heating.
According to a variant of this embodiment, each device can comprise elastic damping devices placed between the sleeve and the support element, which mechanically decouples each sonde from the support element when each deformable element is in an expanded position.
The deformable elements can be, for example, plates or blades entirely made of a shape-memory material whose opposite ends are secured to the sleeves. These deformable elements can also be partly made of a shape-memory alloy and comprise for example one or more parts (articulated or not) fastened to parts made of a shape-memory material, so dimensioned that the deformable element reaches said expanded position.
According to another embodiment, each device comprises at least one tubular element made of a shape-memory alloy, placed between stops secured to the support element, this tubular element being deformable from a set back position where its cross-section is smaller than the cross-section of the tube or well to an expanded position where its cross-section is at least equal to the cross-section of the tube or well, where it is decoupled from the stops.
According to another embodiment, the support element is a cable, at least one sonde being lowered in the pipe suspended from this cable, this sonde comprising a body, an anchor arm that can be moved away from the body by deformation of at least one element made of a shape-memory alloy, and a heat source which heats the element on request which moves away of each anchor arm and coupling of the body against the wall of the pipe.
According to a first implementation mode, the intermittent heat source comprises a pumping installation which circulates in the pipe (well or tube) a fluid at a sufficient temperature to cause deformation of each deformable element until reaching its expanded position.
According to another implementation mode, the heat source comprises electric resistors included in each deformable element and a power supply circuit connected to a source of current.
According to a variant that can be used when the outer face of the tube is accessible, the system comprises mobile heat source that can be positioned outside the tube, in the neighborhood of each coupling device.
The system can be used for example for installing a series of seismic sondes against the wall of a wellbore drilled through an underground zone, and it comprises in this case a transmitter, to a surface recording station, of signals picked up by the various seismic sondes. The support element used to lower the various coupling devices to their working depth can either be a tubing that remains in place in the well where it is used for carrying fluids (hydrocarbon production, injection of scavenging fluids, gas, substances to be stored, etc.), or a simple tube that is withdrawn once the seismic sondes are coupled with the well wall, or a cable intended for suspension of one or more sondes in a well.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3784732 (1974-01-01), Whitfill, Jr.
patent: 4501337 (1985-02-01), Dickinson, III et al.
patent: 5199497 (1993-04-01), Ross
patent: 5301213 (1994-04-01), Linden et al.
patent: 6062315 (2000-05-01), Reinhardt
patent: 2548727 (1985-01-01), None
patent: 2632010 (1989-12-01), None
patent: 2656034 (1991-06-01), None
patent: 2166185 (1986-04-01), None
Antonelli Terry Stout & Kraus LLP
Institut Francais du Pe'trole
Tsay Frank S.
LandOfFree
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