Patent ID: 9689226
Date: 2017-06-27
CPC Classifications: E21B

Claim:
1. A ball and plug dropping head for use in sequentially dropping one or more balls and plugs into a well tubing, comprising: a) a housing having an inlet at the upper end of said housing adapted to be fluidly connected in line with the lower end of a top drive, an outlet generally aligned with the inlet; b) a main flow channel that connects the inlet and the outlet; c) a plurality of inner valving members spaced between the inlet and the outlet, each inner valving member having an inner valve flow bore, and being movable upon a valve stem between open and closed positions, the plurality of inner valving members having electrical actuators that enable movement of the valving member between open and closed positions; d) one or more bypass fluid flow channels that enable fluid to bypass a said inner valving member when the said inner valving member is in the closed position; e) at least one of the inner valving members having a cross section that, in the closed position, does not valve fluid flow in the main flow channel; f) wherein fluid flow in the main channel flows around the at least one inner valving member via the bypass fluid flow channel when the at least one inner valving member is in the closed position and through the at least one inner valving member when the at least one inner valving member is in the open position; g) wherein in the open position each inner valve flow bore permits a ball or plug to pass there through, and circulating fluid to pass downwardly therethrough when neither a ball nor plug is in the valve flow bore; h) one or more outer valving members mounted on and moving with the valve stem and that each occupy a position in the bypass channel; i) wherein at least one of the outer valving members opens the bypass channel when the at least one inner valving member is in the closed position; j) wherein the at least one outer valving member closes the bypass channel when the at least one inner valving member is in the open position; and k) a transmitter having switches that when switched, sends a wireless signal to the actuators to move a selected inner valve member to the open or closed position.