Abstract:
A tubing pressure operated sliding sleeve is used in cementing a tubular string. The sleeve is configured to hold closed as pressure builds to a predetermined value. When pressure is further raised a rupture disc blows and provides access to an integral piston disposed outside the sleeve. The back side of the piston is exposed to a low pressure or atmospheric chamber located between upper and lower seals. The sleeve thickness near the chamber can be made relatively thick to avoid flexing or bending under differential pressure because the net force to shift the sleeve is from differential pressure on the piston rather than the piston areas created by the upper and lower seals.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The field of the invention is a pressure actuated sleeve used in a cementing assembly that is responsive to tubing pressure to open a port and more particularly a sleeve that is associated with a piston where the piston is not referenced to annulus pressure when actuated by selective communication of tubing pressure to one side with the opposed side referenced to a low pressure chamber within the housing. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Prior sleeves that have been deployed in cementing service have been based on the concept of providing opposed piston areas exposed to tubing pressure that are of different dimensions so that raising the tubing pressure will create a sufficient net force to in theory overcome seal friction and move the sleeve to the open position. One such design is the Halliburton Initiator Sliding Sleeve that has a larger upper seal diameter than a lower seal. Raising tubing pressure creates a net differential force and the piston is allowed to move because there is an atmospheric chamber between the upper and lower seals. The problem is that to get the lower seal to be smaller than the upper seal to create the desired net force in the needed direction, the wall of the sleeve adjacent the lower seal and the atmospheric chamber has to be reduced so that the sleeve can shift while the volume of the atmospheric chamber is reduced. 
     The wall of the sleeve in the area of the atmospheric chamber sees substantial differential pressure and can flex or bend. When that happens the sleeve gets stuck and the desired port opening in the housing fails to occur. 
     Apart from these designs there are sleeves that respond to tubing pressure with an associated piston that is open on one side to tubing pressure and on the other side to annulus pressure. Such a design is illustrated in US Publication 2011/0100643. This design cannot be used in cementing applications as the filling up of the annulus with cement can block access to annulus pressure. Furthermore, there is a leak path potential from the tubing to the annulus through a piston seal leak. 
     Various pressure operated sleeves for downhole use are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. and Publications: 7,703,510; 3,662,834; 4,330,039; 6,659,186; 6,550,541; 5,355,959; 4,718,494; 7,640,988; 6,386,289; US 2010/0236781 A1; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,649,597; 5,044,444; 5,810,087; 5,950,733; 5,954,135; 6,286,594; 4,434,854 and 3,189,044. 
     What is needed and provided by the present invention is an actuation technique for a sliding sleeve to open a port that responds to tubing pressure but addresses the flexing or bending problem associated with prior designs so that reliable movement of the sleeve is obtained. In the preferred embodiment the application of pressure to a predetermined level actually holds the sleeve closed because the piston area on the sleeve bottom at  31  is greater than the piston area at the top of the sleeve at  32 . Doing this allows the sleeve wall near the atmospheric or low pressure chamber to be strong enough to resist bending or buckling under a predetermined differential pressure. When the pressure is built up access is provided to a piston on the sleeve that is referenced to a low pressure or atmospheric chamber. This can be done with breaking a rupture disc. The sleeve can then move to open the port or ports for annulus access so that tools can be pumped down with flow without having to perforate the casing which can save a run in the hole with a perforating gun. Those skilled in the art will better appreciate more aspects of the invention from a review of the description of the preferred embodiment and the associated drawings while recognizing that the full scope of the invention is to be determined by the appended claims. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A tubing pressure operated sliding sleeve is used in cementing a tubular string. The sleeve is configured to hold closed as pressure builds to a predetermined value. When pressure is further raised a rupture disc blows and provides access to an integral piston disposed outside the sleeve. The back side of the piston is exposed to a low pressure or atmospheric chamber located between upper and lower seals. The sleeve thickness near the chamber can be made relatively thick to avoid flexing or bending under differential pressure because the net force to shift the sleeve is from differential pressure on the piston rather than the piston areas created by the upper and lower seals. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a section view of the sleeve in the ports closed position; 
         FIG. 2  is the view of  FIG. 1  with the sleeve in the ports open position; and 
         FIG. 3  is an enlarged view of the rupture disc assembly shown in  FIG. 2 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , the apparatus has the following components:
         upper body tubular connection  1 ;   upper ported housing  2 ;   inner shifting sleeve  3 ;   port isolation seals  4 ;   upper internal polished bore  5 ;   fluid communication ports  6 ;   sleeve shear screw shoulder  7 ;   shear screws  8 ;   upper internal bore piston seals  9 ;   intermediate internal polished bore  10 ;   upper pressure testing port  11 ;   upper atmospheric chamber  12 ;   burst disk load nut  13 ;   burst disk load ring  14 ;   burst disk or chemically responsive barrier  15 ;   intermediate internal bore piston seals and piston  16 ;   sleeve lock ring retention groove  17 ;   lower internal polished bore  18 ;   lower atmospheric chamber  19 ;   sleeve lock ring retainer  20 ;   sleeve lock ring  21 ;   body seals  22 ;   body connection  23 ;   body set screws  24 ;   lower sleeve polished bore  25 ;   lower pressure testing port  26 ;   lower external rod piston seals  27 ;   lower body  28 ; and   lower body tubular connection  29 .       

     The valve is run in open-hole cementable completions just above the float equipment. The valve is connected to the casing through the upper body tubular connection ( 1 ) at the top and the lower body tubular connection ( 29 ) at the bottom. The structural valve body is made-up of an upper ported housing ( 2 ) and lower body ( 28 ). Pressure integrity of the valve is maintained with the body seals ( 22 ). The body set screws ( 24 ) keep the body connection threads ( 23 ) from backing out during installation. Between the upper ported housing ( 2 ) and the lower body ( 28 ) is captured an inner shifting sleeve ( 3 ). The inner shifting sleeve ( 3 ) has several diameters that create piston areas that generate shifting forces to open the valve. The port isolation seals ( 4 ) located on the upper end of the inner shifting sleeve ( 3 ) and the upper internal bore piston seals ( 9 ) below the fluid communication ports ( 6 ) both act to isolate the inside of the valve during and after cementation. The larger intermediate internal bore piston seals ( 16 ) are used to drive down the inner shifting sleeve ( 3 ) along the lower internal polished bore ( 18 ) within the upper ported housing ( 2 ), once the burst disk ( 15 ) is ruptured. Both sets of seals operate within their respective polished bores ( 5 ,  10 ) within the upper ported housing ( 2 ). The lower external rod piston seals ( 27 ) located within the lower body ( 28 ) act to prevent cement from entering the lower atmospheric chamber ( 19 ) and wipe the outside diameter of the lower sleeve polished bore ( 25 ) during the opening of the valve. The inner shifting sleeve ( 3 ) also has a shoulder ( 7 ) that shears the shear screws ( 8 ) during the opening shift of the inner sleeve ( 3 ). An external sleeve lock ring retention groove ( 17 ) is located between the internal bore piston seals ( 16 ) and the lower sleeve polished bore ( 25 ) diameter. This recess will accept the sleeve lock ring ( 21 ) that is retained by the lock ring retainer ( 20 ) once the valve had fully opened. The sleeve lock ring ( 21 ) will prevent the inner shifting sleeve ( 3 ) from closing once the valve has fully opened. 
     Between the upper internal bore piston seals ( 9 ) and the intermediate internal bore piston seals ( 16 ) is created the upper atmospheric chamber ( 12 ) which contains air that can be independently tested through the upper pressure test port ( 11 ). Between the intermediate internal bore piston seals ( 16 ) and the lower external rod piston seals ( 27 ) is created a lower atmospheric chamber ( 19 ) which also contains air that can be independently tested through a lower pressure testing port ( 26 ). A burst disk ( 15 ) is held into place within a port located on the outside of the inner shifting sleeve ( 3 ) by a load ring ( 14 ) and a load nut ( 13 ). The burst disk load nut ( 13 ) is sized to allow significant torque and load to be transferred into the burst disk ( 15 ) prior to installation of the inner shifting sleeve ( 3 ) within the valve. 
     The valve is run on casing and cemented into place within the well. After cementation the valve is scraped with wiper dart prior to actuation. Once the cement has set on the outside of the valve, it is ready to be opened with a combination of high hydrostatic and applied pressure. Once the burst pressure is reached, the burst disk ( 15 ) opens the upper atmospheric chamber ( 12 ) to the applied pressure. This pressure acts on the piston area created by the upper internal bore piston seals ( 9 ) and the larger intermediate internal bore piston seals ( 16 ) and drives the inner shifting sleeve ( 3 ) down compressing the air within the lower atmospheric chamber ( 19 ) and opening the fluid communication ports ( 6 ) on the upper ported housing ( 2 ). Once the inner shifting sleeve ( 3 ) is completely shifted and in contact with the upward facing shoulder on the lock ring retainer ( 20 ), the sleeve lock ring ( 21 ) falls into the sleeve lock retention groove ( 17 ) on the inner shifting sleeve ( 3 ) preventing the valve from subsequently closing. 
     Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the use of the rupture disc for piston access is simply the preferred way and generally more accurate than relying exclusively on shearing a shear pin. A pressure regulation valve can also be used for such selective access as well as a chemically responsive barrier that goes away in the presence of a predetermined substance or energy field, temperature downhole or other well condition for example, schematically illustrated by arrow  30 , to move the sleeve. Chamber ( 12 ), once the rupture disc burst is under tubing pressure so wall flexure at that location is minimized. Even before the rupture disc breaks the size of chamber ( 12 ) is sufficiently small to avoid sleeve wall flexing in that region. The use of a large boss to support the seal ( 16 ) also strengthens the sleeve ( 3 ) immediately above the chamber ( 19 ), thus at least reducing flexing or bending that could put sleeve ( 3 ) in a bind before it fully shifted. The slightly larger dimension of seal ( 27 ) than seal ( 4 ) that holds the sleeve ( 3 ) closed initially also allows a greater wall thickness for sleeve ( 3 ) near the chamber ( 19 ) to further at least reducing flexing or bending to allow the sleeve ( 3 ) to fully shift without getting into a bind. 
     The piston ( 16 ) can be integral to the sleeve ( 3 ) or a separate structure. Chamber ( 19 ) has an initial pressure of atmospheric or a predetermined value less than the anticipated hydrostatic pressure within sleeve ( 3 ). The volume of chamber ( 19 ) decreases and its internal pressure rises as sleeve ( 3 ) moves to open port ( 6 ). 
     The above description is illustrative of the preferred embodiment and many modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the invention whose scope is to be determined from the literal and equivalent scope of the claims below.