Abstract:
A swaging tool is configured to drive the swage up a ramp until a series of dogs engages the inside wall of an outer tubular member. At that point the swage will be at the necessary position on the ramp to adequately expand the inner tubular for a proper supporting relation to the outer tubular. If the inside diameter of the outer tubular is at the high end of the tolerance allowed by API specifications, the diameter of the swage is increased to compensate. Similarly, if the inside diameter of the outer tubular is at the low end of the tolerance range of API specifications, then the dogs make contact with the inside wall sooner and the resulting diameter of the swage is necessarily smaller.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   The field of this invention is swages for expansion of tubulars downhole and more particularly to a swage that can sense the dimension of the surrounding tubular to the tubular it is about to expand to compensate for dimensional variations in the surrounding tubular. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   A swage is frequently used to expand one tubular into another. In one case a liner is delivered into casing and a portion expanded against the casing to support the liner in the casing. Casing inside diameters have a range of internal diameters within the tolerances permitted by specifications of the American Petroleum Institute (API). If a fixed swage is used to expand the inner tubular or liner against an outer tubular or casing and the inside diameter of the casing is at the larger end of the allowable tolerance, then the anchor connection between the tubulars may not be sufficiently secure. On the other hand, if the internal diameter of the outer tubular is at the smaller end of the allowable tolerance, then a fixed swage sized for the middle of the tolerance range can over-expand the outer tubular possibly inducing stresses that could led to immediate or subsequent stress cracking and leakage at the connection between the tubulars. A given amount of force is required to push or pull a swage into the inner tubular to expand the inner tubular against the outer tubular. The amount of force is dependent on the amount of expansion of the inner tubular against the outer tubular. Usually, the greater the amount of expansion, the greater the amount of force is required to push or pull the swage. Therefore, a fixed swage that causes over-expansion of the tubular could require a force that is too high and not make a fixed swage to be economically or engineering feasible. 
   What is needed, and provided by the present invention, is a tool and method that takes into account the size of the inside diameter of the outer tubular to set up the swage to the appropriate dimension to snugly form the supporting connection between the tubulars while avoiding the risk of over-expansion of the outer tubular, at one extreme, and having the fixation contact force too low, at the other extreme. Swages that change dimension as between run in and swaging downhole have been used, as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 6,012,523. These devices have only two operative positions for run in and for swaging. The present invention is adjustable to a variety of diameters for swaging. Moreover, the actual diameter of swaging is determined by the actual sensed internal diameter of the outer tubular against which the inner tubular is to be expanded. These advantages and others of the present invention will be more readily appreciated by those skilled in the art from a review of the description of the preferred embodiment and the claims, which appear below. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   A swaging tool is configured to drive the swage up a ramp until a series of dogs engages the inside wall of an outer tubular member. At that point the swage will be at the necessary position on the ramp to adequately expand the inner tubular for a proper supporting relation to the outer tubular. If the inside diameter of the outer tubular is at the high end of the tolerance allowed by API specifications, the diameter of the swage is increased to compensate. Similarly, if the inside diameter of the outer tubular is at the low end of the tolerance range of API specifications, then the dogs make contact with the inside wall sooner and the resulting diameter of the swage is necessarily smaller. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a sectional view of the apparatus in the run in position; 
       FIG. 2  is the view of  FIG. 1  with the calibrating dogs making contact with the inside wall of the tubular; 
       FIG. 3  is the view of  FIG. 2  showing swaging having gone on to the point where the calibrating dogs have reached a position where they can retract to enter the tubing being expanded; and 
       FIG. 4  is the view of  FIG. 3  showing the completion of the expansion with the calibrating dogs inside the already expanded portions of the inner tubular. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
   Referring to  FIG. 1 , the liner or other tubular or screen, hereinafter tubular,  10  is suspended in casing  12  by a running tool known in the art. Typically the tubular  10  has a liner setting sleeve, not shown, into which a running tool is inserted for support for run in. A portion of such a running tool  14  is shown in FIG.  1 . During run in a cone  16  is supported off the tubular  10  by a dog or dogs  18 . Initially, the running tool  14  must break a shear pin  20  that is put there for the purpose of preventing a premature actuation during the trip downhole. Initially, shear pin  20  holds together sleeve  22 , which is supported initially off of tubular  10  by dogs  18 , and lower sub  24 .  FIG. 2  shows the shear pin  20  broken and the sleeve  22  supported off the tubular  10  with the lower sub  24  translated down due to a pushing force applied at the other end to top sub  26  by other portions of the running tool (not shown) that engage at recess  28 . 
   The dogs  18  resist downward movement of the cone  16  when the push force is applied to top sub  26 . Also connected to top sub  26  is inner sleeve  32  that extends all the way down to lower sub  24 . It is the tandem movement of sub  26  and inner sleeve  32  that results in the initial shearing of pin  20 . Also connected to top sub  26  is outer sleeve  30  that is connected to outer body  70  that has an elongated slot  34  through which calibrating dogs  36  extend. A middle sleeve  38  is initially connected to outer sleeve  30  by virtue of supporting dogs  40  that rest on surface  42  during run in. Dogs  40  support middle sleeve  38  against ratchet assembly  44 . As long as dogs  40  are supported by surface  42  dogs  40  forces the middle sleeve  38  to ride down in tandem with outer sleeve  30 . Since calibrating dogs  36  are in a slot  34  in outer body  70 , downward movement of outer body  70  will not push on the calibrating dogs  36 . However, calibrating dogs  36  are enclosed by blocks  46  held by screws  48  to middle sleeve  38  that will push the calibrating dogs  36  downwardly. It should be recalled that cone  16  has a lower sloping surface  50  adjacent swage assembly  52 . The swage assembly  52  can be a ring split into a number of segments or a collet with slots or any variation of a swage with the capability to change swaging diameter. Cone  16  also has an upper sloping surface  54  near mating sloping surface  56  on calibrating dogs  36 . A lock ring assembly  58  allows the swage assembly  52  to move along lower sloping surface  50  in a downhole direction responsive to a pushing force from top sub  26 . Cone  16  is prevented at this time from moving downhole because it is supported by dogs  18  on tubular  10 , which is still retained by the running tool  14 . This motion of the swage assembly  52  downhole along sloping surface  50  is unidirectional because lock ring assembly  58  prevents reverse motion. Swage assembly  52  is free to move along sloping surface  50  until calibrating dogs  36  engage the inner wall of the casing  12  as shown in FIG.  2 . Blocks  46  push calibrating dogs  36  down until their sloping surface  56  rides up sloping surface  54  of cone  16 . As the calibrating dogs  36  move outwardly and downwardly, the swaging assembly  52  does the same. When the calibrating dogs  36  make contact with the casing  12  the applied force on top sub  26  transfers down to dogs  18  through the cone  16 . As shown in  FIG. 2 , shear pin  60  breaks because sleeve  22  is shouldered against the tubular  10  at shoulder  62 . When shear pin  60  breaks, cone  16  can move downhole, putting recess  64  opposite dogs  18 . The cone  16  can advance into the tubular  10  as the swage assembly  52  comes into contact with the tubular  10  and the swaging is initiated or continued. After a predetermined advancement of the swaging assembly  52 , the dogs  40  become unsupported as surface  42  moves away and recess  66  presents itself opposite dogs  40 . When this happens, dogs  40  can no longer shoulder middle sleeve  38 . A ratchet assembly  44  allows the middle sleeve  38  to move upward direction relative to outer sleeve  30  responsive to pushing force from top end of the tubular  10  when calibrating dogs  36  make contact with tubular  10 . This leaves the calibrating dogs  36  to move back down sloping surface  54  of the cone  16  as the cone  16  continues to advance and drive the swaging assembly  52  into the tubular  10 . The motion of the calibrating dogs  36  moving back down sloping surface  54  of cone  16  is unidirectional because ratchet assembly  44  prevents reverse motion. Comparing  FIGS. 3 and 4 , it can be seen that the upper end  68  of middle sleeve  38  has shifted uphole with respect to dogs  40 , which have become unsupported in recess  66 . When the swaging is complete, the running tool can be turned to the right or otherwise released in a known manner to bring it out of the tubular  10  and to the surface leaving in the wellbore only the tubular  10  with a portion expanded into supporting contact with casing  12 . 
   The major components having now been described as well as their movements, the operation of the tool will now be reviewed in a more concise manner. The tubular  10  is supported from a running tool  14  in a known manner. The running tool  14  is capable of supporting the tubular  10  while putting a downward force on top sub  26  at the same time. Initially, the shear pin  20  breaks. Then, with the cone  16  supported off tubular  10  at dogs  18 , the swaging assembly  52  is forced down sloping surface  50  while the calibrating dogs  36  ride outwardly on sloping surface  54 . Eventually, the calibrating dogs  36  contact the casing  12 . The swage assembly has irreversibly moved down sloping surface  50  and can&#39;t go in a reverse direction due to lock ring assembly  58 . At this point the swage assembly has been moved to a proper diameter for expansion of the tubular  10 , taking into account the actual internal diameter of the casing  12  in the region of the proposed expansion. Further downward force applied to top sub  26  forces shear pin  60  to break and allows recess  64  to become aligned with dogs  18 . The cone  16  can now advance into the tubular  10  as the swage assembly  52 , now at the proper diameter as determined by the inside diameter of the casing  12 , continues to swage the tubular  10 . After a predetermined travel of swage assembly  52 , dogs  40  become undermined as recess  66  comes into position opposite dogs  40 . The middle sleeve  38  becomes free from the shouldering of the dogs  40  such that blocks  46  no longer push on calibrating dogs  36 . Instead, calibrating dogs  36  are now able to slide down sloping surface  54  of cone  16  as it advances downhole due to dogs  18  being disposed in recess  64 .The calibrating dogs  36  can now advance into the already expanded portion of the tubular  10  as shown in FIG.  4 . At the conclusion of the swaging operation, the running tool, of a type known in the art, can be given a turn to the right or otherwise released to leave the swaged tubular  10  securely supported from the casing  12  with the proper amount of force and with assurance that the casing has not been overstressed due to over-expansion. 
   Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the apparatus of the present invention takes into account the actual internal dimension of the casing  12  into which the tubular  10  is to be expanded. This internal diameter can vary considerably within the allowable tolerance by API. If the tubular is at the low end of the diameter range allowed by API, the calibrating dogs  36  will contact the casing  12  sooner rather than later. The sooner the calibrating dogs  36  contact the casing  12 , the smaller the maximum diameter to which the swage assembly  52  will grow. Conversely, when the inside diameter of the casing  12  is at the high end of API tolerances and a greater degree of expansion of the tubular  10  is necessary for its proper support from the casing  12 , the apparatus adjusts the size of the swage assembly  52  in direct relation to the sensed internal diameter of the casing  12  to allow the proper amount of expansion for necessary support of tubular  10  without expanding or over-expanding the surrounding casing  12 . Casing  12  could potentially be elastically deformed, however, the compensating feature of the present invention that senses its internal diameter should prevent a situation of undue expansion of the surrounding casing  12 . 
   The adaptability and simplicity of the present invention makes it economical to manufacture and reliable in operation in a wide range of variation for a given casing size. Those skilled in the art can envision modification of the described design to handle different casing sizes without part change-outs. Additionally information as to the detected inside diameter of the casing  12  can be obtained with the apparatus and transmitted to the surface. Additionally the final expanded inside diameter of the tubing  10  can be sensed and transmitted to the surface using known techniques. 
   The foregoing disclosure and description of the invention are illustrative and explanatory thereof, and various changes in the size, shape and materials, as well as in the details of the illustrated construction, may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.