Patent Publication Number: US-2010116490-A1

Title: Active control and/or monitoring of expandable tubular devices

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit of an earlier filing date from U.S. Non Provisional application Ser. No. 12/195,137 filed Aug. 20, 2008, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     In the hydrocarbon recovery industry, expandable tubular devices are increasingly used to enhance hydrocarbon recovery efforts. The devices allow, inter alia, the tripping of such devices through tubing strings that are smaller than the expandable tubular device will be when it is expanded. While in controlled conditions, expandables are very predictable in their geometric change; the downhole environment is far from controlled. Commonly expandable tubular devices will expand as much as is possible relative to the hole in which they are to be expanded. Sometimes the hole is smaller than anticipated from an operator&#39;s perspective due to things such as a hard feature in a formation that kicks a drill bit over and then rides up a flute of the bit such that the full designed diameter is not reached. Other times, a portion of the borehole may partially collapse and thereby restrict the size of the bore in that location. The result of such conditions can restrict operations later in the life of the well including further completion operations with tools getting stuck and possibly not fitting through such a restriction. The art would well receive any apparatus and method that improves efficiency in hydrocarbon recovery. 
     SUMMARY 
     A method for determining a shape of an expanded tubular including expanding an expandable swage, urging the expandable swage though an expandable tubular, and determining an outside dimension of at least one segment of the expandable swage. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Referring now to the drawings wherein like elements are numbered alike in the several Figures: 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic cross section view of a borehole having devices described herein illustrated. 
         FIG. 2  is the view of  FIG. 1  in a more advanced position. 
         FIG. 3  is an enlarged view of a portion of an expandable swage as disclosed herein. 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic view of an alternate swage assembly as disclosed herein. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a formation  10  having an open hole  12  therein is adjacent a cased hole with casing  14 . Within the casing  14  is illustrated a running string  16 , to which is attached a moveable anchor  18  that provides a stabile foundation against which a stroking device  20  can bear when urging an expandable swage  22  through an expandable tubular  24 . The tubular  24  extends in  FIG. 1 , and indeed will do so in a real world downhole environment, through one or more packers  26 , other tubular components, and formation restrictions  28 , among other things. These features present potential impediments to both the progress of the swage  22  and to the total diameter achieved by the expandable tubular  24 . Resultingly, the diameter of the tubular  24  is often inconsistent. Difficulties caused by this reality can be alleviated in accordance with the disclosure hereof in that the disclosed swage  22  is configured to measure the diameter of the tubular  24  in real time while swaging. Measurement may be taken whenever desired, when a restriction is encountered (with a threshold compressive strain on the swage), continuously, etc as is appropriate for a particular application. For purposes of explanation,  FIG. 2  shows the swage  22  adjacent a downhole end  30  of the illustration having monitored the size of the resultant expansion while traveling there from the uphole end  32  of the open hole. 
     It will be appreciated that the action of the anchor  18  and the stroking device are known to the art and need not be described in detail. The swage  22  however is distinct thereby providing it with the ability noted above. 
     In one embodiment, referring to  FIG. 3 , the swage  22  comprises a swage body  40  having at least one swage segment  42  displacably engaged with an outer surface  44  of the swage body  40 . The one or more segments  42  grow in outside dimension collectively as they move relative to the swage body, the movement direction being toward a greater diametrical dimension of the frustocone of the swage body  40 . Movement of the at least one swage  42  is occasioned by activation of a motor  46  that rotates a drive member  48 , such as a lead screw. The drive member  48  is in mesh with a drive assembly  50  that couples motion from the drive member  48  to a drive housing  52 . The member  48 , assembly  50  and drive housing  52  in one embodiment constitute a drive system whose purpose it is to move the at least one segment  42  relative to the body  40 . In one embodiment, the drive member  48  is a lead screw and the assembly  50  is a follower nut while in another exemplary embodiment the drive assembly  50  is a roller screw commercially available from Exlar Corporation, Chanhassen, Minn. USA. Other arrangements are substitutable providing they are capable of imparting a longitudinal displacement of the drive housing  52 . Longitudinal displacement of the drive housing  52  is used to urge the at least one segment  42  to climb the body  40 . In one embodiment, a motor controller  54  and a battery  56  are included for powering the motor  46  locally. In other embodiments, the motor  46  may be powered from a remote location with a suitable conductor attached thereto (not shown). 
     In each embodiment, a position indicator  60  in incorporated into the swage  22 . Suitable position indicators include potentiometers, magnetostrictive elements, hall effect sensors, etc. The position indicator  60  is positioned relative to swage  22  in order to be capable of measuring the effective outside dimension of the at least one segment  42 . In so doing and with the provision of a recording implement within in the downhole environment or at the surface or even at a remote location, a map of the dimension of the borehole through which the swage has been driven is available in real time and later if recorded. In the normal course the measurements should be recorded as they are of assistance both in selecting an appropriate size tool for running later in the life of the well and for diagnosing potential problems that might be experienced during such running 
     In one embodiment and as illustrated in  FIG. 3 , the position indicator  60  is located as shown within the swage body  40  and in operable communication with a feature  62  of the drive housing  52 . The feature  62  may be simply a cam profile that puts a strain on a sensor of the position indicator  60  or may be for example a magnet that is sensible by a hall effect sensor  60 , etc. In other embodiments, proximity sensors may be positioned between ones of the at least one segment  42  so that as the segment(s) move farther apart perimetrically as they move apart radially pursuant to longitudinal movement up the body  40 , a signal is generated proportional to the movement such that their distance and hence their outside dimension can be calculated. The calculation can be done at a remote location or in the immediate vicinity with a processor. 
     Communication with a remote location or the surface of the information gained by the swage  22  is in one embodiment done via a wired pipe such as that commercially available from Intelliserve. Alternately the information may be transmitted wirelessly through acoustic communication methods, wireless radio frequency methods, wireline or other methods capable of transmitting data to a remote location. 
     In another embodiment of swage  22 , referring to  FIG. 4 , the swage  22  comprises a swage mandrel  70  having at least one energizer receptacle  72 . Within the receptacle  72  is placed one or more energizers  74 . The energizers(s)  74  are configured to bear against surface  76  of the mandrel  70  in order to impart a longitudinal load on a swage cone  78 . In one embodiment, the at least one energizer is one or more biasing members such as springs, for example. The longitudinal load will move the cone  78  under at least one swage segment  80  thereby urging that at least one segment  80  to move radially outwardly relative to an axis  82  of the cone  78 . This embodiment does not require a motor or the components that go therewith. The embodiment does however include a position indicator  84  that can be of the same types as noted above and will provide the same information. 
     Determining the shape of an expanded tubular can be accomplished using one of the embodiments described herein by expanding the expandable swage, stroking it through the expandable tubular and gathering information from the position indicator that relates to an outside dimension of the swage. As the swage moves radially inwardly and radially outwardly during its trip through the expandable tubular, a database of the dimension of the swage may be recorded. Since the tubular is substantially the same size as the outside dimension of the swage, the measurements of the swage will provide a substantially accurate picture of the inside dimension of the expandable tubular. This information is usable for later operations as indicated above. 
     While preferred embodiments have been shown and described, modifications and substitutions may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, it is to be understood that the present invention has been described by way of illustrations and not limitation.