Patent ID: 8196654

Claim:
An expandable bow spring centralizer comprising: a plurality of bow springs, each having a first end and a second end; a first expandable collar comprising a bore configured to receive an expandable tubular, and a plurality of links connected to the plurality of bow springs at the first ends, and at least some of the plurality of links of the first expandable collar being slidably coupled to one or more adjacent links of the plurality of links of the first expandable collar; and a second expandable centralizer collar comprising a bore configured to receive the expandable tubular, and a plurality of links connected to the plurality of bow springs at the second ends, and at least some of the plurality of links of the second expandable collar being slidably coupled to one or more adjacent links of the plurality of links of the second expandable collar, wherein at least the first and second expandable collars are configured to radially expand when the expandable tubular is expanded such that the first and second collars circumscribe the expandable tubular before and after expansion of the expandable tubular.