Patent ID: 8171995

Claim:
A transition joint seal for coupling a parent wellbore to a branch wellbore extending outwardly from a window in the parent wellbore, comprising: a metal pipe having a wall opening along a first side of the metal pipe and a plurality of apertures along a second side of the metal pipe; and a swell seal coupled to the metal pipe, the swell seal being swellable in the branch wellbore by increasing in a volume of the swell seal to promote sealing between the window and the metal pipe, and the swell seal having a plurality of apertures, wherein at least one of the apertures in the metal pipe align with at least one of the apertures in the swell seal, wherein the at least one of the apertures in the swell seal is sized to avoid closing the aligned at least one of the apertures in the metal pipe when the swell seal swells, and wherein the apertures in the metal pipe comprise a structure configured to substantially block transport of particulate matter from a formation proximate to the window into the parent wellbore while allowing fluid flow from the formation proximate to the window into the parent wellbore, and the structure is further configured to substantially block crossflow of fluid into the formation proximate to the window.