U.S. patent number 3,750,748 [Application Number 05/212,222] was granted by the patent office on 1973-08-07 for liner separation apparatus.
This patent grant is currently assigned to SAID Kinley, by said Agee and Fowler. Invention is credited to Charles W. Agee, Charles N. Fowler, John C. Kinley.
United States Patent |
3,750,748 |
Kinley , et al. |
August 7, 1973 |
LINER SEPARATION APPARATUS
Abstract
Apparatus for separating an upper portion of a metallic liner
from the inside wall of oil well production tubing to prepare said
liner for removal therefrom. The apparatus includes a plurality of
fingers which are pivotally mounted on a central body and are
movable outwardly to an expanded position by an actuating sleeve.
In the expanded position, the fingers are inserted between the
liner and the tubing whereby the upper portion of the liner is
separated from the tubing.
Inventors: |
Kinley; John C. (Houston,
TX), Agee; Charles W. (Houston, TX), Fowler; Charles
N. (New Orleans, LA) |
Assignee: |
SAID Kinley, by said Agee and
Fowler (N/A)
|
Family
ID: |
22790094 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/212,222 |
Filed: |
December 27, 1971 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
166/55; 166/297;
166/277; 166/377 |
Current CPC
Class: |
E21B
29/00 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
E21B
29/00 (20060101); E21b 029/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;166/55,277,315,297,178,206,211,55.3 ;72/307,370 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Brown; David H.
Claims
We claim:
1. Apparatus for separating a liner from the inside wall of a
tubular member, comprising:
a support body adapted to be placed in said tubular member;
liner separating means for entry and longitudinal movement between
the wall of the tubular member and the liner for deforming the
liner inwardly relative to the tubular member;
mounting means for mounting said liner separating means for
movement between a retracted position out of engagement with the
wall of the tubular member and an operating position between the
wall of the tubular member and the liner; and
actuating means for moving said liner separating means from said
retracted to said operating position.
2. The structure set forth in claim 1, including:
said liner separating means includes a separating element tapered
at one end for insertion between said liner and the inside wall of
said tubular member.
3. Apparatus set forth in claim 1 wherein said support body
includes:
a support adapted to be connected to a tool for moving said
apparatus in said tubular member;
a mandrel releasably mounted on said support and extending
therefrom; and
support mounting means mounting said liner separating means on said
mandrel for movement between said retracted and operating
positions.
4. The structure set forth in claim 1 wherein said liner separating
means includes:
a plurality of liner separating elements; and
said mounting means mounting said elements for movement between
retracted and operating positions for crimping and separating an
upper portion of said liner from the wall of said tubular member
upon insertion of said elements therebetween.
5. The structure set forth in claim 4 including:
band means extending about said liner separating elements to
maintain said liner separating elements in said retracted position
until said actuating means moves said liner separating elements to
said operating position.
6. The structure set forth in claim 1, including:
said liner separating means including a separating element; and
pivotal means for pivotally mounting said separating element on
said support body for movement between retracted and operating
positions.
7. The structure set forth in claim 2, including:
an additional separating element and means mounting same for
movement between retracted and operating positions on said support
body substantially adjacent to said first-mentioned separating
element whereby, upon insertion of said separating elements between
said liner and said wall of said tubular member, substantially
adjacent upper sections of said liner are separated from said
tubular member and said liner is crimped between said upper
sections.
8. The structure set forth in claim 2 including:
an additional separating element and means mounting same for
movement between retracted and operating positions on said support
body substantially opposite from said first-mentioned operating
element whereby substantially opposite upper sections of said liner
are separated from said tubular member upon insertion of said
expandable elements therebetween.
9. The structure set forth in claim 2 in which said separating
element includes:
a substantially convex outside surface adapted to fit against the
inner wall of the tubular member; and
a substantially convex inner surface adapted to engage the outside
wall of said liner.
10. The structure set forth in claim 1 wherein said actuating means
includes:
an actuating sleeve disposed slidably over said support body for
movement relative thereto between an initial position out of
engagement with said liner separating means and an actuated
position in engagement with said liner separating means for moving
said liner separating means outwardly to said operating
position.
11. The structure set forth in claim 10, including:
resilient means mounted over said support body in engagement with
said actuating sleeve for urging said sleeve to the actuated
position.
12. The device set forth in claim 10, including:
said liner separating means including a separating element
pivotally mounted on said support body, said separating element
having a camming surface thereon; and
said actuating sleeve including a surface for engaging said camming
surface of said separating element to cause said separating element
to pivot to said operating position.
13. The structure set forth in claim 10, including:
releasable means for releasably maintaining said actuating sleeve
in said initial position; and
said releasable means releasing said actuating sleeve upon
engagement with a downwardly facing shoulder of said tubular member
during movement of said apparatus away from said liner whereby said
actuating sleeve is movable to said actuating position.
14. The structure set forth in claim 13 wherein said releasable
means includes:
a release lever pivotally mounted on said support body, said
release lever being held in engagement with said actuating sleeve
by a shear pin which extends through said release lever and said
support body; and
a latch dog pivotally mounted on said support body and extending
therefrom whereby, upon movement of said apparatus away from said
liner, said latch dog engages said release lever with sufficient
force to cause said shear pin to shear thereby allowing said
release lever to pivot out of engagement with said actuating sleeve
and thus release said actuating sleeve for slidable movement into
engagement with said liner separating means.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The field of this invention is apparatus for separating a portion
of a liner from a tubular member such as oil well production tubing
or casing so that the liner can be subsequently removed from the
tubing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In oil wells it is sometimes necessary to repair weak spots or
holes in production tubing. The holes may have been previously
placed in the tubing for a specific purpose, such as a gas lift
installation, and are now unwanted. Weak spots may be the result of
corrosion or erosion caused by fluids flowing through the
production tubing. In any event, it is extremely desirable that
these holes or weak spots be covered without having to actually
remove the weak or leaking tubing from the hole--a laborious and
costly procedure which requires that the well be shut down and the
tubing pulled.
Metallic liners have been found quite effective for covering up
holes and otherwise patching downhole production tubing without
having to pull the tubing. One type of metallic liner is a
thin-walled steel tube coated on the outside with an oil-resistant
elastomer to obtain a seal between the liner and the production
tubing for sealing off the holes or weak spots.
Various means have been devised for setting such a metallic liner
in production tubing; for instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,489,220,
issued to M.M. Kinley, a method and apparatus is described for
installing a liner having a reverse bend therein.
Although the metallic liners are extremely effective once installed
properly, occasionally a newly installed liner does not effectively
seal off the weak spot or hole in the tubing or is damaged in
service and should be removed. Insofar as known, no one has devised
an effective means for removing a liner from the production tubing.
One of the difficulties in removing the metallic liners is
initially separating the top portion of the liner from the
production tubing. A reason for the difficulty is that the top end
of the liner is beveled into the inside tubing wall so that most
separating elements tend to slip off the top end of the liner when
an attempt is made to insert the element between the liner and the
tubing.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An apparatus is provided which is adapted to be mounted on a
wireline and lowered to a position substantially adjacent to the
top end of the liner to be removed. The apparatus includes a
plurality of fingers mounted on a central body and movable or
expandable outwardly for insertion between the top portion of the
liner and the tubing inside wall thereby crimping the liner at one
or more points and separating the upper portion of the liner from
the tubing so that the liner may be removed therefrom. An actuating
means for moving the expandable fingers from a retracted position
to an expanded position, in which the fingers are inserted between
the liner and tubing, is released by upward movement of the
apparatus after it has been positioned in the production tubing
substantially adjacent to the top of the liner.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a sectional view of the apparatus of the present
invention positioned in production tubing substantially above the
top end of the liner which is to be separated from the tubing;
FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the apparatus with the expandable
fingers inserted between the upper portion of the liner and the
production tubing; and
FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line 3--3 of FIG. 2 showing
the configuration of the upper portion of the liner separated from
the production tubing.
FIG. 3A is a sectional view taken along line 3A--3A of FIG. 2
showing the configuration at the top of the liner separated from
the production tubing .
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
With reference to the drawing, the apparatus A is illustrated in
position downhole in production tubing B for separating an upper
portion C of a metallic liner D from the inner wall E of the
production tubing. The apparatus A includes a central body
designated generally at 10. The central body 10 includes a support
11 which has a male, threaded end 11a adapted for threaded
connection to a tubing string or conventional wire line actuated
jarring tool which is supported by a wire line thereabove (not
shown). The central body of the apparatus further includes a
mandrel 12 having a substantially longitudinal portion 12a that is
mounted in a recess 11b in the support by means of pins 13 and 14.
The substantially longitudinal portion 12a of the mandrel has the
downwardly facing shoulders 12b and 12c which engage the pins 13
and 14 mounted in apertures 11c and 11d in the recess 11b of the
support 11. To mount the mandrel 12 in the recess 11b in the
support 11, the longitudinal portion 12a of the mandrel is inserted
into the recess 11b and the pins 13 and 14 are inserted through
lateral holes such as 15 in actuator sleeve 31.
A plurality of expandable fingers 20, 21, 22 and 23 (FIG. 3) are
mounted on the mandrel 12 for movement between a retracted position
illustrated in FIG. 1 and an expanded position illustrated in FIGS.
2 and 3 where the expandable fingers are inserted between the upper
portion C of the liner and the production tubing to separate the
liner therefrom. Each of the expandable fingers 20-23 such as
illustrated by fingers 20 and 22 in FIG. 1 are pivotally mounted in
recesses such as 12d and 12e, respectively, by means of pivot pins
24 and 25. The expandable fingers 20, 21 and 22 shown in FIGS. 1
and 2 are tapered at their lower ends 20a, 21a and 22a for
insertion between the top portion C of the liner and the inner wall
E of the production tubing B. And, each expandable finger
preferably has a convex outer surface 20b, 21b, 22b and 23b (FIG.
3) adapted to fit the concave contour of the inner wall E of the
production tubing. It will be understood that finger 23 is
constructed similar to the fingers 20, 21 and 22 and therefore it
has not been shown in further detail.
An actuating means 30 is provided to pivot the expandable fingers
from the retracted to the extended position. The actuating means
includes an actuating sleeve 31 disposed slidably over a necked
down portion 11e of the support formed by a shoulder 11f and over
an enlarged portion 12f of the mandrel for movement relative
thereto. Upward movement, in the direction of the arrow 32, of the
actuating sleeve 31 from an initial position in FIG. 1 is limited
by the shoulder 11f on the support. When the actuating sleeve 31 is
moved downwardly to an actuating position illustrated in FIG. 2, an
inclined surface 31a on the sleeve engages a camming surface on
each of the expandable fingers 20, 21, 22 and 23 such as the
camming surfaces 20c and 22c for the fingers 20 and 22, thereby
pivoting the tapered ends outwardly against the inside wall of the
production tubing (FIG. 2).
A compressed coil spring 40 is positioned about the longitudinal
section 12a of the mandrel and engages bottom annular surface 11g
on the support and upwardly facing shoulder 31b on the actuating
sleeve to continually urge the actuating sleeve 31 downwardly into
engagement with the camming surface on each of the expandable
fingers 20-23.
To hold the sleeve 31 in the initial retracted position of FIG. 1
out of engagement with the fingers 20-23 while the apparatus is
lowered in the tubing B, a releasable means 50 is mounted on the
support 11 for releasing the actuating sleeve by upward movement of
the apparatus away from the liner in the production tubing. The
releasable means includes a release lever 51 which has a hooked end
51a and is mounted on the support 11 for pivotal movement by the
pin 52. The hooked end 51a of the release lever 51 is adapted to
fit in a hole 31c in the actuating sleeve 31 with the release lever
51 in the position shown in FIG. 1. With the release lever in this
position, a shear pin 53 extends through the release lever 51 and
into a hole (not shown) in the support 11 to maintain the hooked
end 51a in the hole 31c in order to prevent the coil spring 40 from
moving the actuating sleeve 31 into engagement with the expandable
fingers 20-23.
A latch dog 54 is pivotally mounted by means of the pin 55
extending through the latch dog 54 and into the support 11; and an
extension spring 56 urges end 54b of the latch dog 54 against an
upper edge 51b of the release lever 51.
OPERATION
With the latch dog 54 in such pivoting position, the apparatus is
lowered downhole in the production tubing B with the expandable
fingers 20-23 being held inwardly by a band 58, which may be
frangible wire, a paper tape, or any other means for temporarily
holding the fingers 20-23 retracted so that their lower tips do not
inadvertently catch in a collar or other part of the tubing B as
the apparatus is lowered in the tubing B. As the apparatus is
lowered into the production tubing B, the latch dog 54, which
extends outwardly from the support 11, engages upwardly facing
shoulders such as shoulder 59 of joint 60 in the production tubing;
however, since the latch dog 54 is free to rotate in a
counter-clockwise manner, the latch dog 54 will simply pivot
upwardly to pass such shoulder and the spring 56 will keep it in
contact with the inside surface of the joint or tubing B.
After the apparatus A has been positioned such that the tapered
ends of the expandable fingers are positioned substantially
adjacent on top end 65 of the liner, the apparatus is raised
upwardly in the direction of arrow 32 such that the latch dog 54
engages downwardly facing shoulder 66 of the production tubing
joint 60 thereby causing the latch dog to rotate clockwise. As the
apparatus is pulled upwardly in the production tubing, the latch
dog 54 continues to be rotated clockwise causing the corner of the
latch dog 54 to be forcefully moved further into engagement with
the release lever 51 until sufficient force is exerted on the
release lever to shear the pin 53.
After the shearing of the pin 53, the latch dog 54 is rotated
clockwise to force the release lever out of the hole 31c in the
actuating sleeve to the position shown in broken lines in FIG. 1.
With the release of the hooked end 51a from engagement with the
actuating sleeve 31, the compressed coil spring 40 moves the
actuating sleeve 31 downwardly such that the tapered surface 31a of
the actuating sleeve engages the camming surfaces of the expandable
fingers 20-23, such as camming surfaces 20c and 22c of the
expandable fingers 20 and 22, thereby pivoting the tapered ends of
the expandable fingers 20-23 against the inside wall of the
production tubing B.
After the release lever 51 has been released from the hole 31c in
the actuating sleeve, the force of the extension spring 56 rotates
the latch dog 54 to the inactive position shown in the broken lines
in FIG. 1 where the latch dog 54 will not interfere with the
removal of the apparatus from the production tubing after the upper
portion of the liner has been separated from the tubing, as will be
more evident hereinafter.
With the expandable fingers 20-23 moved outwardly against the
inside wall of the production tubing B, the apparatus is moved
downwardly such that the tapered ends of the expandable fingers
20-23 are inserted between the upper portion C of the liner and the
inside wall E of the production tubing thus separating the upper
liner portion C from the tubing. Of course, after the upper portion
C of the liner D has been separated from the production tubing B,
the apparatus is moved upwardly out of the production tubing B so
that another tool or apparatus may be used to actually remove the
liner D from the production tubing B.
In the preferred embodiment of this invention, four expandable
fingers 20-23 are pivotally mounted on the mandrel 11 and are
inserted between the liner D and the production tubing B. As the
four expandable fingers 20-23 are moved further downwardly between
the liner D and the production tubing B, the tapered ends of the
expandable fingers 20-23 exert a wedging action which causes the
top end 65 of the upper liner portion C to be moved further
inwardly than the remainder of the upper portion C of the liner D.
Also, each of the expandable fingers 20-23 has a convex inside
surface such as surface 20d of the expandable finger 20 so that the
expandable fingers deform four sections 70, 71, 72 and 73 of the
upper portion C of the liner into a substantially concave
configuration.
The force exerted inwardly by the downwardly moving adjacent
expandable fingers also crimps the upper liner portion C at
sections 74, 75, 76 and 77 thereby effectively reducing the
diameter of the outer surface of the lining such that substantially
none of the liner at the top end 65 is in engagement with the
inside wall of the production tubing. Referring to FIG. 3, the four
expandable fingers provide four recesses or pockets, such as pocket
74a between the partially crimped sections or lobes 74 and 77 of
the upper liner portion C; and, referring to FIG. 3A, the top end
65 of the liner D is crimped into four distinct lobes 74, 75, 76
and 77 such that another tool or apparatus can be conveniently
inserted into a pocket such as 74a for removing completely the
liner D from the tubing B.
It is within the scope of this invention to use less than four
fingers 20-23 but it has been found that two expandable fingers
such as 20 and 22 are generally required and these are preferably
positioned opposite to each other and thus, when inserted between
the top liner portion C and the production tubing, would deform two
sections 70 and 72 in the upper liner portion. In some cases, two
adjacent expandable fingers such as 20 and 21 may be utilized to
deform the upper liner portion at sections 70 and 71 and also form
a crimped section 74 therebetween. Three expandable fingers can
also be employed, however, just as with the use of two expandable
fingers, the crimped sections such as 74 of the top portion C of
the liner will remain in engagement with the inside wall of the
tubing B. As previously described, insertion of the four expandable
fingers 20-23 does completely separate the top portion C of the
liner D from the tubing. Such complete separation is desirable
because another tool can be inserted between the crimped sections
or lobes such as 74 and the inside wall of the tubing B thus making
the position of such a tool less critical.
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. For instance, it is within the scope of
this invention to utilize the apparatus disclosed herein to remove
liners made of other materials than thin-walled steel, the only
limitation being that the liners must be made of sufficiently
yieldable material that they may be deformed without breaking up.
Also, such liners as D are also used in casing or other tubular
members. Thus, it is within the scope of this invention to remove
liners from any such tubular members.
* * * * *