US-20260126122-A1 - SAFETY VALVE HARNESSING WEIGHT AND GRAVITY FOR FAIL-SAFE CLOSURE

US20260126122A1US 20260126122 A1US20260126122 A1US 20260126122A1US-20260126122-A1

Abstract

A safety valve includes a rotatable helical slot cylinder having a body and a throughbore running axially through the body. The helical slot cylinder additionally has an upper helical slot and a lower helical slot slotted in the body of the helical slot cylinder and the helices of the upper helical slot and the lower helical slot are the inverse of each other. The upper sleeve is coupled to the upper helical slot of the helical slot cylinder and has a throughbore. The lower sleeve is coupled to the lower helical slot of the helical slot cylinder and has a throughbore. The upper sleeve and the lower sleeve are disposed within the throughbore of the helical slot cylinder. The safety valve additionally includes a weighted component directly or indirectly coupled to the upper sleeve and a flapper assembly directly or indirectly coupled to the lower sleeve.

Inventors

Mohan Gunasekaran
Nithin Kumar Gupta Dachepally

Assignees

HALLIBURTON ENERGY SERVICES, INC.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20251229

Claims (20)

1 . A safety valve for a wellbore comprising: a rotatable helical slot cylinder having a body and a throughbore running axially through the body; wherein the helical slot cylinder additionally comprises an upper helical slot and a lower helical slot; wherein the upper helical slot and the lower helical slot are slotted in the body of the helical slot cylinder and the helices of the upper helical slot and the lower helical slot are the inverse of each other; an upper sleeve coupled to the upper helical slot of the helical slot cylinder and having a throughbore, a lower sleeve coupled to the lower helical slot of the helical slot cylinder and having a throughbore; wherein the upper sleeve and the lower sleeve are disposed within the throughbore of the helical slot cylinder; a weighted component directly or indirectly coupled to the upper sleeve, and a flapper assembly directly or indirectly coupled to the lower sleeve.
2 . The safety valve of claim 1 , wherein the safety valve is configurable to have a first position and a second position; wherein the first position comprises the upper sleeve and the lower sleeve extending out of the helical slot cylinder and the flapper is open thereby allowing flow through the safety valve.
3 . The safety valve of claim 2 , wherein the second position comprises the upper sleeve and the lower sleeve disposed within the helical slot cylinder and the flapper is closed thereby preventing flow through the safety valve.
4 . The safety valve of claim 3 , wherein the safety valve is configured to shift between the first position and the second position through rotation of the helical slot cylinder.
5 . The safety valve of claim 4 , wherein the safety valve further comprises a control line; wherein the control line supplies hydraulic pressure to push the weighted component against gravity; wherein the rotation of the helical slot cylinder is induced by pushing the weighted component against gravity.
6 . The safety valve of claim 1 , wherein the safety valve does not comprise a spring.
7 . The safety valve of claim 1 , wherein the upper sleeve and lower sleeve comprise pins that slot into the upper helical slot and the lower helical slot respectively.
8 . The safety valve of claim 1 , wherein the weighted component is a flow tube.
9 . The safety valve of claim 1 , wherein the safety valve is installed in a storage well.
10 . The safety valve of claim 1 , wherein the safety valve is installed in a wellbore of a well having a wellbore temperature from about -40° F to about -80° F at the location of the safety valve.
11 . A method for operating a safety valve, the method comprises: providing a safety valve comprising: a rotatable helical slot cylinder having a body and a throughbore running axially through the body; wherein the helical slot cylinder additionally comprises an upper helical slot and a lower helical slot; wherein the upper helical slot and the lower helical slot are slotted in the body of the helical slot cylinder and the helices of the upper helical slot and the lower helical slot are the inverse of each other; an upper sleeve coupled to the upper helical slot of the helical slot cylinder and having a throughbore, a lower sleeve coupled to the lower helical slot of the helical slot cylinder and having a throughbore; wherein the upper sleeve and the lower sleeve are disposed within the throughbore of the helical slot cylinder; a weighted component directly or indirectly coupled to the upper sleeve, and a flapper assembly directly or indirectly coupled to the lower sleeve; applying pressure to the weighted component to push it against gravity thereby pulling the upper sleeve with the weighted component and rotating the helical slot cylinder in a first direction; wherein rotation of the helical slot cylinder also extends the lower sleeve out of the helical slot cylinder; inducing a flapper of the flapper assembly to open through the extending of the lower sleeve out of the helical slot cylinder.
12 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising: removing the pressure to the weighted component to release the weighted component; whereby releasing the weighted component pushes the upper sleeve into the helical slot cylinder thereby rotating the helical slot cylinder in a second direction that is opposite of the first direction.
13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein rotating the helical slot cylinder in the second direction pulls the lower sleeve into the helical slot cylinder and induces a closing of the flapper of the flapper assembly.
14 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the safety valve is installed in a storage well.
15 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the safety valve does not comprise a spring.
16 . A system for operating a safety valve, the system comprising: a safety valve comprising: a rotatable helical slot cylinder having a body and a throughbore running axially through the body; wherein the helical slot cylinder additionally comprises an upper helical slot and a lower helical slot; wherein the upper helical slot and the lower helical slot are slotted in the body of the helical slot cylinder and the helices of the upper helical slot and the lower helical slot are the inverse of each other; an upper sleeve coupled to the upper helical slot of the helical slot cylinder and having a throughbore, a lower sleeve coupled to the lower helical slot of the helical slot cylinder and having a throughbore; wherein the upper sleeve and the lower sleeve are disposed within the throughbore of the helical slot cylinder; a weighted component directly or indirectly coupled to the upper sleeve, and a flapper assembly directly or indirectly coupled to the lower sleeve; and a conduit in which the safety valve is installed.
17 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the weighted component is a flow tube.
18 . The system of claim 17 , wherein a piston is coupled to the flow tube; wherein the system further comprises a control line coupled to the piston; wherein the control line is configured to supply pressure to the piston to push the piston and the coupled flow tube against gravity.
19 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the system is installed in a storage well.
20 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the safety valve is installed in a wellbore of a well having a wellbore temperature from about -40° F to about -80° F at the location of the safety valve.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates generally to wellbore operations, and more particularly, to the use of a safety valve that harnesses gravity and the weight of a flow tube to perform a fail-safe closure of the safety valve without the need for a spring. BACKGROUND For some wellbore operations, it may be desirable to use a safety valve to prevent the uncontrolled release of wellbore fluids to the surface. Should surface or wellbore equipment suffer a failure, the fail-safe mechanism of the safety valve may force the safety valve closed, thereby preventing the uncontrolled release of wellbore fluids on the surface potentially leading to an environmental disaster and/or safety risks to wellbore personnel. Safety valves utilize springs as part of the fail-safe mechanism to force the valve closed. However, springs may not be the best option for all wellbore environments. Safety valves are an important part of wellbore operations. The present invention provides improved apparatus and methods for the use of a safety valve that harnesses gravity and the weight of a flow tube to perform a fail-safe closure of the safety valve without the need for a spring. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Illustrative examples of the present disclosure are described in detail below with reference to the attached drawing figures, which are incorporated by reference herein, and wherein: FIG. 1 is a schematic illustrating the use of a helical joint mechanism in accordance with one or more examples described herein; FIG. 2 is a schematic continuing the illustration of the use of the helical joint mechanism of FIG. 1 in accordance with one or more examples described herein; FIG. 3 is a schematic illustrating of the use of the example safety valve in accordance with one or more examples described herein; and FIG. 4 is a schematic continuing the illustration of the use of the example safety valve of FIG. 3 in accordance with one or more examples described herein. The illustrated figures are only exemplary and are not intended to assert or imply any limitation with regard to the environment, architecture, design, or process in which different examples may be implemented. DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present disclosure relates generally to wellbore operations, and more particularly, to the use of a safety valve that harnesses gravity and the weight of a flow tube to perform a fail-safe closure of the safety valve without the need for a spring. In the following detailed description of several illustrative examples, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific examples that may be practiced. These examples are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice them, and it is to be understood that other examples may be utilized, and that logical structural, mechanical, electrical, and chemical changes may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosed examples. To avoid detail not necessary to enable those skilled in the art to practice the examples described herein, the description may omit certain information known to those skilled in the art. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the illustrative examples are defined only by the appended claims. Unless otherwise indicated, all numbers expressing quantities of ingredients, properties such as molecular weight, reaction conditions, and so forth used in the present specification and associated claims are to be understood as being modified in all instances by the term “about.” Accordingly, unless indicated to the contrary, the numerical parameters set forth in the following specification and attached claims are approximations that may vary depending upon the desired properties sought to be obtained by the examples of the present invention. At the very least, and not as an attempt to limit the application of the doctrine of equivalents to the scope of the claim, each numerical parameter should at least be construed in light of the number of reported significant digits and by applying ordinary rounding techniques. It should be noted that when “about” is at the beginning of a numerical list, “about” modifies each number of the numerical list. Further, in some numerical listings of ranges some lower limits listed may be greater than some upper limits listed. One skilled in the art will recognize that the selected subset will require the selection of an upper limit in excess of the selected lower limit. In the following discussion and in the claims, the terms “including” and “comprising” are used in an open-ended fashion, and thus should be interpreted to mean “including, but not limited to.” Unless otherwise indicated, as used throughout this document, “or” does not require mutual exclusivity. The terms uphole and downhole may be used to refer to the location of various components relative to the