Plug reception assembly and method of reducing restriction in a borehole

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/016,657 filed Sep. 3, 2013, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety

Devices have been available for some time for seatingly receiving a plug within a tubular such as in the downhole hydrocarbon and carbon sequestration industries. These devices necessarily form a restriction within the tubular and typically have features that maintain the devices at fixed positions within the tubular. Though these devices work well for the purpose for which they were designed, the process for removing the restrictions they form, once they are no longer needed, can be costly in both time and money. Removal of such devices from the respective tubular positions can in some cases require running a shifting tool or a cutting tool to the device before it can be disengaged from the tubular. In some cases, this might require an additional dedicated run in the hole with attendant delays and monetary costs. Those who practice in the art will therefore be receptive to devices and methods that overcome the foregoing drawbacks.

A plug reception assembly having one longitudinal end and another longitudinal end includes a mandrel providing a flowpath, the mandrel configured to receive a plug to block flow through the flowpath in a downhole direction; an elastic member forming a portion of a radially exterior surface of the plug reception assembly, the elastic member having one longitudinal end and another longitudinal end; only a single set of slips arranged to maintain the plug reception assembly in anchored relation to a borehole, the single set of slips disposed between the one longitudinal end of the plug reception assembly and the one longitudinal end of the elastic member, and the plug reception assembly being free of slips between the other longitudinal end of the plug reception assembly and the other longitudinal end of the elastic member; and at least one component of the plug reception assembly being disintegratable or dissolvable by at least one of a wave, a target fluid and a target temperature, the at least one component being one that upon disintegration or dissolution facilitates removal of the plug reception assembly as a restriction in the borehole.

A method of reducing restriction in a borehole that is configured for a multizone fracturing operation, where the borehole has a plug reception assembly including a mandrel providing a flowpath, the mandrel configured to receive a plug to block flow through the flowpath in a downhole direction; an elastic member forming a portion of a radially exterior surface of the plug reception assembly, the elastic member having one longitudinal end and another longitudinal end; only a single set of slips arranged to maintain the plug reception assembly in anchored relation to a borehole, the single set of slips disposed between the one longitudinal end of the plug reception assembly and the one longitudinal end of the elastic member, and the plug reception assembly being free of slips between the other longitudinal end of the plug reception assembly and the other longitudinal end of the elastic member; and at least one component of the plug reception assembly being disintegratable or dissolvable by at least one of a wave, a target fluid and a target temperature, the at least one component being one that upon disintegration or dissolution facilitates removal of the plug reception assembly as a restriction in the borehole, and the method includes exposing the at least one component in the plug reception assembly to at least one of the wave, target fluid and target temperature to disintegrate or dissolve the at least one component; and facilitating restriction reduction.

The following descriptions should not be considered limiting in any way. With reference to the accompanying drawings, like elements are numbered alike:

FIG. 1 depicts a cross sectional view of a plug reception assembly disclosed herein.

A detailed description of one or more embodiments of the disclosed apparatus and method are presented herein by way of exemplification and not limitation with reference to the FIGS.

Referring to FIG. 1 , a plug reception assembly disclosed herein is illustrated at 10 . The plug reception assembly 10 , shown herein as a frac plug, includes a plurality of components. In this embodiment the components include a mandrel 14 , a housing 18 , a body lock ring 22 , at least one slip 28 , a cone 32 , and an elastic member 36 , illustrated herein as a seal. One or more of the components 14 , 18 , 22 , 28 , 32 and 36 and subsets thereof are assemblable together to form the plug reception assembly 10 .

The plug reception assembly 10 is positionally fixable within a liner or casing 38 , or other tubular, or open borehole 40 in an earth formation 44 and is seatingly receptive to a plug 48 run thereagainst. The plug reception assembly 10 , when plugged with one of the plugs 48 can allow pressure to build thereagainst to do work such as fracing or treating the earth formation 44 , or actuating a tool (not shown). A plurality of the plug reception assemblies 10 can be distributed over a length of the borehole 40 so that a plurality of the plugs 48 can be run to sequentially sealingly engage with each of the plug reception assemblies 10 . Such a system can be used in a multizone fracturing operation. The plurality of plug reception assemblies 10 can be configured, sized and positioned within the borehole 40 to be seatingly engagable with a plurality of the plugs 48 . For example, a smallest of the plugs 48 may be run and engaged with the furthest plug reception assembly 10 while each additional one of the plugs 48 is larger in dimension and engages with the next plug reception assembly 10 positioned adjacently upstream of the previous plug reception assembly 10 .

At least one of the components 14 , 18 , 22 , 28 , 32 , 36 is configured to disintegrate upon being exposed to a selected condition. The selected condition can be a naturally occurring or a created environment. The foregoing allows an operator to remove one or more of the components 14 , 18 , 22 , 28 , 32 , 36 to thereby facilitate removal of restrictions within the borehole 40 caused by the presence of the plug reception assemblies 10 positioned therewithin. In so doing, the operator can remove the plug reception assemblies 10 after they have served the purpose for which they were employed, without having to run a drill or mill into the borehole 40 to mechanically remove them.

A plurality of the components 14 , 18 , 22 , 28 , 32 , 36 can be configured to disintegrate in the same target environment. Such an environment can include energy waves such as acoustic waves that can break the components 14 , 18 , 22 , 28 , 32 , 36 into small pieces, thereby effectively removing the plug reception assembly 10 constructed therefrom. Alternate embodiments of the plug reception assembly 10 can have the components 14 , 18 , 22 , 28 , 32 , 36 made of metals and metal alloys that are configured to dissolve upon exposure to specific fluids, temperatures and pressures, for example. In some embodiments some of the components 14 , 18 , 22 , 28 and 32 may be rigid members while others, such as the seal 36 can be a non-rigid member such as an elastomer, for example. The fluids can include fluids anticipated to be encountered in a downhole environment such as oil, water, brine and combinations of the foregoing or fluids that are applied to the environment having at least a purpose of dissolving the components 14 , 18 , 22 , 28 , 32 , 36 . As such, for applications wherein the plug reception assembly 10 is employed in the borehole 40 such as during a hydrocarbon recovery or a carbon dioxide sequestration operation, for example, the dissolution of the components 14 , 18 , 22 , 28 , 32 , 36 can be initiated by entry into the borehole 40 . Alternately, dissolution can be initiated after exposing the plug reception assembly 10 to a selected fluid that is pumped to the location of the plug reception assembly 10 . Fluids such as acids and bases that may not occur naturally in the borehole 40 can allow additional control over timing of dissolution since the dissolution would not begin until the selected fluid is introduced to the location of the plug reception assembly 10 . Relying on pumping the selected fluid before disintegration occurs provides additional control since a subset of a whole set of the plug reception assemblies 10 can be selectively exposed to the selected fluid at a desired time.

Both the mandrel 14 and the housing 18 are in operable engagement with the body lock ring 22 . The operable engagement being through a ratcheting arrangement. The body lock ring 22 has radially outward facing teeth 52 that engage with radially inwardly facing teeth 54 on the housing 18 . The body lock ring 22 also has radially inwardly facing teeth 56 that engage with radially outwardly facing teeth 58 on the mandrel 14 . The body lock ring 22 is C shaped due to a longitudinal opening (not visible in the FIGURE) that extends longitudinally through the body lock ring 22 . This allows the body lock ring 22 to flex which action changes a radial size of the body lock ring 22 to thereby allow the teeth 56 thereon to ratchet relative to the teeth 58 when the mandrel 14 is pushed longitudinally toward the housing 18 . This ratcheting engagement, while allowing longitudinal movement of the mandrel 14 towards the housing 18 prevents movement of the mandrel 14 in a longitudinal direction away from the housing 18 thereby discouraging unsetting of the plug reception assembly 10 from its position within the borehole 40 . Disintegration of one more of the mandrel 14 , the housing 18 and the body lock ring 22 can defeat the ratcheting engagement of the teeth 52 , 54 , 56 , 58 .

While the invention has been described with reference to an exemplary embodiment or embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the invention. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the invention without departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out this invention, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the claims. Also, in the drawings and the description, there have been disclosed exemplary embodiments of the invention and, although specific terms may have been employed, they are unless otherwise stated used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention therefore not being so limited. Moreover, the use of the terms first, second, etc. do not denote any order or importance, but rather the terms first, second, etc. are used to distinguish one element from another. Furthermore, the use of the terms a, an, etc. do not denote a limitation of quantity, but rather denote the presence of at least one of the referenced item.