Onesubsea IP UK Limited

Cooper Cameron Corporation

Cameron Iron Works Usa, Inc.

Cooper Industries, Inc.

Other

Cameron International Corporation

David H Theiss

William M Taylor

Joseph H Hynes

Jack Vincent

James P McEver

David R June

Gerald S Baker

James A Burton

Scott D Ward

Clint A Davis

Christopher George Kocurek

Timothy J Allen

Terry L Shinn

Paul Stephen Tetley

Nguyen Trinh

Michael J Matusek

Brian Bibighaus

Larry E McDonald

Casey B Hahn

Scott Stjernstrom

Keith Garbett

Michael James Goodwin

Michael Vincent Jekot

Stephen E Gaydos

A technique facilitates continued operation of a position indicator which may be used with a valve or other types of actuatable components. The technique utilizes a housing and a stem driver mounted for rotation within the housing to actuate the valve/component to a desired position. The stem driver has a threaded region which is threadably engaged with a clutch collar located in the housing. When the stem driver is rotated relative to the clutch collar, the clutch collar moves in an axial direction along the interior of the housing. The clutch collar is coupled with a bracket which moves during axial translation of the clutch collar. The clutch collar comprises a flexible portion which enables slippage of threads at the region of coupling between the clutch collar and the stem driver if movement of the bracket becomes sufficiently restricted.

System and methodology for indicating position

A subsea production system for a well including a subsea production tree, a tubing hanger, and a production tubing extending into the well and supported by the tubing hanger. A downhole equipment suspension system includes a suspension head supported directly or indirectly by the production tree above and separately from the tubing hanger. The suspension system also includes downhole equipment inside the production tubing below the tubing hanger and a suspension line extending through the tubing hanger vertical production bore and the production tree vertical bore. The suspension line suspends the downhole equipment from the suspension head.

Subsea production system with downhole equipment suspension system

A guide and protection bushing assembly is mountable in a well production system (e.g., a subsea tree) having an intervention member (e.g., a blowout preventer). The assembly guides a string of components to a cable hanger sealing surface disposed in the production system without damaging the sealing surface. The assembly includes a body having a first end engaging an intervention member, a second end engaging the production system, an outer surface, and an inner through passage that expands radially at the first end to form a funnel shape. In some embodiments, the assembly may further include rollers, leaf springs, or a protective sleeve coupled to biasing members, a plurality of centering disks having a plurality of flexible flaps separated by spacers, and/or centering devices with fins separated by spacers. In some embodiments, the assembly may further include a hydraulically actuated plurality of rams, a piston with a plurality of protective elements, a plurality of nozzle jets, and/or a plurality of bladders.

Variable guide and protection bushing for well conveyance

A system including a seal delivery system, including a mandrel, a seal tool coupled to the mandrel, wherein the seal tool is configured to deliver and actuate a bridge seal assembly, and a gear system coupled to the mandrel and to the seal tool, wherein the gear system is configured to rotate the seal tool from a first position to a second position to align the piston assembly.

Seal delivery system

An annular seal assembly for forming a seal between two annular surfaces. The seal assembly includes an annular base including a sealing surface. The seal assembly also includes a pair of spaced apart rims extending from the annular base opposite the base sealing surface and in opposite directions, the rims also including sealing surfaces. The base is elastically deformable and the rims are elastically deformable relative to the base to effect a self-energized seal between the two annular surfaces.

Self-energizing annular seal

A torsion measurement device is disclosed. In one embodiment, the device includes a component having a marked surface and an optical sensor. The marked component and the optical sensor may be attached to a tube or other elongate member and positioned to enable the optical sensor to measure angular deflection of the tube from rotation of the marked component with respect to the optical sensor. The angular deflection may be combined with other data to determine applied torque and torsional stress on the tube or other elongate member. Additional systems, devices, and methods are also disclosed.

Torsion measurement device

In accordance with one exemplary embodiment, the present invention provides a sensor system for detecting a change in condition. The system includes a radioactive source. This system also includes at least one radiation detector configured to detect radiation from the radioactive source. Furthermore, the system includes a displacement assembly configured to physically displace in response to the change in condition and configured to change the radiation levels detected by the radiation detector in response to such displacement. Advantageously, this system facilitates non-intrusive communication of information across a physical barrier, via the measurement of changing radiation levels that change in response to a change in condition, for example.

Non-intrusive pressure gage

A drill-through spool body sleeve assembly comprises a test sleeve removably installed within a drill-through spool body having a bore with the terminal ends of the outer diameter of the test sleeve sealingly engaging the bore wall. The sleeve assembly also comprises a wear bushing removably installed in the bore between the bore wall and the test sleeve. The test sleeve is of sufficient thickness to pressure test the spool body outlets, ports, and valves before drilling and production. The test sleeve seals the bore from the outside of the spool body during the pressure testing. After the pressure tests are completed, the test sleeve is removed from the spool body, leaving the wear bushing in place. The wear bushing protects the bore wall, outlets, ports, and valves while allowing equipment such as drilling and wellhead equipment to pass through the spool body. After the well is drilled and the casing strings are installed, the wear bushing is removed from the spool body to allow the installation of the production tubing and production hanger within the spool body.

Drill-through spool body sleeve assembly

A rod brake, and a method, including an elastic device, such as a coil spring, array of split rings, or an elastic sleeve, that engages one or more grooves in a cylindrical surface to restrain the rod from longitudinal movement relative to another body, and wherein longitudinal force is applied to distort the elastic device and push it out of the one or more grooves to release the rod for longitudinal movement is disclosed. A locking sleeve is added to lock the elastic device against distortion and movement to the release configuration.

Apparatus and method for retarding translation between two bodies

The riser system includes a small diameter riser that can be disconnected from the subsea BOP/wellhead assembly to obtain access to the wellbore for large diameter casing while continuously maintaining a hydrostatic head to control the well. The riser system further includes a large diameter riser joint having one end connected to the BOP/wellhead assembly and one or more hydraulic conduits extending from the BOP/wellhead assembly to the small diameter riser which extends to the surface. The small diameter riser has a first position where the small diameter riser is aligned and connected to the other end of the riser joint and a second position where the small diameter riser is non-aligned and unconnected with the large diameter riser joint. The riser system further includes a shifter which moves the small diameter riser from the first position to the second position. Downhole operations are conducted through the small diameter riser in the first position. When it is necessary to have a larger diameter access to the well, the shifter is actuated to move the small diameter riser to the second position allowing access to the well through the large diameter riser joint and BOP/wellhead assembly.

Riser method and apparatus

An undersea drilling template adapted to be lowered onto a seabed by a drillpipe. The template comprises a template base and at least one arm having a releasable clamping assembly for releasably connecting the template to the drillpipe. The clamping assembly is adapted to be clamped to the drillpipe during lowering of the template and release from the drillpipe when the lowering is completed.

Undersea drilling template release mechanism and method

The improved wellhead system includes a wellhead housing with an internal annular shoulder having a plurality of removed arcs to form an interrupted support shoulder. A casing hanger is provided with an external annular shoulder having a plurality of removed arcs which correspond with those on the wellhead housing. In a first orientation, the removed arcs of the casing hanger shoulder align with the arcs of the support shoulder in the wellhead housing to allow the casing hanger to pass through the wellhead housing or the wellhead housing to be lowered below the casing hanger. In a second orientation the remaining shoulder arcs of the casing hanger align with the support shoulder arcs to support the casing hanger. The casing hanger also includes a thread for attaching a tool whereby the casing hanger and casing attached thereto can be tensioned. An alternate embodiment of the improved wellhead system includes a wellhead housing with an internal support groove. A casing hanger with a contractible split ring allows the casing hanger to be suspended from the internal support groove of the wellhead housing. A ring compression tool which allows the contractible split ring to be compressed allows selective engagement of the casing hanger with the internal support groove of the wellhead housing. This feature allows the casing hanger to pass through the wellhead housing or the wellhead housing to be installed over the casing hanger.

Wellhead system

A method and apparatus for the protection of downhole equipment from excessive pressure conditions which includes providing structures of volume compensating material which are designed to resist normal pressures expected in the well bore. One form of the invention has a plurality of half sections of volume compensating material positioned around one of the tubular member in the annulus which has fluids that can increase in pressure to a point approaching damage to the interior of exterior member of the annulus. In another application a resilient seal includes a recess into which a ring of volume compensating material is placed to allow a place for fluids to flow when they are subjected to overpressure conditions.

Method of and apparatus for protecting downhole equipment

A ratcheting connector for providing a radial connection between two concentric tubular members, with one of the members having a recess in which a split latching ring is mounted with coarse threaded engagement between said split latching ring and said one member and fine threads on the side of said split latching ring facing the other member which has mating fine threads with a shape which cams said split latching ring into its recess as the threads move past each other in the direction of installation. Setting of the connector is accomplished after full engagement of the fine threads by rotation of the central tubular member less than a full revolution.

Tubular connector

The improved structure of the present invention includes a hanger having a landing shoulder for engaging the landing seat within a wellhead housing, a hanger holddown ring, an external sealing surface spaced from the internal sealing surface of the housing to form the annulus to be sealed, a seal assembly including a seal body having external metal seal legs diverging outward but having a free diameter less than the diameter of the housing internal sealing surface and internal metal seal legs converging inwardly and having a free diameter smaller than the diameter of the hanger external sealing surface, a lower body movably connected to the seal body and having an upstanding rim engaging the lower outer seal leg, an upper body movably connected to the seal body, a loading ring surrounding the upper portion of the seal body and engaging the upper outer seal leg, a lock down ring for securing said seal assembly to said hanger after the seal assembly has been set in loaded sealed position and a pin for retaining said loading ring against the upper outer seal leg to latch the seal assembly in loaded sealed position. In the modified form the seal body includes an upper outer seal leg extending upwardly and outward and having a free diameter less than the internal sealing diameter of the housing and a lower outer seal leg extending upwardly and having a free diameter larger than the internal sealing diameter of the housing.

Growing community of inventors

Houston, TX, United States of America

David H Theiss