Sofec, Inc.

Fmc Technologies, Inc.

Stephane Roy

L Terry Boatman

Marshall N Montgomery

A fluid swivel including a stationary inner housing assembly and a rotatable outer housing operatively connected to the inner housing assembly. The outer housing includes an annular passage with upper and lower surfaces. Upper and lower seals are positioned between the inner housing assembly and the outer housing in seal recesses. A passage in the inner housing assembly provides fluid of pressure to the annular passage. The fluid exerts a first force axially inward on outer housing outer surfaces, and a larger second force axially outward on the annular passage's upper and lower surfaces. The second force is greater than the first force so upper and lower ring portions deflect outward such that the elastic axial deflections of the inner housing assembly match the axial deflections of the outer housing, thereby causing the axial clearances between the components at the upper and lower seals to remain almost the same.

High pressure fluid swivel

A high pressure swivel is disclosed which includes swivel modules each having a stationary inner structure and a rotatable outer structure that can rotate about the inner structure. The inner structure of each module has the same number of vertical passages as the others. The inner structure of each module has a circumferential flange on the top and on a bottom lip so that each swivel unit can be secured to another swivel in its top or bottom with clamps around the flanges. The inner structures are rotatably positioned with respect to each other when assembled so that a vertical passage from a stationary base manifold to an outlet on the rotatable outer structure is formed. Various combinations of standard swivel modules can be assembled to accommodate specific swivel stack requirements for flow capacity and separate or comingled flow paths.

A fluid swivel that includes a stationary annular structure defining upper and lower annular seal recesses, and a rotatable outer housing operatively connected to the stationary annular structure, the outer housing defining an annular passage that has upper and lower surfaces. Upper and lower seals are positioned between the stationary annular structure and the rotatable outer housing and disposed in the upper and lower seal recesses. An inner housing bore is disposed in the stationary annular structure and arranged to provide fluid of pressure P to the annular passage, the fluid exerting a first force (Fv) longitudinally inwardly on the outer surface of the outer housing, and a second force (Fv) longitudinally outwardly on the upper and lower surfaces of the annular passage, the second force (Fv) having a greater magnitude than the first force (Fv) so the outer housing deflects outwardly, pushing the upper and lower seals into the upper and lower seal recesses.

A production swivel with passive control of dynamic seal gap width using internal swivel pressure. The swivel includes inner and outer housings with a middle housing which transfers, component deformation due to fluid pressure from the dynamic sealing interface to the static sealing interface. The outer housing and inner housing rotate together, but the outer housing is free to expand radially outward from the middle housing with increasing fluid pressure. A floating riser spool is pressure balanced at the connection to the inner housing and to a fixed swivel stack base. Swivels are stacked with a swivel connector/spool and upper and lower mounting rings cooperatively dimensioned so that access to seals can be obtained while the swivels remained stacked without the use of overhead cranes or other lifting points than the swivel being serviced.

Growing community of inventors

Houston, TX, United States of America

Stephane Roy