Cameron Iron Works, Inc.

Cameron Iron Works Usa, Inc.

Cooper Cameron Corporation

Cooper Industries, Inc.

Cameron International Corporation

William M Taylor

Gerald S Baker

Thomas G Cassity

Joseph H Hynes

David H Theiss

Bolie C Williams

Thomas R Schmitz

Larry E McDonald

Johnnie E Kotrla

John C Vicic

James A Burton

Gary R Schaeper

Arthur H Chin

Clint A Davis

Jerry D Smith

Danny K Wolff

Leonard E Williams, Jr

James H Owens, Iii

Mark L Carter

Larry M Hoes

Friedrich E Just

Timothy C Davies

Robert H Carter

Richard C Barnett

Fern H Cox

Alfred W Wedel

Scott C Stjernstrom

William L Brakhage, Jr

Peer H Tiemer

Edward J Szymozak

William Hopson

William C Montgomery

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 wellhead assembly for use on a well with a blowout preventer stack having a bore therethrough that utilizes an intervention spool sealingly secured between a horizontal tree and the blowout preventer stack to allow the use of a removable valve package positioned in the intervention spool with valve actuators mounted on the exterior of the intervention spool is disclosed.

Intervention spool for subsea use

A seal assembly with an accumulator ring for protecting a seal from explosive decompression is disclosed. The accumulator ring and the seal are contained within a seal gland. The seal is made of a material that is susceptible to damage from explosive decompression. When exposed to a high-pressure fluid environment, the accumulator ring fills with a quantity of high-pressure fluid, either by permeation if it is solid or by permeation and/or vents and/or channels leading to a void if it is hollow. During an explosive decompression event, the accumulator ring expands to fill the remaining volume of the seal gland. Then, the accumulator ring exerts an axial compressive or supporting force on the seal for a sufficient amount of time to allow the seal to expel fluid contained in it and minimize the effects of explosive decompression thereto.

Seal assembly with accumulator ring

A riser connector is provided for connecting a riser to a wellhead assembly having a bore therethrough. The connector includes a housing having a first and a second end. The first end of the housing has an opening and is adapted for mounting to the wellhead assembly with the opening in communication with the bore of the wellhead assembly. The second end has a first opening connectable to the riser having a diameter at least the same as the inner diameter of the riser, and a second opening, having a diameter at least substantially the same as the diameter of the bore of the wellhead assembly. The housing further includes a first conduit connecting the opening in the first end of the housing to the first opening in the second end of the housing, and a second conduit connecting the opening in the first end of the housing to the second opening in the second end of the housing. In use, first well operations are conducted through the riser in the conventional manner. Second well operations are conducted using open water techniques and access the wellhead assembly and the well through the second conduit in the connector without the need to disconnect the riser from the connector. The riser connector is of particular use with risers having an inner diameter less than the diameter of the bore of the wellhead assembly, the second well operations being conducted using equipment which is too large to pass through the small bore riser.

Riser connector for a wellhead assembly and method for conducting offshore well operations using the same

A clamping connector that can be remotely actuated and locked which is particularly useful in subsea applications for attaching subsea Christmas trees to marine wellheads. The clamping connector includes clamp halves linked by a locking stem. The locking stem is forced into a pre-stressed state by moving the locking stem from a first relaxed to a second pre-stressed position and retained in the second pre-stressed position by a locking collet. A locking collet through which the locking stem extends is moved from a first unlocked position to a second locked position wedged between the locking stem and one or the other of the clamp halves. When the locking collet is in the second locked position, it resists movement of the locking stem from the second pre-stressed position to the first relaxed position. The locking collet is then locked in the second locked position. The clamping connector of the present invention is characterized by a minimal height which is particularly advantageous over prior clamping connectors.

Remotely actuated and locked hub clamp

A wellhead structure having a subsea wellhead (10) connected to the lower end of a collet connector (30). A blowout preventer stack (8) is connected to the upper end of the collet connector (30) and a marine riser (13) is connected to the upper end of the blowout preventer stack (8). The wellhead (10) has an outer wellhead housing (12) fixed to the seabed (B) and an inner wellhead housing (14) supported within the outer wellhead housing (12). Upper hub (16) of outer wellhead housing (12) has an outer profile for mating in a releasably locked position with the collet connector (30). External tensile and bending loads are transmitted directly from the marine riser (13) and blowout preventer stack (8) to the outer wellhead housing (12) along load path L2 bypassing inner wellhead housing (14). One embodiment (FIGS. 5 and 6) shows an inner wellhead housing (14B) extending above the outer wellhead housing (12B) and adapted for separate connection to a small connector (30C) shown in FIG. 6 upon removal of the first connector (30B) from the outer wellhead housing (12B).

Subsea wellhead structure for transferring large external loads

A tubular joint has a pair of tubular members (10, 12) with end hubs (14, 16) in opposed relation and secured by a clamp (22). A primary seal ring (40) has external tapered sealing surfaces (42, 44) engaging internal tapered sealing surfaces (28, 30) on the hubs (14, 16) to provide a primary seal. Secondary sealing surfaces (32, 36) on the hubs (14, 16) are engaged by O-rings (62, 64) as shown in FIG. 4 to seal against external fluid flow to the seal ring (40). O-rings (62, 64) permit internal fluid flow outwardly from the seal ring (40) as shown in FIG. 3.

Metal seal ring for tubular joint

A fire safe valve which includes a body having an inlet, an outlet, a valve chamber communicating with the inlet and the outlet and having an opening, a bonnet secured to the body and having a bore therethrough with the opening of the bore communicating with the valve chamber opening and defining a back seat surrounding the bore, a valve member, a valve stem connected to the valve member and extending through the bonnet bore, a backseating shoulder on the valve stem, an actuator, the valve stem connecting to the actuator to move the valve member within the valve chamber to open and close flow through, the valve, a temperature sensitive material retaining the valve stem shoulder spaced from said bonnet bore seat during normal operations and allowing additional movement of the valve stem responsive to excessive temperatures to bring the valve stem shoulder into engagement with the bonnet bores seat to backseat and prevent flow of fluids within the valve from escaping therefrom. A heat transmitting jacket is connected between a position close to the heat sensitive means and a position spaced therefrom to ensure the early transmission of heat to the temperature sensitive material when remote portions of the valve are subjected to fire. The jacket includes heat pipes mounted in spaced ring for the transmission of heat.

Fire safe valve

A preloaded connection for use between subsea tubular members including a flange surrounding one end of one of the tubular members, connecting means surrounding the exterior of the other tubular member, a ring, studs extending through said flange and said ring to secure the ring to said flange, nuts on said studs to secure the flange to the ring, pressure responsive means between said ring and said flange to urge said ring away form said flange to introduce tension in said studs, means carried by said ring for engaging with the external connecting means of said other tubular member, means for moving said engaging means carried by said ring into engagement with said external connecting means, and means for venting said pressure responsive means after engagement is achieved between said engaging means and said external connecting means.

High preload mechanical connector

The present invention relates to an improved seal assembly for sealing between the interior sealing surface of a well housing and the exterior sealing surface of a hanger landed within the well housing and includes a seal body having a pair of outer lips diverging outwardly for sealing against the housing interior sealing surface and an interior series of annular ridges which have a diameter smaller than the outer diameter of the hanger exterior sealing surface, an upper energizer and a lower energizer for coacting with said lips to move the lips into sealing position and to store the energy of setting to ensure sealing engagement of the lips. The shape of the sealing lips is such that they each provide a sealing surface and a ridge having a greater outer diameter than the sealing surface so that when the seal assembly is being run into the housing any scratches resulting from the engagement of the seal with the interior of the housing is on the ridges and not on the sealing surfaces. Additionally, the exterior of the outwardly diverging lips is provided with a coating of a scratch healing material, such as silver plate, so that scratches on the sealing surface can be healed when the sealing surface is wedged into sealing engagement with the interior wall of the housing.

Seal assembly for a well housing hanger structure

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

An improved tubular joint between two tubular members having their mating ends with inner sealing surfaces tapering outward in the direction toward the other tubular member and with a sealing ring having outer sealing surfaces for engaging the inner sealing surfaces of the tubular members. The improvement lies in the provision of an insert sleeve having a tapered portion and a tubular portion, the insert sleeve is cold forged in place over a damaged sealing surface of one of the tubular members and has a tapered inner sealing surface for sealing with the outer surface of the sealing ring. This improved joint is particularly useful in subsea wellheads. The tight gripping and sealing engagement of the insert sleeve within the tubular member is augmented by grooves within a recess on the interior of the tubular member being repaired or sharp annular teeth around the exterior of the tubular portion of the insert sleeve. In a modified form of the invention, the insert sleeve includes external sharp teeth which when cold forged into a housing recess will dig into the recess surface to provide the tight gripping and sealing engagement. Further a test port is provided to determine the effectiveness of the sealing engagement of the insert sleeve within the housing.

Tubular joint with seal

The improved joint of the present invention includes a first tubular member having a central bore, a counterbore, and an axially extending first rim having an interior land and groove recess therein and internal seal means near the end of said first rim, a second tubular member having a central bore, a counterbore, an axially extending second rim having an outer diameter less than the inner diameter of said first rim on said first tubular member, an external sealing surface near the base of said second rim and an axially facing stop shoulder at the base of said second rim and extending outward from the exterior of said second rim, a sleeve positioned within and spaced slightly inward from said second rim and sealed to the interior of said second rim at a position near the base thereof and at a position near the outer end thereof, and a port extending through said second tubular member providing communication between the exterior of said second tubular member and the space between said sleeve and the interior of said second rim and a fitting secured in the exterior opening of said port for receiving a pressure fluid hose releasably thereon. With this configuration, fluid under pressure applied to said port causes said second rim to be forced outwardly into said land and groove recess on the interior of said first rim.

Subsea tubular joint

The improved wellhead structure of the present invention includes a casing or tubing string which is sealed to the housing without the aid of elastomeric seals and an internal bushing to assist in providing the tight gripping and sealing engagement between the string and the housing. The structure provides a substantial inner diameter which is unrestricted unless landing shoulder is included in the structure. Also, the internal bushing used with the cold forging of the string into the housing recess improves the gripping and sealing engagement therebetween. In one form the bushing includes a series of external projections which alternate with the gripping and sealing projections within the housing recess and in another form includes a resilient annulus between the interior of the bushing and the string to ensure the uniform application of pressure against the interior of the string. In still another form an internal landing shoulder is cold forged into tight engagement with the interior of the housing which allows full bore operations to be carried through the housing until the landing shoulder is to be installed. Also provided is a wellhead structure with a tieback structure in which the upper end of the casing is cold forged into the interior of a hanger while the casing is supported on slips.

Wellhead structure

An improved method and apparatus for operating or setting equipment within a subsea marine wellhead from the surface having an indicating signal provided at the surface of the successful completion of such operation. The steps of the method include the lowering of a well component and the detecting and transmitting equipment on a running string from the surface; detecting the successful completion of the subsea operation, and transmitting to the surface of a signal signifying that the operations within the subsea well head have been successfully completed. The apparatus includes the running string, the detecting means which may be an acoustic detector or a ferrous metal detector or other suitable detector, a signal transmitter, means for supporting the detector and transmitter on the running string so that the well component can be properly lowered and positioned within the subsea wellhead and its proper landing, sealing or latching or other desired condition signalled to the surface to provide an indication that the operation has been completed.

Growing community of inventors

Houston, TX, United States of America

William M Taylor