Lubricating element for drag reduction in production and transportation of water-cut heavy oil in wellbore

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11674374-B2
Application number	US-202117376220-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 15, 2021
Priority date	Sep 22, 2020
Publication date	Jun 13, 2023
Grant date	Jun 13, 2023

Abstract

A lubricating element for drag reduction in production and transportation of water-cut heavy oil in a wellbore comprises a flow guide component and a shell component; the flow guide component is fixed in a cyclone chamber of the shell component, and is provided with an intermediate rod to connect and fix a center cone, a flow stabilizing cone and flow guide blades. The lubricating element is a static element integrating three functions of oil-water separation, water control and liquid ring formation, thereby reducing energy consumption for production and transportation of heavy crude oil, and cutting down surface water treatment facilities.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A lubricating element for drag reduction in production and transportation of water-cut heavy oil in a wellbore, comprising:
a flow guide component composed of an intermediate rod, four flow guide blades, a center cone and a flow stabilizing cone, and
a shell component composed of an inlet pipe, a cyclone pipe, a water outlet pipe, a drain cavity, a drain pipe and a ring formation pipe; wherein
the inlet pipe is funnel-shaped, with a larger end connected with the cyclone pipe, and a smaller end connected with an upstream production and transportation pipe;
the flow stabilizing cone allows incoming liquid to uniformly and stably flow into four chambers divided by the four flow guide blades fixedly connected to sides of the intermediate rod, the four flow guide blades are distributed in a flow channel at an interval of 90° and integrated by using arc sections and straight sections, and the center cone is fixedly connected above the intermediate rod;
the water outlet pipe is frustum-shaped, with four strip outlet holes evenly distributed around;
the drain cavity is cylindrical and located outside the water outlet pipe, and encloses the water outlet pipe, with a lower edge of the drain cavity connected with the drain pipe, and a water control valve is connected to the drain pipe; whereby
a water ring output by the water outlet pipe encloses a central oil core to form a heavy oil-water flow for lubrication and drag reduction for transportation;
an oil-water mixture flows into the lubricating element through a feed inlet; and
finally water separated from the oil-water mixture is discharged through a water drain opening, and the heavy oil-water flow with water as an outer ring and heavy oil as a center flows out of a flow outlet.

2. The lubricating element for drag reduction in production and transportation of water-cut heavy oil in the wellbore according to claim 1 , wherein a height ratio of the arc sections to the straight sections of the four flow guide blades is 4:1.

3. The lubricating element for drag reduction in production and transportation of water-cut heavy oil in the wellbore according to claim 1 , wherein the feed inlet and the flow outlet have the same diameter.

4. The lubricating element for drag reduction in production and transportation of water-cut heavy oil in the wellbore according to claim 1 , wherein a width of the four strip outlet holes is 2 mm-3 mm.

5. The lubricating element for drag reduction in production and transportation of water-cut heavy oil in the wellbore according to claim 1 , wherein the center cone is located at a central axis of the cyclone pipe, with a top cone tip at the same level as a bottom of the water outlet pipe.

Assignees

• Univ Southwest Petroleum

Inventors

• Jing Jiaqiang
• Huang Wanni
• Sun Jie
• Ren Bo
• Ye Junhua
• Jing Peiyu
• Tan Jiatong

Classifications

• E21B43/16 Primary

  Enhanced recovery methods for obtaining hydrocarbons · CPC title

• E21B34/06

  in wells · CPC title

• E21B43/40

  Separation associated with re-injection of separated materials {(E21B43/385 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• E21B43/20

  Displacing by water · CPC title

• E21B43/385 Primary

  by reinjecting the separated materials into an earth formation in the same well · CPC title