Depositing coatings on and within a housing, apparatus, or tool using a coating system positioned therein

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12378663-B2
Application number	US-202217751085-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 23, 2022
Priority date	Mar 15, 2019
Publication date	Aug 5, 2025
Grant date	Aug 5, 2025

Abstract

A method of coating an interior surface of a housing defining a volume includes partitioning the volume into a first zone and a second zone, the first zone isolated from fluid communication with the second zone; introducing one or more reactant gases, plasma, ions, or a combination thereof to the first zone and the second zone; and forming one or more coating layers on all or a portion of the interior surface within the first and second zones via reaction of the reactant gases, the plasma, or the combination thereof. A device for coating an interior surface of a housing is also provided.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of coating an interior surface adjacent an interior volume of a housing, wherein the interior volume has an inlet, the method comprising: partitioning the interior volume of the housing into a first zone and a second zone by introducing an elongated member into the interior volume, the elongated member having a substantially cylindrical surface defining an interior consisting of one or more fluid flow paths, isolating the first zone from fluid communication with the second zone by positioning a physical barrier therebetween or expelling a buffer gas therebetween, wherein the physical barrier, when present, comprises an elastomer seal, bristles, an inflatable seal, a packer, a wiper plug structure, or a combination thereof; introducing one or more reactant gases, plasma, or both to the first zone and the second zone via the one or more fluid flow paths and one or more outlet ports on the substantially cylindrical surface of the elongated member; forming one or more coating layers on all or a portion of the surface adjacent the interior volume of the housing within the first zone and the surface adjacent the interior volume of the housing within the second zone via reaction of the reactant gases, optionally in the presence of the plasma; and optionally, evacuating an unreacted portion of the one or more reactant gases from the first zone, the second zone, or both.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reaction comprises a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) reaction, an atomic layer deposition (ALD) reaction, or both, such that the one or more coating layers respectively comprise an ALD layer, a CVD layer, or both.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising: (i) forming the ALD layer by: introducing a first reactant gas into a reaction zone selected from the first zone and the second zone, such that at least a portion of the first reactant gas chemically bonds with the surface adjacent the interior volume within the reaction zone, to form a reactive layer; removing unreacted first reactant gas and/or gaseous byproducts from the reaction zone; introducing a second reactant gas into the reaction zone, such that at least some of the second reactant gas bonds with the reactive layer to form the ALD layer; and optionally removing unreacted second reactant gas and/or gaseous byproducts from the reaction zone; (ii) forming the CVD layer by: introducing at least a third reactant gas into the a reaction zone selected from the first zone and the second zone, such that the at least the third reactant gas chemically reacts with the surface adjacent the interior volume of the housing within the reaction zone to form the CVD layer; or (iii) both forming an ALD layer via (i) and a CVD layer via (ii), wherein forming both an ALD layer and a CVD layer comprises forming an ALD layer on the surface adjacent the interior volume of the housing within the reaction zone and subsequently forming the CVD layer on the ALD layer or forming the CVD layer on the surface adjacent the interior volume of the housing within the reaction zone and subsequently forming the ALD layer on the CVD layer.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising performing an atomic layer etching (ALE) process to pre-treat the surface adjacent the interior volume of the housing within the reaction zone prior to the forming of the one or more coating layers on the all or the portion of the surface adjacent the interior volume of the housing within the reaction zone and/or to reduce a thickness of at least one of the one or more coating layers.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the ALE process comprises: applying an etching gas to the surface in the interior volume of the housing within the reaction zone, such that the surface chemically reacts with and adsorbs the etching gas; purging the etching gas and any gaseous byproducts from the reaction zone; applying low-energy ions to the portions of the surface that chemically reacted with the etching gas to etch away said portions; and optionally purging byproducts.

6. The method of claim 3 , further comprising flowing a topical reagent to at least one of the one or more coating layers, the topical reagent configured to react with the coating layer and thereby adjust a material characteristic of the coating layer.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the flowing of the topical reagent to at least one of the one or more coating layers includes flowing the topical reagent to a topmost coating layer on the all or the portion of the surface adjacent the interior volume of the housing within the first zone and/or a topmost coating layer on the all or the portion of the surface adjacent the interior volume of the housing within the second zone, wherein the topmost coating layer is a one of the one or more coating layers farthest from the surface adjacent the interior volume of the housing.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: introducing a first reactant gas and/or plasma into the first zone and a second reactant gas and/or plasma into the second zone, the first reactant gas and/or plasma and the second reactant gas and/or plasma being the same or different; translating and/or rotating the elongated member and/or the housing; and introducing a third reactant gas and/or plasma into the first reaction zone and/or a fourth reactant gas and/or plasma into the second zone to form an initial coating layer on the surface adjacent the interior volume within the first zone and an initial coating on the surface adjacent the interior volume within the second zone, the initial coating layer on the surface adjacent the interior volume of the housing within the first zone being the same or different from the initial coating on the surface adjacent the interior volume of the housing within the second zone; and/or subsequent forming the one or more coating layers on the all or the portion of the surface adjacent the first zone and the second zone, translating and/or rotating the elongated member within the interior volume and/or translating and/or rotating the housing about the elongated member to provide a third zone and optionally a fourth zone, introducing one or more reactant gases, plasma, or both to the third zone and/or the fourth zone, and forming one or more coating layers on all or a portion of the surface adjacent the interior volume of the housing within the third zone and/or the surface adjacent the interior volume of the housing within the fourth zone via reaction of the reactant gases, optionally in the presence of the plasma.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the housing comprises a furnace tube, an aircraft component, a component of a water supply/treatment system; a component of a vehicle fuel system; a well tool; a heat exchanger or component thereof; a pump or component thereof; a reactor or component thereof, a distillation column or component thereof, a condenser or component thereof; a reboiler or component thereof; an interior volume of a storage vessel; an interior volume of a transportation vessel; or another housing.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the interior volume includes a fluid flow path within the housing.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising forming the one or more coating layers at a worksite at which the housing will subsequently be employed.

12. The method of any of claim 1 , wherein the housing comprises the well tool, wherein the well tool is a logging while drilling (LWD) tool, a measurements while drilling (MWD) tool, or a sampling while drilling (SWD) tool, and wherein the interior volume of the well tool comprises a fluid flow path configured for flow of a formation fluid from an exterior of the well tool through an interior of the well too

Assignees

• Halliburton Energy Services Inc

Inventors

• Price James M

Classifications

• H01J37/32394

  Treating interior parts of workpieces · CPC title

• H01J37/32357

  Generation remote from the workpiece, e.g. down-stream · CPC title

• C23C16/45544

  characterized by the apparatus · CPC title

• C23C16/50

  using electric discharges {(generation and control of plasma in discharge tubes for surface treatment H01J37/32, H01J37/34)} · CPC title

• C23C16/0236

  by etching with a reactive gas · CPC title