Autonomous valve with temperature responsive device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9752698-B2
Application number	US-201114343688-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 8, 2011
Priority date	Sep 8, 2011
Publication date	Sep 5, 2017
Grant date	Sep 5, 2017

Abstract

A self-adjustable valve or flow control device for controlling the flow of a fluid from one space or area to another by exploiting the Bernoulli principle, to control the flow of fluid, such as oil and/or gas including any water, from an oil or gas reservoir and into a production pipe of a well in the oil and/or gas reservoir, from an inlet port on an inlet side to an outlet port on an outlet side of the device. The valve includes a movable valve body arranged to be acted on by a temperature responsive device. The valve body is arranged to be actuated towards its closed position by the temperature responsive device in response to a predetermined increase in temperature in the fluid surrounding and/or entering the valve. The temperature responsive device includes an expandable device including a sealed structure at least partially filled with an expandable material.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A self-adjustable valve for controlling the flow of a fluid from one space or area to another by exploiting the Bernoulli principle, to control the flow of fluid from an oil or gas reservoir and into a production pipe of a well in the oil and/or gas reservoir, from an inlet port on an inlet side to an outlet port on an outlet side of the device, the valve comprising the inlet port and the outlet port, wherein the valve comprises a movable valve body arranged to be acted on by a temperature responsive device, and wherein the moveable valve body is arranged to be actuated towards a closed position by the temperature responsive device in response to a predetermined increase in temperature in the fluid surrounding and/or entering the valve, said closed position being to prevent the flow of the fluid to the outlet port,
wherein the moveable valve body is arranged to be freely moveable by the Bernoulli effect to perform said controlling the flow when not actuated to the closed position by the temperature responsive device,
wherein the temperature responsive device comprises an expandable structure comprising a sealed structure at least partially filled with an expandable material, wherein said expandable material and hence also said expandable structure are arranged to expand and cause a displacement of the movable valve body towards its closed position when the temperature of the fluid exceeds a predetermined temperature,
wherein the self-adjustable valve has a flow path from the inlet port to the outlet port via a flow path portion to guide flow of the fluid over a surface of the movable valve body to thereby, when the moveable valve body is not actuated to the closed position by the temperature responsive device and is freely movable, autonomously move the moveable valve body to control said flow by exploiting the Bernoulli principle,
wherein the expandable structure is arranged in a fluid chamber in the valve, which chamber contains the movable valve body to control the fluid flow through the valve, and
wherein the expandable structure is either one of:
attached to a portion of the fluid chamber and expandable into contact with said movable valve body; or
attached to the movable valve body and expandable into contact with said fluid chamber.

2. The self-adjustable valve according to claim 1 , wherein the expandable structure is arranged in a fluid conduit in parallel with the fluid flow through the valve.

3. The self-adjustable valve according to claim 1 , wherein the expandable structure is arranged in a fluid conduit in series with the fluid flow through the valve.

4. The self-adjustable valve according to claim 1 , wherein the expandable structure contains a fluid material.

5. The self-adjustable valve according to claim 1 , wherein the expandable structure contains a fluid arranged to undergo a phase change at the predetermined temperature.

6. The self-adjustable valve according to claim 1 , wherein the expandable structure contains a fluid having a lower boiling point than water at the pressure in the reservoir surrounding the production pipe.

7. The self-adjustable valve according to claim 6 , wherein the fluid contained in the expandable structure comprises an alcohol.

8. The self-adjustable valve according to claim 6 , wherein the fluid contained in the expandable structure comprises an alcohol/water mixture.

9. The self-adjustable valve according to claim 6 , wherein the fluid contained in the expandable means comprises acetone.

10. The self-adjustable valve according to claim 1 , wherein that the expandable structure is arranged to expand in a predetermined direction.

11. The self-adjustable valve according to claim 1 , wherein the expandable structure comprises a bellows.

12. The self-adjustable valve according to claim 1 , wherein the fluid comprises at least on one of oil and/or gas including any water.

13. A method of controlling a self-adjustable valve having a movable valve body which adjusts the flow of a fluid from one space or area to another be exploiting the Bernoulli principle, said method comprising providing an expandable structure comprising a sealed structure at least partially filled with an expandable material, and causing said movable valve body to move towards a closed position as a result of expansion of said expandable material and hence also said expandable structure when the temperature of the fluid exceeds a predetermined temperature,
wherein the moveable valve body is arranged to be freely moveable by the Bernoulli effect to perform said adjusting the flow when not actuated by the temperature responsive device,
wherein the method comprises flowing of the flow of fluid over a surface of the movable valve body to thereby, when the moveable valve body is not moved to be at the closed position by said expandable structure and is freely movable, autonomously move the moveable valve body to control said flow by exploiting the Bernoulli principle, said closed position being to prevent said flow of the fluid,
wherein the expandable structure is arranged in a fluid chamber in the valve, which chamber contains the movable valve body controlling the fluid flow through the valve, and
wherein the expandable structure is either one of:
attached to a portion of the fluid chamber and expands into contact with said movable valve body; or
attached to the movable valve body and expands into contact with said fluid chamber.

Assignees

• Mathiesen Vidar
• Aakre Haavard
• Werswick Bjørnar
• Statoil Petroleum As

Inventors

• Mathiesen Vidar
• Aakre Haavard
• Werswick Bjørnar

Classifications

• E21B43/12

  Methods or apparatus for controlling the flow of the obtained fluid to or in wells (E21B43/25 takes precedence; valve arrangements E21B34/00) · CPC title

• E21B34/08 Primary

  responsive to flow or pressure of the fluid obtained (E21B34/10 takes precedence) · CPC title

• F16K31/002 Primary

  actuated by temperature variation (thermo-electric F16K31/025) · CPC title