US3101116A - Bottom hole jet heater - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 20, 1963 s, SP1-rz BOTTOM HOLE JET HEATER Filed` April 4, 1961 3,101,116A y BOTTOM HOLE JET HEATER vSamuel Spitz, Los Angeles, Calif., assignor t'o Electronic Oil Weil Heater, inc., LosAngeles, Calif., al corporation` of Nevada .g f

Filed Apr. 4, 1961,' Ser. No. 100,620 ll l 1 Claim. (Qi. 16o-60) v The `present invention relates .generally to heating lapplaratus, and is more particularly concerned withrn'eans -for the application of heat to a subterraneous passage, such as to the lbottom hole portion of a `drilled oil well.y

It has been long realized that the low'in oil wells may be materially restricted by parain and `asphalt which may have congealed in the walls of the well and `in the openings of slotted casings. Moreover, it has also been `known to utilize various and sundry types of heating devices for removing the plaraihn and asphalt, whereby the flow may be 'augmented tothe end thatthe oil Well fluid iloW ma be restoredto an economical paying basis.

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Y `Conventional tubing 1.3,is shown as yextending-trorn the surface into the welhwhere its lowermost endis po- Various heater arrangements have been utilized which vary :as to complexity and eiciency. Steam has been conducted tothe occluded portions of the well and utiv lized for heating the huid. In other arrangements itehas ybeen known to utilize electrical heaters. lRegardless of the medium for raising the temperature of the iluid, the

conventional devices have depended in the most part upon heating the iluid and circulating the heated uid simplyl fb'y convection currents.'V v v Having in mind the conventional`-a rrangements, Vthel pnesent invention seeks'fto provide an improved bottom hole heater wherein effective use 4is `made of pressurized.

heated fluid so as to not only heat theadjacent wallgformations of the Well, but also tosubject theV formations to` treated,'tl1us permitting the heated iluid to be forcibly applied directly through jet streams'lat the treatedr location.

Another object of the invention is to provide as an article of manufacture, .an oil -Well heating unit which is simple of construction, reliable and lefcient in operation,

|and which may be utilized with standard tubingssuch as v normally Yinstalled in change. Y a

Still another 'object is to provide an Vimproved method for treating an oil wellwihich permits the application of heated fluid in situ by means of heated pressurized fluid an loil well with-aminimum of jets.

'Further objects of the invention will' be brought out in f the following part of the specification, wherein detailed description is for the purpose of fully disclosing the invention without 'placing limitations thereon.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, which are r` for illustrative purposes only:

FIG. l is a sectional view'diagrammatically illustratl l ing .an oil well with a heater therein embodying the features of the present invention; and FIG. 2 is Ian enlarged; fragmentary longitudinal section through the heater, and showing the operative rela tions-hip of the various components thereof.

Refenring now more specifically to the drawings, for illustrative purposes, there is shown in FIG. 1 a typical :oil well of conventional construction including asubten raneous passage or bore liti in which a conventional casing 11 is placed with its upper end terminating at the surface,

' while the lower end portionrnay or may not contain a section of slotted or otherwise penforated casing with openings 12`the1'ein. f v

sitioned below an oil level, vas indicated rby the numeral 14, of oil or a mixtureof oil and water.

i Heating apparatus according to the present invention, as indicated generally atA is shown as. comprising la separate unitary structure secured to the tubing 13 so as to be positioned at the bottom of the well or other desired-lo# cation in the well which is to be treated. In the present `may be operative through the openings into the adjacentV wall formation.

The specific details of the oil well heater A will now be `described by reference to FIG. 2. It will be realized,

of course, that the basic concept of the present invention may be embodied in various physical structures. For

purposes of illustration herein, the heater is disclosed Ias l comprising anV elongate section of tubing 15 which is provided substantially throughout its length withl a plu# nality of circumferentially spaced longitudinally extending n rows ofwall openings 16.

The tubing 15' is connected at its upper-most end with a-coupling extension 17 of bronze or other suitable rnaterial, this coupling extension being arranged for connection with the tubing string 13 in conventional manner. The coupling extension is `further arranged to provide for terminal connections of the heater elements, a-s will subsequently be described.

Lead-in conductors 1S and 191are shown as being supl ported on yopposite sides or the extension 17 as bya suitable bracket 2li in each case. The uppermost ends of the lead-in conductors ane-litted with appropriate connectors 21 whichfperrnit the lead-ins to be connected thro-ugh supply conductors 22 and 2.3 with a 'suitable source of electric power located at the surface.

As most clearly shown .in FIG.' 2, the other ends of the vlead-in conductors 18 and19 are respectively carried through a slot vor `opening 24 in the Wall of the coupling extension 17, and internally thereofl as well `as in the n upper end ofthe tubing l5 are insulatingly anchored and supported within `an insulating ller 25 of lsuitable material such as porcelain.

The 4insulating 'filler 25 *also provides a support `for a U-shaped heater 2.6 arranged to extend longitudinally withinthe tubing 15. Y

The heater 26 comprises elongate supporting rods 27 l which contain therein the heating element 2S. The uppermost ends ofthe rods 27 [are embedded in the porcelain liller 25, while the lowermost ends of the rods are anchored in a disc-like porcelain bl-ock 2-9 at the lowermost end of the tubing` 1S.v The upper ends of the heating elements 28 are respectively eonductively connected with the lead-in conducto- rs 18 and 19. AtV their lower-most ends,

the he ating elements are vinterconnected through laconducting element 30 within `the block 29'. AThe rods Z7 thus provide a support for the 'block 29.' The block 29 is of such size that its outer periphery is spaced from the ad- -jacent wall of the tubing 15 so as to cooperatively form this chambercontai-ning the heating unit and having liuid outlets thro-ugh .the openings 16 in the wall thereof.

, As thus arranged, the heating unitr will raise the temp" Vperature of `the oil or l 3 mixture of oil and -Water in the chamberZ-and thus increase its pressure to such an eX- tent tha-tthe heated pressurized `fluid Will he ejected through the openingslo .as uid jets 33 outwardly against the fadjaeent wall `ot the -well bore Where lit Willact -upon the paraiiin andi/asphalt: materials which ooclude the ow of'oil; "Y

1t will, be appreciated that the inlet area and outlet areas of the openings 16 will have to lbe relatively proportioned in Vorder that the heated fluid will be properly Y ejectedgthrough the openings 16.

From the foregoing description itfis believed that the method of treating the oil-well sec-tions will be readily apparent.

From the foregoing description, it will be realized that other modifications may suggest themselves to those skilled in "the art'vvithout ldeparting from the spirit of my invention, and, hence, I do not Wish to be restricted to the specio form or forms shown or uses mentioned, except to the extent-indicated in the appended claim. I claim: f y As an article of manufacture, Ia heater for an oil well comprising; atubular member having a plurality of cirlcumterentially spaced longitudinally extending rows of openings in its wall and dening an elongate heating `chamber; a closure lof insulating material at the uppermost end of said tubular member; a U-shaped heaterV extending through said chamber with its ends `supported in said olosure, and its lbridging portion positioned adjacent the lovverrnost end of said chamber; means of insulating material supportedny said :heater bridging portion cooperating with the adjacentv wall of the tubular memberat this end to definea restricted inlet opening to the interior of said Ichamber; and lead-in electric conductors at the uppermost end of said tubular member connected ywith the lends of said heater, said lwall openings and inlet opening being so proportioned `as to effective total areas as to leause,jupon energization of said heater, relatively cool oil well fluid to be drawn through said inlet opening yand ejected as hot jet streams through the Wall openings.l

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Bowman Mar. 13, 19,56 n

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