Active Tag Control Sliding Sleeve Fracturing Technology

Abstract The rapid progress in fracturing technology pushes the oilfield development to bigger scale, The traditional Multi-stage fracturing technology such as ball fracturing, quick drillable bridge plug fracturing have problems like limited fracturing stages, high operation risk and high later operation cost etc. Multistage fracturing technology based on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) was developed, it overcomes the shortcomings of traditional fracture tools, but the low tag recognition rate, speed limitation and complicated structure limit its further application. A new generation active tag control Sliding sleeve Fracture tool is developed. This fracture tool is composed of vacuum energy storage system, electric control direction valve, sliding sleeve, microcomputer control system, battery group, RFID antenna and active tag. The vacuum energy storage system provide power for the open and close of the sliding sleeve, the operating pressure is the union of the surface fracture pressure and the head of the liquid, which can be controlled on the ground. Electric control direction valve controls the oil flow direction and control the opening and closing of the sliding sleeve. The antenna works only in low power mode and picks the signal from the active tag. The active tag ball contains micro battery inside and signal producing system, it will be wake up by a special instrument before lower into the well, the battery will sustain the tag work for at least 30 minutes. The active tag signal can be picked up by the antenna at 100% success ratio and without speed limitation. During the fracturing process, the active tag will be dropped in the well to control the opening and closing of the sliding sleeve in any specific fractured interval. After fracturing, pressure wave is applied to open all the sliding sleeves and the production operation begins. Compared to the first generation RFID control sliding sleeve, the Active tag control sliding sleeve has relative simpler structure, more compact dimension, longer battery service life, more reliability and control flexibility, which is more suitable for the oil field fracture application. The active tag signal transfer mechanism improve signal transfer reliability greatly and without speed limitation, which lowers the power consumption of the antenna and will provide long battery service life, the vacuum energy storage system simplify the structure greatly and the sleeve active pressure can be controlled on the ground.