DOWNHOLE TOOL WITH EXPANDABLE ANNULAR PLUG SEAT ASSEMBLY HAVING CIRCUMFERENTIALLY OVERLAPPING SEAT SEGMENT JOINTS

摘要

A tubular downhole tool, representatively a sliding sleeve valve, coaxially supports within its interior an annular plug ball seat formed from a series of rigid, arcuate segments that circumferentially overlap one another in various representatively disclosed manners. The seat is expandable from a diametrically compressed orientation, toward which it is resiliently biased, to a diametrically expanded orientation by a plug ball pumped through the seat. Due to the circumferential segment-to-segment overlap, each segment is blocked by its two circumferentially adjacent segments from being axially separated from the overall seat assembly by operational pressure forces.

主权项

1. A downhole tool comprising:
a tubular structure; and an annular plug seat coaxially supported within the interior of said tubular structure and being expandable from a diametrically compressed orientation to a diametrically expanded orientation, said annular plug seat including a series of arcuate rigid peripheral circumferential segments that circumferentially overlap one another in a manner blockingly preventing axial separation of any segment from the rest of said segments.