Hydraulic stepping valve actuated sliding sleeve

摘要

A downhole well valve having a variable area orifice (26) is flow area adjusted by a sliding sleeve (20) that is axially shifted along a tubular housing (12) interior in a finite number of increments. A hydraulic actuator (60) displaces a predetermined volume of hydraulic fluid with each actuator stroke. An actuator displaced volume of fluid shifts the flow control sleeve by one increment of flow area differential. An indexing mechanism (40) associated with the sleeve provides a pressure value respective to each increment in the increment series.