Flatpack
From TheSmartField.com
Contents |
What is a flatpack
It is an encapsulated set of data and control lines to link the downhole tools to the surface equipment. The flatpack can contain hydraulic, electric or fiberoptic lines.
The flatpack encapsulation has to be designed to be run into the well and withstand the well conditions: mainly, temperature and well fluids. The flatpack could contain any number of lines and combination of them depending of the application and configuration of the interval control valves and downhole instrumentation tools.
Part of a flatpack
The parts of a flatpack are:
- Encapsulation
- Bumper Bars
- Hydraulic Tube
- I-Wire or TEC
In not all the applications the bumper bars are needed; usually bumper bars are required when some stresses - like tension - on the flatpack are anticipated.
How many lines should a flatpack have
What is is shown in the the picture is just an example; actually, you could see different combination of lines in a flatpack:
- 2 hydraulic lines + 1 I-wire
- 3 or 4 hydraulic lines + 1 I-wire
- 2 hydraulic lines + 2 I-wires
- 5 hydraulic lines only
There is a question on how many lines can be packed in a flatpack. Some say a maximum of 5, others say 6. Another position is to try to split the lines in two or more flatpacks taking in consideration that you want to give the maximum functionality to the system downhole. Another constrain are the protection clamps. If the idea is to run 5, 6 or 7 lines in a flatpack, the clamps will have to be designed and manufactured to hold that number of lines. It may not be practical to run a too wide flatpack in the field anyhow.
Spreadsheet to calculate the width of a flatpack
Sometimes, during a project you will need to have an idea of the width of the flatpack if you know the number of lines and if you will be using bumper bars. The width of the flatpack is important because it will define the type and profile of protector clamps.
In these two pictures you will see the basic internal dimensions of the flatpack components that define the final width of the flatpack. These values are already entered in the spreadsheet but you can change them if your manufacturer has diferent values for A, B and C.
The values for these dimensions are approximate but they will give you an idea.
Disclaimer
The calculations shown here do not constitute any guarantee that the final real width of the flatpack will be as calculated with this spreadsheet - use it as a reference. You will need to make some adjustments until your measured values match the calculated values. The purpose of the calculation is to give an approximate value of width of the flatpack based on the number of lines that you will be running and get a quick idea of dimensions to pass to the protector clamps manufacturer. Use common sense.
