SELF-SEALING PACKER Russian patent published in 2010 - IPC E21B33/12 

FIELD: mining.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to a packer assembly causing a force increasing in magnitude and resulting in installation of the packer assembly inside the well in a sealing position. The packer contains a trunk, a basic sealing element which expands after a delay for its placement in the suitable location inside the borehole and a reinforcing element for selective application of force to the expanding element. The reinforcement element for application of the said force may increase the packer trunk, expand, be limited in increase in the radial direction of the packer trunk, become primarily insulated from the well fluids in contact therewith it may expand, may contain a material with a shape memory effect, have a compacted resilient material or a piston connected to a pressurised chamber, be separated from the expanding element with a retainer ring, may expand at a slower rate than the expanding element, may begin expanding when the expanding element begins to expand of when the expanding element has fully expanded. For the said force release from the retainer element the packer trunk may widen while the retainer element may be equipped with a fixture. The fixture may be released by way of contact with well fluids or by way of the expanding element widening. The expanding and the reinforcement elements may be primarily closed with varied thickness coatings of different materials.

EFFECT: increased contact pressure of sealing inside the well.

20 cl, 4 dwg