Method and apparatus for downhole pipe or casing repair

Abstract

A downhole pipe or casing repair method and apparatus includes a corrosion monitoring tool adapted for examining an interior of a pipe or tubing or casing to create a record of the condition of said interior of said pipe, a surface treatment apparatus for cleaning said interior of said pipe, a plating apparatus for plating a new surface over the interior of said pipe after the surface treatment apparatus cleans the interior of said pipe, a packer sealing apparatus for sealing the surface treatment apparatus from the corrosion monitoring tool, and another packer sealing apparatus for sealing the plating apparatus from the surface treatment apparatus. The corrosion monitoring tool will examine the interior of the pipe, the surface treatment apparatus will clean the interior of the pipe, the plating apparatus will plate a new surface over the newly cleaned interior of the pipe, and the corrosion monitoring tool will re-examine the interior of the pipe after the plating step is completed. This abstract is provided for the sole purpose of aiding a patent searcher; it is provided with the understanding that this abstract shall not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.

1 . A downhole pipe repair apparatus, comprising: 
 a surface treatment apparatus adapted for cleaning an interior surface of said pipe;    a plating apparatus adapted for plating a new surface on the interior surface of said pipe after said surface treatment apparatus cleans said interior surface of said pipe; and    a corrosion monitoring tool adapted for examining said interior surface of said pipe after said plating apparatus plates said new surface on said interior surface of said pipe.    
     
     
         2 . The downhole pipe repair apparatus of  claim 2 , further comprising: 
 a sealing apparatus disposed between the corrosion monitoring tool and said surface treatment apparatus adapted for sealing off said surface treatment apparatus from said corrosion monitoring tool inside said pipe.    
     
     
         3 . The downhole pipe repair apparatus of  claim 3 , further comprising: 
 a sealing apparatus disposed between the surface treatment apparatus and the plating apparatus adapted for sealing off said plating apparatus from said surface treatment apparatus inside said pipe.    
     
     
         4 . A method for downhole pipe repair, said method comprising: 
 (a) cleaning an interior of said pipe;    (b) plating a new surface on the interior of said pipe after the cleaning step; and    (c) examining, by a corrosion monitoring tool, said interior of said pipe after plating said new surface on said interior of said pipe.    
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the cleaning step (a) further comprises: 
 (a1) examining, by said corrosion monitoring tool, said interior of said pipe; and    (a2) cleaning said interior of said pipe after the examining step (a1).    
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the plating step (b) comprises an electrolytic plating step.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the plating step (b) comprises a chemical plating step.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the cleaning step (a) comprises blasting a material against said interior of said pipe thereby generating removed corroded areas, and collecting removed corroded areas in a container.  
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the examining steps (c) and (a1) each further comprise: pressing one or more fingers against said interior of said pipe, passing said fingers over said interior of said pipe, flexing said fingers when a corroded area is encountered on said interior, and generating an electrical signal in response to the flexing step representative of said corroded area.  
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the examining steps (c) and (a1) each further comprise: propagating a compressional or shear wave through one or more corroded areas on said interior of said pipe, receiving the compressional or shear waves from the interior of said pipe, and generating a record of the received compressional or shear waves representative of said corroded areas.