Angled oil field valve removal tool with flexible joint assembly

Abstract

The disclosure provides an angled oil field valve removal tool that can be actuated through a flexible joint assembly at an angle to a centerline of an isolation valve bore coupled to a wellhead while still allowing aligned movement with the isolation valve bore and wellhead bore for installation of a valve removal plug into and removal from the wellhead bore. The angled VR tool provides a housing having an actuator portion with a bore coupled with an angled transition elbow with a tapered and enlarged bore that is coupled with an aligned installation portion having a bore that can be coupled to the valve attached to the wellhead. The flexible joint assembly having a shaft and a set of articular segments is configured to slide flexibly through the changing angles of the bores of the actuator portion, transition elbow, and installation portion in the housing.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An angled oil field valve removal tool, comprising:
 a housing comprising:
 an actuator portion having an actuator portion bore; 
 a transition elbow coupled to the actuator portion on a first end of the transition elbow, and having a transition elbow bore larger in cross-section than the actuator portion bore and aligned at the first end with the actuator portion bore; and 
 an installation portion coupled to the transition elbow on a second end of the transition elbow and having an installation portion bore aligned at the second end with the transition elbow bore, wherein the actuator portion bore is at a different angle than the installation portion bore; and 
 a flexible joint assembly comprising a shaft coupled to a set of articular segments, the articular segments being configured to at least partially pass through the transition elbow bore and change angles relative to adjacent articular segments during rotation of the articular segments inside the transition elbow bore. 
   
     
     
         2 . The tool of  claim 1 , wherein the transition elbow bore comprises a first transition elbow bore portion angularly aligned with the actuator portion bore  60 , a third transition elbow bore portion angularly aligned with the installation portion bore  6 , and a second transition elbow bore portion, formed between the first and third transition elbow bore portions, having an enlarged bore compared to the first and third transition elbow bore portions, the third transition elbow portion being configured to allow a directional change of the flexible joint assembly between the actuator portion and the installation portion. 
     
     
         3 . The tool of  claim 1 , further comprising a first conical taper between the actuator portion bore and the first end of the transitional elbow bore and a second conical taper between the second end of the transition elbow bore and the installation portion bore. 
     
     
         4 . The tool of  claim 1 , wherein an end of the set of articular elements distal from the shaft is configured to removably engage a valve removal plug and install the valve removal plug through a bore of a valve and into a wellbore outlet bore for a removal of the valve. 
     
     
         5 . The tool of  claim 1 , wherein the shaft is configured to be rotated to rotate the set of articular segments at least inside the transition elbow. 
     
     
         6 . A method of installing a valve removal plug in a wellhead outlet of a wellhead with an angled oil field valve removal tool, comprising:
 coupling the valve removal tool having the actuator portion, transition elbow, and installation portion to a valve having a bore coupled to the wellhead having a wellhead outlet with a bore aligned with the valve bore;   moving a flexible joint assembly comprising a shaft coupled to a set of articular segments coupled with the valve removal plug into the actuator portion having an actuator portion bore aligned with a transition elbow bore of the transition elbow that is larger than the actuator portion bore;   moving the flexible joint assembly into the transition elbow bore and changing a direction of the flexible joint assembly in the transition elbow;   moving the flexible joint assembly into the installation portion having an installation portion bore aligned with the transition elbow bore;   moving the flexible joint assembly into valve bore aligned with the installation portion bore;   engaging the valve removal plug on the flexible joint assembly with the wellhead outlet; and   rotating the flexible joint assembly to install the valve removal plug into a wellhead outlet bore.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising removing the flexible joint assembly from the wellhead bore and the valve bore. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising removing the valve from the wellhead while leaving the valve removal plug installed in the wellhead outlet bore.