US 11,719,066 B1
Oil well rotating cement head
Rene Castrillon, Arden, NC (US); and Oscar Ramirez, Bogota (CO)
Filed by Rene Castrillon, Arden, NC (US); and Oscar Ramirez, Bogota (CO)
Filed on Sep. 23, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/483,420.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/082,223, filed on Sep. 23, 2020.
Int. Cl. E21B 33/05 (2006.01); E21B 17/05 (2006.01)
CPC E21B 33/05 (2013.01) [E21B 17/05 (2013.01)] 24 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An oil well cementing head for insertion of material and two or more plugs into a casing string of an oil well, the oil well cementing head comprising:
a swivel assembly mountable between a drive head and a casing string, the swivel assembly comprising:
a swivel shaft formed along a longitudinal direction, the swivel shaft configured to be rotated about a central longitudinal axis thereof and longitudinally reciprocated by the drive head, the swivel shaft comprising an internal bore extending longitudinally along the swivel shaft and one or more windows formed through the swivel shaft in fluid communication with the internal bore, and
an outer swivel subassembly carried by the swivel shaft and jointly movable with the swivel shaft in the longitudinal direction, the outer swivel subassembly arranged radially outward of and around the swivel shaft such that the swivel shaft extends through the outer swivel subassembly, the outer swivel subassembly comprising a rotatable subassembly including a material inlet, wherein the rotatable subassembly and swivel shaft are rotatable relative to one another about the central longitudinal axis such that the rotatable subassembly may remain rotationally fixed while the swivel shaft rotates relative to the central longitudinal axis, wherein
the outer swivel subassembly and swivel shaft enclose an annular gap therebetween, wherein the annular gap faces the rotatable subassembly and material inlet and is in fluid communication with the material inlet and the windows of the swivel shaft in all rotational positions of the swivel shaft relative to the rotatable subassembly;
a plug launcher assembly affixed to and jointly rotatable and longitudinally movable with the swivel shaft of the swivel assembly, the plug launcher assembly releasably containing two or more plugs and providing fluid communication from the internal through bore of the swivel shaft to a bottom end of the plug launcher assembly, wherein the plug launcher assembly comprises two or more plug modules, wherein each plug module releasably houses a respective plug of the two or more plugs, and wherein each plug module is selectively mountable to the swivel shaft alone or in series with one or more remaining plug modules of the two or more plug modules to transfer a rotational and longitudinal movement of the swivel shaft towards a bottom end of the plug launcher assembly; and
one or more alignment wedges disconnectably connectable between adjacent plug modules of the two or more plug modules and configured to prevent relative rotation between said adjacent plug modules.