Compliant Mechanisms for Fracturing

Dear Fellow Oil and Gas Professionals,

Compliant Mechanisms Technology could be used to produce fracking plugs that: 1) have only two mechanical parts; 2) have no pins, no revolute joints, no springs, etc.; 3) have an increased resistance to contamination and are maintenance-free; 4) are manufactured from a range of materials such as plastics or metals, including ones that dissolve at will and that withstand downhole fluids such as brine for several hours; 5) are capable of expanding through a large range of casing sizes; and 6) are less expensive than current plugs by one order of magnitude. Compliant mechanisms have already been used in different industries such as airplane manufacturing, automotive, and biomedical; in addition, they have proven robustness and practicality. The photographs below illustrate some of their uses.

The photographs below illustrate some of their uses in the automotive, aerospace, robotics and biomedical industries; the furthest most pictures show some of the current plugs, which could be improved with the technology of the compliant mechanisms.

This video shows an example of our team’s experience designing Compliant Mechanisms

Compliant Mechanisms

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