Optimal design of a small high temperature and high pressure spool valve for oil exploration

Hydraulic fracturing technology, as one of the key technologies in shale gas development and oil exploration, has been widely used in shale reservoirs reconstruction to increase production. A valve is necessary to control the movement of sliding sleeve in this technology. Due to the working and assembling conditions, the valve must be small and bear high temperature and pressure. In this paper a small high temperature and high pressure hydraulic spool valve was developed. Based on the finite element method (FEM) model, the deformation of the spool and the sleeve under different pressure and temperature were analyzed. The impact of the structure deformation was studied to get an optimized value of the clearance between the spool and the sleeve. Finally, the small spool valve was tested and it is proved that the valve has good performance and can adapt to the high temperature and high pressure environment.