This is achieved by use of offset touch points on each of the three blades. The GeoGLIDER™XTREME is a three bladed solid body centralizer. The dark spots on the body of the centraliser represent the touch points.
Touch points are 120° off each other and off-centre along the axis of the centralizer. Each of the three blades are skewed at <45° and the leading edges at the top and bottom are chamfered into the body of the tool to ensure smooth transfer of forces as the blades encounter any restriction or make contact with the wellbore. The skewed blades provide a 360° wrap around circumferentially without any loss of stand-off compared to the industry standard solid body designs.
The GeoGLIDER™XTREME has a maximum contact area of 4.86in2 and in some cases as small as 3in2. Standard solid body designs have between 25in2 and 35in2 of contact area inherent in the design. Even with the same material, the GeoGLIDER™XTREME create much lower frictional losses generated by standard solid body designs. In wells drilled in the Murmansk Region of Russia the GeoGLIDER™XTREME Lite thermoplastic recorded friction factors as low as 0.05 for 7” casing long string across the openhole section.
The offset touch points feature result in smaller OD with much improved flow-by area (generally 8% higher than standard solid body centralizers). This offset touch point feature also makes it easier to work the tubular string through tight spots and restrictions when tripping in or out of hole while reducing the potential of packing the hole with debris or cuttings.