Resistive down hole heating tool
A heating tool used for heating cement and/or a ground formation zone and melting billets in a down hole application for sealing oil and gas wells from gas migration. The heating tool has a billet loader which allows a plurality of billets to be loaded into the top of the tool and which billets then pass downward into a magazine and the lowermost heating area of the tool to rest on a billet retainer.
1. Heating tool for melting billets made from a eutectic material, said heating tool comprising a billet loader for loading billets into said tool, a longitudinal billet storage magazine allowing at least one billet loaded through said billet loader to be positioned within a billet magazine of said heating tool, a bottom billet retaining cage located on the bottom of the tool to retain said at least one billet until said at least one billet is melted and to allow release of liquid melted billet material and a heater module allowing heating of said at least one billet within said heating tool.
2. Heating tool as in claim 1 wherein said at least one billet is made from a bismuth eutectic alloy material which expands following said melting of said material when said material solidifies following the reduction of heat to said liquid material from said heating tool.
3. Heating tool as in claim 1 wherein said billets number at least two, said billets being made of a conductive and meltable eutectic material, said retaining cage retaining the lowermost one of said at least two billets until said lowermost one is melted and to allow release of said liquid melted billet material.