Submersible Pump Intake Density Control for Gas Lock Prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Submersible centrifugal pumps often experience gas lock conditions due to excess gas in wellbore fluids, leading to loss of prime and potential damage to downhole equipment, with existing re-priming systems being unreliable.
Innovation Solution
The introduction of an intake fluid density control system that includes a control fluid reservoir, dump valve, and dump line, which releases a density control fluid to the pump intake under gravity or through an actuator controlled by downhole sensors to maintain fluid density and prevent gas locking.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If self-priming centrifugal pumps are used, then the pump can recover from gas lock conditions, but the re-priming systems are unreliable and may cause equipment damage
Solution Approach 1:
The system proactively detects gas slugging conditions and delivers density control fluid to the pump intake before complete gas lock occurs. This preliminary action prevents the harmful condition rather than attempting to recover from it, eliminating the reliability issues and equipment damage risks associated with reactive self-priming systems
Solution Approach 2:
The system converts the harmful effect of gas accumulation into a beneficial control mechanism by using density control fluid injection. The harmful gas slugging condition is transformed into a detectable signal that triggers the beneficial delivery of liquid-rich fluid to maintain pump priming and prevent equipment damage
2Reliability
If density control fluid is continuously delivered to the pump intake, then gas locking is prevented, but fluid density control system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses periodic or event-driven delivery of density control fluid based on gas slugging detection rather than continuous delivery. The gravity-based delivery mechanism activates only when gas accumulation is detected, providing reliable gas lock prevention while maintaining relatively simple system architecture without requiring continuous active control
Solution Approach 2:
The density control fluid acts as an intermediary substance that mediates between the gas slugging condition and the pump priming requirement. This intermediary approach provides effective gas lock prevention through a relatively simple gravity-based delivery system rather than requiring complex active control mechanisms
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system effectively prevents gas locking by proactively increasing fluid density at the pump intake, reducing the risk of equipment damage and production loss by continuously delivering a liquid-rich density control fluid during gas slugging events.
Implementation Method 1
a control fluid reservoir positioned above the pump that is configured to release a density control fluid to the intake of the pump under the force of gravity
Data Source
AI summary
A submersible pumping system for producing a fluid from a wellbore through production tubing to a wellhead includes a motor controlled by a motor drive, a pump driven by the motor, and one or more downhole sensors configured to measure conditions at the motor and pump. An intake fluid density control system has a control fluid reservoir positioned above the pump that is configured to release a density control fluid to the intake of the pump under the force of gravity. The release of the density control fluid can be controlled by a dump valve that automatically moves between open, closed, and intermediate positions in response to a control signal based on measurements made by the downhole sensors or motor drive.