Single Conduit Pump for High Water Cut Wells
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
In partially depleted oil and gas wells, the hydrostatic weight of fluids causes the well to cease flowing under its own pressure, leading to reduced production rates, with approximately twenty-five percent of reserves remaining unrecovered, necessitating costly abandonment and requiring methods to enhance fluid extraction.
Innovation Solution
A single conduit pump system that uses a surface pump to pressurize a conduit connected to a subsurface pump, allowing fluid to be lifted from the well using resilient forces when surface pressure is removed, eliminating the need for multiple conduits and reducing deployment costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a conventional hydraulic or pneumatic pump system is used to lift fluids from the well, then the hydrostatic weight of fluids can be overcome and production rates can be increased, but the system complexity and deployment cost increase due to requiring multiple conduits and surface equipment
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the power transmission conduit and the fluid production conduit into a single integrated conduit. The single conduit pump receives pressurized fluid through this single conduit, uses it to drive the pump mechanism, and then produces well fluids through the same conduit, eliminating the need for separate power and production lines
Solution Approach 2:
The single conduit serves multiple functions: it acts as both the power transmission medium carrier and the fluid production pathway. The conduit is used to deliver pressurized fluid to the subsurface pump during the charging stroke and to return produced fluids to the surface during the production stroke, making the system more efficient and less complex
2Reliability
If multiple conduits are used for pump deployment and operation, then reliable fluid transport can be achieved, but the deployment cost and equipment requirements increase substantially
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the power transmission function and fluid production function into a single conduit system, reducing the number of conduits from multiple to one. This consolidation maintains reliable fluid transport while substantially reducing deployment costs and equipment requirements
3Productivity
If the well flows under its own pressure without intervention, then no additional equipment is needed, but the hydrostatic weight of fluids causes the well to cease flowing and approximately twenty-five percent of reserves remain unrecovered
Solution Approach 1:
The single conduit pump operates in periodic cycles, alternating between a charging stroke where pressurized fluid drives the pump mechanism and a production stroke where well fluids are delivered to the surface. This periodic action creates a pulsating flow that overcomes the hydrostatic pressure and enables continuous production
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses pressurized fluid (pneumatic or hydraulic power) transmitted through the single conduit to drive the subsurface pump mechanism. The pressurized fluid expands a diaphragm or movable wall, which in turn drives the pump to produce well fluids, converting pneumatic/hydraulic energy into mechanical pumping action
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 accelerates hydrocarbon recovery, reduces abandonment pressure, and increases cumulative production rates by efficiently lifting liquids from the well without the need for extensive equipment, thereby extending the well's productive life.
Implementation Method 1
Upon termination of the surface pump pressure, resilient forces in the subsurface single conductor pump move the fluid out of the well bore to the surface
Implementation Method 2
a subsurface pump in communication with the single conduit and positionable in well fluid, the subsurface pump being arranged for being charged with fluid by pressure applied to the conduit from the surface pump
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~4
Figure 5
AI summary
A single conduit lift pump is disclosed that only requires a single fluid conduit for both the driving fluid and the pumping action of the pump in a well bore. Fluid pressure communicated to the pump by the single fluid conduit drives the pump to load a resilient member. The fluid pressure is cycled off to allowing the lift of fluid by action of the resilient member upon the single fluid conduit. The single fluid conduit makes this pump suitable for downhole operations for the oil and gas production industries in wells that have substantial water cut that inhibits the production of gas.