US2309383A - Deep well pump - Google Patents

Description

2 She ts-Sheet l W. J. CRITES DEEP WELL PUMP Filed March 8, 1941 w 7 u a w ////w// T T w A \m\\ w M 2 x m H M Jan, 26, 1943.

INVENTOR WILBUR J. canes BY a ATTORNE? W. J. CIRVTE Jan. 26, 1943.

EP will. YUM?" Filed. March 8, Shwetsaiheet 2 INVENTOR WILBUR J. CRITES I WORN? Patented Jan. 26, 1943 DEEP WELL PUIVIP Wilbur J. Crites, Bartlesville, Okla, assignor to Phillips Petroleum Company, a corporation of Delaware Application March 8, 1941, Serial No. 382,414

' 2 Claims. ("01. 103-244) This invention relates to oil well pumps and more particularly to an oil well pump employing fluid under pressure as a means for lifting the oil from the well.

In reservoirs in which relatively large amounts of gas or at least where gas occurs in sufiicient quantities to assist materially in lifting oil to the surface, it is often a serious problem to control this gas so that it can be used properly for this purpose. As oil and gas flow to the well bore gas will be evolved from solution and dissipated at the surface of the oil as lost energy unlessit is properly controlled for use in the annular space between the tubing and the casing. When wells cease to flow naturally through the tubing or through the casing, it is common to run a string of tubing with a packer installed near the reservoir so that the energy of the gas may be used directly in lifting the oil. This method will often prolong the flowing life of a well, however, there will come a time when the percentage of gas to oil is too great and a large amount of the gas energy will be dissipated through the tubing string without doing useful work in lifting oil and the oil will be obstructed in its flow to the well bore by the creation of a gaseous condition in the sand or in the formation immediately surrounding the well. The opposite condition may exist in which the oil is predominant and there is not suflicient gas to lift all the oil that comes to the well bore and under this condition the well will cease to flow. Under either of these conditions remedial measures must be applied.

In the former case it is common practice to segregate the gas and oil horizons either by the installation of a packer by which procedure the gas may be produced in the annular space between the tubing and the casing above the packer, and the oil produced through the tub .ing; or through a process of cementation in which the gas is partly or entirely sealed off from the well bore and confined to the reservoir.

In the latter case, that is, in a well having a low gas-oil ratio, it is necessary to use some artificial means for lifting oil, the most common of which, and probably the most effective, is the gas lift. This method of lifting oil involves adding suiiicient extraneous gas energy to cause the well to flow.

Either of these methods are but temporary expediencies and later further production of such wells of either class will require installa- .tion of other types of equipment.

An important object oi. the invention is to provide an improvement in pumping apparatus of the type illustrated in the United States Patent No. 2,202,970, granted to Steele, June 4, 1940, for an oil well pump and other similar devices using a valve which may be operated from the surface to intermittently or continuously inject and eject gas to or from an accumulation chamber for the purpose of producing fluid from wells.

A further object is to provide a device adapted to utilize gas from a producing formation for lifting purposes and which would otherwise be wasted or tend to accumulate in the formation and obstruct the flow of fluids into the well bore.

Another object of the invention is to provide means of cutting off the gas supplied from the surface to operate the pump and using formation gas for this purpose.

Other objects of this invention not at this time enumerated will be apparent from the following detailed description.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, and wherein for the purpose of illustration is shown a preferred embodiment of this invention, like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the same,

Figure 1 is an elevation view of the pump structure constructed in accordance with this invention showing the pump in the well tubing strings and surface equipment,

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view of the pump apparatus in position to exhaust .the accumulation chamber,

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view of the pump apparatus in position to admit gas under pressure into the accumulator chamber,

Figure 4 is a transverse sectional view through the pump apparatus taken on the line l4 of Figure 3,

Figure 5 is a transverse sectional view of the pump set taken on the line 5-5 of Figure 3 when the pump mechanism is removed, and

Figure 6 is a transverse sectional view through the pump apparatus taken on the line 6-6 of Figure 3.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, the numeral 10 represents the casing which lines the well hole and extends from the surface of the ground to the well bottom. The

space I4 between the outer tubing string II and the casing I communicates with the outlet pipe I6 and serves to conduct the gas exhausted from the accumulation chamber to the atmosphere or other disposal. Pipe I1 serves to conduct the oil flowing from the reservoir through the tubing string I2 to. storage.

Mounted on the surface of the ground is the motor I8 which rotates the gear I9. Gear I9 in turn rotates the gear which has gear 2I keyed to the same shaft. Gear 2| meshes with gear 22 which is keyed rigidly to the inner tubing string I 2. Inner tubing string I2 is supported by bearing 23 and is rotated by the motor and gear mechanism to turn the cylinder in the pump mechanism in the bottom of the well. This control mechanism will be explained more fully later.

The tubing II extends down into the well hole 24. A bull plug or other protecting device 56 is mounted on the bottom of the well down-pipe 25, which in turn is attached to the bottom of chamber 21. Down-pipe 25 is equipped with openings or orifices 39 through which oil passes from well 24 into down-pipe 25. The walls of the chamber 21 are essentially a continuation of the above-mentioned tubing II. This plug or protector serves to protect the standing valve 26 from mud or sand accumulations in the bottom of the hole. Above the standing valve 26 is a space 21 which is the oil acumulation chamber. Extending inwardly from the tubing string II and just above the top of the accumulation chamber 21 is a flange 28 which has a seat portion to receive the pump mechanism when lowered within the outer tubing II, The flange 22- has a channel or outlet port 29 therethrough which passage communicates with the space I4 between the casing I0 and the outer tubing II.

The flange or projection 50 on the seat 28 aligns the barrel 32 when placed on the seat 28 and insures against rotation of the barrel if the plug should become stuck to the barrel.

Mounted on the lower end of the inner tubing I2 by means of screw threads 3| is the pump mechanism 30 which has a portion on the end thereof to seat and seal with the seat 28 on the flange in the outer string of tubing II. The pump mechanism 30 is made up of an outer cylindrical member or barrel 32 which has the inner cylindrical plug member 33 rotatably mounted therein. The two members 32 and 33 are held in assembled relation by the screw thimble 34 which is attached by the screw threads 35 to the outer cylindrical member or barrel 32 and the shoulder portion of the thimble contacts the upper end of the plug to hold the same assem-- bled within the member 32. Bearings 36 are mounted in the space 31 in the thimble 34 to relieve friction and add support to the inner tubing I2.

In the side wall of the member 32 is the passage 40 which communicates with the annular space I3 and the passage M in the plug member 33. The member'32 has the passage 42 in the opposite side from passage 40, which communicates with the passage 40 through the passage M in the plug member when the passages are aligned as shown in Figure 4. Pasasge 43 extends vertically through member 32, thus establishing communication between the accumulation chamber 21 and the annular space l3 when the plug is in the position shown in Figure 3. In the lower end of the member 32, is a branch passage 44 which connects with the passage 43 to 75 asoaesa establish communication through the passage 45 in the plug, passage 46 in the lower end of the member 32 and thence through passage 29 in the seat portion to the annular space I4 to exhaust the pressure gas from the accumulation chamber when the plug is in the position shown in Figure 2.

The plug member has a central passage 49 extending the length of the plug and a nipple 41 with check valve 48 and delivery tube 38 to conduct the flow of oil from the accumulation chamber 21 to the inner tubing string I2 and then to the surface of the ground. Check valve 48 prevents flow of the oil from the tubing string I2 back into the accumulation chamber.

Packer 54 in the preferred embodiment of this invention is installed in the annular space between casing I0 and the outer tubing II at a point below the outlet of pasage 29 in the seat portion of said outer tubing. At a point above the control mechanism 30, the upper end of a by-pass 52 is connected to the outer tubing II. This by-pass 52 projects downwardly therefrom through the packer 54 and terminates at a point just below said packer. On the lower end of by-pass tube 52 is a check valve 53 so incorporated that communication is aiforded from the space 24 below packer 54, into the annular space between outer tubing II and inner tubing I2 at a point above control mechanism 30,

It is to be understood that this by-pass may be incorporated in any other way so that it affords communication from the area below packer 54, represented generally by the numeral 24, into the annular space above packer 54 which serves to conduct gas from the surface to operate the pump.

At or near the ground surface is gas inlet I5 in which is incorporated inlet check valve 55 so that gas may be introduced at this point into the annular space between outer tubing I I and inner tubing I2. Gas outlet I6 is located at or near the ground surface in casing III so that a passage may be maintained from the annular space between casing I0 and outer tubing II to an outside point of accumulation or dissipation.

In operation, outer tubing string II carrying packer'54 and by-pass tube 52 is set within well casing string I0. Pump mechanism 30 is lowered on tubing string I2 to the proper position on seat 28 in inner tubing I I. Thus pump mechanism 3G and inner tubing I2 can be removed from the well without removing outer tubing II. Tubing l2 and plug 33 on the lower end thereof are rotated by a drive means from the surface.

Outer tubing string II is set in well casing III at such a point that fluid from the well will fill accumulation chamber 21. As plug 33 rotates it alternately aligns passage 4| therein with passages 40 and 42, thereby placing annular space I3, having gas therein under pressure from line I5,

in communication with accumulation chamber 21.

Fluid from the well in chamber 21 is forced by this gas through nipple 41, check valve 48, passage-49, into the tubing I2 and thus to the sur face of the ground.

As plug 33 continues to rotate the passages will align, as shown in Figure 2, thus closing off the supply of gas under pressure to the accumulation chamber 21 to allow the chamber to exhaust and thus be refilled with fluid from the formation. Since plug 33 continues to rotate the cycle of operation is an alternate one of admitting gas under pressure to the accumulation chamber 21 to force out the fluid from the formation and exhausting the chamber of residual gas before it refills.

Gas evolving from the formation collects below packer 54 until the pressure of the accumulated gas exceeds the pressure of the gas in the annular space l3. When a pressure differential is created, check valve 53 opens and permits passage of gas from below packer 54 to the annular space l3 where it is utilized to lift fluid from chamber 21 to the surface of the earth. Check valve 55 in the surface inlet gas line 15 is closed when check valve 53 is open, thereby cutting oil the gas from the surface and utilizing the gas from the producing formation to lift the fluid.

It is to be understood that the form of this invention, herewith shown and described, is a preferred example of the same and that various modifications may be made therein without materially departing from the spirit of this invention or the scope of the subjoined claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

' 1. In apparatus for lifting fluid through a well bore having well casirg therein, the combi-,

nation comprising inner and outer tubing members lowered into the casing, a first annular space between the casing and the outer tubing member, a second annular space between the inner and outer tubing members, a fluid accumulation chamber at the lower end of'the tubing members, means controlled by the inner tubing member for introducing actuating fluid under pressure through the second annular space into the accumulation chamber; the inner tubing being the discharge conduit to the surface of the groundfor the fluid accumulated in the accumulation chamber, further means controlled by the inner tubing member for closing off the supply of actuating fluid under pressure and exhaustingthe accumulation chamber of pressure fluid to the first annular space, packer means between the outer tubing member and the Well casing dividing the first annular space into an upper section communicating with the surface of the ground and a lower section communicating with the well bore, a conduit through the packer hav-- ing one end communicating with the well bore and the other end communicating with the first annular space to deliver well fluid to the first annular space when the pressure of the well fluid exceeds the pressure of the actuating fluid, and check valve means associated with the first annular space which are closed by the pressure of the well fluid when delivered to the first annular space.

2. In apparatus for lifting fluid through a well bore having well casing therein, the combination comprising inner and outer tubing members lowered into the casing, a first annular space be tween the casing and the outer tubing member. a second annular space between the inner and outer tubing members, a fluid accumulation chamber at the lower end of the tubing members, means controlled by the inner tubing member for introducing actuating fluid under pres ure through the second annular space into the accumulation chamber, the inner tubing being the discharge conduit to the surface of the ground for the fluid acciunulated in the accumulation chamber, further means controlled by the inner tubing member for closing off the supply of actuating fluid under pressure and exhausting the accumulation chamber of pressure iluid to the first annular space, packer means between the outer tubing member and the well casing dividing the first annular space into an upper section communicating with the surface of the ground and a lower section communicating with the well bore, a conduit through the packer having one end communicating with the well bore and the other end communicating with the first annular space to deliver well fluid to the first annular space when the pressure of the well fluid exceeds the pressure of the actuating fluid, and check valve means in the conduit allowing flow into the first annular space but preventing flow from the first annular space into the formation.

WILBU'RLCRI'I'ES.

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