US3023707A - Deep well pumps - Google Patents

Description

March 6, 1962 H. D. LowRY DEEP WELL PUMPS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 4, 1959 w Y R mw a V0 n m/M H Dm wm M ,fm

March 6, 1962 H. D. LOWRY 3,023,707

DEEP WELL PUMPS Filed Sept. 4, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Ilja, 2a.

INVENTOR. EeM/:w DALE LOM/@y rraPA/Eys.

United States Patent O N' 3,023,707 DEEP WELL PUMPS Herman Dale Lowry, Los Angeles, Calif., assigner to Lowry Hydraulic Co., Santa Monica, Calif., a corporation of Nevada Filed Sept. 4, 1959, Ser. No. 838,366 4 Claims. (Cl. 103-46) My invention relates generally to hydraulic pumps and an inter connecting system for pumping oil and/ or water from wells, sumps or reservoirs.

While many pumps and pumping systems have been invented and been in use for years, all of these pumps and systems have expensive and complex maintenance problems.

Most of the pumps and pumping systems in use today are examples of design comprises that are really secondary solutions, which, while doing the work required, they are of course, not the primary solution in the field of cost andmaintenance for hydraulic pumping systems.

A brief summary of a few of the systems now in use, while pointing out their deficiencies, will tend to bring into focus the desirability of the many features of my.

pumping system.

The standard tubing type, down well pump is operated with heavy and cumbersome machinery above ground and the plunger is actuated by a long string of sucker rods. These sucker rods wear out and break. After breaking, the rods must be fished out of the well and laboriously disconnected section by section and replaced in the same way.

'I'he weight of a string of sucker rods in a 5,000 foot well equals about ve tons. If the well operates at twelve strokes per minute, the well is lifting 3,600 tons of nonproductive weight each hour of operation, My pump and pumping system eliminates the sucker rod.

Bearing in mind the above dilculties encountered in most down well pumps of the class described, it is a major object of my invention to provide a pump and pumping system which will t various sizes of production tubing, will be easily and quickly removed for maintenance, will eliminate sucker rods and since the equipment above ground consists of an electric motor, gear pump, various valves and a hydraulic fluid tank, much saving in space is attained, unsightly machinery is eliminated and a much more quiet and efcient operation is assured.

Furthermore, my system allows for the removal of the down well pump without pulling the production tubing or disconnecting the cable that holds the pump or pumps suspended in the well, or disconnecting the flexible tubing that transmits the pressurized iluid power to the down Well pump.

Another object of my invention is to provide a pumping system that has no high speed impellers that fail under the wear of sand laden oil or water.

Still another object of my invention is to eliminate need for electrical circuits under ground.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of my invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the pump and system, the description being considered in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. l is a sectional view of a well casing having the pump of the present invention mounted within the production tube in the casing.

FIG. 2 and FIG. 2a together constitute a vertical sectional view on au enlarged scale of the pump mounted within the production tube, the views being respectively the upper and lower portions of the device.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line lll-IH of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line IV--IV of FIG. 2.

Y cap indicated generally at 25, the aperture 27 of the cap affording fluid communication between the interior of the casing and the interior of the production tube. Within cap 25 is a lower check valve housing indicated generally at 2 and provided with a circular seat 30 for supporting a ball 32, the ball being in sealing Contact with the seat 30 when in its lower position as shown, and being movable upwardly within the housing 2 by Huid ilow upwardly through aperture 27 and past the seat 30.

Within production tube 15 and above the valve housing 2v is the cylinder of the present invention indicated generally at 5 and provided at its lower end with a cylinder head 3 closing the lower end of the cylinder and in contact with and being supportedV by the upper portion of the valve housing 2.

A piston indicated generally at 6 is slidably mounted` within the cylinder 5 and a thrust rod or piston rod 7 extends upwardly from the piston through a conventional packing gland 8 at the upper end of the cylinder, being connected at its upper end to production tube piston indicated generally at 10 which is slidably carried in the production tube 15. Means are provided for supplying pressure fluid to and removing fluid from the interior of cylinder 5. In the present embodiment of the invention such means include a pair of preferably rigid tubular members 9 extending upwardly from the upper end of the cylinder and being slidably received in longitudinally extending bores formed in the piston 10. The left-hand tubular member 9 as seen in FIG. 2 at its lower end is in fluid communication with vertically extending channel 4 formed in the side wall of cylinder 5 and communicating at its lower end through the opening 35 in the side wall of the cylinder head 3 with the lower end of the interior of the cylinder. The right-hand tubular member 9 as seen in FIG. 2 is in communication at its lower end through a pasageway 16 with the upper end of the interior of cylinder 5. The upper ends of tubular members 9 are received in a pair of laterally-spaced bores in a yoke member 11 and at their uppermost ends are connected through connectors 12 to a pair of laterally-spaced flexible hoses 17. The yoke 11 is connected to a support cable 13 which extends to the surface and 'serves to raise and lower the entire cylinder and pump assembly within the production tube 1S.

Means are provided in the production tube piston 10 for permitting only upward iluid ilow through said piston. As will be best seen by reference to FIGS. 4 and 5, these means include a pair of balls 18 and 20 which are freely vertically movable in a pair of laterally-spaced channels 23 and 24 respectively which communicate at their upper ends through openings 19 and 21 respectively with a central bore 36 opening upwardly into the interior of production tube 15. The vertical channels 23 and 24 are downwardly open and provided with seats against which the balls may be in sealing engagement when in their lower positions as shown in dotted outline in FIG. 4, thereby preventing fluid ilow downwardly of the piston 10.

In operation, hydraulic pressure lluid is forced downwardly through the left-hand tube 9 as seen in FIGS. l and 2 by suitable surface pump means not shown and thence downwardly through the channel 4 formed in the side wall of cylinder 5 and passageway 35 into the lower Patented Mar, 6, 1962` portion of the interior of cylinder 5. The pressure of the hydraulic iluid in the right-hand tubular member 9 as seen in FIGS. l and 2 is simultaneously relieved by suitable surface means not shown through the passageway 16 communicating with the upper end of the interiorof theY the piston 10. At theV same time the lower check valve 2.'A

is in open position, the ball 32 rising within the check valve housing away from sealing engagement with its seat 30, permitting iluid within the casing 1 to be drawn upwardly through thev opening 27 and along the ilutedv portions 14 of cylinder 5 to the space above the cylinder.`

. Under the control of suitable surface control means not shown, the direction ofhydraulic uid ilow in the. tubular members 9 is reversed when the pistons have risen to their uppermost positions, thus forcing downwardly piston 6 and its associated parts, including piston rodr 7 and piston 10. During such downward movement,-

lower cheek valve 2 is in closed position, the ball 32 assuming the position seen in FIG. 2a, thus trapping above it the oil or other liquid, while the upper check valve' balls 18 and 20 are in open position as seen in solid lines in FIGS. 2 and 4 to permit the downwardvmovement of piston through the trapped oil.

, This cycle of reciprocating piston'movement is repeated at a suitable speed and frequency for the requirements of a given installation.

Desirably, the tubular members 9 areof rigid construction, of metal or the like, and they thus serve to support, from the cable 13, any desired portion of the weight of the pump members just described.

While the pumping system shown and described hereinV is fully capable of achieving the objects and providing the advantages herein before stated, they are capable of considerable modification within the spirittof theinvention. Therefore I do not mean to be limited to the forms 4 shown and described herein but rather to the scope of the appended claims. l

I claim:

l. A well pump for operation within a production tube in a well, the tube havng acylindrical inner surface comprising: an elongated housing having formed therein an elongated cylindrical chamber provided with a piston slidablymounted therein and with ports for communieating pressure iluid to opposite ends of the chamber; a second piston disposed above the housing and in slidable contact with the 'production tube inner surface, said second piston being provided with a pair of longitudinal bores extending therethrough and with a passage extending therethrough; means rigidly connecting said pistons; check valve means carried by the second piston for permitting uid flow only upwardly through said passage; a pair of rigid pipes Xed' to the upper portion of said housing and projecting upwardly therefrom and extending slidably through said bores, said pipes atvtheir lower ends being in fluid communication with said housing ports; means provided with a passageway extending'therethrough for communieating'the interior of the production tube beneath said second piston with the well to permit well fluid to flow into said interior including second check valve means preventing fluid ilow outwardly of the interior through said passageway; and support means connected to theup'per ends of'said pipes maintaining the pipes in parallel relation, the housing being of substantially smaller cross-sectional area throughout itslength than the interior cross-sectional area of the tube.

'2. The invention *as'stated in claim 1 wherein the exterior wall of the housing is longitudinally iluted.

3. The invention as stated in claim 1 wherein said piston connecting means comprises an elongated piston rod extending between and fixed to said pistons.

4. The invention'as 'stated in claim l wherein said second check valve means is disposed `'beneath said housing.

References Cited inthe tile of Vthis patent UNITED A STATES PATENTS

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