What Is Electric Submersible Pump

For this case, oil field operators utilized various in-well pumps to flow the liquid to surface and all the way to the final storage points. There are various type of pumps available for various well specifications and needs. There are Electric Submersible Pumps (ESP), Progressive-Cavity Pumps (PCP), and Plunger Pumps (the horse-head type).

What will be discussed here is the type called Electric Submersible Pumps. This type is one of those centrifugal pump type, have similar liquid pumping method with your average household water pump.

The pump works by applying rotating force onto the liquid to be pumped. The rotating force will then add momentum into the liquid. The added momentum will give additional pressure (or head) into the liquid and will push the liquid in all directions; and since the only open route is upward, the liquid will be pumped upward.

Electric Submersible Pumps consist of several similar sections called stages. On each stages are central shaft, impeller, and liquid flow room. The central shaft will rotae and turn the impeller to up to 3600 rotation per minutes. This rotation is the one that will give momentum to the fluid. The fluid will go into each stages, and will exit with added momentums each time. The amount of stages will command the amount of momentum given to the fluid and in the end will dictate how high the liquid can be driven upward.

Shafts inside the stages are rotated using the torque given by motor installed in front of the series of stages. This motor is powered by electricity that is supplied by surface facility. The motor is normally a 3-phase motors, and is a high endurance motor able to withstand pressure 200-300 times atmospheric pressure and temperature 3-4 times ambient temperature.

ESPs are typically installed on deep wells that go beyond 1000 feet long and have declinations (i.e not straight).