Suction rod assembly for well fluid extraction and related methods

Abstract

The present invention provides a downhole suction rod pump assembly for use in pumping formation fluid from an oil well, and more specifically, provides a rotor operable to generate a vortex in a pump barrel without imparting torque to the plunger. The improvements to a suction rod pump assembly may be incorporated into any oil well pumping system having a linear rod and or rod string. The rotor vortex displaces formation fluid above a plunger assembly, thereby preventing heavier debris in the formation fluid from settling or lodging between a plunger and barrel boundary, thus extending the practical life of the pump.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention generally relates sucker rod pumps for use in pumping formation fluid from an oil well, and more specifically, relates to a downhole sucker rod pump assembly with a rotor operable to generate a vortex in a pump barrel without imparting torque to the plunger. The vortex displaces formation fluid above a plunger assembly, thereby preventing heavier debris in the formation fluid from settling or lodging between a plunger and barrel boundary, thus extending the practical life of the pump.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]A downhole sucker rod pump involves the retrieving formation fluid (e.g., thin oil, thick oil-water mixtures containing particles of sand and rock) from wells at depths exceeding 1,000 ft. Some oil wells initially produce formation fluid in the form of a thin oil and as the well becomes depleted, it may produce a thicker oil that, in many cases, contains particles of sand and rock. However, some oil wells produce viscous ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention is a suction rod pump assembly for use in oil and gas drilling operations. The assembly includes a rotor with flutes that rotate around a central axis. The flutes create a horizontal force on the rotor, allowing it to rotate freely. The rotor is not fixedly joined to the plunger, so the rotational force is not transferred to the plunger. The flutes cause the fluid to transition from a laminar flow to a turbulent flow, which prevents heavy debris from settling in the plunger barrel boundary. The rotor is a swivel rotor that joins the cage to a rod lock, allowing it to rotate freely. The swivel rotor has flutes with a constant pitch and a starting angle of 0 degrees and an ending angle of about 360 degrees. The assembly also includes a traveling valve and a standing valve and seating assembly to control fluid flow. The invention aims to provide an improved suction rod pump assembly with a longer cyclic life.

Problems solved by technology

The particles of sand and stone in the formation fluid are non-ideal and lodge in between a plunger and barrel, which causes irrecoverable linear scoring of a barrel or plunger and requires replacement.

However, the rotation of the plunger fails to prevent wear on the plunger; instead, the adapter distributes the wear uniformly around the plunger, producing non-linear abrasions on the plunger surface, yielding helical scoring on either the plunger or the barrel.

Although the vortex may prevent fluid debris from settling, the angular velocities of the vortex are limited because the energy potential of fluids velocity transfers to the entire plunger assembly, and the heavier particles lodge into the boundary.

An assembly or device has yet to provide a simple solution to prevent formation fluid containing particles of sand or rock from penetrating between the barrel and plunger walls without introducing a torque to the system.

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