US1601472A - Deep-well pump - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 28 1926.

L. G. GATES DEEP WELL PUMP Filed Feb. 25, 1925 INVENTOR BYWVM ATTORNEYS.

Patent-ea, sept. 2s, 192s.

UNITED sTATEs y 1,601,412 PATENT oFFlcE.

LEROY G. GATES, OF BAKERSFIELD, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO STANDARD OIL COMI- PANY, F SAN FRANCISCO, A CORPORATION 0F CALIFORNIA.

DEEP-WELL PUMP.

Application nled. February 25 1925. SeriaNo. 11,487.

My invention relates to double acting pumps especially adapted for use in pumping deep wells.

The principal object 0f my invention is 5 to provi-de a simple and practicable double acting pump of such size that it may be lowered into a well. This'limitation in re gard to size renders it practically necessary to use a .single cylinder pump, in which the stroke. The advantages of a doublel acting pump are obvious to those skilled in the art. It is more eicient than a single acting pump, for the reason that no power is wastedk in stopping and starting the column of well fluid in the discharge tubing string at each stroke, the liow of such fluid being practically continuous; and in the case of very deep wells, wherein the weight of the fluid column is relatively great, the saving in this regard is considerable. Moreover, a double acting pump, to raise the same quantity of fluid in a given time as a sinUle acting pump, requires only half as much fbrce to move its piston; therefore the pump can be 'made much smaller, since the power is applied practically continuously, instead of intermittently with equally long periods of practical rest. This becomes extremely important in deep well pumps on account of the necessarily small dimensions. since the bearings and moving parts can be made relatively large in proportion tothe load. Finally, the practically continuous flow of a. double acting pump produces a minimum of turbulence in the iiuid stream, thereby attracting less sand from the well into Vthe pump intake and, in the case of oil wells, producing the minimum of troublesome water emu lsion.

Another object of my invention is to provide a pump 1n which the destructive effects of sand in the pump itself are reduced to a minimum. A still furthertobject is to provide a double acting pump 'having a minimum number of valves, which operate no more often than the corresponding valves of a single acting pump. 1

My invention is herein illustrated and described as embodied in a deep-well pump, but it is to be understood that it may be adapted, without material change to other uses. Moreover, the form and construction ma be varied from that shown and described herein, within the limits of the piston works during both its up and its down claims hereto appended, without departing from the essential features of the invention as set forth in said claims.

With this in view my invention will now be fully described with reference to the ac- 6c companying drawing, wherein- The ligure is a longitudinal section of a deep-well pump embodying my said inven- I n the drawing, the reference numeral 1 06 deslgnates a pump cylinder or barrel, and 2 is a tubular plunger working therein. The intake of the barrel 1 is at its lower end, and is controlled by one or moresuitable check valves 3. Only one such valve is shown but it is o bvious that the number thereof is immaterlal. The lower end of the hollow plunger 2 is provided with a travelling valve 4, which constitutes the discharge valve of the pump. l

In the drawing I have shown a construction adapted for operation by means of sucker rods or other mechanism capable of exerting force in only one direction, 1. e. upwardly. A tubular housing 1 is extended 80 from the upper end of the barrel l, and a suitable compression spring 5 is contained within said housing and adapted to force the plunger 2 downwardly by pressure against its upper end. A suitable tension member, shown as a rod 6', which is understood to be attached to the lower end of the sucker rod string, not shown, is secured to the plunger 2, preferably by being connected with the cage 4 of the traveling valve 4. 90 Said rod 6 supplies the force for driving the plunger 2 upwardly and for compressing the spring 5', and said spring then supplies the force for moving sald plunger downwardly. Inasmuch as` the plunger 2 95 works upon both strokes, the spring 5 must be suiiiciently powerful to handle its share of the load, and the force exerted upon the rod 6 on the up-stroke must be approxi mately twice that necessary to lift said plunger, in order to compress said spring at the same time.

The plunger 2 surrounds and slides upon a fixed tube 8, which is secured to and eX- tends downwardly from the upper end or head 9 of the spring housing l', and communicates with the tubing string 10 for 'conducting the pumped fluid to the surface. The lower end of the fixed tube 8 is open to the interior of the plunger 2, as shown.

- clearance, shown at 13, between it and the plunger 2. Similarly, the interior of said plunger is provided at its upper end with a port-ion of' reduced diameter, 1n which the packing 12 is situated, and below such reduced portion, the bore of said plunger is of slightly increased diameter to provide a clearance 14 between it and the fixed tube 8 The clearance spaces 13 and 14 prevent. the cutting of the surfaces of the barrel, plungerl and tube by sand, by permitting such sand to settle, and such settling of the sand keeps it away from the packing 11 and 12, thereby preventing wear thereupon, and further preventing cutting of the outer surfaces of the plunger and the fixed tube.

The operation of my pump will be apF parent from the :foregoing description and the drawing. Assuming the barrel 1 to be full, the down stroke of the plunger 2 displaces a quantity of fluid equal to thclvolume or effective displacement of 'said plunger, suchquantity of fluid being forced up through the discharge valve 4 into said plunger, and of this fluid an amount equal to the effective displacement of the plunger 2 less that of the fixed tube 8 is forced up through said tube and into the tubing string 10. The up stroke of the plunger 2 draws a fresh charge of fluid into the barrel 1, and forces the fluid contained within said plunger out through the fixed tube 8 and the tubing string 10.

Thus fluid is forced up, or discharged, upon both the up and down stroke, and by properly relating the inside and outside diameters of the plunger 2, and t-he outside diameter of the fixed tube 8, the relative quantities of fluid pumped during the two strokes can be suitably proportioned to supply a practically constant flow.

1t is to be noted that the double action of my pump, i. e. its ability to displace fluid upon the down as well as the up stroke, depends upon the fact that the upper end of the tubular plunger is not exposed to the pumped fluid. There is, therefore, no negative displacement of fluid by the upper end of the plunger to balance or offset the positive displacement of its lower end within the barrel 1, as is the case in the ordinary types of hollow well pump plungers, which work only upon the up stroke. rlie only negative displacement which does occur on the down stroke and which only partially offsets the positive displacement of the plunger within the barrel is that caused by the fixed tube 8 within said plunger, but by making the wall of the plunger sufii'ciently thick in proportion to the outside diameter of said tube, such negative displacement becames relatively small in proportion to the positive displacement ofi' the plunger within the barrel.

In other words, the double action of my pump ldoes not depend upon the displacement of a solid piston reciprocating within a cylinder in the usual manner, but is accomplished by means of three concentric tubes, the inner and outer tubes, i. e. the fixed tube v8 and the barrel l being stationary while the middle tube, i. e. the plunger 2, reciprocates in the manner of a piston. The pumping action on the up stroke is the result of the upward movement of the liquid filled plunger tube 2, together with the check valve 4 which prevents the return of the liquid to the barrel 1. The pumping action on the down stroke is due to the displacement of liquid within the barrel 1 by the mass of the plunger tube 2, the check valve or valves 8 preventing the return of the liquid into the well.

1t is also to be noted that my lunger construction lends itself particularly well to the incorporation of the anti-sanding feature described above.

Not only does the double action of the plunger result in less turbulence of the well fluid at the intake, thereby causing less sand to be drawn into the barrel than would be the case in a single acting pump, but by providing the clearance spaces 13 and 14, and by positioning the valves at the lower ends of the barrel and plunger respectively, such sand as is drawn into the barrel settles away from the portions of the pump in which it might do harm, i. e. the rubbing surfaces in the regions of the packings 11 and 12, and is carried out in the fluid stream through the central tube 8.

Finally, it should be noted that there is but one set of valves, comprising one inlet and one discharge, and that. these valves operate only once for each complete, i. e. up and down, stroke, or no more often than in the ordinary single acting pump.

1 claim 1. A well pump comprising a barrel having a fluid inlet at its lower end; a tubular plunger operable in said barrel; a dischar e valve carried in the lower end of said plunger; a fixed member extending into said plunger from its upper end and having a fluid discharge passage in communication with the interior thereof; a spring surrounding said fixed member and acting against the upper end of said plunger to move the same downwardly; and a, tension member extending through said xed member and connected with the plunger in the region of its lower end for moving said plunger upwardly.

2. A well pump comprising a barrel having a fluid inlet in the region vof its lower end; a tubular plunger operable within said barrel, said plunger having a shoulder above vthe upper end of said barrel; a fixed tubular member extending into said plunger from its upper end for conducting the pumped fluid therefrom; a tension member extending through said xed'tubular member and connected with said plunger for lifting it; and a spring surrounding said ixed tubular member and bearing against the shoulder of said plungr for moving it downwardly.

3. A we pump comprising a barrel havmgl a fluid inlet in the region of its lower en an extension rising from the upper end of said barrel and provided with an upper head; a hollow plunger operable within said barrel and provided with a shoulder lying within said' extension; a. fixed tubular member secured to the upper head of said extension and extending into said plunger for conducting the pumped fluid therefrom; a

, tension member extending through said fixed tubular member and connected with said plunger for lifting it; and a spring surrounding said fixed tubular member and positioned within said extension between the head thereof and the shoulder of said plunger for moving the latter downwardly.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

LEROY G. GATES.

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