Linear induction motor plunger lift
AssigneeConocoPhillips Company
InventorLeonard J. DeCarlo
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A plunger lift system that uses a linear induction motor instead of gas or fluid pressure to lift the plunger. Electrical voltage is applied to electromagnets installed along the tubing of a wellbore that will induce magnets contained within a special plunger that is introduced inside the tubing to move it and allow it to lift liquids with a piston-like action. The electromotive force may be adjusted by varying the applied voltage as needed to lift the column of liquid from the wellbore or the current reversed to accelerate and optimize plunger descent.
Claims15
A plunger lift system, comprising:
- a) a downhole tubing comprising a linear induction motor (LIM), and
- b) a plunger lift device comprising magnets or electromagnets or magnetically responsive materials arranged in circumference around said plunger lift, and
- c) wherein a lifting force for said plunger lift device is provided by said linear induction motor
- wherein said plunger lift device comprising first and second plunger lifts devices connected in tandem by a hollow tube allowing fluid from said first plunger lift to said second plunger lift.
An improved plunger lift system, wherein the plunger lift system having a tubing positioned in a cased well, a plunger in the tubing moveable from the bottom of the tubing to a top of the tubing, wherein lifting force is provided by fluid pressure buildup in said well, said improvement comprising a tubular linear induction motor (TLIM) inside said well and operatively coupled to said plunger to provide lifting force, said TLIM being driven by three phase alternating current, wherein said TLIM comprises i) a stator being a pipe section with three-phase windings embedded in a laminated ferromagnetic core and ii) a rotor being a two-layer-wall wheeled capsule, with ferromagnetic inner layer and conductive outer layer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.