Electrical submersible pump with single direction lubricant flow
AssigneeBaker Hughes Oilfield Operations LLC
InventorsSteven Alan Howell, David Tanner
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An electrical submersible pumping system (“ESP”) for use in a wellbore includes an electrical motor, a pump, a shaft coupled between the motor and pump, and a lubricant pump for circulating lubricant within the ESP. The lubricant pump includes a diffuser and an impeller that mounts onto and rotates with shaft rotation. A portion of the impeller has a frusto-conical outer surface, which is circumscribed by a portion of the diffuser profiled complementary to the frusto-conical portion of the impeller. The pump directs lubricant flow in a single direction irrespective of the rotational direction of the shaft.
Claims18
An electrical submersible pump assembly (“ESP”) comprising:
- a motor;
- a pump connected to the motor by a shaft;
- a seal section;
- and
- a lubricant pump comprising,
- a diffuser having an axial bore with sidewalls that are oriented generally oblique to an axis of the shaft and that define a frusto-conical flow section within the diffuser, and
- an impeller having an axis and a portion with a frusto-conically shaped outer surface that is disposed within the flow section, so that when the impeller is rotated about the axis and with respect to the diffuser, a lubricant flow is induced along the flow section.
An electrical submersible pump assembly (“ESP”) comprising:
- a motor;
- a pump connected to the motor by a shaft;
- a seal section;
- and
- a lubricant pump comprising,
- an amount of fluid lubricant,
- a diffuser having an axial bore, and
- an impeller disposed in the bore, the diffuser and impeller configured to rotate relative to one another in a clockwise direction and in a counterclockwise direction, and when rotating to induce a flow of the lubricant in an axial direction when rotation is clockwise, and in the same axial direction when rotation is counterclockwise.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.