Abstract: The invention generally concerns a submersible well pumping system comprising an axially elongated housing having a diameter less than the bore hole of the well, a multi-chamber hydraulically driven diaphragm pump, suspended in the well. The pump is driven by a self-contained, closed hydraulic system, activated by an electric or hydraulic motor. The flow of working fluid into and out of the working fluid sub-chambers is controlled by a two state main valve with a means to insure the main valve is completely switched, in turn controlled by a control valve which senses the differential pressure across the working diaphragm and generates a hydraulic signal to change the state of the two state main valve, typically when either diaphragm reaches the top of the pumping stroke. Singly or in combination, the means to assure the main valve is completely switched between the two states is an energy storage device, hysterisis in the control valves and or a two position latch the main valve.

Abstract: A compact turbo-molecular pump having a high depressurizing capability. A motor driving the pump includes a rotary shaft, the distal and basal ends of which are supported by magnetic bearings. Each magnetic bearing has a rotated magnet, which is rotated integrally with the rotary shaft, and a fixed magnet, which is opposed to the rotated magnet. The rotated and fixed magnets repel each other. The diameter of the magnetic bearing at the distal end of the rotary shaft is greater than that of the magnetic bearing at the basal end. This decreases movement of the rotary shaft toward its distal end when the pump operates.

Abstract: A downhole pumping system includes a downhole pump that is coupled to a downhole motor. The downhole motor includes a motor protector that utilizes one or more retractable and extensible pistons, instead of an elastomeric bag, to accommodate motor oil contraction and expansion. The motor protector may also include one or more contamination containment sections for processing contaminants in downhole fluid to reduce contamination of the motor oil.

Abstract: A downhole pumping system includes a downhole pump that is coupled to a downhole motor. The downhole motor includes a motor protector that utilizes one or more retractable and extensible bellows, instead of an elastomeric bag, to accommodate motor oil contraction and expansion.

Abstract: A pressure compensator for a sub-sea pumping system for pumping an effluent from a deep-sea wellhead comprising a topside module, a sub-sea module, and an umbilical connection between the topside and sub-sea modules. Hydraulic fluid is circulated through the sub-sea module for cooling and lubricating the motor and the pump. The hydraulic cooling and lubricating fluid is preferably a single hydraulic fluid that is compatible with the effluent being pumped. The hydraulic fluid is circulated through a submerged pressure compensator which may include a bellows assembly. The pressure compensator is responsive to the pressure of the effluent being pumped and pressurizes the hydraulic cooling and lubricating fluid to a pressure above the pressure of the effluent. The pressure compensator also responds when the volume of hydraulic cooling and lubricating fluid in the system is reduced or increased, such as by leakage or thermal expansion, in order to maintain the pressure of the hydraulic fluid.

Abstract: A pump of compact design, which is hermetically sealed to the outside and has no shaft lead-outs to the outside, includes a housing with an internal partition dividing the inside of the housing into a drive section and a pump section. A single shaft, which is supported in the partition, carries on one side the rotor of an electric drive motor and on the other side the impeller of the pump. In the cavity of the drive section, a gas pressure is generated which assists in preventing the pumping material from passing into the drive section.

Abstract: A motor oil-filled protector device for use with an electric submergible pump motor, includes a tubular extension to inhibit contaminated fluid from contacting an internal pressure relief valve. A motor oil pressure relief valve within the protector has an intake in fluidic communication with at least one motor oil-filled expandable chamber and has a discharge in fluidic communication with a fluid-filled section of the housing. Over a period of time, wellbore fluids tend to leak into and displace motor oil within the fluid-filled section. A tubular extension is connected to the discharge of the pressure relief valve and extends into a lower portion of the fluid filled section. When motor oil is discharged from the pressure relief valve, such motor oil will tend to stay within the tubular extension, because the oil is lighter than the wellbore fluids, and thereby inhibit the wellbore fluids from contacting and possibly harming the operation of the pressure relief valve.

Abstract: A protective device for a fluid-filled submersible electric motor powering a downhole pump in a well bore disposed between the motor and pump and forming a sealed assembly with the motor is described. The upper interior portion of the device is sealed to preclude the entry of well fluid and a vent near the lower end of its housing accommodates equalization of pressure between the interior of the device and the well bore with minimum contamination of the motor fluid. The protective device embodies a sealed chamber filled with motor fluid that communicates with the motor first by moving upward from a variable capacity chamber through an internal passageway and then downward through an annular passageway to the motor. An improved assembly for housing and orienting the operational parts of the device is also described.

Abstract: A piston-type compressor includes a cylinder having a liner sleeve in which is mounted a reciprocating piston driven by a crankshaft through a connecting rod. The piston forms a dynamic seal with the sleeve with the volume above the piston head defining a first, or compression chamber. Connected between the piston and the compressor cylinder is a flexible sealing element such as a bellows which defines a second, isolating chamber between the bellows and the dynamic seal and which further defines a third, or crankcase chamber between the bellows and the region of the compressor which includes the crankcase. The volumes in the second and third chambers are chosen so that the pressures therein are generally equal. A bypass filter assists in eliminating the pressure differential across the bellows during startup by maintaining the pressure within the intermediate and crankcase chambers substantially equal.

Abstract: Modular protector apparatus for oil-filled submergible electric motors that drive submergible pumps comprises pluralities of components that are interconnected in different system permutations to form protectors appropriate for different applications. The components include heads, chambers, bases, and interconnecting bodies. The bodies have fluid passages that are adapted to communicate with other components and that are opened and closed selectively to provide desired inter-component flow paths. By virtue of the invention, a wide variety of protector apparatus may be manufactured economically.

Abstract: An equalizer is located either between a downhole submersible pump and the motor or between a gas separator and its motor. There are at least two, and preferably three, flexible concentric bags spaced about a hollow tube with the first bag nested inside the second and the second is nested inside the third forming three separate spaces, i.e., a first space inside the first bag, a second space between the first and second bag, a third space between the second and third bag and a fourth space between the third bag and inside the housing and fifth space inside the hollow tube. When the motor oil heats up it flows into the first space, then through a passage with check valve into the inside of the hollow tube upwardly, and then across a passage to the second space. Another passage with another check valve connects the second space to the third space. The third space is connected by passage with a third check valve to the area outside the third flexible bag.

Abstract: The invention relates to a pump unit comprising a liquid filled electric motor with a house and with a vertical driving shaft extending downwards, a pump comprising a pump house, and a pump portion which is connected with a driving shaft, and a chamber around said driving shaft, between the motor and the pump with a mechanical packing between motor and chamber. The pump unit is characterized by the fact that the motor house and the pump house are combined to a press shell which is closed to the ouside. The chamber has a pressure equalizing connection with a first place in the pump. The liquid filled motor house has a pressure equalizing connection with a second place in the said pump where the pressure is higher than at said first place.

Abstract: An integrated pump and accumulator assembly for use in a system circulating a liquid coolant or the like. A housing defines a pump chamber and an integral closed accumulator chamber. A pump is disposed in the pump chamber and includes a coolant circulating inlet and an outlet. A hermetically sealed expandable and contractable reservoir is disposed in the accumulator chamber. A liquid conduit communicates between the pump chamber and the accumulator chamber on one side of the expandable and contractable reservoir whereby expansion and contraction of the coolant is accommodated by the reservoir. The accumulator chamber is charged with a gas on an opposite side of the reservoir.

Abstract: Substantially continuous fluid delivery in a variable-speed peristaltic pump is achieved by operating the pump at maximum speed through most of the deadband regardless of the delivery rate. Safety means are disclosed to monitor the correct operation of the speed control.

Abstract: A reservoir (1) filled with fluid communicates through a central opening 21 with the inside of a flexible bladder 22 isolating the contents of the reservoir from the sea environment and equilizing the pressure inside the reservoir with the external hydrostatic pressure. An internal dividing wall 2 divides the reservoir into two compartments, the central compartment 3 to which is connected a duct 12 for the expanded fluid and housing a pump 8 for discharge to the platform and for draining water and the annular peripheral compartment 4 housing the pumps 5, 6 for feeding the compressed fluid to the accumulators. The installation can be used as a self contained hydraulic unit or fluid storage reservoir when the pressurized fluid supply is provided from the surface.

Abstract: A pressure compensator for a submersible pump has features to prevent damage while lowering the pump into the well. The pressure compensator includes a bellows located below the pump. A retainer will mechanically retain the bellows in a position other than its maximum lubricant volume position while lowering the pump assembly into the well. Once the motor begins operation, the retainer will release the bellows for normal movement. The retainer includes a linkage member that is connected to the top of the bellows and extends upwardly to the drive shaft. A latching device latches the linkage member to the drive shaft. A reverse threaded portion in the latching device unscrews the latching device from the linkage member once the motor begins to rotate.

Abstract: A method for ensuring fluid-tightness is applicable to a submersible motor for operation under conditions of total and permanent immersion, especially in oil wells and geothermal boreholes. The emergent end of the drive shaft of the motor is fitted with a rotary packing-gland. The motor casing is filled with oil which is circulated via an axial duct of the drive shaft, the impulse being produced by a disk pierced by radial ducts. A second circuit constituted by a system of ducts including radial ducts comes into contact with the packing-gland which is at overpressure with respect to the external medium. This results in a controlled leakage flow between the two portions of the packing-gland.

Abstract: A liquid-seal type motor comprising a cylindrical frame, a stator fixed inside the frame, a can placed at the inner circumferential side of the stator, a pair of end plates placed at both ends of and between the frame and the can to be sealingly connected thereto to thereby form an insulating oil enclosing part in which the stator is confined, a pair of brackets connected to the pair of the end plates respectively and a rotor placed in the can to be journaled by the brackets. The can, the brackets and the rotor define a lubricating oil enclosing part. A pressure adjusting means has a flexible member for sealingly defines the insulating oil enclosing part into two parts and an oil volume reducing member is provided in the insulating oil enclosing part.

Abstract: A liquid-seal type motor comprising a cylindrical frame, a stator fixed inside the frame, a can placed at the inner circumferential side of the stator, a pair of end plates placed at both ends of and between the frame and a can to be sealingly connected thereto to thereby form an insulating oil enclosing part in which the stator is confined, a pair of brackets connected to the pair of the end plates respectively and a rotor placed in the can to be journaled by the brackets, a lubricating oil enclosing part being defined by the can, brackets and rotor wherein a flexible pressure adjusting means is placed in the insulating oil enclosing part to sealingly define the interior of the part into two chambers.

Abstract: A pressure compensator for a submersible pump has features to prevent damage while lowering the pump into the well. The pressure compensator includes a bellows located below the pump. A retainer will mechanically retain the bellows in a position other than its maximum lubricant volume position while lowering the pump assembly into the well. Once the motor begins operation, the retainer will release the bellows for normal movement. The retainer inlcudes a linkage member that is connected to the top of the bellows and extends upwardly to the drive shaft. A latching device latches the linkage member to the drive shaft. A reverse threaded portion in the latching device unscrews the latching device from the linkage member once the motor begins to rotate. A pressure sensing assembly is coupled between the pressure compensator and the motor. A toroidal inductor in the sensing assembly provides a passage for the linkage member.

Abstract: A motor-pump unit for submerging down a well, e.g. an oil well, comprises a motor portion driving a pump portion. The motor portion is filled with fluid to prevent ingress of the surrounding medium which the pump portion pumps. The fluid is maintained at a higher pressure than the surrounding medium by including a flexible tank filled with fluid and in communication with the fluid in the motor portion. The flexible tank is compressed both by the surrounding medium and by resilient compression means so that the pressure inside the motor is higher than the surrounding pressure, thereby ensuring any leakage is outwardly from the motor. Down the well the temperature rises causing the fluid to expand, so the flexible tank is left substantially empty when the unit is prepared at the surface prior to lowering.

Abstract: A liquid-proofing system for an electric motor, having a casing divided by two partition walls into three coaxially arranged chambers--a top chamber, an intermediate chamber, and a bottom chamber. The partition walls have openings for establishing communication between chambers and for the passage of a shaft interconnecting the shafts of the electric motor and pump. The top chamber is filled with an intermediate liquid, and the lower and the intermediate chambers are filled with the same oil as the oil filling the electric motor. Seals are provided which are formed by rotary and stationary parts and secured to the shaft and partition walls, respectively. The top chamber and the intermediate chamber communicate through pipes directly with the lower part of the bottom chamber, and the seals are installed in the intermediate chamber, the lower part of the bottom chamber and the pipe connecting it to the top chamber being filled with the intermediate liquid.

Abstract: A submersible pump assembly has pressure compensator features to avoid negative pressure at the top of the tool during installation. The submersible pump assembly has an electric motor contained within a lubricant filled motor chamber below a pump. A pressure compensator chamber is located below the motor chamber and separated by a partition. The pressure compensator chamber is also filled with lubricant. A passage bypasses the partition and leads to the motor chamber above the motor. A bellows is mounted in the pressure compensator chamber with its mouth facing upwardly. A port extends from the exterior of the pressure compensator chamber to the interior of the bellows for admitting well fluid. Also, the bellows may be filled with a heavy fluid during installation so as to retard contraction of the bellows if the tool is suddenly jerked to a stop. The bypass passage is not required in this embodiment.

Abstract: In a fluid-filled electric motor having a throughgoing shaft the requirements (i) internal fluid pressure maintained above ambient during installation (ii) equalization of internal and ambient pressures at run-up (iii) no solid particles contaminate internal fluid are met by a pressurizing apparatus in which internal motor pressure above ambient moves a piston against a spring. The pressure ensures integrity of a seal and pressure and temperature variations are accommodated by piston movement. The seal runs clear of the motor shaft allowing equalization of internal and ambient pressures during run up to speed. Only liquid can enter the spring chamber.

Abstract: Power supply apparatus having a two part housing, the first part containing a motor in a gas environment and the second part containing a pump in a pressurized fluid environment, the second part having an inlet and outlet for passage of pressurized fluid to and from a tool to be driven by means of the pressurized fluid, the apparatus being of particular use under water, wherein pressure-equalizing means is provided for adjusting the pressure in both parts of the housing simultaneously in response to changes in ambient pressure outside the housing.

Abstract: The invention is a hermetically sealed motor driven pump cooled by a liquid dielectric coolant. The pump has an impeller housing, a motor housing containing a liquid dielectric cooling fluid of the same type as the pumped fluid, and a sealing means between the impeller housing and the motor housing to prevent flow of the pumped fluid from the impeller housing to the motor housing. An electric motor is contained in the motor housing with a shaft extending into the impeller housing and an impeller attached to the shaft inside the impeller housing. A hollow conduit from the discharge port of the impeller housing to the motor housing is used to create a fluid pressure inside the motor housing equal to the pressure of the pumped fluid at the discharge port to increase the heat dissipation. Particles in the pumped fluid are effectively excluded from contacting the bearings. The hollow conduit may contain a filter or desiccant and the motor housing may contain a magnetic plug.