Abstract: A rod pump control system includes a parameter estimator that determines from motor data parameters relating to operation of the rod pump and/or downhole dynamometer card without the need for external instrumentation, such as down hole sensors, rod load sensors, flow sensors, acoustic fluid level sensors, etc. In one embodiment, instantaneous motor current and voltage together with pump parameters are used in determining rod position and load. The rod position and load are used to control the operation of the rod pump to optimize the operation of the pump. Also disclosed in a pump stroke amplifier that is capable of increasing pump stroke without changing the overall pumping speed, or in the alternative, maintaining the well output with decreased overall pumping speed.

Abstract: The present invention contains a one-way standing valve holder and a one-way traveling valve holder. Contained within a shell of the standing valve holder are a nipple at the upper end and an intake tube at the lower end. A piston rod extends down from the earth's surface to the traveling valve holder. At the lower end of the release tube is a piston. The piston end of the traveling valve holder is inserted into the nipple end of standing valve holder aligning the piston with piston stop. An elastic ball within the shell creates a one-way standing valve, and a hard ball within the piston creates a one-way traveling valve. Surface equipment connected to traveling valve holder is used to reciprocate the pump up and down opening and closing the one-way valves at alternating intervals. Water fills into the riser pipe and additional pumping allows collection of water.

Abstract: A rodless pump is disclosed which is connected to a pressure source via a first conduit. In a common oilfield application the pump would be connected to the bottom of a tubing string within the reservoir fluid to be produced. A pressure source such as a hydraulic pump would be connected at the surface to the tubing string so as to selectively apply pressure via fluid in the first conduit to the pump, raising the plunger assembly in the pump drawing reservoir fluid into the pump. When pressure via the surface pressure source is released, a balancing fluid, connected to the pump from the surface through a second conduit positioned within the first conduit, urging the plunger assembly downward in the pump urging the reservoir fluid in the pump into the tubing and to the surface. Preferably, the pump includes dampening mechanisms at both the top and bottom of the plunger stroke so as to reduce metal to metal impact within the pump.

Abstract: A debris evacuation apparatus and method evacuates debris in a pumping system that forms between the plunger exterior and barrel interior. The apparatus has at least one seal and one groove located south of the seal, with the seal blocking northward travel of debris and directing it to the groove. Ports within the groove permit debris to enter the debris evacuation apparatus. Interior to the debris evacuation apparatus, the entering debris will become mixed with pumped fluid, and will be drawn out of the pumping system with the pumped fluid. The pumped fluid passing through the debris evacuation apparatus will be caused to rotate by a screw-in insert located at a south portion of the debris evacuation apparatus, utilizing a plurality of angled veins surrounding a closed center section located at a north end of the screw-in insert.

Abstract: An apparatus and a method for cleaning the open perforations in a well and for bailing a well. The apparatus has a tubular conduit with at least one seal attached to it that forms a seal between the well casing and the exterior of the conduit. The seal is held in place on the tubular conduit by two shoulders formed where the upper and lower sections of the conduit meet a middle section. The upper end of the conduit is adapted to releasably engage the lower end of a bailer. The upper end of the conduit releasably engages the middle section and can be removed to replace the seals when worn. The apparatus has a valve section designed to releasably engage the lower end of the tubular conduit or the lower end of a bailer.

Abstract: A plunger for well casings and tubulars comprising: an upper valve rod segment slideably positioned within the plunger body; a valve rod tube slideably positioned in the lower end of the plunger body; a lower valve rod segment slideably positioned in the valve rod tube; a spring positioned between the upper and lower valve rod segments; and a valve element on the upper valve rod segment for closing the plunger flow passage when the upper valve rod segment moves to a closing position. The plunger preferably also comprises an exterior flexible sealing member and a sealing member actuator operated by the valve rod tube. A shield is also preferably provided in the plunger body to prevent premature closure of the valve element.

Abstract: A reciprocating downhole pump has a gas separator located at its bottom end. The separator forms a chamber that is expanded and contracted when the pump is reciprocated. Expansion and contraction of the chamber occurs by either the plunger reciprocating in the chamber or a piston coupled to the plunger reciprocating in the chamber. The chamber has an orifice therein so that during reciprocation fluid flows in and out of the orifice. The orifice is sized so as to subject the fluid to a pressure drop, wherein gas in the fluid is separated from the liquid.

Abstract: An improved electrical pump is first provided for use in a wellbore. The pump comprises a stator and a stator housing, and an armature and an armature housing. The stator housing and the armature housing define concentrically nested tubular bodies. The armature housing is configured to permit production fluids to flow therethrough. In one aspect, the stator and armature are assembled in connectible and interchangeable sections called “modules” that can be attached in series. In one aspect, the electrical operation of coils within the stator is protected from individual coil short-circuiting or failure by wiring them in parallel, rather than in series. In addition, each module may be wired in parallel. In this way, a failure of one stator module will not result in the failure of another stator module. In an embodiment of the present invention, the valves of the pump are capable of being retrieved by a wireline, without pulling the entire production string.

Abstract: A mechanical bladder pump is provided for collecting fluid samples from a well. The pump includes an outer tubular member having a longitudinal bore, and an inner tubular member arranged within the bore of the outer tubular member. The inner and outer tubular members are connected at their lower ends to a compressible bladder, and are arranged for oscillating movement relative to each other to expand and compress the bladder. The lower end of the bladder is open to an inlet passage, and the upper end of the bladder is open to an outlet passage. First and second check valves are provided to control the flow of fluid through the bladder during operation of the pump. A return spring is used to store energy during a tension stroke of the inner tubular member and to release energy during a compression stroke thereof. The pump provides highly representative samples of groundwater.

Abstract: An improved, unattended, liquid pumping device for oil and gas wells featuring a bellows controlled flow valve that opens and closes at preset pressures. Additionally a well head receiver design that releases shut in production gas below the pumping device and provides a positive pressure differential across the pumping device prior to valve opening.

Abstract: A downhole pump having a barrel with a reciprocating plunger therein has at least one valve. The valve has a cage, a seat and a ball. The cage has a passageway extending between two ends, with the passage including a ball chamber. The ball chamber is between a perforated member and a stop. The ball is located in the ball chamber between the perforated member and the seat, which abuts the stop. The ball is movable along a raceway. The raceway has ribs with channels therebetween. The raceway skews away from a longitudinal axis of the ball chamber from the seat toward to the perforated member. The raceway can be made of a material that is either harder or softer or the same as the hardness of the inner wall of the ball chamber. In another embodiment, the valve has a throat with a stop for receiving a seat. The ball chamber has portions that are hardened. The clearance between the ball and the hardened portions of the ball chamber is at least twice as large as the clearance between the ball and the throat.

Abstract: A rodless pump is disclosed which is connected to a pressure source via a first conduit. In a common oilfield application the pump would be connected to the bottom of a tubing string within the reservoir fluid to be produced. A pressure source such as a hydraulic pump would be connected at the surface to the tubing string so as to selectively apply pressure via fluid in the first conduit to the pump, raising the plunger assembly in the pump drawing reservoir fluid into the pump. When pressure via the surface pressure source is released, a balancing fluid, connected to the pump from the surface through a second conduit positioned within the first conduit, urging the plunger assembly downward in the pump urging the reservoir fluid in the pump into the tubing and to the surface. Preferably, the pump includes dampening mechanisms at both the top and bottom of the plunger stroke so as to reduce metal to metal impact within the pump.

Abstract: A positive displacement pump for pumping fluids from a downhole formation to the earth's surface is provided. The pump first comprises a plunger. The plunger is reciprocated axially within the wellbore by a linear actuator, such as a submersible electrical pump, in order to form an upstroke and a downstroke. A pump inlet is disposed near the bottom end of the plunger, while a pump outlet is disposed near the top end of the plunger. The pump is configured such that it is able to pump a first volume of fluid upward within the wellbore during the pump's upstroke, and a second volume of fluid upward within the wellbore during the pump's downstroke. Thus, the pump is “double-acting.

Abstract: A traveling valve for use in a sucker rod pump having a cylindrical housing having an interior passageway and a tapered shoulder formed therein and a piston received within the interior passageway and slidable therein. The piston has a mechanically operated sliding shear seal positioned interior of the housing. The piston has a surface thereon generally conforming to a shape of the tapered shoulder in the interior passageway. Separate channels extend through the wall of the housing so as to communicate between the interior of the housing and the annulus of the tubing string.

Abstract: A bottom discharge valve is located on the bottom of the pump barrel just above the standing valve. The externally threaded pin end of the standing valve threads into the lower internally threaded portion of the bottom discharge valve. The externally threaded or pin end of the bottom discharge valve is large enough to allow the plunger cage or the traveling valves to actually stroke into the hollow portion of the neck or pin end of the disclosed bottom discharge valve.

Abstract: A valve assembly for an oil pumping system including a shell, a seat affixed in a lower end of the shell, a ball positioned within the shell and having a diameter greater than a diameter of the seat, and a cage positioned within the interior passageway of the shell. The cage has a first ported area and a second ported area on opposite sides of a ball retaining system. An elastomeric ring or a resilient member is positioned against a top of the cage.

Abstract: A bottom discharge valve is located on the bottom of the pump barrel just above the standing valve. The externally threaded pin end of the standing valve threads into the lower internally threaded portion of the bottom discharge valve. The externally threaded or pin end of the bottom discharge valve is large enough to allow the plunger cage or the traveling valves to actually stroke into the hollow portion of the neck or pin end of the disclosed bottom discharge valve.

Abstract: A travelling valve assembly for use in a sucker rod activated fluid pump includes: a flow through body member having at least one rounded groove formed in the lower end of a central passageway of the flow through body member; and a downwardly depending member adapted to strike a ball valve of the valve assembly after the ball valve rises off a valve seat member of the valve assembly.

Abstract: An auto-cycling plunger for use in lifting a fluid out of a well bore. The auto-cycling plunger includes a hollow, longitudinally extending body and at least one first directional outer seal disposed on an exterior surface of the body for creating a seal between the body and a well bore. At least a portion of the at least one first directional outer seal extends in a direction substantially parallel to a length of the longitudinally extending body. The portion of the first directional outer seal is spread resiliently outwardly from the body with an applied pressure, thereby increasing the degree of sealing. The auto-cycling plunger also includes a valve stem including a valve member, the valve stem extending through the longitudinally extending body and having actuable ends extending from the body. The valve stem is operable to be shuttled between an open position and a closed position.

Abstract: A positive-displacement pump (lifting pump) comprises a pump housing with a pump chamber having an inlet and an outlet passage controlled by an outlet check valve; a displacement member which delimits the pump chamber in one direction of movement of the displacement member and which is reciprocable in the pump chamber within a stroke region and includes a second check valve opening into the pump chamber within a stroke region and includes a second check valve opening into the pump chamber and disposed in a passage between the inlet and the pump chamber; and an actuating mechanism for repetitively reciprocating the displacement member in the pump housing within the stoke region.

Abstract: A pad plunger assembly, for use in gas well tubing, includes an elongated mandrel having opposite ends and a longitudinal axis extending between the opposite ends, a pair of opposite end members each attached to one of the opposite ends of the mandrel, and a seal-forming pad subassembly disposed about the mandrel and between the opposite end members thereon. The pad subassembly has an outer exterior surface of an annular concave configuration formed by opposite end portions of the outer exterior surface being disposed farther radially outwardly from the longitudinal axis of the mandrel than an intermediate portion of the outer exterior surface is disposed radially outwardly from the longitudinal axis of the mandrel such that a frictional seal which generates reduced friction is provided on the interior wall surface of the gas well tubing.

Abstract: An improved travelling valve has a ball which is positioned on a seal stem, so that the ball is reliably centered when seated on the valve seat, reducing damage to the ball and seat from improper seating and providing increased efficiency for deviated or non-vertical pumping operations and the pumping of highly viscous fluids such as heavy crude. The improved travelling valve is constructed so that a lower portion of the valve rotates during pumping, and thereby imparts rotational movement to the fluid passed therethrough. Such rotational movement of the valve and fluid helps reduce gas lock, and reduces damage to the ball, seat, and valve exterior from impurities in the pumped fluid. Preferably, rotational movement is caused by angled channels in an interior portion of a vein rotator positioned at the bottom of the travelling valve, working in combination with angled channels in the seal stem.

Abstract: A travelling valve assembly for use in a sucker rod activated fluid pump includes: a flow through body member having at least one rounded groove formed in the lower end of a central passageway of the flow through body member; and a downwardly depending member adapted to strike a ball valve of the valve assembly after the ball valve rises off a valve seat member of the valve assembly.

Abstract: Fluid pumping apparatus for pumping fluids from a well comprising a downhole pump disposed near the lower end of a production string and including a tubular pump barrel and a tubular pump plunger concentrically disposed in the pump barrel in a sliding and sealing fit therewith, one of the pump barrel and the pump plunger being fixed to the production string, the other being attached to the lower end of a string of rods for reciprocal movement. A standing valve is provided in the fixed one of the pump barrel and the pump plunger. A traveling valve is provided in the other. A cylindrical polished rod, the lower end of which is connected to the string of rods, extends upwardly through a sealing assembly for sliding and sealing reciprocation therethrough, the diameter of the polished rod being at least as great as the outside diameter of the pump plunger.

Abstract: Fluid pumping apparatus for pumping fluids from a well comprising a downhole pump disposed near the lower and of a production string and including a tubular pump barrel and a tubular pump plunger concentrically disposed in the pump barrel in a sliding and sealing fit therewith, one of the pump barrel and the pump plunger being fixed to the production string the other being attached to the lower end of a string of rods for reciprocal movement. A standing valve is provided in the fixed one of the pump barrel and the pump plunger. A traveling valve is provided in the other. A cylindrical polished rod, the lower end of which is connected to the string of rods, extends upwardly through a sealing assembly for sliding and sealing reciprocation therethrough, the diameter of the polished rod being at least as great as the outside diameter of the pump plunger.

Abstract: A relievable check valve assembly having various trigger forms for oil wells and water wells adapted to control the liquid flow when inserted tubing is being removed from a well.

Abstract: The downhole pump has a barrel with a reciprocating plunger therein. The barrel has a first one-way valve, while the plunger has a second one-way valve. A barrel chamber is formed between the two one-way valves. The barrel chamber expands when the reciprocal movement between the plunger and the barrel is an upstroke movement and then contracts when the reciprocal movement is a downstroke movement. A bypass channel is provided between the barrel and the plunger so as to provide communication around the plunger and its one-way valve. The bypass channel is open when the reciprocal movement is near an end of the upstroke movement. When open, pressure across the plunger can equalize and gas inside the barrel chamber can vent around the plunger and/or pressure can equalize across the plunger one-way valve so as to prevent gas lock and minimize stress on the sucker rods.

Abstract: A plunger in a plunger lift system in an oil and gas well includes circumferential recessed surfaces that define grooves spaced along the plunger body. A curved convex surface or radius is formed between the lower extent of each recessed surface and the plunger body, and a sharp edge or corner connects the upper extent of each recessed surface to the plunger body. The depth of the grooves decreases and the spacing between the grooves decreases from the bottom to the top of the plunger. The shape, sizing and spacing of the grooves improves plunger lift and decreases liquid loss during plunger lift.