The application is not the same as for surface motors, I know I do this for a

living, and I have offered several times to give a master class in ESP's to anyone
that wants it.
ESP's require whole new way of looking at the application of motors.
First, ESP motors are ONLY cooled by the well fluid passing over the outside of
the motor housing at a minimum velocity of 1 foot per second. This is achieved
by matching the inflow of the well and production rate of the pump, the size of
the well casing & using the correct OD of the motor. The resulting space between
the motor and casing together with the flow rate will give you the velocity of the
fluid over the motor. We have table for this.
Second, we don't use a 4-20mA signal to tell us the speed of the motor, the
speed in the application is only of secondary concern, as the flow rate is primary.
I will explain.
In an oil well, the pump MUST match the well inflow rate, if the pump production
rate is higher than the inflow rate, then you empty the well as you have exceeded
the amount of fluid flowing into the well thru the perforations, a "Pump off"
situation. If the motor protection is set correctly then hopefully the motor will trip
due to underload before you reach this point.
How do you match pump to well. Using something called "swabbing" where water
is pump into the well to see how much can be absorbed by the the well (this is
completed by Drilling Rig), hopefully it will give you a ball park figure to work
with regarding the inflow rate. Then select the pump size in barrels per day, then
the number of stages required to lift fluid to surface, then the motor HP for the
number of stages.
So why use a VSD? With new wells it has been known that the well can produce
more over time, especially if there is water injection into the resivour pushing
well fluid (and oil) to the ESP. Any change in the frequency of the motor (and
speed) will result in the movement of the pump curve. Typically any ESP motor
can run from 45Hz to 65 Hz with no adverse effects on the motor. So using a VSD
and one size of pump means that you can produce more (or less) from your well
without having to change the pump every few months. In a nutshell, each
frequency change gives you a new pump. Practically, you want that ESP to stay in
that well for at least 2 years if not more
Yes typically in ALL applications of any ESP motor there is a volts drop across the
cable. however that is calculated into the final equation for the "surface voltage".
Surface volts = required motor volts + volts drop of cable (per 1000 ft) (+/10%)
The voltages for VSD's are adjusted by have two high power transformers at
surface, one step down to the VSD, the other to step up the VSD output to
surface voltage. Please lets not get to complicated over transformers, lets accept
they are the right ones for the job!
So we have the right pump and the right motor, its installed and running, how do
we know its working correctly?
You need to monitor the production rate at surface to ensure that;

1: you are producing in the curve of the pump, you don't want the pump in
upthrust or downthrust as the pump won't last 2 months.
2: your production rate is acceptable as per pump curve for the Hz you are
running the ESP at, therefore you have the correct velocity of fluid cooling the
motor
3: the motor running current is stable and the motor protection is set correctly to
prevent motor damage.
Each time you want to make changes to the Hz, you first have to calculate if the
voltage will change, typically ESP motors can handle a voltage change of +/- 10%
before you have to think about changing the step-up TransX taps. A small
frequency change will not bother the motor, but you MUST let the running current
settle and adjust the underload and over load to the NEW running current.
So to sum it up... get the right pump, calculate the right motor required to do the
job, ensure you are in the pump OR at the frequency you've set and you will have
trouble free pumping for at least 2 to 3 years, providing no-one plays with it!