Progressive

Cavity Pump
(PCP)
Prepared by

Mohamed Elbadri
Senior Production Engineer

Presentation Components
Introduction
PCP

Equipment
Pump Sizing
Installation
Commissioning
Troubleshooting
Winpetro Program

Introduction
A PCP

consists of a single rotor which

rotates inside stator, the rotor is made
from high strength steel and stator from
elastomer.
When the rotor is inserted in the stator,
two chains of cavities are formed and
as the rotor turns within the stator the
sealed cavity moves up and carries the
well fluid.

 The

rotor is attached to the sucker rods

and stator attached to the tubing.
PCP types are designated by two
numbers, The first one is the pumping
rate in m3/d at 500 RPM and zero head.
The second one indicates the head
capacity in meters. 600TP900 The
pumping rate is 600 m3/d and head is
900 m.

PCP Equipment
Surface

Equipment.
Downhole Equipment.
Accessories.

Surface
Equipment
Top Drive and
Motor
The functions of the drive head are:
To transmit the rotation to the rod string
(belts, pulleys, hex shaft).
To carry the load of the rod string and that of
the fluid in the tubing (rod clamp).
To isolate the drive unit from the well fluid
(stuffing box).
To control the backward rotation (brake
system).

Speed Reduction in the drive System

Drive
Pulley
(mm)
190
200
212
236
250
200
236
180

Driven
Pulley
(mm)
500
630
500
560
800
560
500
630

Reduction
Ratio

Motor
RPM

Rod RPM

2.63
3.15
2.36
2.37
3.20
2.80
2.12
3.50

988
988
988
988
988
988
988
988

375
314
419
416
309
353
466
282

Down
hole
Equipment

Polished Rod
Sucker rods
Sucker Rod Centralizers
Rotor
Stator
Pup joint
Stop bushing
Torque anchor

Sucker rods
Sucker

rods function is to transmit the

rotation from Top Drive to the rotor.
The max stress is at the top of the rod
string.
Sucker rod length 25 or 30 ft.
Pony rods 1- 2- 4- 6- 8- 10- 12 ft

Sucker Rods Grades

There are three grades of sucker rods
- API grade C, made from carbonmanganese steel. For medium duty in non
corrosive fluid.
- API grade k, from nickel-molybdenum alloy
steel. For medium duty in corrosive fluid
(H2s, Co2).
- API grade D, from chrome-molybdenum
alloy steel. For heavy duty in non corrosive
fluid.

 In

GNPOC we use grade D sucker rods,

and the maximum allowable stress for
this grade is 90000 psi

Sucker Rods Torque and Load

The

forces exerted on rods are:

- An axial load
- A torque which transmit the rotation.
The maximum stress in the rods is on
the top of the rod string.
The maximum allowable stress for the
rod is depends on the rod grade, and it
is increase with the rod outside
diameter in the same grade.

Sucker Rods Centralizers

To stabilize

rod string, eliminate tubing

wear and rod coupling wear.

Rotor
Rotor is a single piece, total length of the

rotor exceeds that of the stator by 0.45 to

0.50 m.
There are different temperature codes and
different out side diameters for each type of
rotor, the higher the code the smaller out
side diameter.
To select the temperature code we have to
choose 2 scales over the actual downhole
temperature. If downhole temperature is 90
C (code 10), we need to go to code 12
(temp. 125 C).

Temperature codes
Temperature
(o C)

(o F)

65
80
95
110
125
140

150
175
200
230
255
280

Code
8
9
10
11
12
13

Polished Rod

Rod String
and Rotor

X-over
Sucker Rod

Rod Centralizer

Rod Coupling

Rotor

Stator
Stator

is made from elastomer. The

elastomer properties affected by the
gas/liquid ratio and the temperature at
the pump setting depth.
The common changes in elastomer
mechanical properties are:
- Swelling which leads to excessive
interference between rotor and stator.
- Hardening which leads to loss the
elastomer resilience.

Pup Joint

The

pup joint function is to allow for the

movement of the rotor head and it is
coupling, because the inside diameter of
the tubing is small.
The common length of this joint is 4 ft
and the out side diameter is 4 inch.

Stop Bushing
Is

connected to the bottom of the stator,

it provides length of 0.30 m for possible
elongation of the rod and serves as
landing spot during spacing out.

Torque Anchor
When

the rotor rotates clockwise, it is

friction against the stator tends to rotate
the tubing clockwise and this creates a
risk of tubing disconnected, the torque
anchor eliminates this risk.

Torque Anchor

Down Hole
Equipment

Surface Casing

Sucker Rod
Tubing
Tubing Drain

Pup Joint

Stator

Rotor

Stop Bushing

Tubing Anchor
Production Casing
Perforation
T.D.

Accessories
Well Head
Master valve

Flow Tee

Casing valve
Tubing spool

Casing spool

Tubing Drain

Power supply
Primary

voltage and frequency, to

determine the step down transformer.

Pump Sizing
Required Data for Selection
Well Data
Casing size.
Tubing size and thread type.
Perforation interval.
Well deviation.

Production Data
Well

head pressure.
Static fluid level or static bottom hole
pressure.
Dynamic fluid level or bottom hole
flowing pressure.
Flow rate.
Bottom hole temperature.
Productivity Index.

Fluid Data
Oil

API.
Water cut.
Bubble point pressure.
Gas oil ratio.

Example 01
Well Data
Total Depth
Perforation
Casing Size
Tubing Size

2000 m
1800-1820, 1850-1860 mkb
177.8 mm
88.9 mm

Production data
Static Fluid Level (SFL)
Casing head pressure
Dynamic Fluid Level (DFL)
Current Flow Rate (Q)

80 m
0.0 kpa
250 m
160 m3/d

Fluid Data
Oil Gravity

31 API

Required flow rate

Required well head pressure (WHP)

480 m3/d
900 kpa

Analysis
Oil Specific Gravity (S.G.)

Oil Gradient

141.5
131.5 + API

141.5
131.5 + 31

= = 0.87*9.80

0.87

8.521 kpa/m

1830 m

Middle of Perforation

= (1800 + 1860)/2

Reservoir pressure (Ps)

= (Mid. Perf.-SFL)*Gradient +Casing head pres

= (1830 - 80)*8.521 + 0.0

= 14911 kpa

Bottom hole flowing pres.(Pwf) =

(Mid. Perf - DFL)*Gradient

= (1830 - 250)*8.521

Productivity Index (P.I.)=

13463 kpa

Q
=
160
= 0.11 m3/d/kpa
Ps - Pwf
14911 -13463

The dynamic fluid level at the required rate

Pwf @ 480 m3/d

DFL @ 480 m3/d

Well head pressure

Ps _ Q = 14911- 480 = 10548 kpa

P.I.
0.11
Mid Perf -

Pwf
Gradient

900 = 105 m
8.521

= 1830 - 10548=593 m
8.521

Friction loss in tubing (FL) =

8.84*900
305

=26 m

Total dynamic head (TDH) =

DFL + WHP + FL= 593 + 105 + 26 = 724 m

The required rate is 480 m and the toatal dynamic head is 724 m, the suitable
pump is 600TP900
Pump setting depth 900 m
Required power

Q*H*D

600*900*870/102/86400

Q : Flow rate
H : Head
D : Density
Required power

54 KW

Friction Loss

1000
900
800
700

FT 1000FT
/

600
500
400
300
200
100
0
0

5000

10000

15000

BBL/D

2.875"

3.5"

4.5

5.5"

20000

25000

Example 02
Well Data
Total Depth
Perforation
Casing Size
Tubing Size

2300 mkb
1980-1996
177.8 mm
88.9 mm

Production data
Reservoir pressure (Ps)
Productivity Index (P.I.)
Flow Rate (Q)
Well head pressure (WHP)

17000 kpa
0.098 m3/d/kpa
320 m3/d
700 kpa

Fluid Data
Oil Gravity (API)

33 API

Analysis
Oil Specific Gravity (S.G.) =

Oil Gradient

141.5
131.5 + API
141.5
131.5 + 33

= 0.86

= 0.86*9.80

= 8.423 kpa/m

Middle of Perforation

= (1980 + 1996)/2

Productivity Index (P.I.)

Q
Ps - Pwf

Bottom hole flowing pres (Pwf) =

17000 -

Dynamic fluid level (DFL) = Mid Perf -

= 1988 m

320
0.098

= 13735 kpa

Pwf
Gradient

1988 - 13735
8.423

= 358 m

Well head pressue

Friction loss in tubing

Total dynamic head

700
8.423

= 83 m

3.65*800
304.78

= 10 m

= 421+83 +10

= 451 m

The flow rate is 320 m3/d and the total dynamic head is 451 m, the
suitable pump is 400TP600
The pump setting depth is 800 m
Required Power

= Q*H*D
= 400*600*860/102/86400 = 24KW

Rods and Rotor Installation

Rotor Landing in the Stator

Run

the rotor and rod string in the well.

When the rotor enters the stator, the
string rotates to the right and this level
is top of the stator.
Pick up the rod string slowly and
observe the reading of Weight Indicator.
Lower the string slowly until the rotor
lands on the stop bushing ( the weight
drops).

 Pick

up slowly until the weight indicator

reading is same as the previous
reading, then the rotor is just off the
stop bushing.
Space out.
The space out is the sum of rod
hydraulic stretch at operating pressure
+ thermal stretch + stop bushing length
+ 100 mm margin

Rod Stretch
1''

1 1/8''

1 1/4''

Axial load in tons

2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
Total head in bars

0.0

50

100

150

50
1000 ft

2000 ft

100
150
200

3000 ft
(914 m)

250
300

4000 ft
Rod length
(Pump Depth)

350

Pump Type: 600TP900

Sucker Rod = 1''
Total head = 900 m = 90 bar
Rod length = 3000 ft = 914 m
Axial load

= 1.58 tons

Rod stretch = 140 mm = 5.51''

Commissioning

Run the well for short time.

Make sure that the polished rod rotates in
clockwise direction.
Check sucker rods rotation per minute.
Check the sealing of the stuffing box.
Test the pressure switch.
Record the tubing head pressure, casing
head pressure and flow line temperature to
confirm that the well is producing.

Troubleshooting

Well Diagnosis Procedure

1)Check with FPF to see the well status, if the
well is shut in ask the Field Forman to send field
operator with you to re-start the pump .
2)Read and record the shut in tubing head
pressure and shut in casing head pressure
before re-start the well.
3)After re-started observe the Top Drive
( the break system, belts , pulleys and the
stuffing box) and the Motor and hear if there is
abnormal noise.

4) Wait about one hour for well fluid to

move from bottom hole to surface.
5) Read and record the flowing tubing
head pressure, flowing casing head
pressure and flow line temperature. If
the pump dose not produces, the flow
line temperature will be same as the
ambient temperature.
6) Measure and record the RPM.

7) Close the flow line valve and observe

the following:
a)Tubing head pressure gauge. If the
well is producing (pumping or natural
flow ) the pressure will build up.
b) The casing head pressure.
8) Read and record the amps and
compare your reading with a recent
amps reading. In case of tubing hole or
parted rod your

reading will be less than the previous

reading and in case of swelling or any
resistance to rotation your reading will
be higher than the previous reading.
9) Measure the dynamic fluid level and
compare between your result and a
recent dynamic fluid level. In case of
parted rod, tubing hole or parted
tubing the previous reading will be
deeper than your reading.

10) Observe the polished rod rotation. In

case of rotor stuck you will see strong
resistance to the rotation and the polished
rod will rotate for some minutes and stop and
the amps will increase suddenly and
smoke may come out from belts. (In this case
tell the operator to put the power off and
inform Field Forman to keep the well
shutdown).
11) Put the power off and observe the counterclockwise rotation. In case of parted rod or
parted tubing will be no counter-clockwise
rotation, and in case of

rotor twisted you may see counterclockwise rotation with low speed for
few minutes.
12) If there is no flow from the well and
there is counter-clockwise rotation with
high speed for some minutes, this may
be due to low inflow and the pump lifting
capacity is not enough to lift the well
fluid.

Winpetro Program