PETROLEUM PRODUCTION ENGINEERING II

LECTURE: 4

PROGRESSIVE CAVITY PUMPING

4.1 DEFINITION
•The progressive cavity pump (PCP) is positive displacement
pump that does not rely on valves to pump fluids, using an
eccentrically rotating single-helical rotor, turning inside
double-helical stator (Fig. 4.1).
•The Rotor is usually constructed of high strength steel rod,
typically double-chrome plated.
•The Stator is resilient elastomer molded inside steel casing.
4.2 PCP ADVANTAGES
￮Simple two piece design and lightweight surface equipment
for visual and height sensitive areas;
￮High system efficiency and low maintenance costs;
￮Low power consumption and quiet operation;
￮Good for pumping heavy crude oil with abrasives and solids.
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Fig. 4.1: Progressive cavity pump construction
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4.3 PCP DISADVANTAGES
￮Restricted setting depths (< 7000 ft);
￮Restricted flowrate (≤ 5000 bpd);
￮Short operating life (2 – 5 years) because of high potential for
tubing and rod coupling wear;
￮Low volumetric efficiency in high GOR wells;
￮Sensitive to some produced fluids and high temperature
(elastomer swells in some crude oils).
4.4 PUMPING SYSTEM
•There are two types of PCP system (Fig. 4.2):
￮Topdrive PCP consist of: Prime mover; Surface drive head;
Drive rod string and Downhole pump.
￮Bottomdrive PCP consist of: Transformer; Surface VSD;
Junction Box and Downhole PC pump; Intake; Protector;
Motor; Cable. 79
Topdrive Bottomdrive
Fig. 4.2: Progressive cavity pump system
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•Downhole PC Pump is comprised of single helical-shaped
rotor that turns inside double-helical elastomer stator.
•Stator is attached to the production tubing string and remains
stationary during pumping.
•Rotor is attached to sucker rod string which is suspended and
rotated by the surface drive.
•In some cases, PCP pumps are connected to electric
submersible motors rather than using sucker rod string and
surface drive.
•Work of progressing cavity pumps is based on rotation of rotor
inside screw stator.
•As the rotor turns eccentrically in the stator, a series of sealed
cavities form and progress from the inlet to the discharge end
of the pump.
•The result is non-pulsating positive displacement flow.
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•The PCP discharge rate is proportional to:
￮The size of the cavity;
￮Rotational speed of the rotor;
￮The differential pressure across the pump.
4.5 DOWN-HOLE PCP CHARACTERISTICS
•Proper selection of PCP requires knowledge of:
￮Geometry;
￮Displacement;
￮Head;
￮Torque requirements.
4.5.1 PCP GEOMETRY
•Fig. 4.3 illustrates rotor and stator geometry of PCP, where:
D – rotor diameter, in.;
E – rotor/stator eccentricity, in.;
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Cavity

Fig. 4.3: PCP Rotor and stator geometry

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 Pr – pitch length of rotor, ft;
Ps – pitch length of stator, ft.
•Two numbers define the geometry of the PCP:
￮The number of lobes of rotor;
￮The number of lobes of the stator.
•The pump with single-helical rotor and double-helical stator is
described as “1:2 pump” where:
Ps = 2Pr.
•For multilobe pump:
(4.1)

￮where:
Lr – the number of rotor lobes.
•The ratio of Pr/Ps is called the “kinematics ratio”.
•Pitch is the length of one revolution of helix.
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4.5.2 PCP DISPLACEMENT
•Pump displacement is defined by the fluid volume produced in
one revolution of the rotor:
(4.2)
•Pump flow rate is:

(4.3)

￮where:
Qc – pump flow rate, bbl/day;
N – rotary speed, rpm;
Qs – leak rate, bbl/day.
4.5.3 PCP HEAD
•The PCP head rating is:
(4.4)
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 ￮where
ΔP – pump head rating, psi;
np – number of pitches of stator;
δp – head rating developed into an elementary cavity, psi.
4.5.4 PCP TORQUE REQUIREMENTS
•PCP mechanical resistant torque is:
(4.5)
￮where:
Tm – mechanical resistant torque, lbf-ft;
ep – efficiency.
•The load on thrust bearing through drive string is:
(4.6)
￮where:
Fb – axial load, lbf.
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4.6 SELECTION OF DOWN-HOLE PCP
•The following procedure can be used in the selection of PCP:
1. Starting from well IPR, select desirable liquid flow rate qLp at
pump depth and the corresponding pump intake pressure
below the pump Ppi.
2. Based on manufacturer’s literature, select PCP that can
deliver liquid rate QLp, where: QLp > qLp and Obtain the value
of head rating for an elementary cavity δp.
3. Determine the required pump discharge pressure Ppd based
on wellhead pressure, tubing size, flow rate QLp and fluid
properties. This can be carried out quickly using the
computer spreadsheet Hagedorn Brown Correlation.xls.
4. Calculate required pump head by:

(4.7)
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5. Calculate the required number of pitches np using Eq. 4.4.

6. Calculate mechanical resistant torque with Eq. 4.5.

7. Calculate the load on thrust bearing with Eq. 4.6.

4.7 SELECTION OF DRIVE STRING

•Sucker rod strings used in beam pumping are also used in the
PCP systems as drive strings. The string diameter should be
properly chosen so that the tensile stress in the string times
the rod cross-sectional area does not exceed the maximum
allowable strength of the string. 88
•The following procedure can be used in selecting drive string:
1. Calculate the weight of the selected rod string Wr in the
effluent fluid (liquid level in annulus should be considered to
adjust the effect of buoyancy).

2. Calculate the thrust generated by the head rating of the

pump Fb with Eq. 4.6.

3. Calculate mechanical resistant torque Tm with Eq. 4.5.

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4. Calculate the torque generated by the viscosity of the
effluent fluid in the tubing by:

(4.8)

￮where
Tv – viscosity-resistant torque, lbf-ft;
μf – viscosity of the effluent fluid at the inlet temperature, cp;
μs – viscosity of the effluent fluid at the surface temp., cp;
L – depth of tubing, ft;
D – tubing diameter, in;
d – drive string diameter, in.
5. Calculate total axial load to the drive string by:
(4.9)

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6. Calculate total torque by:
(4.10)

7. Calculate the axial stress in the string by:

(4.11)

￮where the tensile stress st is in pound per square inch.

•This stress value should be compared with the strength of the
rod with a safety factor.
4.8 SELECTION OF SURFACE DRIVER
•The prime mover for PCP can be an electrical motor, hydraulic
drive, or internal-combustion engine.

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•The minimum required power from the driver depends on the
total resistant torque requirement from the PCP, that is:

(4.12)

￮where:
Ph – the hydraulic power, hp;
T – the total torque, lbf-ft;
N – the rotary speed, rpm.
•Driver efficiency and safety factor should be used in driver
selection from manufacturer’s literature.

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