SPE 78705

Development of Composite Progressing Cavity Pumps

Steven T. Klein/G-PEX

Copyright 2002, Society of Petroleum Engineers Inc.

incompatibility with well fluids and thermal expansion
This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Eastern Regional Meeting held in resulting from elevated well bore temperatures plus heat
Lexington, Kentucky, U.S.A., 23–26 October 2002.
generated by internal friction in the pump. For some time now
This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE Program Committee following review of
information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper, as
the industry has been seeking a cost effective approach to this
presented, have not been reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to inherent design problem and have made some advancements
correction by the author(s). The material, as presented, does not necessarily reflect any
position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its officers, or members. Papers presented at in “even wall” or “even thickness” elastomer stators. The even
SPE meetings are subject to publication review by Editorial Committees of the Society of
Petroleum Engineers. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper
thickness elastomer optimizes performance with respect to
for commercial purposes without the written consent of the Society of Petroleum Engineers is swell and thermal expansion plus offers additional
prohibited. Permission to reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300
words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous performance enhancements with respect to operating
acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper was presented. Write Librarian, SPE, P.O. efficiencies.
Box 833836, Richardson, TX 75083-3836, U.S.A., fax 01-972-952-9435.
Another inherent design problem is that the stator is
located on the bottom end of the production tubing string and
Abstract the rotor is located on the bottom end of the sucker rod string.
The newest technological advancement in the Progressing As the stator wears or fails and pump performance deteriorates
Cavity Pump (PCP) industry has been the development of to a point the pump requires service, the rod string and rotor
composite stators and rotors. Included in this design concept is are pulled from the well, then the production tubing string and
a reversing of the conventional elastomer and hard surface stator are also pulled from the well. The need to pull tubing
interface. The stator, in this design concept, is made of a hard each time the pump requires service is a major drawback in
composite material and is placed in a steel tube jacket. The using PCP’s in most applications.
rotor can be made of steel or composite material and coated The newest technological advancement that addresses the
with an even thickness of a soft and durable polyurethane. The problems normally associated with PCP’s; elastomer
urethane offers increased wear resistance and mechanical incompatibility and/or wear, changing stator geometry under
properties over conventional elastomers and the even operating conditions, and lengthy/costly well service is
thickness offers additional performance enhancements. Also, currently in the early stages of development. In this new
the elastomeric placed on the rotor offers the well-servicing configuration, the stator is made of a hard composite material
advantages of the wear element being located on the end of the bonded to the inside of a steel tube. The composite material
sucker rod string rather than on the end of the tubing string. offers wear characteristics similar to or better than metal and
The composite PCP becomes a low cost, highly durable PCP makes the stator the longer lasting element. The rotor is made
that incorporates the emerging even thickness elastomer of steel or composite and coated with an even thickness of soft
technology. and durable polyurethane (PU). The polyurethane offers
increased wear resistance and mechanical properties over
Introduction conventional nitrile elastomers in the same applications. The
Until recently, the Progressing Cavity Pump (PCP) most requirement of pulling tubing each time the pump requires
widely used in down-hole conditions consisted of a stator service is eliminated with the placement of the elastomer on
made of a nitrile based elastomer that is injected and the rotor.
permanently bonded inside a steel tube, and a rotor, machined
from steel and coated with a relatively thick layer of chrome Composite Stators
plate. Both the stator and rotor are helical where the stator In the search for ways to line the stators with an even
always has one more helix than the rotor. In this configuration thickness layer of elastomer alternate methods of creating an
the stator is the wear section and the rotor is the longer internal double helix steel tube have been developed. These
wearing element. In the most widely used design the elastomer processes include forming the tube to the complex shape or
in the stator has consistent thick and thin sections machining the shape inside a hollow bored steel bar. Stators
corresponding to the major and minor diameters of the stator have been developed using these methods and even layers of
bore. This variance in elastomer thickness leads to difficulties elastomer have been injected and bonded to the stator walls.
optimizing performance due to swell resulting from The testing of this configuration indicates significant increases
2 STEVEN T KLEIN SPE 78705

in mechanical efficiencies over the conventional configuration • Outstanding Abrasion resistance

(non-uniform elastomer layer). The pressure developed by the
same length seal and similar rotor/stator interference of the • Good mach inability
even thickness on average was found to be at least twice that
• Oil, solvent, water and ozone resistance.
of the conventional non-uniform layer. The problem remained
that both processes of making the stator are expensive and • Non-marking
normally do not yield consistently accurate parts. Having
• Mold, mildew , fungus resistance
proven the mechanical superiority of the even thickness
elastomer it was clear that a lower cost method of • Flex fatigue resistance
manufacturing the stator must be determined.
• Good Electrical properties
Composite technology has only recently become a viable
means of part fabrication. Composites have been used in the • Friction (high or low) Mechanical Properties
automotive and aerospace industries for years and have only
recently been used in the oil industry mainly in offshore Polyurethane can be formulated to have a combination of
applications. The composites used in the development of many of these listed properties in one material. Many of these
Progressing Cavity Pumps (PCP’s) indicated in this paper are property combinations cannot be achieved in any other
a combination of a reinforcement fiber in a polymer resin engineered product. So, a properly engineered compound can
matrix where the fibers are thermally bonded to the resin outlast an identical hardness part by a factor of several times.
matrix. The concentration of the reinforcement fibers allow for Abrasion resistance is one property that is most recognized
a transfer of loads between the fibers. The synergy created by with PU. Increased abrasion resistance has been noted in many
load transfer between fibers, and the bonding of the applications and PUs have outlasted both rubber and plastics
reinforcement to the matrix determine the physical properties in the same applications by factor as high as 8 to 1. Fig. 1.
of the composite.
The process of making the stator is known as Resin
Transfer Molding (RTM). The RTM process allows for
various combinations of the resin matrix and reinforcing fibers
and the development of composite materials that have
controllable mechanical and physical properties. The
composite formulation used for the stators have all the
mechanical properties of steel with the added advantage of
corrosion resistance. The advantages of a properly designed
RTM process include the repeatability of parts with a better
dimensional tolerance. If the tooling or cores used in the process
are accurate then the finished part will be as accurate. The
process yields either an exact replica of the tooling or it yields a
scrap part. The exact replica of the tooling and the repeatability
of this high level of dimensional tolerance plays a significant role
in the increased mechanical operating efficiency of this pump
configuration.

Polyurethane Elastomers
Polyurethane (PU) or Urethane are terms used to categorize a
Fig. 1 Abrasion Resistance of Polyurethane vs. Rubber and
group of elastomers or ‘artificial rubbers’ developed in the Plastics
1940’s. Polyurethane elastomers combine the advantages of
rigid plastics, metals and ceramics with the flexibility and The toughness and durability of PU is noted in its
elasticity of rubber. The molding of PU can yield a stress/strain properties that can include a high modulus, high
combination of the following physical properties: tensile strength and high elongation. This combination is not
found in most rubbers. Rubbers normally have high elongation
• Excellent Resilience (high or low ) but low modulus and tensile strength. Fig. 2. Polyurethanes
have much higher load-bearing capacity than conventional
• Extra Toughness and Durability
elastomers of similar hardness. This high load bearing
• Very high load bearing capacity capacity, combined with the superior abrasion and toughness
is an important advantage in the dynamics of a PCP.
• High Tear Strength and Cut Resistance
Polyurethane elastomers can be compounded in a wide range
• Low Compression Set of hardness from 20A to 75D and can be made with resilience
values as low as 2% or 75%.
• Very good impact resistance
SPE 78705 DEVELOPMENT OF COMPOSITE PROGRESSING CAVITY PUMPS 3

end result is low efficiencies and problems with torque and

vibration.
An even layer of PU or nitrile will eliminate the changing
geometry issue. The swell and expansion can still occur but
will be uniform resulting only in an increase in the
compression fit between the rotor and stator. This change can
be calculated and predetermined in the case of thermal
expansion and can be anticipated in the case of fluid swell. Of
course, the even layer of PU offers better compatibility and
less fluid swell than most nitriles making the task of
determining the resultant compression fit between the rotor
and stator much simpler and more accurate.
The altered geometry under operating conditions increases
and changes the compression points and adds to an already
inherent problem in the thick elastomer sections of the
conventional stator. As the elastomer deforms under
compression and is continually flexed, heat is generated that
builds up in the center section of the lobe (minor diameter).
This temperature increase above the normal operating
Fig. 2 Urethane vs. Rubber in Tension temperature of the elastomer leads to vulcanization and
degradation and eventual failure. The amount and frequency
Compounding is the key to creating a PU specific to its
of deformation determines the length of time before the
application. Polyurethane offers increased resistance to water
elastomer fails in hysteresis. Hysteresis is a common failure of
and hydrocarbon swell as well as a lower rate of thermal
conventional stators. The even thickness PU reduces potential
expansion while maintaining its abrasion resistance, tensile
for hysteresis as there are no thick sections of elastomer where
strength and elongation. PUs are suitable for more
heat is concentrated plus the mechanical properties of the PU
applications than nitrile elastomers, which are exclusively
reduce the effects of deformation and heat generation.
used in down-hole PCP’s today, without sacrificing
It has been established that the even thickness elastomer
mechanical integrity.
offers increased flow performance under pressure as well as
improved mechanical efficiency over the conventional non-
Even Thickness Polyurethane Coated Rotor
uniform elastomer thickness. This has been substantiated in
Realizing that polyurethane is more compatible with a wider
short term performance testing performed using water under
range of well fluids and that it has abrasion resistance and
controlled conditions of pressure, speed and temperature. Fig.
mechanical properties superior to all nitrile based compounds
3 and Fig. 4 indicate the average performance of composite
makes it a natural selection as the elastomeric of a PCP.
stators and PU coated rotors compared to the same length and
Another advantage to the use of PUs is the molding process.
displacement conventional rotor/stator combination. The main
The low viscosity of the PU at the time of molding offers the
difference outside the materials is the compression or
ability to form complex shapes and apply coatings in thin
interference fit. The even thickness composite/PU
layers. In contrast, nitrile elastomers normally used in PCP’s
combination has a 0.010” interference vs. the non-uniform
have relatively high viscosities and are difficult and capital
nitrile/steel combination with a 0.020” interference fit. The
intensive to injection mold in thin layers.
pressure capability of the even thickness PU is over 2 times
As mentioned earlier, one of the inherent problems with
that of the non-uniform nitrile with half the interference fit.
conventional PCP stators is the non-uniform elastomer
Extrapolation of these results to the field equates to increased
thickness. In a conventional stator the elastomer is used to fill
mechanical efficiency (power savings) and increased
the void between the tube ID and the stator core or tooling OD
operating life in the same application.
forming the shape of the double helix. The elastomer layer
forming the major diameter has less volume than the elastomer
Technology Reversal and Serviceability
layer forming the minor diameter of the stator. This elastomer
The method of processing PU and the ability to bond it to
volume difference between the major and minor diameters
almost any substrate further enhances its use. The PU can be
allows for a significant variance in volume swell and
bonded to the inside of the composite stator or it can be
expansion when the elastomer is subjected to higher
bonded to the rotor. In the case of down-hole PCP’s there are
temperature fluids such as those found in well bores. During
very significant advantages gained by bonding the PU to the
operation in a well environment the stator actually changes
rotor. As mentioned earlier, a major drawback to the
geometry in relation to the fixed geometry of the rotor. What
conventional PCP has always been the requirement for pulling
is supposed to be a meshing of two parts of the same geometry
tubing to retrieve the worn or failed stator. The industry is
and slightly different diameters becomes a meshing of two
accustomed to pulling only the sucker rod string and retrieving
different geometries with significant diameter differences. The
the pump. The composite PCP design with the PU elastomer
4 STEVEN T KLEIN SPE 78705

bonded to the rotor allows for retrieval of the wear element by Conclusions
pulling only the sucker rod string. Obviously the entire pump The development of a composite PCP is in its early stages and
(in this design) cannot be retrieved by pulling the sucker rod to date has proven the mechanical efficiency gain of the even
string, but the composite stator is designed to be the long thickness elastomer technology over the conventional non-
wearing element and can stay in the well. Over time there is uniform technology. The hard long wearing stator made from
expected to be some stator wear and the significance of this composite offers a very durable corrosion resistant element
wear can be validated by the pump performance and the that can remain in the well through several service cycles.
known dimensions of the PU coated rotor. The reversal of the Polyurethane offers superior abrasion resistance and
wear component in this design is a factor in cost savings mechanical properties over conventional nitrile elastomers and
associated with the reduced service time. expands the application of PCP’s due to increased
compatibility with well fluids. The even thickness layer of PU
Flow Performance bonded to the rotor puts the wear element on the sucker rod
Composite 125 2.4 Stage Vs Conventional 125 2.4 Stage At 250 RPM
Interference Composite (0.010") VS Conventional (0.020")
string which enhances the serviceability and reduces service
350 time and expense. Additional data collection related to long
term testing under various conditions is currently underway
300
and comparative field test evaluations are planned.
250
Acknowledgments
Flow Rate - BFPD

200
Gordon Craig, P.E., Composites Consultant
150 James Bonander, Materials Scientist Consultant
100

50

0
0 2.6 54 103 141 188 215 304 380 391 465

Composite 323 320 305 285 265 241 215 165 102 48 0
Conventional 320 316 292 256 218 154 90

Differential Pressure - PSI

Fig. 3 Flow Performance Comparison Composite vs. Conventional

Pump Efficiency
Composite 125 2.4 Stage VS Conventional 125 2.4 Stage At 250 RPM
Interference Composite (0.010") VS Conventional (0.020")
100
90
Pump Efficiency (Hyd

80
70
60
50
40
Hp/Bhp)

30
20
10
0
0 2.6 54 103 141 188 215 304 380 391 465
Composite 0 15 78 86 89 90 91 91 89 80 0
Conventional 0 23 85 90 92 91 87 0
Differential Pressure - PSI

Fig. 4 Pump Efficiency Comparison Composite vs.

Conventional