Progressing Cavity Pump (PCP): New Performance Equations for Optimal Design

Abstract

Abstract The drive for energy independence has created a window of opportunity to innovations in oil recovery. New artificial lift methods like progressing cavity pumping (PCP) have been successfully applied to downhole pumping applications. The unique progressing cavity feature has still to be explored fully to handle oil and gas efficiently without any practical problems. The multilobe pumps are also making inroads into the industry to be used under different operating conditions. Although the design has been mainly based on empirical standards and trial and error modifications, a more phenomenally optimum design of the pump is required to achieve a high efficiency standard. This requires a more basic analytical consideration. Optimal relationship between the pitch and the diameter of the housing is obtained to achieve a maximum flowrate for multi lobe pumps. This makes it possible to design a power section of the pump with some degree of confidence and predict its performance characteristics with reasonable assurance. The practical usefulness of the theory, backed by the fundamental and optimal analysis for incompressible fluid, is demonstrated with numerical examples. P. 313