Well Management Systems and Methods

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/633,021, filed on Apr. 11, 2024, which is hereby incorporated by reference.

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The present disclosure generally relates to systems and methods for use in a downhole artificial lift system of the type that may be used to remove hydrocarbons from the ground.

One challenge associated with conventional artificial lift systems is that they are often plagued by fluid pound or gas pound, a condition where a quickly moving pump traveling valve (TV) makes contact with fluid and/or gas within the pump subject to the system to damaging stresses. Such conventional systems often either operate at speeds that produce substantial fluid or gas pound (and thus stresses that can degrade the system) or—in an effort to avoid fluid pound—operate at such low operating speeds that the displacement (or pumping capacity) provided by the system is significantly reduced.

Another challenge with the traditional VSD pump fillage control is the number of parameters and frequent adjustments operators must maintain to accommodate wells conditions. In many conventional control systems, a large number of settings (including, as possible examples, Speed increase, Speed Decrease, and Stroke delay and/or pump fillage % setpoint) may be required to be modified by the user to dynamically control pump fillage.

Another challenge associated with conventional well controllers is the manner in which the downhole dynagraph card is typically displayed to users of the system. Specifically, in conventional controllers, the downhole card is typically displayed in such a manner that it depicts loads, such as significant negative load values in the downhole card and/or in the form of an adjusted downhole card, that do not reflect the actual pump loads. Such loads can include, for example, loads resulting from conditions in deviated wells have sections of the rod string laying on the tubing, and part of the rod weight rests on the tubing. Because the conventional (vertical) downhole card calculations do not consider deviation, they often simply subtract the dry rod weigh and, therefore, subtract more weight than needed. Additionally, because deviation surveys tend to distort the actual deviation in the well, even using a deviated downhole card calculation based on a deviation survey, still presents some challenges for the position of a calculated downhole card to mimic that of a measured downhole card Such representations often give rise to confusion and alarm by those attempting to evaluate the operation of the well system based. These negatives loads have been the result of, up until now, missing real time well parameters, which have posed significant challenges to obtaining such as real time tubing gradient, consistent dry rod weight data, and accurate measured buoyant rod weight at the polished rod. Despite attempts to address the issue, conventional approaches have been unsuccessful in their attempts to remove the buoyant rod weigh by removing dry rod weigh and by assuming or inferring a tubing gradient, resulting in excessive negative loads displayed in the calculated downhole dynagraph.

It is an object of the disclosure contained herein to overcome some or all of the limitations and issues described above with respect to conventional systems. It is a further object of the present disclosure to Automatic pump fillage adjustment will create a speed setpoint for each well condition and automatically adjust the speed for the next condition using two initial parameters, TV_Max and Max_Speed_at_Low_PF % Speed.

It is to be understood that the discussion above is provided for illustrative purposes only and is not intended to and does not limit the scope or subject matter of the appended or ultimately issued claims or those of any related patent application or patent. Thus, none of the appended claims, ultimately issued claims or claims of any related application or patent are to be limited by the above discussion or construed to address, include, or exclude each or any of the above-cited features or disadvantages merely because such were mentioned herein.

A brief non-limiting summary of one of the many possible embodiments of the inventions disclosed herein is a method of controlling a sucker rod pumping system, the sucker rod pumping system including a sucker rod and a sucker rod pump, the sucker rod pump including a traveling valve that travels over a pump stroke in response to movement of the sucker rod, the traveling valve contacting fluid within the pump at a point in the pump stroke, the method comprising the steps of: operating the sucker rod pump over at least one pump stroke at a pump operating speed associated with a first pump operating speed setpoint; generating a downhole dynagraph card corresponding to the operation of the pump at the pump operating speed corresponding to the first pump operating speed setpoint; determining, for at least one sucker rod position, a traveling valve speed using the generated downhole dynagraph card; generating a second pump operating speed setpoint if the determined traveling valve speed is equal to or above a predetermined maximum traveling valve speed setpoint, wherein the second pump operating speed setpoint is less than the first pump operating speed setpoint; and operating the sucker rod pump at a pump operating speed associated with the second pump operating speed setpoint.

None of these brief summaries of the inventions is intended to limit or otherwise affect the scope of what has been disclosed and enabled or the appended claims, and nothing stated in this Brief Summary of the Invention is intended as a definition of a claim term or phrase or as a disavowal or disclaimer of claim scope.

While the inventions disclosed herein are susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, only a few specific embodiments have been shown by way of example in the drawings and are described in more detail below. The figures and detailed descriptions of these embodiments are not intended to limit the breadth or scope of the inventive concepts or the appended claims in any manner. Rather, the figures and detailed written descriptions are provided to illustrate the inventive concepts to a person of ordinary skill in the art and to enable such person to make and use the inventive concepts illustrated and taught by the specific embodiments.

The Figures described above, and the written description of specific structures and functions below, are not presented to limit the scope of the inventions disclosed or the scope of the appended claims. Rather, the Figures and written description are provided to teach a person skilled in this art to make and use the inventions for which patent protection is sought.

A person of skill in this art having benefit of this disclosure will understand that the inventions are disclosed and taught herein by reference to specific embodiments, and that these specific embodiments are susceptible to numerous and various modifications and alternative forms without departing from the inventions we possess. For example, and not limitation, a person of skill in this art having benefit of this disclosure will understand that Figures and/or embodiments that use one or more common structures or elements, such as a structure or an element identified by a common reference number, are linked together for all purposes of supporting and enabling our inventions, and that such individual Figures or embodiments are not disparate disclosures. A person of skill in this art having benefit of this disclosure immediately will recognize and understand the various other embodiments of our inventions having one or more of the structures or elements illustrated and/or described in the various linked embodiments. In other words, not all possible embodiments of our inventions are described or illustrated in this application, and one or more of the claims to our inventions may not be directed to a specific, disclosed example. Nonetheless, a person of skill in this art having benefit of this disclosure will understand that the claims are fully supported by the entirety of this disclosure.

Persons skilled in this art will appreciate that not all features of a commercial embodiment of the inventions are described or shown for the sake of clarity and understanding. Persons of skill in this art will also appreciate that the development of an actual commercial embodiment incorporating aspects of the present inventions will require numerous implementation-specific decisions to achieve the developer's ultimate goal for the commercial embodiment. Such implementation-specific decisions may include, and likely are not limited to, compliance with system-related, business-related, government-related, and other constraints, which may vary by specific implementation, location and from time to time. While a developer's efforts might be complex and time-consuming in an absolute sense, such efforts would be, nevertheless, a routine undertaking for those of skill in this art having benefit of this disclosure.

Further, the use of a singular term, such as, but not limited to, “a,” is not intended as limiting of the number of items. Also, the use of relational terms, such as, but not limited to, “top,” “bottom,” “left,” “right,” “upper,” “lower,” “down,” “up,” “side,” and the like are used in the written description for clarity in specific reference to the Figures and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention or the scope of what is claimed.

Aspects of the inventions disclosed herein may be embodied as an apparatus, system, method, or computer program product. Accordingly, specific embodiments may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects, such as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.” Furthermore, embodiments of the present inventions may take the form of a computer program product embodied in one or more computer readable storage media having computer readable program code.

When implementing one or more of the inventions disclosed herein, any combination of one or more computer readable storage media may be used. A computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limitation, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific, but non-limiting, examples of the computer readable storage medium may include the following: a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disc (DVD), a Blu-ray disc, an optical storage device, a magnetic tape, a Bernoulli drive, a magnetic disk, a magnetic storage device, a punch card, integrated circuits, other digital processing apparatus memory devices, or any suitable combination of the foregoing, but would not include propagating signals. In the context of this disclosure, a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Computer program code for carrying out operations of one or more of the present inventions may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object-oriented programming language such as Java, Python, C++ or the like and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programming languages. The program code may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. The remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an exterior computer for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider.

Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics of one embodiment may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more other embodiments. In the following description, numerous specific details are provided, such as examples of programming, software modules, user selections, network transactions, database queries, database structures, hardware modules, hardware circuits, hardware chips, etc., to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the disclosure. Those of skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure will understand that the inventions may be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, components, materials, and so forth. In other instances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of the disclosure.

Aspects of the present disclosure are described below with reference to schematic flowchart diagrams and/or schematic block diagrams of methods, apparatuses, systems, and computer program products according to embodiments of the disclosure. It will be understood by those of skill in the art that each block of the schematic flowchart diagrams and/or schematic block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the schematic flowchart diagrams and/or schematic block diagrams, may be implemented by computer program instructions. Such computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to create a machine or device, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, structurally configured to implement the functions/acts specified in the schematic flowchart diagrams and/or schematic block diagrams block or blocks. These computer program instructions also may be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can direct a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readable storage medium produce an article of manufacture including instructions which implement the function/act specified in the schematic flowchart diagrams and/or schematic block diagrams block or blocks. The computer program instructions also may be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus or other devices to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions that execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide processes for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

The schematic flowchart diagrams and/or schematic block diagrams in the Figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and/or operation of possible apparatuses, systems, methods, and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present inventions. In this regard, each block in the schematic flowchart diagrams and/or schematic block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s).

It also should be noted that, in some possible embodiments, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. Other steps and methods may be conceived that are equivalent in function, logic, or effect to one or more blocks, or portions thereof, of the illustrated figures.

Although various arrow types and line types may be employed in the flowchart and/or block diagrams, they do not limit the scope of the corresponding embodiments. Indeed, some arrows or other connectors may be used to indicate only the logical flow of the depicted embodiment. For example, but not limitation, an arrow may indicate a waiting or monitoring period of unspecified duration between enumerated steps of the depicted embodiment. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart diagrams, may be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.

The description of elements in each Figure may refer to elements of proceeding Figures. Like numbers refer to like elements in all figures, including alternate embodiments of like elements. In some possible embodiments, the functions/actions/structures noted in the figures may occur out of the order noted in the block diagrams and/or operational illustrations. For example, two operations shown as occurring in succession, in fact, may be executed substantially concurrently or the operations may be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/acts/structure involved.

Reference throughout this disclosure to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” or similar language means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one of the many possible embodiments of the present inventions. The terms “including,” “comprising,” “having,” and variations thereof mean “including but not limited to” unless expressly specified otherwise. An enumerated listing of items does not imply that any or all of the items are mutually exclusive and/or mutually inclusive, unless expressly specified otherwise. The terms “a,” “an,” and “the” also refer to “one or more” unless expressly specified otherwise.

The description of elements in each Figure may refer to elements of proceeding Figures. Like numbers refer to like elements in all figures, including alternate embodiments of like elements.

Turning now to several descriptions, with reference to Figures, of particular embodiments incorporating one or more aspects of the disclosed inventions,illustrates one exemplary embodiment of an improved artificial lift systemconstructed in accordance with the teachings of the present disclosure.

The illustrated system includes a sucker rod pump, that is connected to a sucker rod. The sucker rodmay be positioned within a tubing string (not illustrated) that is configured to be in fluid communication with a reservoir. The pumpand sucker rodare positioned within a space that, in the illustrated example, is defined by the open are within a casing stringpositioned within a subsurface wellbore.

In the illustrated example, pumpis positioned such that it may be stroked downwards and upwards within an annulus which, in the example of, corresponds to an interior space defined by the casing string. In the illustrated example, during such strokes, the pumpmoves within a body of fluid having a fluid upper level. The fluid may take many forms and can be a fluid formed of a mixture of various hydrocarbons, water and/or any other fluid. The pumpmay, during a single downwards and upwards stroke, be fully or partially located within the fluid during the entirety of the stroke.

In the illustrated example, as the pumpstrokes downwards within the fluid, a cavity within the pump will be filled with fluid. As the pumpstrokes upward fluid within the pump is released into cavity and pumped upward and out of the wellbore.

In one exemplary embodiment, the exemplary systemincludes an electronic control systemthat includes a variable speed drive system for driving a variable speed motordriving the crank of a beam pumping assembly. In such an embodiment, the variable speed drive system within the control systemmay be configured to excite the variable speed motorin such a manner that the rotational speed of the motor, and thus, the pumping speed of the beam pumping assemblyis varied.

The electronic controllermay take the form of a programmable processer operating off of stored instructions which cause the processor to perform the steps, operations and functions described herein. The processor in controller may take the form of a microprocessor-based computer. The electronic controllermay include a Human Machine Interface (“HMI”) in the form of a local or remote screen using LCD or other technology to present the images and displays to a user, some of which are describe herein.

Alternate embodiments, however, are envisioned wherein the motorand controllerare such that the motor does not operate over a range of continuously variable speeds, but rather operates at one of several fixed speed settings. Still alternate forms of motors (and suitably matched variable speed drives) are envisioned wherein the motortakes the form of a standard induction motor, a squirrel cage induction motor, a permanent magnet motor, a permanent magnet DC motor, a switched reluctance motor, or any other suitable motor. Further various forms of variable speed drives can be used with the appropriate drive selected based on the motor to be used with the drive. The variable speed drive can, with respect to the rotating speed of the motor, be operated either as an open loop drive or a closed loop drive.

In several of the embodiments discussed below, the controllerwill control the system based on downhole data associated with a downhole dynamometer card (sometimes referred to as a “downhole card” or “downhole pump card”). In such embodiments, the downhole data used to generate the downhole dynamometer card may obtained via calculations performed by the well controlleron rod load and position information provided by the surface sensors as well as other information provided to the controller such as information relating to physical characteristics of the pump, the rod, the pumping assembly, and other variables that could impact the operation of the pumping system. As those of ordinary skill in the rod pumping art will appreciate, a variety of approaches are known for converting surface pump card data to downhole pump card data and any suitable conversion methodology can be used to implement concepts of the present disclosure.

The variable speed motorand the variable speed drive may take different forms. In one exemplary embodiment, the variable speed motoris a variable speed induction motor and the variable speed drivewithin the control system varies the frequency of the electrical signals applied to the motorso as to vary the rotational speed of the motor, and thus the pumping rate of the pump.

As will be appreciated, given the relationship between the frequency of the electrical signals applied by the controller, typically referenced in terms of Hertz (Hz.) to the rotational speed of variable speed motor, typically referenced in terms of rotations per minute (RPMs), and the relationship between the rotational speed of the variable speed motorand the pumping rate of the pump, typically referenced in terms of strokes per minute (SPM), the overall “speed” of the system can be referenced in either Hz., RPMs, or SPMs. It will be understood by those of skill in the applicable art that the selection of one or more of Hz., RPMs and/or SPM to define the operating rate of the system can be made based on preference and that the use of any of Hz., RPM, or SPM to define the operating rate of the system will be equivalent to the use of any of the other terms.

For purposes of the following discussion, the operating rate of the system will be referenced in terms of the output frequency of the controllerin Hz. It will be appreciated, however, that such reference could have alternatively been made in terms of RPM or SPMs.

As discussed above, under certain operating conditions including pump off and gas interference conditions, an artificial lift system can experience the undesirable phenomenon known as “fluid pound.” To avoid the extreme stresses that can result from fluid pound, the exemplary controllerimplements an automatic pump fillage adjustment process that balances the desire to maintain a high and desired level of production for the controlled pump with the desire to avoid the damage that can be inflicted upon a pumping system as the result of pump off.

The present inventor has recognized that the level of undesired stresses on the system associated with fluid pound is correlated with the speed of the pump traveling valve at the time the traveling valve contacts the fluid or the gas inside the pump and that in rod pump system the travelling valve speed can be naturally low for some pump fillage %, offering opportunities to pump at full speed. Specifically, the present inventor has recognized that by controlling or limiting the speed at which the traveling valve contacts the fluid or gas inside the pump, one can control or limit the stresses imposed upon the system by such contact.

Additionally, the present inventor has recognized that pressurized gas inside the pump tends to soften the impact of the travelling valve with the fluid and has identified that an assessment of the deceleration experienced by the traveling valve within the pump can help make the distinction between gas pound and fluid pound to further control and mitigate the effects of fluid or gas pound.

In one exemplary embodiment, the controller of the present disclosure will control the speed of the traveling valve in the pump (the “TV”) such that the speed of the TV at the time of contact with the fluid or gas inside the pump is at or below a value in inches per second as preset by the system operator or to a desired pump fillage percentage (PF %). In such an exemplary embodiment, the controller can present the use of a system with a human machine interface (HMI) generally as shown in.

Because the speed setpoint is reduced only as much as necessary to meet the travelling valve speed limit or TV_Max, using travelling valve speed to adjust the speed setpoint prevents the speed from completely dropping to minimum speed as soon as the PF % drops below the traditional PF % setpoint, relieving the operator from adjusting the pump fillage setpoint % as well conditions change. A common problem with traditional VSD control is that the speed drops to min as soon as gas drops the current PF % below PF Setpoint, and because gas can now enter the pump without significantly affecting pump displacement, the algorithm will equip operators with a tool to deal with gas Interface. As pump fillage drops significantly, specifically below the intersection of TV_Max near the bottom of the stroke, and because the amount of fluid displacement at the pump will be relatively low, an operator will be prompted to enter the maximum speed for that section, which is graphically represented in sectionof.

Because travelling speed patterns can intersect at different PF % near the bottom of the stroke, the operator has the option to set a Low Pump fillage % Setpoint to set the starting point for the traveling valve speed control to begin. If the Low Pump fillage % Setpoint is set to 25% then the algorithm will execute travelling valve speed control as soon as PF % surpasses 25%, providing a consistent PF % from which to start TV speed control.

Any sections with travelling valve below the TV_Max will make the algorithm adjust the speed setpoint to maximum working speed, which normally uses the full nominal frequency of the motor (60 Hz or 50 Hz).

illustrates an exemplary HMIthat may be presented by controllerto a user. Such HMI may be presented on a screen physically coupled to the controller, a screen physically close to the controllerand in communication (wired, or wireless) with the controller, or a screen located remote form the controllerand communicating with the controller over a suitable communication link (e.g., the Internet or a cellular/radio communications link).

As shown in, the illustrated HMI allows a user of the system to input three setpoints: a first set point(referred to herein as TV_Max and referenced in Inches per second) corresponding to the maximum desired speed of the traveling valve (TV) at the time it contacts gas or fluid within the pump; and a second setpoint(referred to herein as the Min PF %_Setpoint and referenced in terms of where TV speed control begins); and a third Max_Speed_at_Low_PF %, which defines the maximum speed in the sectionof FIG.A. While the example ofallows the system user to specify TV_Max, Low PF %_Setpoint, and Max_Speed_at_Low_PF %, it will be appreciated that one or these variables can be provided automatically by the controller, set as default values, and/or varied automatically by the controller, or by a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) in response to an overriding control methodology.

Referring to, in one embodiment, an operator that wants to further increase displacement during gas interference can enter either a deadland (%) around the current pump fillage % or a specific deceleration value in inches/sec2 to temporality increase TV_Max during gas interference.

In certain embodiments, default parameters can be provided. One exemplary set of default parameters, including an approach for determining a default Min Working Speed, is provided below: