Spring Drives for Downhole Rod Pumps

The article discusses the use of spring drives with energy recovery for downhole rod pumps designed for pumping reservoir fluid. The article is devoted to the development of new types of downhole rod pump drives, in particular, spring drives with energy recovery. The use of such spring drives will reduce the dimensions, weight and energy consumption several times. The main idea is to build a spring drive with energy recovery in the form of an oscillatory system. in which the potential energy of the springs is converted into the kinetic energy of the rod, and then the kinetic energy of the rod is converted into the potential energy of the springs. Dissipative losses will be compensated by using various linear motors. The use of a spring drive with energy recovery will significantly reduce its mass, which in turn will allow it to be placed in containers above the wellhead without using a foundation. It is proposed to use such a spring drive with energy recovery both as the main drive and as a balancing device. The article discusses two variants of drives. The first version of a spring drive using balancing with the help of a load. The second option is for synchronous operation of two spring drives that operate in antiphase and provide mutual balancing of the weight of the rods. It is shown that when balancing with the help of a load, the mass of the power springs turns out to be twice as large as in drives operating synchronously. The possibility of using autonomous power supply due to solar panels and wind generators is also shown.