Research and Application of Rod Pump Working Condition Diagnosis and Virtual Production Metering Based on Electric Parameters
Authors: Zhao Ruidong , Wang Cai , Zhao Hanjun , Xiong Chunming , Shi Junfeng , Zhang Xishun , Ren Jinming , Zhang Yonghui , Sun Yizhen 
Published: December 2021

The conventional configurations of pumping well IOT consist of electric parameter indicator and dynamometer. The current, voltage, power, and other electrical parameters are easy to access, low costs, stable, and acquired daily during pumping well operation. If the working condition diagnosis and virtual production metering of pumping well can be realized through electrical parameters, the utilization of dynamometers can be cancelled or reduced, which is of great significance to reduce the investment and improve the coverage of IOT in oil wells. The conventional methods of diagnosis and analysis based on electrical parameters and virtual production metering are lack of theoretical basis. The combination of deep learning technology of big data and traditional methods will provide solutions to solve related technical problems.

Considering that there are many energy transmission segments from the motor to the downhole pump, the characteristics of the electric parameter curve are more sophisticated and difficult to identify compared with dynamometer card due to the influence of the unbalance, pump fullness, rod/tube vibration, wax deposition and leakage. The shape characteristics of the electric parameter curve of the pumping well are analyzed in the time domain and frequency domain, which provides the basis for further diagnosis, analysis and production measurement. In this paper, an integrated multi-model diagnosis method is proposed. For the working conditions with a large scale of samples, the electrical parameters are converted to dynamometer cards for diagnosis by using the deep learning technology of big data. For the working conditions with sparse samples, the machine learning model is used to diagnosis directly with electrical parameters. The deep learning electric parameter model for production measurement is established. Through the combination of the big data model of electric parameters to dynamometer card, 3D mechanical model of rod string, and big data model of plunger leakage coefficient, the virtual production metering function of pumping well based on electrical parameters is successfully realized.

The diagnosis and virtual production metering method and software based on electrical parameters have been applied in many oilfields of CNPC. The accuracy of identifying the upper and lower dead points of electric parameters is 98.0%; the coincidence rate of working condition diagnosis under electrical parameters is 92.0%; the average error of virtual production metering with electric parameters is 13.4%. The dynamometer and gauging room have been canceled in the demonstration area.

The application of electrical parameters to diagnose working conditions and meter the production of pumping wells is the key to the low-cost IOT construction. Traditional mathematical and physical methods are difficult to solve this problem, but the application of big data analysis technology could do the job successfully.