Patent ID: 7338262

Claim:
A compressor designed to be lowered into a well of a natural gas reservoir to assist in extracting gas from the reservoir, the compressor comprising: at least one casing; at least one rotor mounted within the casing; at least one electric motor for driving the rotor; one or more gas bearings supporting the rotor for rotation relative to the casing, the gas bearings being arranged at an upstream end and a downstream end thereby arranged at opposite ends of the motor; at least one bladed impeller wheel for compressing a production of gas from a reservoir which is mounted on an overhanging end of the rotor that projects beyond each of the gas bearings at the upstream end of the motor; at least one auxiliary compressor mounted on the downstream end of the rotor so that the auxiliary compressor draws from down stream the bladed impeller wheel and pressurizes the gas before supplying the gas to the bearings of the rotor; wherein all the gas bearings of the auxiliary compressor and of the electric motor are arranged on a same side of the bladed impeller wheel; and during operation, the gas flows over to cool the electric motor.