Patent ID: 8708664

Claim:
A method of monitoring an electrical submersible pumping system (ESP) comprising: (a) providing a fiber optic cable having optical discontinuities at a spaced apart locations in the fiber optic cable; (b) coupling the fiber optic cable with the ESP so that a first portion of the optic cable containing at least one of the optical discontinuities is offset from one side of an axis of the ESP and a second portion of the optic cable containing at least one other of the optical discontinuities is offset from an opposite side of the axis; (c) emitting electromagnetic radiation into the fiber optic cable, a portion of which reflects from the optical discontinuities; (d) operating the ESP, receiving and analyzing the reflected electromagnetic radiation to determine changes in lengths of the first and second portions; and (e) comparing the changes and estimating deformation of the portion of the ESP based on the analyzing of step (d).