System and apparatus for pumping a multiphase fluid

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9574562-B2
Application number	US-201313961680-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 7, 2013
Priority date	Aug 7, 2013
Publication date	Feb 21, 2017
Grant date	Feb 21, 2017

Abstract

A pump for pumping a multiphase fluid includes a housing and a rotor with an outer surface. A plurality of inducer vanes are attached to the rotor hub, each having a leading edge and a trailing edge where the leading edge of one inducer vane overlaps the trailing edge of an adjacent inducer vane by a first overlap angle. A plurality of impeller vanes are also attached to the hub. The impeller vanes each have a leading edge and a trailing edge where the leading edge of one impeller vane overlaps the trailing edge of an adjacent impeller vane by a second overlap angle larger than the first overlap angle. The pump includes a rotor flow channel extending between the hub outer surface and the housing inner surface. The rotor flow channel has an inlet area and an outlet area, whereby the outlet area is smaller than the inlet area.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A helico-axial pump for pumping a multiphase fluid, said helico-axial pump comprising:
a housing having a longitudinal axis and an inner surface;
a rotor positioned within said housing and comprising a rotor inlet portion and a rotor outlet portion, said rotor further comprising:
a rotor hub comprising an outer surface;
an inducer section comprising a plurality of inducer vanes coupled to said rotor hub, each vane of said plurality of inducer vanes comprising a leading edge and a trailing edge, wherein said leading edge of a respective inducer vane circumferentially overlaps said trailing edge of an adjacent inducer vane and defines a first overlap angle measured circumferentially from the longitudinal axis; and
an impeller section comprising a plurality of impeller vanes coupled to said rotor hub, each vane of said plurality of impeller vanes comprising a leading edge and a trailing edge, wherein said leading edge of a respective impeller vane circumferentially overlaps said trailing edge of an adjacent impeller vane and defines a second overlap angle measured circumferentially from the longitudinal axis, wherein the first overlap angle is larger than the second overlap angle;

a rotor flow channel extending between said rotor hub outer surface and said housing inner surface, said rotor flow channel having a rotor inlet area extending between said rotor hub outer surface and said housing inner surface at said rotor inlet portion, and a rotor outlet area extending between said rotor hub outer surface and said housing inner surface at said rotor outlet portion, wherein the rotor outlet area is smaller than the rotor inlet area;
a stator positioned within said housing downstream from and adjacent to said rotor, said stator comprising a stator inlet portion and a stator outlet portion, said stator further comprising:
a stator hub comprising an outer surface; and
a plurality of diffuser vanes coupled to said stator hub; and

a stator flow channel extending between said stator hub outer surface and said housing inner surface, said stator flow channel having a stator inlet area extending between said stator hub outer surface and said housing inner surface at said stator inlet portion, and a stator outlet area extending between said stator hub outer surface and said housing inner surface at said stator outlet portion, wherein the stator inlet area corresponds to the rotor outlet area, and the stator outlet area is larger than the stator inlet area.

2. The helico-axial pump in accordance with claim 1 , wherein at least one of said plurality of inducer vanes and said plurality of impeller vanes comprises a vane tip extending therefrom at least partially towards said outlet portion.

3. The helico-axial pump in accordance with claim 1 , wherein at least one of said plurality of inducer vanes and said plurality of impeller vanes comprises a groove therein that is configured to facilitate control of a flow profile of the multiphase fluid.

4. The helico-axial pump in accordance with claim 1 , wherein at least one of said plurality of inducer vanes and said plurality of impeller vanes comprises at least one pressure balance hole extending at least partially therethrough.

5. The helico-axial pump in accordance with claim 1 , wherein said housing inner surface comprises at least one groove therein, wherein at least a portion of at least one of said plurality of inducer vanes and said plurality of impeller vanes extends into said at least one groove to facilitate reducing an amount of fluid leakage between said plurality of inducer vanes and said plurality of impeller vanes.

6. The helico-axial pump in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the first overlap angle is within a range between 100 degrees and 300 degrees.

7. The helico-axial pump in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the second overlap angle is within a range between 0 degrees and 20 degrees.

8. The helico-axial pump in accordance with claim 1 , wherein a ratio of the rotor outlet area to the rotor inlet area is within a range between 0.3 and 0.5.

9. The helico-axial pump in accordance with claim 1 , wherein an axial separation between said trailing edge of a respective inducer vane and said leading edge of a respective impeller vane is within a range between 1/10 and 10 times a vane thickness.

10. The helico-axial pump in accordance with claim 1 , wherein said plurality of diffuser vanes comprises a first set of diffuser vanes, each comprising a trailing edge, and a second set of diffuser vanes, each comprising a leading edge, said second set of diffuser vanes coupled to said stator downstream from said first set of diffuser vanes.

11. The helico-axial pump in accordance with claim 1 , wherein at least one vane of said plurality of diffuser vanes comprises a groove formed in a face of said at least one vane, said groove extending along a path that is continuous from a leading edge to a trailing edge of said at least one vane, said groove configured to facilitate control of a flow profile of the multiphase fluid.

12. The helico-axial pump in accordance with claim 1 , wherein at least one vane of said plurality of diffuser vanes comprises at least one pressure balance hole extending at least partially therethrough.

13. The helico-axial pump in accordance with claim 1 , wherein at least one vane of said plurality of diffuser vanes comprises a vane tip extending therefrom.

14. The helico-axial pump in accordance with claim 10 , wherein said trailing edge of a respective diffuser vane of said first set of diffuser vanes extends downstream from said leading edge of a respective diffuser vane of said second set of diffuser vanes defining an axial overlap distance between 1/10 and 10 times a vane thickness.

15. A system for pumping a multiphase fluid, said system comprising:
a pump driving mechanism;
a fluid conduit; and
a helico-axial pump rotatably coupled to said pump driving mechanism and coupled in flow communication to said fluid conduit, said helico-axial pump including at least one stage comprising:
a housing having a longitudinal axis and an inner surface;
a rotor positioned within said housing and comprising a rotor inlet portion and a rotor outlet portion, said rotor further comprising:
a rotor hub comprising an outer surface;
an inducer section comprising a plurality of inducer vanes coupled to said rotor hub, each vane of said plurality of inducer vanes comprising a leading edge and a trailing edge, wherein said leading edge of a respective inducer vane circumferentially overlaps said trailing edge of an adjacent inducer vane and defines a first overlap angle measured circumferentially from the longitudinal axis; and
an impeller section comprising a plurality of impeller vanes coupled to said rotor hub, each vane of said plurality of impeller vanes comprising a leading edge and a trailing edge, wherein said leading edge of a respective impeller vane circumferentially overlaps said trailing edge of an adjacent impeller vane and defines a second overlap angle measured circumferentially from the longitudinal axis, wherein the first overlap angle is larger than the second overlap angle;

a rotor flow channel extending between said rotor hub outer surface and said housing inner surface, said rotor flow channel having a rotor inlet area extending between said rotor hub outer surface and said housing inner surface at said rotor inlet portion, and a rotor outlet area extending between said rotor hub outer surface and said housing inner surface at said rotor outlet portion, wherein the rotor outlet area is smaller than the rotor inlet area;
a stato

Assignees

• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Van Dam Jeremy Daniel
• Michelassi Vittorio
• Sezal Ismail Hakki
• Qi Xuele
• Du Cauze De Nazelle Rene
• Gahlot Vishal
• Erler Scott Richard

Classifications

• F04D29/183

  Semi axial flow rotors · CPC title

• F04D3/02 Primary

  of screw type · CPC title

• F04D29/2277

  for increasing NPSH or dealing with liquids near boiling-point · CPC title

• F04D29/688

  especially adapted for liquid pumps · CPC title

• F04D13/10 Primary

  adapted for use in mining bore holes · CPC title