This article will present the typical ranges of jet pump operating parameters and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of jet pumps in oil wells applications.
Jet pumps have several advantages such as:
The jet pump operates by pumping power fluid at high pressure and rate from surface to activate/drive a downhole pump. Looking at the downhole jet pump, there are three main components:
The nozzle and throat are the key components of a jet pump. The ratio of the areas of these two parts is known as the area ratio of the pump and it determines the performance characteristics of the pump. Pumps with the same area ratio have the same performance and efficiency curves
Jet Pumps operates on Venturi principle. Above the JP, before entering the nozzle, the power fluid has high pressure (designated as PN) and low flow velocity.
While the power fluid passes the nozzle, due to the decrease in flow area it is transformed from low velocity, high static pressure flow to a high velocity, low static pressure flow (PS). This creates a pressure drop below the nozzle which drives the reservoir fluids into the pump.
The first consumer of water jets pump was James Thompson back in 1852. In 1870, J. M. Rankin introduced the theory of jet pump operation, afterward, a number of papers have been published to develop the technology. The work of Gasoline and O’Brien in 1933 is considered to be the standard reference work. It has been based on both theoretical and experimental results. Since that time, developments in the technology have continued to the point that today jet pumps have high operational flexibility.
As a general description, Hydraulic Lift (Jet Pumps) represents pumping power fluid at high pressure and rate from surface to activate/drive a downhole pump. Power Fluid can be water or oil.
With Jet Pump applications the completion needs to have minimum 3 flowing conduits:
The jet pump artificial lift system is composed of two principal parts: the surface pumping equipment and the downhole jet pump. In the surface, the reciprocating pump transfers energy to the fluid increases its pressure, drove through surface piping, production tubing (or annular space) until the jet pump, placed on the bottom.
