Submersible pump (or sub pump, electric submersible pump (ESP)) is a device which has a hermetically sealed motor close-coupled to the pump body. The whole assembly is submerged in the fluid to be pumped. The main advantage of this type of pump is that it prevents pump cavitation, a problem associated with a high elevation difference between the pump and the fluid surface. Submersible pumps push fluid to the surface, rather than jet pumps, which create a vacuum and rely upon atmospheric pressure. Submersibles use pressurized fluid from the surface to drive a hydraulic motor downhole, rather than an electric motor, and are used in heavy oil applications with heated water as the motive fluid.
Electric submersible pumps are multistage centrifugal pumps operating in a vertical position. Liquids, accelerated by the impeller, lose their kinetic energy in the diffuser, where a conversion of kinetic to pressure energy takes place. This is the main operational mechanism of radial and mixed flow pumps. In the HSP, the motor is a hydraulic motor rather than an electrical motor, and may be closed cycle (keeping the power fluid separate from the produced fluid) or open cycle (mingling the power fluid with the produced fluid downhole, with surface separation).
The pump shaft is connected to the gas separator or the protector by a mechanical coupling at the bottom of the pump. Fluids enter the pump through an intake screen and are lifted by the pump stages. Other parts include the radial bearings (bushings) distributed along the length of the shaft, providing radial support to the pump shaft. An optional thrust bearing takes up part of the axial forces arising in the pump, but most of those forces are absorbed by the protector’s thrust bearing.
