Pump Assembly

• US 20110052423A1
• Filed: 09/01/2010
• Published: 03/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Schlumberger Technology Corporation (Schlumberger NV)
• Original Assignee: Schlumberger Technology Corporation (Schlumberger NV)
• Inventors: Shampine, Rod, Hubenschmidt, Joe, Luharuka, Rajesh, Gambier, Philippe, Thomeer, Hubertus V.
• Granted Patent: US 8,874,383 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 417/63
• CPC Class Codes: F04B 49/065 and making use of computers
• CPC Class Codes: F04B 51/00 Testing machines, pumps, or pumping installations
• CPC Class Codes: F04B 53/22 Arrangements for enabling ready assembly or disassembly
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49236 Fluid pump or compressor making

Abstract

A pump assembly and maintenance system and method. An inventory of pump components has an identifier to track the pump component and a sensor to gather operating data associated with the pump component. A population of pumps is assembled from the pump components. The operating data are correlated with the pump components based on the identifiers in a network-accessible database. The pump components can include interchangeable pump body modules that are separately tracked, whereby the pumps can be repaired by removing and replacing the interchangeable pump body modules.

Claims

1. A pump component tracking and diagnostic system, comprising:

a pump comprising a sensor to generate a signal responsive to a physical parameter from a pump component, wherein the pump component is associated with an identifier;

a controller to acquire the component identifier and pump component information based on the signal from the sensor for transfer to a computer network; and

a pump database accessible from the network to provide access to the pump component information based on the component identification.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the pump component comprises an interchangeable pump body module, wherein the pump is assembled from a plurality of the pump body modules.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor is embedded in the pump body module.

4. The system of claim 1, comprising a wireless tag encoded with the identifier and integrated with the sensor.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the physical parameter of the sensor comprises temperature, pressure, acceleration, inclination, humidity, light, density, viscosity, flow rate, chemical composition, deformation, positron decay, acoustic emission, Barkhausen noise, accumulated fatigue damage or a combination thereof.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a user interface to upload additional pump component information to the database.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the pump component information in the database comprises at least one of operating pressure, operating temperature, number of cycles of operation, operating time, flow rate, throughput, fatigue accumulation, maintenance history.

8. The system of claim 7, further comprising a network accessible planning module to allocate and plan for maintenance of the component, wherein the module comprises a model to estimate remaining life of the component based on the pump component information.

9. The system of claim 8, further comprising an alarm module coupled to the planning module to provide an operator alert for pump component maintenance.

10. The system of claim 1, comprising:

a population of the pumps assembled from a plurality of interchangeable pump bodies, wherein the pump assembly comprises an RF ID tag encoded with the identifier and attached to a pump body, and wherein the sensor is integrated with or linked to the RF ID tag to provide operating data for the pump body;

an RF ID tag reader to acquire the identifier and operating data for transfer to the computer network; and

a module to plan for maintenance of the pump bodies based on the operating data.

11. A pump assembly, comprising:

at least one pump body comprising a piston bore, an inlet bore, an outlet bore and a unique identifier;

a sensor attached to the pump body to generate signal data responsive to a physical parameter from the pump body, wherein the sensor comprises one or more for temperature, pressure, acceleration, inclination, humidity, light, density, viscosity, flow rate, chemical composition, strain, deformation, positron decay, acoustic emission, Barkhausen noise, accumulated fatigue damage or a combination thereof;

a communications link to upload the identifier and the signal data.

12. The pump assembly of claim 11, comprising a plurality of the pump bodies secured in a line with fasteners between opposite end plates.

13. The pump assembly of claim 12, wherein each pump body further comprises raised surfaces on opposite exterior side surfaces of the pump bodies, wherein the raised surfaces engage with an adjacent end plate or the raised surface of an adjacent pump body, whereby tightening of the fasteners applies a pre-compressive force at the raised surfaces on each of the pump bodies, wherein the sensor is located in or adjacent at least one of the raised surfaces.

14. The pump assembly of claim 12, wherein each pump body further comprises an expanded displacement plug in a cavity to apply a pre-compressive force at the cavity on each of the pump bodies, wherein the sensor is located in or adjacent the expanded displacement plug.

15. The pump assembly of claim 11, further comprising an RF ID tag encoded with the identifier and attached to the pump body, wherein the sensor is integrated with or linked to the RF ID tag to wirelessly transmit the pump operating information to a remote receiver, wherein the sensor comprises one or more for temperature, pressure, acceleration, inclination, humidity, light, density, viscosity, flow rate, chemical composition, strain, deformation, positron decay, acoustic emission, Barkhausen noise, accumulated fatigue damage or a combination thereof.

16. A method, comprising:

attaching a sensor to a pump body comprising a piston bore, an inlet bore and an outlet bore, wherein the sensor comprises one or more for temperature, pressure, acceleration, inclination, humidity, light, density, viscosity, flow rate, chemical composition, strain, deformation, positron decay, acoustic emission, Barkhausen noise, accumulated fatigue damage or a combination thereof;

attaching an RF ID tag encoded with an identifier to the pump body to receive a data signal from the sensor;

assembling a multiplex pump from a plurality of the pump bodies;

operating the multiplex pump by reciprocating a plunger in the piston bore;

uploading operating data from the RF ID tag to a network accessible database wherein the operating data comprise at least one of operating pressure, operating temperature, number of cycles of operation, operating time, flow rate, throughput, and fatigue accumulation, wherein the operating data are correlated with the identifiers to build a data history for the pump bodies.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein uploading operating data from the RF ID tag to the database comprises uploading the operating data to an RF ID tag reader, and transferring the data from the tag reader to the database.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising estimating remaining life of the pump bodies using a model based on the operating data, planning maintenance of the pump bodies based on the estimated remaining life, and sending an alert to a user interface device for maintenance of the pump bodies.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

providing an inventory of pump components comprising a plurality of the pump bodies, wherein the pump components comprise RF ID tags and sensors;

assembling pumps from the pump components;

placing a plurality of the pump assemblies in service; and

planning maintenance of the pump components based on the data history of the pump components according to the database.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the pump bodies comprise interchangeable pump body modules, and further comprising removing one of the interchangeable pump body modules from one of the pumps for repair or maintenance and replacing the removed interchangeable pump body module with another one of the interchangeable pump body modules from the inventory.