US3241492A - Breathing attachment for use during shipment of oil filled submergible motor and pump assemblies - Google Patents

Description

' March 22,1966

A. ARUTUNOFF BREATHING ATTACHMENT FOR USE DURING SHIPMENT OF OIL FILLED SUBMERGIBLE MOTOR AND PUMP ASSEMBLIES Filed May 19, 1964 ARM/U5 ARU 7' UNOF F ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,241,492 BREATHING ATTACHMENT FOR USE DURING SHIPMENT OF OIL FILLED SUBMERGIBLE MOTOR AND PUMP ASSEMBLIES Armais Arutunotf, Bartlesville, Okla, assiguor to Reda Pump Company, Bartlesville, Okla, a corporation of Delaware Filed May 19, 1964, Ser. No. 368,616 3 Claims. (Cl. 103-87) This invention relates to oil filled, deep well submergible pump and motor assemblies, and consists more particularly in new and useful improvements in means for protecting such assemblies from damage prior to installation and during shipment, by reason of expansion of the lubricating and protecting medium therein, as a result of variations in temperature.

These motor and pump assemblies usually comprise a series of coaxial units arranged in superposed relation and including a pump unit, a thrust compensating unit, a motor unit, and a protecting unit, such, for example, as the general assembly disclosed in my prior Patent No. 2,783,400, issued on February 26, 1957. These assemblies are usually shipped in operational condition with the intercornmunicating units filled with a maximum volume of oil and protecting medium required for their proper performance. A suitably located breathing vent to compensate for oil expansion and contraction when the assembly is installed and operating is plugged during shipment to prevent the escape of the oil and protecting medium. Prior to installation, this conventional plug is removed from the breathing vent to render the protecting unit operative.

In the course of shipment, these assemblies are subjected to varying degrees of atmospheric temperature, as, for example, when lying in the sun on a shipping dock, and unless some means is provided to compensate for the resulting expansion of the oil and protecting medium with which the assemblies are filled, considerable damage to the assembly may occur.

It is therefore the primary object of this invention to provide an expandible breathing bag, located externally of the assembly, and connected to the breathing vent thereof so as to accommodate any expansion of the medium filling the assembly.

Another object of the invention is to provide a breathing bag of this nature which may be easily attached for shipment and removed prior to installation of the assembly.

A further object of the invention is to provide a breathing bag which is arranged in connection with an oil filled motor and pump assembly in a manner to receive the amount of filling medium which is expelled from the assembly by expansion, and upon subsequent contraction, will return the filling medium to the assembly.

With the above and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention consists in the novel features herein set forth, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings in which numerals of like character designate similar parts throughout the several views:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a typical motor and pump assembly, illustrating one method of attachment of the breathing bag;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary, sectional view, illustrating one manner of connecting the breathing bag to the breathing vent; and

FIG. 3 is a similar view showing a modified bag connecting means.

Patented Mar. 22, 1966 In the drawings, referring first to FIG. 1, one form of conventional assembly with which the present invention may be employed, is generally represented by the numeral 5 and consists of a pump unit 6, the intake area of which is enclosed by a cylindrical screen 6a. Below and coaxial with the pump unit is a thrust compensating unit 7 connected to the pump unit by a head 7a, and coaxially connected below the thrust compensating unit 7, are a motor unit 8 and a protecting unit 9 including a protecting fluid reservoir. It will be understood that the assembly here illustrated represents only one example of an oil filled motor and pump assembly with which the invention may be employed and that the usefulness of the invention is not confined to this particular assembly.

conventionally, the housings of all of the units below the pump unit are filled with a lubricating and protecting fluid, and ordinarily, the unit immediately below the pump unit, in this instance, the thrust unit connecting head 7a, is provided with a vertical vent passageway 10, as seen in FIG. 2, which terminates at its upper extremity in a right-angular, radially directed branch passageway 11 which opens to the exterior at the periphery of the thrust unit head 7a, where it is provided with internal threads 12 which normally receive a closing plug when the assembly is being shipped. The vent passageways 10 and 11 are connected by tubing 13 in a conventional manner to the protecting system and reservoir 9.

Ordinarily, when an oil filled assembly is shipped, the threaded passageway opening 12, as before stated, is closed by a conventional plug to prevent the escape of the lubricating and protecting fluid contained in the assembly, and this plug is removed when the assembly is installed so as to permit normal breathing through the protecting system and compensate for expansion and contraction of the filling medium. However, according to the present invention, instead of inserting a closure plug in the threaded vent passageway 11, a tubular adaptor 14 is screwed into the threaded opening 12 after the assembly is filled with the required volume of protecting fluid. This adaptor 14 is provided with a tubular projection or nipple 15 by means of which the breathing bag of the invention is connected, as hereinafter described.

The breathing bag 16, shown in FIG. 1, may be formed of rubber or any other suitable expandible material having the necessary properties to withstand prolonged contact with lubricating oil and protecting fluid. The bottom of the bag 16 is provided with an opening which is connected to the adaptor 14 by means of a flexible tube 17 of a material similar to that of the bag 16, the lower extremity of the tube 17 being forced over the nipple 15 with a tight fit. The upper end of the inverted bag 16 is attached to the unit immediately above the thrust unit 7 by any suitable means. In the present embodiment, the bag lies against the periphery of the cylindrical inlet screen 6a and its upper end is secured in place by a removable band or strap 18 of any convenient form, which encircles the unit 6 immediately above the inlet screen 6a.

Thus, during shipment, when the oil filled assembly 5 is subjected to a temperature suflicient to cause an expansion of the filling medium, any fluid which is expelled due to expansion, passes through the breathing passageways 10 and 11, and the connecting tube 17, into the bag 16, causing the latter to expand as shown in dotted lines in FIG. 1. Upon a reduction in the surrounding temperature, as the fluid in the assembly contracts, the previously expelled fluid is returned from the bag 16 into the protecting system so that none of the lubricating oil or protecting medium is lost.

It will be understood, of course, that when the assembly is installed for operation in a well, the bag 16 is removed by disconnecting the band 18 and unscrewing the adaptor 14 from the passageway 11, so that the normal breathing system of the assembly can function in the usual manner.

In the modified connecting means shown in FIG. .3, the outer end of the breathing passageway 11 is enlarged and threaded as at 12a to receive the complementary threads of the base flange 19 of a modified adaptor which, when inserted, lies entirely within the peripheral boundaries of the connecting head 7a. From the base flange 19, a tubular nipple 20 extends outwardly in inwardly spaced relation to the threaded enlargement 12a, providing an annular clearance to permit the end of the tubing connection 17 to be slipped thereover, as shown. With this modified form, when the assembly is installed for operation, it is only necessary to slip the end of the tubing connection 17 ofi? of the nipple 20, leaving the adaptor in place and entirely confined within the peripheral boundaries of the assembly.

From the foregoing, it is believed that the invention maybe readily understood by those skilled in the art without further description, it being borne in mind that numerous changes may be made in the details disclosed without departing from the spirit of the invention as set forth in the following claims.

I claim:

1. In combination with an oil filled submergible motor and pump assembly of superposed, cylindrically housed units having a breathing vent communicating with the oil filled interior of said, assembly; means for protecting said oil filled assembly prior to installation, against damage resulting from expansion of the oil contained therein due to temperature increase while preventing loss of said oil, said means comprising an expandible breathing bag, detachable means for securing said bag alongside the outer wall of the housing of one unit of said assembly, and tubular means detachably connecting the interior of said bag to said breathing vent, whereby oil expelled from said assembly during expansion is received by said bag and returned therefrom upon contraction.

2. The combination as claimed in claim 1, wherein said last-named means comprise a tubular adaptor threadedly engaging said breathing vent, and a nipple projecting from said adaptor for removably receiving the end of said flexible tubing.

3. The combination as claimed in claim 1, wherein said breathing vent opens into an enlarged, threaded recess in the outer Wall of one of said housed units, and an adaptor threadedly engaging said recess and lying entirely within the confines thereof, for removably receiving one end of said tubular means.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,674,194 4/1954 Arutunoff 103--87 2,682,229 6/1954 Luenberger 10387 2,703,371 3/1955 Wightman 10387 2,857,181 10/1958 Myers 10'3--87 ROBERT M. WALKER, Primary Examiner.

Claims (1)

1. IN COMBINATION WITH AN OIL FILLED SUBMERGIBLE MOTOR AND PUMP ASSEMBLY OF SUPERPOSED, CYLINDRICAL HOUSED UNITS HAVING A BREATHING VENT COMMUNICATING WITH THE OIL FILLED INTERIOR OF SAID ASSEMBLY; MEANS FOR PROTECTING SAID OIL FILLED ASSEMBLY PRIOR TO INSTALLATION, AGAINST DAMAGE RESULTING FROM EXPANSION OF THE OIL CONTAINED THEREIN DUE TO TEMPERATURE INCREASE WHILE PREVENTING LOSS OF SAID OIL, SAID MEANS COMPRISING AN EXPANDIBLE BREATHING BAG, DETACHABLE MEANS FOR SECURING SAID BAG ALONGSIDE THE OUTER WALL OF THE HOUSING OF ONE UNIT OF SAID ASSEMBLY, AND TUBULAR MEANS DETACHABLY CONNECTING THE INTERIOR OF SAID BAG TO SAID BREATHING VENT, WHEREBY OIL EXPELLED FROM SAID ASSEMBLY DURING EXPANSION IS RECEIVED BY SAID BAG AND RETURNED THEREFROM UPON CONTRACTION.

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