| Title | Research and Development of Down-Hole Pumps in the Sunshine Project in Japan |
|---|---|
| Authors | Mori, Y. |
| Year | 1988 |
| Conference | Japan International Geothermal Symposium |
| Keywords | |
| Abstract | This paper is a report of research and development activities with regard to down-hole pumps funded by the Sunshine Project of Agency of Industrial Science and Technology, Ministry of International Science and Technology of Japan. Among energies, even though at present the total electric power generation by use of geothermal energy is about 250MW, geothermal energy is considered one of the highly hopeful energy resources due to its large and promising reserves spread throughout Japan. Therefore in the geothermal energy R&D in the Sunshine Project, several essential, SUbstantial and basic projects associated with advanced evaluation mothods, efficient and high temperature drilling technologies, effective geothermal energy utilizations, together with a means to enhance the percent of drilled production wells of the aimed production performance, have been carried out during the past decade. An important feature related to the geothermal resources in Japan is that over a half of the total resources contains hot and medium temperature brine of 140-2000 C. Therefore utilization of the hot brine should be seriously investigated. However, among newly drilled production wells, some are found -to have brine of low pressure, not high enough to spout out by its own pressure. In order to pressurize the brine of low pressure enough to come up to the ground level, a down-hole pump, similar to a submerged pump driven by a motor, is concluded most promising after serious studies. By use of this kind of pump the thermal energy of hot brine sent up to the ground is taken out to be use in a binary cycle plant. From the viewpoint of utilization of hot brine and of environmental problems it is considered that an ideal geothermal plant is a binary cycle plant provided with a down-hole pump and generating no pollutive gases. With the view and objective to make effective use of the hot brine of low spouting pressure, the R&D project for the submergible motor-driven down-hole pump was-started in 1983. The project consisted of three major items, which were the development program of basic technologies, the test run of the No.1 machine for technical feasibility study which was to be designed and manufactured on the basis of the results obtained from the basic technologies developed and the test run of the newly developed No.2 pump mainly for economic feasibility study which would be designed in the light of the results of the run of the No.1 machine. ~ the end of 1988 fiscal year, most of the developments of basic technologies, and the manufacture of the No.1 machine and its long test run, using the real hot brine of 170 C, were successfully completed. Based on the results thus obtained the No.2 pump with its operation system is now under construction for laboratory and practical well tests. The project will be finished by the end of 1988 fiscal year for check and review. Most of this paper describes the target and outline of the motor-driven down-hole pump R&D project and the results obtained so far. |