US3364859A - Sonic pump with a voltage gradient applied to the sonic wave transmission column - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 23, 1968 A. e. VBODINE 3,364,859

SONIC PUMP WITH A VOLTAGE GRADIENT APPLIED TO THE SONIC WAVE TRANSMISSION COLUMN Filed Aug. 19, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet l THE Jan. 23, 1968 A. G. BODINE SONIC PUMP WITH A VOLTAGE GRADIENT APPLIED TO SONIC WAVE TRANSMISSION COLUMN 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 19, 1965 INVENTOR. jle/vz GIBO ZZ/Ze United States Patent ()fiice 3,354,359 Patented Jan. 23, 1968 3,364,859 SGNIC PUMP WITH A VOLTAGE GRADIENT A?- PLiED TO THE SONIC WAVE TRANSMESSEQN COLUMN Albert G. Bodine, Los Angeles, Calif. (7877 Woodley Ave., Van Nuys, Calif. 91406) Filed Aug. 19, 1965, Ser. No. 431,044 9 Claims. (Cl. 1031) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A method and apparatus for removing petroleum from wells which comprises sonically vibrating the fluid conduit for removal of the petroleum while simultaneously establishing an electrical voltage gradient longitudinally along the conduit from the bottom of the Well to the top portion of the tube.

This invention is concerned with sonic oil Well pumps of the type shown in a number of my prior patents, such as Patent Nos. 2,444,916 and 2,902,937, and in my application Ser. No. 353,205, new Patent No. 3,255,699, issued June 14, 1966. The present invention is based upon the discovery that high-viscosity crude oil can, under some conditions, be pumped more effectively by sonic pumps of the type mentioned by use of an improvement consisting of transmitting an electric current through, i.e. creating an electric field or voltage gradient along, the same elastic column in which the sonic wave energy is being transmitted.

As described in the aforementioned patents, a sonic pump uses an elastic, sonic wave or vibration transmission line, which, as usually heretofore known, comprises the steel pump tubing string, which is of course of elastic material. This elastic sonic wave transmission line thus in such cases comprises a tubular elastic column, though in other cases it may comprise an elastic rod string or cable inside the tubing. Returning to the case of the transmission line or column in the form of the tubing itself, a succession of check valves are used therein, together with a means for generating and transmitting along the tubing sonic elastic waves or vibrations such as cause or involve cyclic waves of elastic elongation and contraction in the tubing, thereby causing vertical vibratory motion of the check valves. Thereby the oil is elevated up the tubing, as particularly well described in my Patent No. 2,444,916. Some crude oils are of such high viscosity, however, as to seriously handicap the process.

I have discovered a remedy for this problem involving the unique combination of two energy fields used simultaneously, one a sonic energy field accompanying the above mentioned sonic wave transmission along the tubing string, and the other being a field of electrical energy established along the tubing string.

Apparently the sonic energy fed into the tubing is ordinarily effective to accomplish not only the sonic pumping effort but also to afford additional energy which is applied to and dissipated in the crude oil such that the crude oil is heated and its viscosity effect reduced so that the crude oil is more easily pumped by the sonic pump process. However, there are situations wherein the viscosity of the crude oil is so great that the pumping efltort is still considerably hindered by the high viscosity of the crude oil. This invention is based upon the discovery that a voltage gradient maintained along the pump tubing, in addition to the sonic wave energy fed thereto, results in a considerably increased mobility of a high-viscosity fluid like crude oil contained inside the tubing.

There is no accurate way of quantitativey measuring the various factors involved in these phenomena, particularly down inside a deep oil well. However, actual field tests of this process have indicated that the electric voltage gradient has an effect in itself over and above the thermal heating eifect caused by the mere transmission of electrical energy through the metal pipe, and often also through well fluids in the pipe. It is of course obvious that a certain amount of heating results from PR losses accompanying this transmission of electrical energy through the pipe and/or Well fliuds, with the resulting reduction in the viscosity of the crude oil, particularly immediately adjacent the walls of the pipe.

This thermal heating effect is assisted by the sonic wave action. Specifically, I have found that the electrical thermal heating eifect can be considerably enhanced due to the fact that the sonic energy transmitted along the tubing string very greatly improves or activates the contact between the crude oil and the wall of the tubing. In other words, this sonic energy causes a cyclic vibratory scrubbing action of the crude oil against the tubing, at fairly high frequency, which tends to break down the formation of thermally insulating boundary layers in the crude oil immediately adjacent the pipe. The unique result then is that the sonic energy continually brings the crude oil into intimate contact with the walls of the pipe so that any heating of the walls of the pipe is effective at maximum efficiency to the heating of the crude oil itself. Accordingly I have found that when used with my sonic pump, a thermal heating process such as simple resistance heating of the pipe wall, is very greatly aided by this sonic action, which improves the heat exchange from the solid to the liquid media. This means then that the electrical energy is far more effective in heating of the crude oil, and as a result there is less electrical energy needed in order to accomplish a satisfactory reduction in the viscosity of the crude oil.

As mentioned above, however, there seems to be an additional effect over and above the sonic action consisting of improving the thermal conductivity from the tubing to the crude oil. This additional effect seems to arise out of a combination of the sonic energy gradient along the pipe with the voltage gradient along the pipe, which seems by some obscure mechanism to greatly reduce the ad hesive sticking of the crude oil against the wall of the pipe. In other words, the actual mobility of the crude oil seems to be far greater than would be expected simply due to the temperature effect noted. However, as mentioned above, it is difiicult to measure these effects in an oil Well because of the action down inside of the well, where instrumentation is almost an impossibility. This is particularly true where instrumentation is involved with thermal effects, in an environment where there are additional thermal effects such as that due to the earth itself. Sufilce it to say, however, the result of this invention is a very unique mobility of high-viscosity crude oil which results from the combination of sonic energy transmitted along the tubing string, along with a very moderate amount of electrical energy input due to a voltage gradient simultaneously established along the same tubing string.

The unique effects of the invention all apparently occur with either direct or alternating current, and therefore irrespective of the direction of the voltage gradient along the tubing string. Accordingly, then, the direction of voltage gradient is not critical in relation to the direction of sonic energy flow along the tubing string. In the conventional form of my sonic oil well pump, the sonic vibration generator or oscillator is normally mounted at the ground surface, so that the sonic energy is transmitted downwardly along the tubing string for its application to the pumping action. It is significant, however, as noted above, that the voltage gradient can be applied in either direction along the tubing string, with like results as regards improvement in the mobility of the crude oil. In the case of alternating current, of course, the voltage gradient perioda ically reverses direction, while the sonic energy gradient remains, unidirectional, and is therefore periodically in one direction and then the other relative to the sonic energy gradient. Reason alone would suggest that if the improvement in the mobility of the crude oil were exclusively owing to an improvement in heat transfer owing to the sonic wave activity at the boundary between the tubing, heated by PR loses, and the crude oil, then there should not be any appreciable differences between the effects produced by direct current and alternating current. Thus has been borne out in practice. However, there is apparently, in addition, a degree of improvement in the mobility of the crude oil in the sonically vibrating pump tubing just due to the addition of voltage gradient, and

irrespective of the heat transfer improvement by sonic dispersion of the boundary layer. And it is of further interest that apparently this additional effect is also insensitive to the direction of the voltage gradient in relation to the direction of transmission of sonic wave energy along the pipe string.

I have developed some theories as to why the voltage gradient improves the mobility of the crude oil, particularly over and above the effect that can reasonably be attributed to heat transfer improvement through sonic scrubbing away of the heat insulating boundary layer. I can not prove this theory and therefore I would not want to be held by it, but I do believe that a voltage gradient along the pipe string, or the crude oil therein, in combination with the action of sonic fields along the tubing, has a particular effect on a hydrocarbon such as to prevent coking or sticking, thereby making a further contribution to the mobility of the crude oil.

Reference is now directed to the drawings showing certain present illustrative embodiments of the invention, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic longitudinal sectional view of a representative sonic pump incorporating an illustrative form of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a detail section taken on line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a transverse section taken on line 33 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 shows a modification of the lower end portion of the pump installation of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 5 is a view, to an enlarged scale, of the lower end portion of a sonic pump such as that of FIG. 1, but with an alternative form of the present invention incorporated therewith.

In FIG. 1 an oil well bore is indicated by the letter W, and a well casing within said bore by numeral lil, the lower end portion of the casing adjacent the production formation being understood to be perforated in the usual manner. The pump tubing string 11, understood to be composed of elastic material, as steel, is suspended in Well bore W from platform 12, its lower end reaching downwardly to the region of the liquid L to be pumped from the well bore. The tubing string is made up in lengths or stands 11a, coupled end to end by coupling collars such as C. Platform 12 is resiliently mounted on vertical coil springs 13 standing on ground-supported platform 14. The platform 12 is electrically insulated from the platform 14 by suitable insulation as indicated as I. In this embodiment, the pump tubing string comprises the elastic sonic wave transmission line or column, though there are forms of my sonic pumps wherein the sonic wave transmission column comprises an elastic rod or elastic cable running down inside of the tubing. It will become evident that the present invention is equally applicable to both cases, and such varients are within the scope of the appended claims.

Mounted on platform 12 or on the upper end of tubing 11 extending thereabove, is a vibration generator or vibrator G comprising a housing 16 containing a device for vibrating the platform 12 and the upper end of the tubing 11, thereby exerting a vertical oscillating force upon the upper end of the tubing 11. The means for generating vibrations contained within housing 16 may be of any type,

but that here shown is a simple type having meshing oppositely rotating spur gears 17 carrying eccentric weights 18, which balance out horizontal vibrations but are additive to produce a substantial resultant oscillatory force in a vertical direction. The driving pulley of the vibrator,

mounted on the shaft for one of the spur gears, is driven by electric motor 19 through belt 20, which is preferably composed of rubber for good electrical insulation properties. Since this vibrator is employed to generate elastic waves in the pump tubing which are in the same nature as sound waves, and travel with the speed of sound Waves in the pipe, I may refer to this vibrator as a sonic wave generator.

The oscillating force applied to the upper end of the elastic tubing 11 by the sonic wave generator launches alternating deformation waves of tension and compression down the tubing, traveling in the tubing with the speed of sound. It must be understood that the tubing is not vertically reciprocated in a bodily manner. On the contrary, the vertically oscillating force applied to the upper end of the tubing by the sonic wave generator is of sufficiently high frequency (for instance, although without implying any limitation on the invention, 20 cycles per second for a 4,000-foot tubing) as to make that type of operation impossible. Instead, longitudinal elastic deformation Waves of compression and tension, of wavelength actually shorter than the length of the tubing string, travel down the tubing string, causing each transversesection thereof to oscillate vertically with each passage of a wave.

At certain of the tubing couplings there are located fluid impelling and check valve elements 22 (see FIG. 2), as will be described in more particular hereinafter. The general operation of the pump is described in my aforementioned Patent No. 2,444,912, and reference is also made to my Patent No. 2,702,559. It will suffice here to say simply that the pump operates by vertically vibratory influences applied to the fluid impelling and check valve element 22, the vertically vibratory impulses being ob-. tained from sonic energy in the form of elastic vibration waves. The fluid impelling and check valve means are located in vertically vibratory regions of the tubing string, and in this manner, as more fully described in my aforesaid patents, well fluids are pumped up the tubing string, to be delivered via outlet pipe or nipple 23, to which is coupled rubber (electrically insulating) dischargehose 24.

As disclosed in my aforementioned Patent No. 2,444,- 912 on sonic pumps, the pump tubing string 11 contains one or more fluid impelling units, illustratively in the form of check valves such as indicated at 22, and the lowermost of which is on or near the lower extremity of the pump tubing. A typical check valve 22 is shown in FIGS. 2 and 2a, and it will be understood that a suitable number of such check valves may be employed. Such a valve is located at and positioned by a conventional coupling collar C such as commonly used to joint adjacent lengths of pump tubing to form the complete tubing string. Thus, a coupling collar C screwthreadedly joins the upset end portions 33 on the adjacent ends of two lengths of pipe. A generally tubular valve body 34 is positioned within collar C and within the upset end portions of the adjacent lengths of tubing 11. Valve body 34 is recessed on the outside to accommodate rubber ring 35 which is compressed when the coupling is made, in an obvious fashion, to position the valve *body. The valve body has a central bore 38 which slidably receives a tubular stem 39 formed with a central longitudinal bore 40 to receive a long bolt 4% which clamps upper and lower rubber valve heads or disks 41 and 42. respectively, against the corresponding ends of the stem 39. Longitudinal passageways 44 are formed through valve body 34, opening into the lower end of the valve body outside rubber head 42, and opening at the top inside the rubber head 41. The conical upper surface 45 of the valve body 7 through which opens the passageway 44 is, as here shown,

formed on an angle which conforms to the angular lower surface of the rubber disk 41, and the latter, in moving onto and off of surface 45, acts as a valve. Surface 45 acts as the coacting valve seat. It will be seen that the length of stem 39 is such as to permit the rubber valve head 41 to seat against valve seat 45, so as to close off passageway 44, or to be elevated sufliciently to open good flow passages from passageway 44 around the outer periphery of the valve element 41 to the tubing above,

The use of rubber having a number between the ap proximate range of 49 and 76 on the Shore scale for" the valve element 41, and especially with a plastic such as nylon for the member afiording valve seat 45, gives an impelling element which is especially effective for applying kinetic energy to the fluid stream, and also to resist abrasion from pumped sand.

Preferably, to assure that the tubing string will not engage and become electrically grounded to the casing, there are used on the tubing a plurality of spaced rubber or other resilient insulators 59, which insulate the tubing from the casing both sonically and electrically. Such insulators 58 are described in my prior Patent No. 2,706,- 450.

A source of electric power, understood to be fed by 60- cycle alternating current power mains, in this instance a voltage step-down transformer T, has one output terminal electrically connected to the pump tubing 11, and the other to ground. In this specific instance, the first mentioned terminal of the transformer is connected by conductor 60 to sonic pump platform 12, which will be seen to be electrically insulated from ground. The platform 12 is composed of steel, and furnishes a good electric conductor to the pump tubing string. The transformer T may be fed from conventional 60-cycle commercial power mains, at typically 220 volts, or 440 volts, for example, and the step-down ratio of the transformer is such as to reduce the voltage in the platform 12 and the upper end of the tubing to a level that is safe for operating personnel, while at the same time providing enough current flow in the tubing 11 as will provide the desired amount of heating and increase of mobility of the crude oil in the tubing string. Obviously, current flow requirements will vary widely with different wells, depending uopn such factors the flow rate sought, and the initial viscosity of the crude oil. Also, obviously, some wells will flow properly with only small help from the added voltage gradient, while others may require much larger help.

The application of the voltage output from the transformer T across tubing 11 and ground means that an electric field and voltage gradient are created along the conductive path comprised of the sonic energy or Wave transmission column, consisting in this case of the tubing 11, and this field and voltage gradient are continued from the lower end portion of the tubing 11 through the well liquid L to the casing 10, which is of course at electrical ground potential. A lower resistance path from the tubing to ground can be provided by the optional use, as shown in FIG. 4, of an electrical brush comprised typically of a sleeve 64 screwed onto the tubing 11 near or at its lower end, and carrying a number of spring steel wires 65 which engage and make good electrical contact with the casing. The return path is of course principally along the casing to the point of electrical grounding of a terminal of transformer T. This is a low-resistance path, and the path from the lower end of the tubing to ground is also generally of fairly low resistance, either by virtue of electrical conductivity of the well liquids L, by use of a grounding brush such as at B, or otherwise. Accordingly, the principal voltage drop and voltage gradient is along the tubing 11. As stated before, the direction of the voltage gradient along the tubing appears to be immaterial, and thus the alternating current supply, making the upper end of the tubing string alternately positive and negative relative to ground, creates alternate potential gradients of reverse directions along the tubing. This is to say, the electric field along the tubing, and which is responsible for the current flow therein, periodically reverses direction.

It has also been mentioned that a direct current voltage impressed across the tubing string and ground produces a unidirectional electric field or voltage gradient therealong which is apparently equally effective as an alternating current voltage, and is therefore an equivalent, though alternating current is of course preferred for the usual reasons.

Crude oil is encountered in productive formations in various forms, often as emulsions of water particles in oil, normally of relatively low conductivity, and sometimes as emulsions of oil particles in water. The latter may be quite electrically conductive. Also, free electrically conductive water with relatively low oil content, is sometimes met. Accordingly, depending upon electrical conductivity of the well liquid, the electric field, or voltage gradient, and therefore the current flow, may be partly in the conductive steel tubing, and partly in and along the well liquids flowing therethrough.

The operation of the sonic pump without the creation of the voltage gradient along the pump tubing, or along the pump tubing and the water and/or crude oil therein, has been explained hereinabove. In some cases, as also explained, the crude oil is too viscous and lacking in mobility for effective or economic production by the sonic pump. The addition of the voltage gradient along the pump tubing string, as set forth above, to the sonic wave transmitted therealong, can put many such wells into economic production. As described with considerable particularity hereinabove, the added voltage gradient appears to perform helpfully in several distinct ways. First, the voltage gradient produces in the tubing 21 current flow, resulting in PR power losses, which are dissipated usefully in large part in heating the crude oil rising in the tubing. Second, combination of the applied voltage gradient with the sonic energy field extending along the tubing results in a disruption of thermally insulating boundary layers of the crude oil adjacent the tubing, and therefore increased heat transference from the inside surface areas of the tubing to the crude oil. It will also be seen that, in those cases in which the well liquid is fairly electr cally conductive, the electric field and voltage gradient will have a good path through the well liquid in the tubing, as well as in the walls of the tubing, and there will accordingly be current flow, I R losses, and heating, directly within the well liquids, as well as by transfer from the tubing. Finally, the voltage gradient in superimpositron over the sonic energy field seemingly promotes a still further process or effect, by which the mobility of the crude oil is increased over and beyond what can be reasonably attributed merely to PR losses and resulting heating efiects.

FIG. 5 shows a modification, in which the sonic pump of FIGS. 1-3 is again used, but in which the electrical energy is applied somewhat differently. FIG. 5 shows only the lower portion of the pump tubing 11, and the equipmerit above, including the transformer for supplying electrical energy, may be as in FIGS. 13, with one terminal understood as connected to the tubing string, and the other grounded. The casing is again designated at 10, the lowermost coupling collar at C, and the well liquid at L.

Tightly mounted on the outside of the lower end portion of the tubing string 11 is an insulation sleeve 84, on which is a winding of electrical resistance wire 86. The upper end of this winding can be connected at terminal 85, to an electrical conductor of low resistance which is run down the outside of the tubing from a source of electrical energy at ground surface. As here shown, the terminal 87 is made up of a terminal screw 96 which is threaded into a boss 97 on the side of tubing 11. The winding 86 is connected by jumper 98 to a connector lug 99 held by screw 96, and to an adjacent contacting lug 99a is connected the lower end of conductor 95. Rubber washers 100 may be used to insulate lugs 95! and 99a from boss 97. Alternatively, by simple omission of the insulation washers 100 and the inductor, the tubing 11 can again serve to conduct the electrical current, as in FIG. 1. In either case, electrical energization at the top is typically from one side of the secondary of a step-down transformer, the other side of which is electrically grounded. The winding 85 should be several feet in length, enough to bridge an appreciable length of the sonic energy field along the tubing, and to afford a like length of electrical energy field therealong. The length of such winding (and of the fields therealong) is not critical, and will vary widely with different well installations. Without intention of limitation, the winding can be of a few feet in length up to any convenient length,

.such as ten or twenty feet, for example; and in the case of the longer lengths, the spacing of the turns of the winding can be increased so that the total resistance of the winding will not become undesirably high.

Slidably fitted onto the tubing string 11 below the winding 85 is an insulation bearing sleeve 88, composed of any suitable material, and this sleeve is tightly fitted inside a surrounding steel jacket sleeve 89, which carries friction spring bales or how springs 90 that make frictional engagement with the inside of the casing. As shown, the bow springs 90 are fastened at the top to the sleeve 38, and constrained and guided at the bottom of the sleeve for limited longitudinal movement. Collars 91 and 92 in the tubing limit the range of relative movement of the bow spring assembly relative to the tubing to a small fraction of an inch, such as a sixteenth, and the longitudinal sonic vibration of the tubing, which is of somewhat greater magnitude, then assures that the bow spring as sembly will be moved slightly with each vibration cycle of the tubing. Accordingly, the bow springs rub on the casing through a short distance to obtain and maintain good electrical contact therebetween.

The lower end of the winding 85 is connected to the Sleeve 88, and the circuit is thus completed from the winding through the sleeve 89 and the bow springs 98 to the electrically grounded casing.

In case the electric current extends down the pump tubing to the upper end of the winding 85, and then goes down the winding, the operation of the system is as before for the length of the pump tubing included in the circuit. In addition, further beneficial effects are contributed by the winding, and the electrical energy field therealong, as will be explained. In the event that the current comes down the tubing via a separate conductor to the winding, the effects of the voltage gradient and the current flow in the tubing are of course omitted, but the same effect is obtained from the winding 85, and this effect will now be described. The electromagnetic field of the winding passes longitudinally through the portion of the pump tubing therewithin, resulting in eddy current flow in the tubing, and, of course, corresponding voltage gradients between different points on the tubing. These voltage gradients, in combination with the sonic energy field in the tubing, increase the mobility of the crude oil by phenomena akin to those heretofore discussed in connection with FIGS. 1-3. Still further, the resistance wire windingfiS in the well annulus between the pump tubing and the casing heats this exterior crude oil by direct heat transfer, and thus increases the mobility thereof which results in improved in-flow into the lower end of the pump tubing.

In the case of other types of sonic pumps, for example, those in which a sonically vibratory elastic rod string extends down through a stationary pump tubing, so as to serve as the sonic wave transmission line, and actuates check valves installed in the tubing, the present invention is practiced simply by establishing the voltage gradient along the elastic column, this time comprised of the rod string. A sonic pump in which the sonic waves are transmitted down the elastic rod string is disclosed, for example, in FIGS. 1-4 of my prior Patent No. 2,553,541. The rod string 20 of this patent may, for example, be electrically insulated from the spring supporting means 19 and the vibration generator G above, or other obvious arrangements made whereby the upper end of rod string 26 is insulated from ground. The application of the invention to this pump then follows obviously. Moreover, as also mentioned hereinabove, the sonic wave transmission line or column extending down through the tubing in such a sonic pump can also, alternatively, be a cable. A voltage gradient can also be established along the tubing. It will be clear that in these cases a transformer can be connected at one side to the rod string, or cable, and at the other to ground, and that the rod string, or cable, can be electrically connected to the casing at the bottom of the well. Phenomena described hereinabove leading to improvement in mobility of the crude oil are thereby attained.

It will be understood that the drawings and description are merely illustrative of presently conceived embodiments of the invention, and that various changes in design structure and arrangement may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim: 1. The method of producing petroleum from a sonic well pump in a well bore in a petroleum producing formation, which sonic pump embodies an elastic sonic vibration transmission line extending from the ground surface down the well bore to the level of the producing formation, with means for generating sonic vibrations and transmitting them down said elastic transmission line, there being fluid impelling means mounted along and coupled to said elastic vibration transmission line, and there being a production fluid conduit along said transmission line arranged to contain said fluid impelling means and a column of production fluid elevated thereby, said conduit being open at its lower end to production fluids in the well, that comprises:

generating said sonic vibrations and transmitting them along said sonic vibration transmission line to sonically vibrate said fluid impelling means; and

simultaneously therewith establishing an electrical voltage gradient longitudinally along said production fluid column.

2. The subject matter of claim 1, wherein said sonic vibration transmission line is an electrical conductor and said voltage gradient is established by applying an electrical voltage to cause electrical current flow therealong.

3. The subject matter of claim 2, using an elastic pump tubing to function simultaneously as the fluid conduit, the sonic vibration transmission line, and the electrical conductor along which the voltage gradient is established.

4. In a sonic pump for a deep well, the combination of:

an elastic sonic Wave transmission line extending down into the well; a sonic elastic wave generator coupled to said transmission line for establishing sonic wave transmission along said line;

vibratory fluid impelling elements coupled to said line for actuation by sonic wave energy transmitted along said line, said fluid impelling elements being in communication with a column of well production fluid in said well, so as to elevate said fluid; and

means for establishing an electrical voltage gradient along said production fluid column.

5. The subject matter of claim 4, wherein said sonic Wave transmission line is electrically conductive, and said voltage gradient is established by causing an electrical current to flow along said line.

6. In a sonic pump for a deep well, the combination of: a

an elastic pump production tubing extending down into said well and open to Well fluids in the bottom of the well;

a sonic elastic wave generator coupled to said tubing for establishing sonic wave transmission therealong;

vibratory fluid impelling elements in and coupled to said tubing for actuation by sonic wave energy transmitted along said tubing, said elements being in communication with a column of well production fluid contained in said tubing, so as to elevate said fluid; and

means for establishing an electrical voltage gradient along said tubing. 7. The subject matter of claim 6, including a source of electrical energy at the ground surface; and

electric circuit means connecting said source across an upper portion of said tubing and ground, such that an electrical current flows through said tubing. 8. The subject matter of claim 7, wherein said Well includes a casing surrounding said tubing; and

an electrical connection between a lower portion of said tubing and said casing. 9. In a sonic pump for a deep well, the combination of: an elastic pump production tubing extending down into said well and open to Well fluids in the bottom of the well; a sonic elastic Wave generator coupled to said tubing for establishing sonic Wave transmission therealong; vibratory fluid impelling elements in and coupled to References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,784,214 12/1930 Worhman 1031 X 2,186,035 1/1940 Niles 103-1 X 2,799,641 7/1957 Bell l031 X 3,127,842 4/1964 Bodine 1031 DONLEY J. STOCKING, Primary Examiner. WILLIAM L. FREEH, Examiner.

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