Anais do XX Congresso Brasileiro de Automática

Belo Horizonte, MG, 20 a 24 de Setembro de 2014

DETERMINING THE SURFACE DYNAMOMETER CARD OF A PUMPING

SYSTEM FROM THE TORQUE CURVE OF A THREE-PHASE INDUCTION
MOTOR.

Wilton Lacerda Silva∗, Daniel Gonçalves de Souza Neto†, Manuel de Almeida Barreto
Filho‡, Antônio Marcus Nogueira Lima§, Amauri Oliveira†
∗
Federal Institute of Bahia - IFBA
Av. Amazonas, no 3150, Zabelê, Vitória da Conquista BA,Brazil
†
Department of Electrical Engineering, Federal University of Bahia - UFBA
Aristides Novis Street, no 02, Federação, Salvador BA, CEP 40210-630, Brazil
‡
Department of Materials Science and Technology, Federal University of Bahia - UFBA
and Petróleo Brasileiro S.A - PETROBRAS
§
Department of Electrical Engineering, Federal University of Campina Grande -UFCG
Campina Grande - PB, Brazil

Emails: wiltonlacerda@ifba.edu.br, daniel.onda@gmail.com,

barretofilho@petrobras.com.br, amnlima@dee.ufcg.edu.br, amauri@ufba.br

Abstract— This paper proposes to obtain the surface dynamometer card, in a sucker-rod pumping system,
from the torque curve of the three-phase induction motor that drives the beam pumping unit. This will lead to
a minimally invasive, easy installation and maintenance method, without using the load cell, to plot the surface
dynamometer card of a pumping system. It has been shown the mathematical basis which allows us to infer the
polished rod load by using the torque of the induction motor. A simulation has been performed and a surface
dynamometer card has been plotted from data of the motor torque. The torque of the induction motor of a
beam pumping unit with API designation C640D-305-144, that operates in a well of 1280 m deep, has been also
obtained by using the methodology of rotor slot harmonics, and the surface dynamometer card of a pumping
system has been plotted.

Keywords— Sucker-rod pumping, surface dynamometer card, three-phase induction motor, torque curve,
rotor slot harmonics.

1 Introduction phase induction motor and its speed. In this

The sucker-rod pumping (RP) is the most ap-
plied artificial lift technology of oil in the world
(Thomas, 2001). Figure 1 presents a RP sys-
tem. In particular, it highlights the downhole
equipments such as: subsurface pump, tubing and
rod string, besides surface equipments, here rep-
resented by a conventional beam pumping unit.
Evaluating operation conditions of a well is essen-
tial, so one of the most applied tools by profession-
als in the oil industry is the surface dynamometer
card of a pumping system. It provides information
about the rod string load versus its displacement
for each pumping cycle (Mantecon, 1989). The use
of dynamometers to measure the polished rod load
is quite usual and they have been improved in re-
cent decades (Takács, 2003). This paper proposes
to obtain the surface dynamometer card from the
torque curve of the three-phase induction motor
(TIM) that drives the beam pumping unit, ie,
without using the load cell.
One of the methods to obtain the surface
dynamometer card without using a dynamome-
ter is to use the TIM torque curve as well as
data from the manufacturer of the beam pumping
unit (BPU) (Gibbs, 1987). The work of (Rowlan
et al., 2005) introduced a methodology to obtain
network torque data from the power of three-
context, it is essential to know the efficiency of
the transmission system, ie, motor, gearbox and
sheaves/belts. Similarly, this paper proposes to
use the rotor slot harmonics, which are present
in the line current of the induction motor, to ob-
tain the motor speed (Aiello et al., 2005; Nandi
et al., 2002) and from this information infers mo-
tor torque. This methodology has advantages over
the previous one since the number of sensors re-
quired to measure parameters to estimate the mo-
tor torque and speed is much smaller. However,
when it is compared with the traditional use of the
load cell to obtain polished rod load, both method-
ologies are less intrusive to the RP system, then
the installation and mainly the maintenance costs
are reduced.
2 Mathematical basis to obtain the
surface dynamometer card of a
pumping system from the torque curve
of the induction motor
The map of the loads that operates on the pol-
ished rod in function of its displacement (surface
dynamometer card) plays a key role in the analysis
and diagnostic process of the sucker-rod pumping.
Moreover, its use as a production optimization
tool, through the automation of wells and pump-

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 Anais do XX Congresso Brasileiro de Automática
Belo Horizonte, MG, 20 a 24 de Setembro de 2014

Conventional beam pumping unit

engex
API - 25 E

Downstroke
Polished
rod
β
C

χ
ψ A
Production casing ρ

P
Rod string
J
K H
Φ

Subsurface pump
PR
α
R

θ
G

Figure 1: Schematic representation of a sucker-rod pump-

ing system. I

off control, is a natural tendency. The polished Figure 2: Geometry of a conventional beam pumping unit.
rod load and counterweights generates torque on
the gearbox shaft of the beam pumping unit. The
torque factor method, equation (1), approved by
American Petroleum Institute (API) is one of the 1
ways to obtain the torque which is submitted the QP R (θ) = [υTM (θ) + M sin(θ + τ )] + QSU
T F (θ)
gearbox shaft of the BPU. (3)
The rotational angle of the crank, figure 2,
can be obtained from the equation (4):
TR (θ) = T F (θ)[QP R (θ)−QSU ]−M sin(θ+τ ) (1)
θ(t) = ω(t)t + ǫ (4)
For:
The instantaneous rotational speed of the
TR - gearbox torque of the BPU, in (N · m). crank ω, in rad/s, can be obtained by the product
T F - torque factor, in (m). of the instantaneous rotational speed of the mo-
QP R - polished rod load, in (N ). tor and the ratio between the average speed of the
QSU - structural unbalance of the BPU, in motor and crank. The average speed of the crank
(N ). can be estimated from the pulse train provided by
M - counterbalance moment, in (N · m). a Hall effect sensor mounted on the BPU, which
θ - rotational angle of the crank, in (rad). is triggered by a magnet fastened on the crank.
τ - phase angle between the crank arm and The angle ǫ can be inferred from the BPU ge-
counterweight line, in (rad). ometry, figure 2, through the following equations:

ǫ=φ−γ (5)
The torque of the induction motor can be con- In which the angles φ and γ are:
verted to the BPU gearbox torque using equation
(2): φ = arcsin(I/K) (6)

TR (θ) = υTM (θ) (2)

(P + R)2 + K 2 − C 2
 
γ = arccos (7)
In which υ is a constant of proportionality 2(P + R)K
that includes the ratio between the average speed
of the motor and crank, and the efficiency of: the The crank arm R is the solution of the bi-
motor, the transmission system (shaves/belts), quadratic equation (8):
the gearbox and the rotational and articulated
parts of the BPU. ER4 + F R2 + L = 0 (8)
The equation (1) can be rewritten as a func- In which:
tion of the induction motor torque, in which the
polished rod load is isolated: E = sin2 (SP R /2A) (9)

2022
 Anais do XX Congresso Brasileiro de Automática
Belo Horizonte, MG, 20 a 24 de Setembro de 2014

350
Simulated torque curve
  300
SP R
F =2(P 2 + C 2 + K 2 )cos2 +
2A 250

2(P 2 − C 2 − K 2 ) (10) 200

Torque (Nm)
150

100
  2
SP R
L = (C 2 + K 2 − P 2 )sin − 50

2A
  2 0

SP R
CKsin (11) -50
A 0 1 2 3 4
Time (s)
5 6 7 8

A, C, P , K, H, I, G e J are dimensions of
the conventional BPU geometry and SP R is the Figure 3: Simulated torque curve.
course of the polished rod. The dimension J varies 4
x 10
with the angle θ and it can be obtained from the 8 Simulated surface dynamometer card
equation (12): Recovered surface dynamometer card

p 6
J= K 2 + R2 − 2KRcos(θ − φ) (12)

Rod load (N)

5
The torque factor T F is a function of the an-
gle θ, crank arm R and BPU geometry and it can 4

be inferred from the equation (13):

3

AR sinα
T F (θ) = (13) 2
C sinβ
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
For: Rod displacement (m)

α = β + ψ − (θ − φ) (14) Figure 4: Simulated surface dynamometer cards.

P 2 + C2 − J 2
 
β = arccos (15) In which the angle ψb is the minimal value of
2CP
ψ that occurs at the beginning of the downstroke
Finally, one can check that: and it is given by:

ψ =χ−ρ
In which:
C2 + J 2 − P 2
 
χ = arccos
2CJ
 
Rsin(θ − φ)
ρ = arcsin
J program that simulates the movement of the rod
Therefore, if data from the counterbalance
moment M , structural unbalance QSU , polished
rod course SP R and BPU geometry, that are pro-
vided by manufacturers of beam pumping units,
besides the torque and speed versus time curves of
the induction motor are available, one can deter-
mine the polished rod load QP R along the pump-
ing cycle, from the equation (1). Moreover, to plot
(QP R vs. S(θ)) it is necessary to know the posi-
tion of the polished rod S(θ), which is a function
of the angle θ for each load value. The equation
(19) allows us to obtain the values of polished rod
position as a function of the rotational angle of
the crank:
S(θ) = A(ψb − ψ)
(16)
C 2 + K 2 − (P + R)2
 
ψb = arccos (20)
2CK
(17) 2.1 Simulation to obtain surface dynamometer
card
(18) The work of (Barreto Filho, 2001) developed a
string, its deformation and interaction with the
produced fluid, besides the acceleration and de-
celeration of the same within the tubing along
the pumping cycle, using the downhole conditions,
the rod string design, the characteristics of the
pumped fluid and the pumping unit data. The
linearization of the induction motor torque versus
speed curve, that will be described in this paper,
has been also employed in his simulator.
The induction motor torque versus time
curve, figure 3, has been obtained in the simulator
developed by Barreto Filho and it has been em-
ployed to recover the surface dynamometer card,
figure 4, by means of the torque factor method
previously described.
(19) In figure 4 one can note a slight difference

2023
 Anais do XX Congresso Brasileiro de Automática
Belo Horizonte, MG, 20 a 24 de Setembro de 2014
between the simulated and recovered surface dy-
namometer cards. This is due to the contribution
of the inertial components of BPU, that have been
described by (Gibbs, 1975) and they have been
taken into account only in the simulator.
2.2 Detection of the motor speed and torque by
means of the rotor slot harmonics methodol-
ogy
The rotor slot harmonics methodology (Nandi
et al., 2001) can be employed to estimate the rota-
tional speed of the axis of a three phase induction
motor. The equation of rotor slot harmonics fre-
quencies can be written as:
 
1−s
fsh = λZ ± δ f1 (21)
p
For:
fsh - rotor slot harmonic frequency, in (Hz).
Z - number of rotor slots.
s - slip.
p - number of fundamental poles pairs.
λ - any positive integer number.
f1 - fundamental supply frequency, in (Hz).
δ - order of the stator time harmonic (δ = 1,
3, 5, etc.).
When equation (21) is employed to estimate
the rotational speed of the motor, it can be sim-
plified as follows: the λ can be taken equal to one,
since the first set of components exhibits good am-
plitude to detect rotor slot harmonics. Thus, the
slip of the motor can be expressed by:
 
p fsh
s=1− ∓δ (22)
Z f1
It is possible to determine the rotational speed
of the induction motor shaft, in (Hz), by means
of the motor slip (Krause et al., 2002; Nasar and
Boldea, 2002), through the following equation:
60
n= (fsh ± δf1 ) (23)
Z the motor shaft.
It is known that the generation of the rotor
slot harmonics, which are present in the line cur-
rent of the induction motor, depends strongly on
the number of rotor slots and the number of fun-
damental poles pairs (Silva and Olivera, 2012a).
So, if these parameters are known, it is possible
to identify the frequency spectral components f1
and fsh .
The methodology of rotor slot harmonics en-
ables us to estimate the slip and speed of induction
motors with squirrel cage rotor, which drive the
beam pumping units for artificial lift of oil (Silva
and Oliveira, 2013). If the instantaneous motor
speed is known, one can infer the instantaneous
speed of any part of the BPU and indirectly the
2024
9
8
7
Torque (N.m)
6
5
4
Rated Torque
2
1
0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800
Rotational speed (rpm)
Figure 5: TIM torque vs. speed curve (solid line) and linear
approximation between null and rated torque (dashed line).
gearbox and motor torque. The linear relation-
ship between the TIM torque and slip has been
proposed to obtain the torque of the induction
motor. Figure 5 shows the TIM torque curve that
has been obtained from a motor equivalent circuit
simulation. In this moment two points which will
be employed in this method can be highlighted,
the rated torque of the TIM Tn , which happens
to rated speed and slip sn , and torque for syn-
chronous speed for which the slip is zero. Thus,
a linear equation can be constructed by using the
points (0,0) and (sn ,Tn ), and it is represented by
the dashed line in figure 5. The TIM torque can
be estimated from this linear equation that is a
function of the slip and it can be expressed by:
s
TM = Tn (24)
sn
For:
TM - motor torque, in (N · m).
Tn - rated motor torque, in (N · m).
s - slip.
sn - rated slip.
Data such as: slip, speed and rated torque can
be obtained from the TIM nameplate. The slip or
speed can be estimated by using the methodology
of rotor slot harmonics. Thus, if these data are
available it is possible to estimate the torque on
3 Experimental results
The methodology of rotor slot harmonics has been
employed to infer the surface dynamometer card
of an oil well equipped with sucker-rod pumping.
The subsurface pump of the well is at a depth of
1280 m and it is driven by a conventional beam
pumping unit with API designation C640D-305-
144, figure 6. The geometrical dimensions of this
pumping unit in inches are: A = 180, C = 120.08,
I = 120, P = 144.50, R = 47 and structural un-
balance -520 kgf . From these values and the pre-
vious equations, it is possible to calculate some
parameters such as: φ = 36.91 and ψb = 68.4.
 Anais do XX Congresso Brasileiro de Automática
Belo Horizonte, MG, 20 a 24 de Setembro de 2014

Controller

Current Signal
probe conditioning

Phase C
Phase B
Phase A
Computer -
Induction Digital signal
motor processing

Sheaves
Gear
and
Box
belts

Figure 7: Schematic representation of the method em-

ployed to acquire the current signal in the field.

Figure 6: Photo of a conventional beam pumping unit with 100

API designation C640D-305-144. 80

60

40
One can determine that this pumping unit op-
Amplitude (A)

20
Induction motor current
erates with 189.6 degrees of upstroke and 170.4 0 Crank position

degrees of downstroke. −20

The TIM power, that drives this BPU, is 75 −40
cv, its rated speed is 1190 rpm, it has 3 poles pairs, −60
58 rotor slots, its rated current and torque are re- −80
spectively 95 A and 443 N · m and it has been di- −100
rectly supplied by the power grid. The schematic 0 5 10 15
Time (s)
20 25

for current acquisition in one of the motor phases

is shown in figure 7. The current signal, that
Figure 8: The current signal acquired in one of the motor
has been acquired by a current probe which has phases. The vertical dashed lines are pulses provided by a
a Hall effect sensor, has been acquired and condi- Hall effect sensor mounted on the BPU, which is triggered
tioned in the analog to digital converter DAQ6009 by a magnet fastened on the crank. Each pulse indicates
that the mechanical horse’s head is on the highest position.
of National Instruments with a sampling rate of 10
ks/s. The current signal is shown in figure 8. In
this figure, one can observe that variations of the
load directly affect the current signal amplitude.
A magnification of this signal has been performed
to allow us a better viewing of the current wave- 50

form and the result is shown in figure 9. 40

An algorithm has been used to identify f1 30

and fsh , since these parameters are critical to 20

determine the motor speed and slip, equations

Amplitude (A)

10
Induction motor current
(22) and (23). Several digital signal processing 0 Crank position

tools have been employed to identify these param- −10

eters, but two techniques should be highlighted: −20

the Chirp Z-Transform (CZT) and Short Time −30

Fourier Transform (STFT), which provide better −40

accuracy in the identification process (Silva and −50

5.45 5.5 5.55 5.6 5.65
Olivera, 2012b). Time (s)

Once the slip and speed are determined, the

torques can be estimated in the sucker-rod pump- Figure 9: Magnification of a current signal segment.
ing system. Figure 10 shows the estimated torque
curves. One can note that both the current sig-

2025
 Anais do XX Congresso Brasileiro de Automática
Belo Horizonte, MG, 20 a 24 de Setembro de 2014

2
6
x 10 Positive results have been achieved in the re-
Counterbalance torque
Gearbox maximum torque
Net torque
covery process of the surface dynamometer card.
1.5 Rod load torque
The rotor slot harmonics methodology indicates
1 that it is possible to determine the gearbox torque
on the BPU. Thus, this paper shows that this
Torque (lbf−in)

0.5
methodology to obtain the surface dynamome-
0 ter card is feasible and it is an auxiliary tool for
professionals in the oil industry that work with
−0.5
sucker-rod pumping systems which are driven by
−1 three-phase induction motors.
−1.5
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400
Crank angle (degrees)
5 Acknowledgment

Figure 10: Torque curves of the beam pumping unit with The authors thank FAPESB and CNPq for the
API designation 640D-305-144. financial support throughout the development of
this project and PETROBRAS.
4
x 10
2.4
Estimated surface dynamometer card
Recovered surface dynamometer card
References
2.2

Aiello, M., Cataliotti, A. and Nuccio, S. (2005).

2
An induction motor speed measurement
Rod load (lbf)

1.8 method based on current harmonic analysis

with the chirp-z transform, IEEE Tansac-
1.6
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1.4 54(5): 1811–1819.

1.2 Barreto Filho, M. A. (2001). Estimation of Aver-

1
0 50
Rod displacement (in)
Figure 11: Estimated and reference surface dynamometer
cards.
nal waveform (figure 9) and gearbox torque curve
(figure 10) indicate that the BPU is not com-
pletely balanced. However, it appears that the
gearbox torque peak is less than the maximum
gearbox torque allowable. Using the polished rod
torque curve and its position, it is possible to es-
timate the surface dynamometer card of the oil
well equipped with RP. The estimated surface dy-
namometer card is shown in figure 11. It has been
compared with a reference surface dynamometer
card that has been obtained by using a load cell
and positioning encoder. One can note many sim-
ilarities between them.
4 Conclusion
The surface dynamometer card of a pumping sys-
tem is a very important tool in the analysis and di-
agnostic process of the sucker-rod pumping. Thus,
the availability of other tools and techniques to
obtain such card is relevant in this context. This
paper presents the theoretical and practical basis
to obtain the surface dynamometer card by using
the methodology of rotor slot harmonics, which
are present in the line current of the three-phase
induction motor.
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tion, IEEE Transactions on Energy Conver-
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2026
 Anais do XX Congresso Brasileiro de Automática
Belo Horizonte, MG, 20 a 24 de Setembro de 2014

Nasar, S. A. and Boldea, I. (2002). The Induction

Machine Handbook, 1 edn, CRC Press.
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