Electric Motor Drives for Oil Well Walking Beam Pumps

For many years, polyphase integral horsepower motors have been the principal driving source for walking beam pumps in the oil fields. Available motor types are numerous, and all have been used, ranging from quite standard motors to highly specialized ones. Over the years, electrical and mechanical features particularly fitted for oil well pumping service have evolved, and most present day beam pumping motors incorporate these features. Nevertheless, for various reasons, many motors are still applied without all the features of the most common version of the oil well pumping motor, or with even more specialized features. This paper will compare ``standard´´ motors, the ``most common´´ category and the ``highly specialized´´ ones with respect to oil well pumping service.