Determination of the temperature distribution of ESP motors under variable conditions of flow rate and loading

A case study has been made with several oil viscosities and water cut. The results showed a fact commonly observed in ESP field operations, that is, the motor temperature rises when the motor speed is continuously increased. It was also shown that neglecting the effect of the thermal boundary layer development may result in an overheated motor prediction where actually, the motor maximum temperature is much lower than its upper limit. Thus, it was observed that fully developed temperature profile models suffer from inaccuracy when used in viscous oil applications, because of their great thermal entry length.