Load Filter Design Method for Medium-Voltage Drive Applications in Electrical Submersible Pump Systems

Medium-voltage drives (MVDs) are increasingly used in oil field facilities for high-power electrical submersible pump (ESP) wells. The load filter remains to be a critical component in such applications. In this paper, a load filter design method for MVD applications in ESP systems is proposed, which is suitable for various types of MVDs and with different lengths of cables involved. A computer simulation is conducted for a subsea-ESP system using a neutral point clamped (NPC) inverter drive as a case study, and three scenarios (no load filter, with an improperly designed load filter, and with the load filter designed using the proposed method) are investigated. The sensitivity study is also conducted using different lengths of cabling for the subsea-ESP system with the designed load filter installed. The simulation results of the case and sensitivity studies verify the effectiveness of the designed load filter using the proposed method. The designed load filter was installed with the same NPC inverter drive used in the case study and commissioned in a test ESP well. The simulation and field measurement results for the test well are compared and match well with each other. Field measurements of the test well provide further validation of the proposed load filter design method.