MODULAR INTAKE FILTER SYSTEM, APPARATUS AND METHOD

1 . An electric submersible pumping system comprising a modular intake filter for screening media from well fluid, the system comprising:

an electric submersible pump (“ESP”) assembly comprising:

an intake shaft that transfers horsepower from a seal section to a centrifugal pump of the ESP assembly; and

an intake section secured between the seal section and the centrifugal pump by a head on a downstream side and a base on an upstream side, the intake section comprising:

at least two modular intake filters comprising a perforated housing, each modular intake filter threadedly engaged to an adjacent modular intake filter by a guide; and

a porous media cartridge sealed to an exterior of the perforated housing, wherein a porosity of the porous media cartridge is selected to prevent media of a chosen size from entering the centrifugal pump.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein a number of the at least two modular intake filters is determined by:

calculating an area of filtration material required by dividing a selected flow rate of pumped fluid by a permeability of the porous media cartridge; and

calculating the number of the at least two modular intake filters by dividing the area of filtration material required by a surface area of a single modular intake filter.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the intake section comprises a radial support bearing located in at least one of the head, the guide or the base.

4 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the radial support bearing comprises a rotatable sleeve keyed to the intake shaft and a stationary bushing pressed into the guide.

5 . The system of claim 3 , further comprising at least three radial support bearings, wherein one of the at least three radial support bearings is located in each of the head, guide and base.

6 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising a screen surrounding the exterior of the porous media cartridge.

7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein there are between two and forty modular intake filters.

8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the porosity of the porous media cartridge is a media grade of between 0.1 and 100.

9 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the porous media cartridge is a sintered, porous metal.

10 . A modular intake filter apparatus for an artificial lift pumping system, the modular intake filter apparatus comprising:

at least one modular intake filter comprising:

a perforated housing supportively engaged to a production pump of an artificial lift assembly; and

a porous media cartridge sealed to an exterior of the perforated housing, wherein a porosity of the porous media cartridge is selected to prevent media of a chosen size from entering the production pump; and

wherein a number of the at least one modular intake filter in the apparatus is determined by:

calculating an area of filtration material required by dividing a selected flow rate of pumped fluid by a permeability of the porous media cartridge; and

calculating the number of the at least one modular intake filters by dividing the area of filtration material required by a surface area of a single modular intake filter.

11 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the perforated housing is threaded to the production pump by a head, wherein the head further comprises a spider bearing pressed into the head and a stationary bushing of a hydraulic bearing set pressedly coupled to the spider bearing.

12 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the production pump is a rod pump.

13 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the production pump is a multistage centrifugal pump.

14 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein there are between one and forty modular intake filters.

15 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the porous media cartridge comprises porous metal.

16 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the selected porosity of the porous media cartridge is a media grade of between 0.1 and 100.0.

17 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein a viscosity of the pumped fluid is about 1.0 centipoise and the selected flow rate is about 116.6 gallons per minute.

18 . The apparatus of claim 10 , further comprising a screen, the screen wrapped circumferentially about an outside of the porous media cartridge.

19 . A method of filtering media from a fluid entering an artificial lift pump system, the method comprising:

selecting a porosity for a media cartridge to use in a modular intake filter for an artificial lift pumping application;

installing a media cartridge of the selected porosity on a perforated housing to form the modular intake filter; and

a step for computing a number of modular intake filters required to maintain a selected flow rate, the computation comprising at least the factors of:

a surface area of one of the modular intake filter;

the selected flow rate of pumped fluid; and

a permeability of the media cartridge of the selected porosity.

20 . The method of claim 19 , further comprising joining in series the required number of modular intake filters as computed.

21 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the required number of modular intake filters are joined by threading in series with a guide.

22 . The method of claim 19 , wherein installing the media cartridge on the perforated housing further comprises sealing the media cartridge onto the perforated housing.

23 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the step for computing the number of modular intake filters required further comprises rounding to a whole number of modules based on proximity to a nearest whole number of modules.

24 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the step for computing the number of modular intake filters required further comprises rounding to a whole number of modules based on a magnitude of modules.