In one of the world’s largest oil and gas fields, the firstever underwater compressor system employs ANDRITZ submersible motors. With their renewable winding these maintenance-free designed pumps have achieved spectacular outcomes.
We are surrounded by fuel. From water bottles to the insulation in our homes, natural fuel is a key ingredient in just about each product we use daily. According to differential pressure gauge ราคา issued by the International Gas Union (IGU) in 2019, the worldwide demand in gasoline has been rising by 35% of the past decade alone.
The reasons for this trend are manifold, but the IGU determines three major components. First, the cost competitiveness of gas in distinction to different power sources. Secondly, higher security of provide with regard to infrastructure, supply, and flexible use. Thirdly, gas represents a sustainable type of power that can mitigate climate change and lower localized air pollution. It has 50% fewer CO2 emissions in comparability with coal, for example.
In order to fulfill this rising demand and use, the eco-friendly potential gas will have to be extracted using a sustainable course of. One of the most important techniques is the Åsgard oil and fuel subject on the Haltenbanken, 200 km off the coast of Norway. It incorporates 52 wells combined in 16 gasoline fields and connected by 300 km of oil pipelines. As of December 2018, the field has estimated sources of 9.9 million normal cubic meters of oil equal of oil and 51.1 million commonplace cubic meters of oil equivalent of gasoline.
The system used includes three important areas: Åsgard A, B, and C. Åsgard A is a floating oil manufacturing vessel that has been anchored there permanently since extraction began in 1999. Åsgard B is a floating, semi-submersible fuel and condensate processing platform for processing and stabilizing of fuel and condensate. This platform is supplemented by the condensate storage facility Åsgard C and the 707 km-long Åsgard gas pipeline to the Karsto processing advanced to the north of Stavanger, Norway.
First on the planet Aker Solutions ASA has been supporting the Åsgard gasoline area with varied fuel area products, methods, and companies since 2010. In time, the stress in the storage facility in gas-producing fields drops. Compressors are wanted to sustain the output. Aker delivered the first-ever underwater compressor system worldwide to Åsgard to find a way to improve the output to 306 million barrels. These are usually installed on platforms above sea degree.
However, Åsgard relies on an underwater system. By using compressors on the seabed the recovery rates are improved and the investment and operating prices are decreased. In addition, underwater compression leaves a smaller ecological footprint and is extra reliable than a platform. The Åsgard system consists of modules for 2 similar units of compressors, pumps, scrubbers, and coolers. The motors needed to drive the pumps come from ANDRITZ.
Small, however essential
In 2010, Ritz Pumpenfabrik GmbH in Schwäbisch-Gmünd, Germany, became ANDRITZ Ritz GmbH and a part of the ANDRITZ Group, as did the manufacturing of submersible motors. Due to the renewable winding, ANDRITZ submersible motors are suitable for driving deep nicely pumps, bottom consumption pumps, suction pumps, seawater pumps, and underwater machinery.
Depending on the area of software, the motors could be made of forged iron, bronze or completely different kind of stainless-steel and installed either vertically or horizontally. These are water-filled and watercooled, three-phase asynchronous motors with squirrel cages and a mech- anical seal. They are fitted with MCT, a particular cooling technology. In designs with inside everlasting magnet motor know-how, or IPM for short, these maintenance-free motors can achieve spectacular outputs, efficiencies and, consequently, price financial savings.
The efficient and measurable motor cooling system retains the interior temp- erature as low as possible. Drinking water is used as a cooling liquid, which is why the motors can function in media of up to 75° C. An impeller with optimized suction and delivery is mounted at the decrease shaft finish of the rotor. One of its two major tasks is cooling and lubricating the nearby thrust bearing. By doing so, the impeller ensures there is a constant flow of cooling liquid in the right direction.
This liquid strikes through the within of the motor from the underside to the highest. The specifically developed cooling channels outline the exact path over all heat sources to discharge the heat effectively and systematically. At the highest end, the heat from the liquid is then discharged by way of the motor’s outer wall. Here, it’s transferred through the floor of the motor to the medium to be pumped.
The ANDRITZ submersible motors are just a tiny part of the underwater compressor system, however they are also a particularly necessary half. The whole underwater station cannot function without these motors to drive the pumps. Since first being installed in 2016, these submersible motors have been operating with none faults. All in all, ANDRITZ Ritz delivered three twopole submersible motors with an output of 736 kw. The motor types the condensate unit together with the pump and conveys those liquids that are eliminated by the separator upstream of the fuel compressors.
In 2017, as a result of a failure in part of the system which was not supplied by ANDRITZ, the motor was sent in for repairs, during which an intensive study was performed. Thermal distribution within the cooling move and the hot spots have been analyzed in additional element. The results additionally led to the design of a new plate crosssection for the rotor plates.
Because of this, the motor to be repaired was also utterly overhauled and fitted with a new winding and a new rotor. This study and the implementation of its findings not only benefit the current buyer and future prospects in this case, but in addition strengthen confidence in the ANDRITZ submersible motor know-how.
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