Very High Voltage Generator and Motors for Surface or Subsea Processing (30-Nov-2011)

Problem Description:

The oil and gas industry is discovering offshore oil & gas resources that often require large pressure boosting via compression for processing, transmission, and storage (re-injection).  Due to the technical constraints from environmental loads on offshore structures, subsea and/or floating production systems that include gas treatment and compression are being considered.

Adapting conventional compression systems would likely be a sophisticated task since these systems consist of several major sub-systems including:

·         Gas Turbine / Electrical Generator

·         Step-up Electrical Transformer

·         Compressor

·         Electric Motor

·         Gear Box Transmission

·         Mechanical Couplings

·         Shaft Seals

·         Bearing Lube System

·         Step-down Electrical Transformer

These components work to make compression systems large (area footprint and shipping weight) and complicate reliability and availability of the system due to complexity of the sub-systems required for the compression system to function.  Reliability and availability of compression systems can significantly impact profitability by lowering production rate.

Moreover, other sub-systems add weight and increase footprint area such as the step-down electrical transformer.  The step-up transformer is necessary to raise the voltage from the generator for efficient power transmission over long distances.  The step-down transformer is necessary to lower the high voltage from the power line that feeds the electric motor.  The transformers then tends to be the size of the motor or generator itself to because the size of the transformer coils and cooling fins needed to facilitate heat transfer from the transfor...