Underwater cooling assembly

Inactive Publication Date: 2009-11-12
SHELL OIL CO
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0011]The boiling chamber and condenser may have an outer wall, which is less than 3 millimeters, preferably less than 2 millimeters, thick, thereby providing a light weight cooling assembly with a high cooling capacity.

Problems solved by technology

A disadvantage of the known assemblies is that the (sea) water surrounding the assemblies may not flow at a high velocity along the outer surface of the assembly, which implies poor heat transfer.
A further disadvantage of the known assemblies is that the heat exchangers have large wall thickness to withstand the internal and external pressure, which increases weight and implies poor heat transfer.

Method used

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  • Underwater cooling assembly
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Embodiment Construction

[0014]FIG. 1 depicts an underwater cooling assembly 1, which is connected to an underwater oil and / or gas production facility 2, which is mounted on the waterbottom 3.

[0015]The underwater facility comprises equipment, such as electrical motors and / or compressors that are to be cooled and which are connected to an assembly of heat exchanger tubes 4 that are arranged in a refrigerant boiling chamber 5. The facility 2 and heat exchanger tubes 4 together comprise a pressure vessel that can withstand the internal operational pressures as well as the external seawater pressure. The assembly surrounding the heat exchanger tubes 4 (consisting of 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9) is not a pressure vessel, in the sense that it is pressure compensated towards the seawater by means of a pressure compensating membrane 9, hence has insignificant pressure forces acting on it.

[0016]The refrigerant is a suitably selected liquid that boils at ambient seawater pressure at a temperature lower than the external wall te...

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Abstract

A lightweight underwater cooling assembly with a high cooling capacity comprises: an assembly of heat exchanger tubes (4) arranged in a submerged refrigerant boiling chamber (5); a thin walled water cooled condenser (6) in which refrigerant vaporized in the boiling chamber (5) is condensed and from which condensed refrigerant is recirculated into the boiling chamber (5); and a thin walled pressure compensating membrane (9) which maintains the fluid pressure (˜psea) within the boiling chamber (5) and condenser (6) substantially similar to the fluid pressure (psea) of the (sea) water surrounding the submerged refrigerant boiling chamber (5).

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]The invention relates to an underwater cooling assembly. Underwater cooling assemblies are known from OTC paper 17399 “Subsea Gas Compression—Challenges and Solutions” presented by R.Fantoft at the Offshore Technology Conference held in Houston, USA on 2-5 May 2005 and from International patent applications WO03 / 033870, WO03 / 035335 and WO 2005 / 026497.[0002]The known underwater cooling assemblies comprise heat exchangers that are cooled by the water surrounding the cooling assemblies.[0003]A disadvantage of the known assemblies is that the (sea) water surrounding the assemblies may not flow at a high velocity along the outer surface of the assembly, which implies poor heat transfer. A further disadvantage of the known assemblies is that the heat exchangers have large wall thickness to withstand the internal and external pressure, which increases weight and implies poor heat transfer.[0004]It is an object of the invention to provide an improved underwa...

Claims

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Application Information

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IPC IPC(8): F28D1/04F28D15/00
CPCE21B36/001F28D15/06F28D15/0266E21B43/01
InventorPOORTE, EDWINHARAM, KARL OLAV
OwnerSHELL OIL CO