Subsea Electric Converter Module Arrangement
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Solution Overview
Problem
Subsea electric converter systems face challenges in maintaining low stray inductance, efficient cooling, and durability due to the growth of sea life on heat exchangers, which increases thermal resistance and reduces heat dissipation efficiency, while also requiring compact and modular designs to minimize material usage and maintenance costs.
Innovation Solution
A compact electric converter system with a modular design featuring intermodule bus bar connections and a natural convection cooling system, where dielectric fluid streams are optimized to cool semiconductor elements and capacitors separately, reducing bus bar lengths and stray inductance, and allowing for flexible module configuration and easy maintenance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If the converter system is designed with compact module arrangement and short bus bar connections, then stray inductance is reduced and material usage is minimized, but device complexity increases due to specialized modular construction requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The converter system is divided into multiple standardized modules (first module, second module, third module) that can be independently manufactured and assembled. Each module contains its own bus bar connections and cooling channels, allowing for reduced stray inductance within each module while maintaining overall system modularity and simplifying manufacturing.
2Device complexity
If passive cooling system with natural convection is used, then device complexity is reduced by eliminating pumps, but cooling efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system is designed with non-uniform cross-sectional areas in the cooling channels. The channel cross-section varies along the flow direction to optimize natural convection currents in different regions, enhancing cooling efficiency in high-heat-flux areas while maintaining passive operation throughout the system.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling channel geometry is optimized by changing parameters such as cross-sectional area, channel width, and height along the flow direction. These parameter variations create enhanced natural convection patterns that improve cooling efficiency without requiring active pumping, resolving the contradiction between passive design and cooling performance.
3Reliability
If heat exchanger surfaces are kept below 30°C to prevent sea life growth, then reliability is improved, but heat dissipation capability is reduced due to thermal insulation from biofouling
Solution Approach 1:
The system proactively maintains heat exchanger surfaces below 30°C through optimized passive cooling design before sea life can establish growth. The non-uniform cooling channels ensure sufficient heat dissipation capacity to keep surfaces at temperatures that prevent biofouling, thereby maintaining both reliability and heat dissipation efficiency over the long term.
Solution Approach 2:
The enhanced natural convection cooling rapidly removes heat from the converter modules, quickly passing through the heat exchanger surfaces at temperatures that prevent sea life attachment. This rapid heat transfer prevents the formation of insulating biofouling layers, maintaining heat dissipation efficiency while ensuring reliability.
4Loss of substance
If multiple electric modules are arranged in compact configuration, then material usage is reduced and space is optimized, but ease of manufacture decreases due to specialized assembly requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The converter is segmented into standardized modules with identical connection interfaces and cooling channel configurations. This segmentation allows each module to be manufactured independently using standard procedures, then assembled into compact arrangements that minimize material usage while maintaining manufacturing simplicity through modular assembly.
Solution Approach 2:
Each module is designed as a universal unit that can be arranged in various configurations (first, second, third modules in different spatial arrangements). The standardized bus bar connections and cooling channels allow the same module design to be used in multiple positions and orientations, simplifying manufacture while enabling compact layouts that reduce material usage.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution achieves reduced electric losses, improved heat dissipation efficiency, and increased reliability by minimizing sea life growth on heat exchangers, while allowing for flexible module configurations and reduced material usage, thus enhancing the overall efficiency and durability of subsea electric converter systems.
Implementation Method 1
a first cooling channel arrangement configured to cool the semiconductor elements and a second cooling channel arrangement configured to cool the capacitors
Implementation Method 2
a natural convection cooling system, where dielectric fluid streams are optimized to cool semiconductor elements and capacitors separately
Implementation Method 3
The dielectric liquid is used as cooling medium and as electric insulation medium for insulating electrical components against each other and against a housing or tank
Implementation Method 4
These components generate heat that needs to be dissipated by the cooling system
Implementation Method 5
Usually some kind of a heat exchanger is used to transfer heat from the cooling liquid to the sea water
Implementation Method 6
Cooling by natural convection uses the heat exchange between the cooling liquid and the surrounding sea water to generate circulation within the cooling system
Data Source
AI summary
An electric converter system, including a housing configured to receive a dielectric fluid, at least two electric modules, each including a first space and a second space, the first space including a connecting portion and a cooling system configured to circulate the dielectric fluid to cool the electric modules. The converter system further includes an inter module bus bar portion including a complementary connecting portion, whereby the connecting portion is configured to be connected to the complementary connecting portion of the inter module bus bar portion, whereby the inter module bus bar portion is configured to interconnect one of the at least two electric modules with the other of the at least two electric modules, said one electric module being proximate to said other electric module, and whereby the connecting portion, the first space and the second space of each electric module are arranged in series.