Ministry of Higher Education and
Scientific Research
University of Technology
Petroleum Technology Department
Surface
production
Electric actuator
Mohammad Ali Kareem Shukur
3th Stage (2019/2020)
Surface production facilities
Abstract:
of energy search, new technologies bring additional benefits. These new techniques are driven by the need to be more
conscious and environmentally conscious, reduce costs, increase reliability, and reach further and deeper, and provide
more and better data to manage wells and equipment more effectively. With these new techniques, the industry is
steadily transmitted towards electrification and digitization of well achievement. The electrification equipment has
occurred with a steady pace for several years, but the speed accelerated where the reliability of equipment and
additional data benefits have been achieved. During the past few years, the first completion has been completed with all
electric christmas trees (XT). Because everything - electric pipes retrieve safety valves have fallen after they were
available yet, these were not all incorrect - an electricity. These first wells require installing XTS with hydraulic safety
valves that operate in their neighborhood, making this mixed - technology. Recently, the electric day safety valve was
developed all - electric, qualified, and field laboratory. The introduction of the qualitative safety valve that was retrieved
all - electric prepares the benefits of all - an electrician to the oil industry. All - Electric pipes retrieves safety valves that
impede below as, also known as underground safety valves under the electrical surface (ESCSSV), and based on the
technology installed.
Introduction:
The increasing need for more energy in the world is making the oil companies search for hydrocarbons in deeper water
and with longer distances between the well and platform (step-out) never experienced before. Current systems are
designed to operate in deepwater with relatively short step-outs. Since the search now is starting to exceed this, the
operational conditions are changed and the electro-hydraulic system is closing in on its operational limits. Hence, the
increasing need for a system that supports the long step-outs and the deeper water. Aker Kvaerner has started looking
into the development for an All Electric Subsea Production system. In co-operation with Aker Kvaerner Subsea, a
functional design specification for an electric subsea gate valve actuator has been developed and included in this thesis.
This functional design specification will include all the requirements that a subsea electric actuator must conform to.
This includes the operational requirements, size limitations, failsafe needs etc. Based on this specification, a design for a
electric actuator and including motor driver control system layout on the all electric x-mas tree is proposed as a part of
the All Electric Subsea Production system. The actuator will be used to operate the gate valves on a x-mas tree which
controls the flow of hydrocarbons through the valves into the pipelines. Most of the existing subsea gate valve actuators
are currently using hydraulic oil to operate the valves linearly. Here a concept is being suggested in replacement of the
hydraulic fluid, while still complying with the necessary design specification. A number of electrical machines for
potential use in this application are presented and evaluated. A Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine is being
investigated further. These machines can be custom made, and can also be made with built in redundancy. Calculation
of size for the Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine has been done, to determine suitability within the space
limitation of the apparatus. Two layouts for controlling the actuators on the all electric x-mas tree are proposed. These
two are also evaluated against the standards made for subsea production systems and the no ’single point failure’
requirement made by the industry. The chosen solution proposed for controlling the electrical actuators is an integrated
design, where all actuators have their own motor driver inside.
The electric actuator:
Recently electric actuation of downhole safety Valves has become of interest. Electrically operated Safety Valves are
becoming increasingly popular with the introduc tion of intelligent downhole Systems. Such as those disclosed in U.S.
patent application Ser. No. 08/386,504 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,706,896 assigned to the assignee hereof and incorpo rated
herein by reference. Downhole intelligence allows an electrically actuated downhole Safety valve to receive com mands
from the Surface or downhole and thereby operate either completely automatically or with input if desired. 15 25 35 40
45 50 55 60 65 2 One of the drawbacks associated with the use of Solenoid actuated downhole Safety valves arises from
the use of the Solenoid itself to directly open the valve. Opening valves of larger sizes requires a reasonably long throw.
Solenoids, however, generally operate on throws shorter than that necessary. In many cases the throw of the Solenoid is
not Sufficient to completely open the Safety valve. This impedes flow of production fluid and riskS damage to the Safety
valve due to the bending moment on the pivot point of the valve caused by production flow. To remedy the drawback,
either a larger Solenoid or various levering arrangements have been employed with Some Success. There is still a need,
however, for improved methods of electrically actuating the downhole safety valve.
Gate valve actuators: The gate valve actuator converts fluid pressure into linear movement. A solenoid is pulsed by
an electric signal which opens a latch for the high pressure hydraulic line and hydraulic oil is flowed into the actuator.
This oil goes into the actuator with a piston and a spring inside. The piston is attached to the upper end of the stem,
which in turn is attached to the gate at its lower end like the figures in 2.6 illustrates. The valve is in closed position
when not pressurised shown in 2.6b. When the hydraulic pressure works on the piston area, it forces the spring to
contract, and thereby the piston and stem to move. When the spring is fully compressed, the gate is in a fully open
position 2.6a. From the figure it can be seen that the hydrostatic pressure subsea is working on the stem and is helping
in opening direction while the pressure inside bore is helping in the closing direction.
Electric actuator design: The main parts in an actuator are listed below: • Gear • Motor • Motor controller.
The gear is used to optimize load and revolutions/min for the motors. Other important aspects that need to be
considered especially for subsea applications are; • Packaging of motor drivers • Failsafe solutions • Redundancy •
Conversion of rotational movement to linear movement
The actuator design:
This thesis has considered two designs for an electric actuator. The designs considered must conform to the FDS
described in chapter 3. Option two under the barrier requirements from the FDS, in appendix D, for design is shown in
figure 3.1 in chapter 3. This is used as a base for the proposed designs. This option has a replaceable actuator and a none
replaceable mechanical structure which is part of the barrier section. This none replaceable structure can include the
failsafe solution. The reason for choosing option two was that; option one in the FDS will be difficult to design under the
given weight requirement, since the design also must include the failsafe solution, and for option three the length of the
actuator would be a problem.
The first solution is a direct drive one illustrated in figure 4.1a. In this thesis direct driven means that the rotor in the
motor is directly connected to the nut, as shown in the figure. When the motor is running the nut will rotate with the
rotor and the stem which is a screw will open and close the gate valve depending on the direction of the rotor. The
figure shows a valve and an actuator side. The barrier section which is the valve side in addition to the failsafe must be
tested according to ISO 10423 standard and deployed together. The replaceable actuator which consists of the motor
and the gear can be replaced as one as the requirement has stated. This thesis is just considering the replaceable
actuator shown in the figure, the mechanical part of the actuator which is a part of the barrier and the failsafe solution
are mentioned but not considered in any detail this is considered in more detail in [1]. The second design shown in
figure 4.1b illustrates a solution where a gear is connected to a nut on the stem. The gear is driven by small motors that
are located around the stem. The stem is a screw moving in a linear direction, the nut is rotated by the gear. This makes
the gate open and close depending on the rotating direction of the motors. The same aspects regarding the barrier
section and the replaceable actuator are applicable for this design. The replaceable actuator will include a ROV override.
This override will make it possible to operate the valve if something fails inside the replaceable actuator. The ROV
override must conform with the ROV interface class 4 which is stated in ISO 13628-8[5]. This means that it should be
possible for a ROV to operate the valve with a ROV tool which can give a torque up till 1350 Nm. The ROV override is not
looked at in this the
esis.
Rotational to linear movement: A way to get a rotational movement into a linear movement is by using a screw.
The acme screw in figure 4.2a has been used and tested in the oil industry for many years, the problem with the acme
screw is that it has very low efficiency. The positive thing with the acme screw in an actuator application is that they can
be built self locking. Because of this property there will be no need to build a stopping mechanism if a spring is used for
failsafe. Because of the low efficiency other screw types has been considered. These screw types do not have the
property of self locking, so a mechanism for holding the spring(if used) must be made. This is not considered here. The
considered screws in addition to the acme screws are the ball screw in figure 4.2b and the roller screw in figure 4.2c.
Table 4.1 shows the difference between roller screw, acme screw and ball screw
Types of electric machines: Rotating electrical machines – generators and motors – are devices that transform
mechanical power into electrical power, and vice-versa. There are many different types of electrical machines currently
used in a variety of applications. They can be arranged in three categories, these are • DC machines - Shunt, series,
compound, separately-excited dc motors and switched reluctance machines • AC machines - Induction, wound-rotor
synchronous, permanent-magnet synchronous, synchronous reluctance and switched reluctance machines • special
machines - Switched reluctance machines All of the machines are available at power ranges from watt(W) to MW and
some of them are shown in figure 5.1. A motor converts electric energy into mechanical energy, torque. All motors have
several basic characteristics in common. There basic parts include: • A stator - the frame and other stationary
components • A rotor - the rotating shaft and its associated parts • Auxiliary equipment The number of possible options
is large, the selection of a final design thus becomes a very complicated process. The objective of this section is to
illustrate some of the available motor candidates and types, and chosen one for this type of application.
The benefits of all electric system:
A joint study involving BP, Cooper Cameron, and the Reliability Engineering group at Cranfield University, was set up in
May 2004 to establish a detailed comparison between Cooper-Cameron’s All-Electric and Electro-Hydraulic Subsea
Production Control Systems.This exercise can be seen as part of the R&M Case development process for the All-Electric
Tree. The system modelled was a 4 well cluster, although the data could easily be used to model other systems, as
required. The present analysis is concerned solely with a comparison of the loss of production during operations for the
EHT and AET systems, and its impact upon the production availability of the field. A comparison between the two
systems in terms of failures occurring during start-up and shutdown operations will be included in the final report. These
comparisons will have little impact on the system and production availabilities reported here, due to the relatively short
duration of start-up or shut-down modes compared to the production mode. BlockSim software was used, and
encouraged the use of a modular approach to the breakdown of complex system RBDs. This was done by permitting a
hierarchical structure of diagrams and sub-diagrams to be constructed, in which one block at a higher level is
represented by a lower-level structure of several or many blocks. In the present study, this approach could be exploited
fully in the case of the EHT system. This was possible to a lesser extent for the AET system, because of the dual-
redundancy running all the way from the topsides systems down to the actuators. It was necessary to retain most of this
detail in the highest-level diagram to avoid misrepresenting the failure logic of the system.
The benefits of the electrical actuator:
When developing a new tool, it is important to consider the benefits that it will bring to the operator and the problems
that it will solve. The ESCSSV provides the following significant benefits to the operator:
• ESCSSV setting depth is only limited by the ability to deliver the required power and communications to the ESCSSV
because the operation is unaffected by water depth or setting depth.
• ESCSSVs are ideally suited for extended and ultra - extended stepouts / tiebacks as a result of almost instantaneous
response to commands in comparison to hydraulic systems, which have operating lag attributable to control fluid
friction.
• ESCSSV valve function is not affected by annular pressure or tubing pressure.
• The ESCSSV eliminates environmental effects resulting from valve operations because the ESCSSV does not require
control fluids, eliminating the risk of fluid spills. The ESCSSV provides the opportunity for significant savings in CAPEX
and OPEX because of the elimination of high pressure control lines, control system pumps, and reservoirs. It also
eliminates the need for ongoing hydraulic system maintenance.
Health, Safety & Environmental (HSE) benefits: Annually the industry vents a significant volume of hydraulic
control fluid to the environment, through both the normal operation of ‘open loop’ systems and by some unplanned
leaks. Over the next 20 years, the percentage of oil & gas production from subsea oil fields is set to increase compared
to land based fields. The future use of all-electric systems will therefore have increasingly positive HSE benefits. This
would improve personnel safety through the elimination of fluid handling and contamination risks. This applies not only
to the direct handling of fluids offshore, but also through the operations of fluid manufacture, transportation and
storage.
CONCLUSIONS: As the business drivers for deeper water oil fields are increasing the demands on reliability
performance of subsea systems, the incremental advantages of the all-electric Subsea Production Control System are set
to become a significant factor. In addition, as more stringent offshore fluid legislation are gradually introduced, systems
which do not rely on hydraulic fluids, will become an increasingly attractive choice compared to existing MUX E/H
Subsea Production Control Systems.
References:
1. Safety Valve Technology for the 1990's.
2. Benefits of All-Electric Subsea Production Control Systems.
3. Design of an Electric X-mas Tree Gate Valve Actuator.
4. Performance analysis and optimal design based on dynamic characteristics for pressure compensated subsea all-
electric valve actuator.
