Subwater heat exchanger

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10100613-B2
Application number	US-201314766621-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 30, 2013
Priority date	Feb 22, 2013
Publication date	Oct 16, 2018
Grant date	Oct 16, 2018

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a subwater heat exchanger that includes a duct, first coils, a first impeller and a second impeller. The duct is configured to receive a first fluid. The first coils are inside of the duct and are configured to receive a second fluid that is heated or cooled by the first fluid. The first impeller is inside of the duct that is configured to initiate flow of the first fluid around the first coils. The second impeller is inside of the duct and is substantially in line with the first impeller along a duct lateral axis of the duct.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A subwater heat exchanger comprising:
a duct configured to receive a first fluid;
first coils inside of the duct, the first coils configured to receive a second fluid that is heated or cooled by the first fluid;
a first impeller inside of the duct that is configured to initiate flow of the first fluid around the first coils; and
a second impeller inside of the duct and substantially in line with the first impeller along a duct lateral axis of the duct;
wherein the duct includes
a first duct portion configured to receive the first fluid,
a second duct portion configured to receive the first fluid, and
a third duct portion extending from the first duct portion to the second duct portion and having a center width that is one of substantially the same and smaller than a first duct portion width of the first duct portion and a second duct portion width of the second duct portion in a direction that is substantially perpendicular to the duct lateral axis, wherein the first coils are inside of the third duct portion;

wherein the duct further includes
a first duct end and a second duct end that are permeable to the first fluid, the first duct end being at an end of the first duct portion and the second duct end being at an end of the second duct portion, and
a third duct end, a fourth duct end, a fifth duct end and a sixth duct end that form an enclosure around the first duct end and the second duct end;

wherein at least one of the third, fourth, fifth and sixth duct ends includes one or more openings that receive the first fluid.

2. The subwater heat exchanger of claim 1 , wherein the first impeller is inside of at least one of the first duct portion and the third duct portion, and wherein the second impeller is inside of at least one of the second duct portion and the third duct portion.

3. The subwater heat exchanger of claim 1 , wherein a first duct end longitudinal axis of the first duct end is substantially parallel to a second duct end longitudinal axis of the second duct end, and wherein the first and second duct end longitudinal axes are substantially perpendicular to third, fourth, fifth and sixth duct end longitudinal axes of the third, fourth, fifth and sixth duct ends.

4. The subwater heat exchanger of claim 1 , further comprising second coils inside of the duct that are separate from the first coils.

5. The subwater heat exchanger of claim 4 , wherein the second coils are configured to receive a third fluid that is one of a same fluid and a different fluid from the second fluid.

6. The subwater heat exchanger of claim 1 , wherein the first fluid comprises water.

7. The subwater heat exchanger of claim 5 , wherein the second fluid and the third fluid comprise process fluid.

8. The subwater heat exchanger of claim 1 , further comprising a shaft that connects the first impeller to the second impeller.

9. The subwater heat exchanger of claim 8 , further comprising a third impeller inside the duct and between the first impeller and the second impeller.

10. The subwater heat exchanger of claim 9 , wherein the shaft connects the third impeller to the first impeller and the second impeller.

11. The subwater heat exchanger of claim 9 , wherein the third impeller comprises a plurality of third impellers.

12. The subwater heat exchanger of claim 9 , wherein the third impeller is at least one of within and between the first coils.

13. The subwater heat exchanger of claim 1 , further comprising a driver that drives at least one of the first impeller and the second impeller, wherein the driver directly connects to the first impeller.

14. The subwater heat exchanger of claim 13 , wherein the driver comprises the second fluid and the first fluid is different from the second fluid.

15. The subwater heat exchanger of claim 13 , wherein the driver comprises one of a third fluid that is different from the first fluid and the second fluid.

16. The subwater heat exchanger of claim 15 , wherein the third fluid comprises one of (a) liquid pumped into an injection well, (b) gas pumped into an injection well, (c) fluid downstream of a compressor, and (d) an opposite phase from a fourth fluid used in an upstream separator.

17. The subwater heat exchanger of claim 16 , wherein the liquid comprises water.

18. The subwater heat exchanger of claim 13 , wherein the driver comprises a magnetic hydrodynamic system.

19. The subwater heat exchanger of claim 1 , further comprising a duct inlet channel and a duct outlet channel, wherein the duct inlet channel is configured to receive the second fluid before the second fluid enters the first coils and the duct outlet channel is configured to receive the second fluid after the second fluid exits the first coils.

20. A method of producing hydrocarbons, comprising:
drilling a well using drilling equipment;
extracting hydrocarbons from the well;
using the subwater heat exchanger of claim 1 , cooling the extracted hydrocarbons by:
directly driving a first fluid around coils within a duct at least at a substantially constant velocity using a driver and a first impeller, and
recapturing energy from the first fluid to reduce energy created by the driver.

21. The method of claim 20 , further comprising increasing a velocity of the first fluid before driving the first fluid around the coils within the duct at least at the substantially constant velocity.

Assignees

• Urbanski Nicholas F
• Denton Robert D
• Mart Charles J
• Fowler Tracy A
• Exxonmobil Upstream Res Co

Inventors

• Urbanski Nicholas F
• Denton Robert D
• Mart Charles J
• Fowler Tracy A

Classifications

• F28D21/00 Primary

  Heat-exchange apparatus not covered by any of the groups F28D1/00 - F28D20/00 · CPC title

• E21B36/001 Primary

  Cooling arrangements · CPC title

• F28D1/022

  for immersion in a natural body of water, e.g. marine radiators · CPC title

• F28F13/00

  Arrangements for modifying heat-transfer, e.g. increasing, decreasing (F28F1/00 - F28F11/00 take precedence) · CPC title

• F28F2250/08

  Fluid driving means, e.g. pumps, fans · CPC title