Modular subsea converter

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016352240-A1
Application number	US-201515105017-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 3, 2015
Priority date	Feb 14, 2014
Publication date	Dec 1, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A modular subsea converter for providing a frequency conversion of AC electric power is provided. The modular subsea converter includes at least one base module having a subsea enclosure and electrical connections disposed within the subsea enclosure. It further includes at least one converter module having a converter unit. The converter module is coupled to the base module and has a subsea enclosure in which the converter unit is disposed. The electrical connections of the base module are coupled to the converter unit of the converter module and the subsea enclosure of the converter module is mounted to the subsea enclosure of the base module.

First claim

1 . A modular subsea converter for achieving a characteristic of output power, comprising:
at least one base module including a subsea enclosure and electrical connections disposed within the subsea enclosure; and at least one converter module including a converter unit, the at least one converter module being coupled to the at least one base module, and a subsea enclosure which the converter unit is disposed, wherein the electrical connections of the at least one base module are coupled to the converter unit of the at least one converter module, and wherein the subsea enclosure of the at least one converter module is mounted to the subsea enclosure of the at least one base module, and wherein the modular subsea converter is configured such that at least one of at least one additional converter modules and at least one additional base module is mounteable to the modular subsea converter for achieving a characteristic of the output power to be produced by the modular subsea converter.

2 . The modular subsea converter of claim 1 , wherein the modular subsea converter is at least a three phase converter for converting at least three phase AC electric power, wherein the at least one base module comprises electrical connections for the at least three phases, and wherein the modular subsea converter comprises at least one converter module for each of the at least three phases.

3 . The modular subsea converter of claim 1 , wherein the electrical connections of the at least one base module comprise, for each at least one converter module at least a three phase power input connection and a single phase power output connection.

4 . The modular subsea claim 1 , wherein the at least one converter module is a scalable converter module comprising a selectable number of converter units.

5 . The modular subsea converter of claim 1 , wherein the subsea enclosure of the at least one converter module includes a tubular structure closed at one end and provided with a mounting flange at the other end to mount the subsea enclosure to the at least one base module, and wherein an extension of the tubular structure in longitudinal direction is determined by a number of converter units disposed in the at least one converter module.

6 . The modular subsea converter of claim 2 , further comprising:
at least one converter unit for each output phase of the converted AC electric power.

7 . The modular subsea converter of claim 1 , wherein the modular subsea converter is configured to use, for each phase of output AC electric power, at least two phase shifted AC electric power sources, and wherein the modular subsea converter comprises,. for each phase shifted AC electric power source, at least one converter unit per output phase.

8 . The modular subsea converter of claim 7 , furthere comprising at least one transformer providing the at least two, preferably at least three or at least six phase shifted AC electric power sources.

9 . The modular subsea converter of claim 1 , further comprises at least one transformer module including an AC transformer coupled to electrical connections of the at least one base module, or at least one transformer included in the at least one base module.

10 . The modular subsea converter of claim 1 , wherein the subsea enclosure of the at least one base module includes at least two converter module mounting portions, and wherein to each of the at least two converter module mounting portions, a converter module or a cover is mounted.

11 . The modular subsea converter of claim 1 , wherein the at least one base module includes at least one base mounting portions, configured to mount at least a further base module or a transformer module thereto.

12 . The modular subsea converter of claim 1 , wherein the at least one base module comprises a base module having a cylindrically shaped subsea enclosure with base mounting portions at opposing ends thereof, the base mounting portions being configured to mount at least a further base module or a transformer module thereto, the cylindrically shaped subsea enclosure further including at least two converter mounting portions configured to mount at least two converter modules thereto.

13 . The modular subsea converter of claim 1 , wherein the converter unit is a-power cell.

14 . The modular subsea converter of claim 1 , wherein the converter unit includes at least two converter units for providing conversion of AC electric power, and wherein the at least one converter module includes at least two converter modules each including at least one of the at least two converter units, each of the at least two converter modules being coupled to the at least one base module and including a subsea enclosure in which the respective at least one converter unit is disposed.

15 . The modular subsea converter of claim 1 ,
wherein the modular subsea converter comprises at least two output phases, wherein the modular subsea converter is configured to use at least two phase shifted AC electric power sources, wherein the modular subsea converter comprises for each phase shifted AC electric power source at least one converter unit per output phase, and wherein the converter units are distributed between at least two different converter modules coupled to the at least one base module.

16 . The modular subsea converter of claim 1 , wherein the converter unit is a power electronic converter unit, and wherein the subsea enclosure of the at least one converter module is a pressure compensated enclosure that is pressure compensated against an ambient pressure.

17 . A method of manufacturing the modular subsea converter of claim 1 , the method comprising:
determining a characteristic of the output power to be produced by the modular subsea converter; adjusting a configuration of the modular subsea converter by at least one of adding or removing converter units to or from the converter module, adding or removing converter modules, and adding or removing base modules such that the characteristic of the output power is achieved.

18 . The modular subsea converter of claim 1 , wherein the characteristic is power rating or power quality of the output power to be produced by the modular subsea converter.

19 . The modular subsea converter of claim 2 , wherein the electrical connections of the at least one base module comprise, for each at least one converter module, at least a three phase power input connection and a single phase power output connection.

20 . The modular subsea converter of claim 6 , wherein the at least one converter unit, for each output phase of the converted AC electric power, includes at least two converter units for each output phase.

21 . The modular subsea converter of claim 6 , wherein the at least one converter unit, for each output phase of the converted AC electric power, includes at least three converter units for each output phase.

22 . The modular subsea converter of claim 7 , wherein the modular subsea converter is configured to use, for each phase of output AC electric power, at least three phase shifted AC electric power sources, and wherein the modular subsea converter comprises, for each phase shifted AC electric power source, at least one converter unit per output phase.

23 . The modular subsea converter of claim 7 , wherein the modular subsea converter is configured to use, for each phase of output AC electric power, at least six phase shifted AC electric power sources, and wherein

Assignees

• Siemens Ag

Inventors

• Kristensen Knut Schonhowd

Classifications

• H05K7/14337

  specially adapted for underwater operation · CPC title

• H05K7/14324

  comprising modular units, e.g. DIN rail mounted units · CPC title

• H05K5/30

  Side-by-side or stacked arrangements · CPC title

• H05K5/03

  Covers · CPC title

• H05K5/0204

  Mounting supporting structures on the outside of casings · CPC title