Systems and methods for cooling electric drives

摘要

Systems and methods for cooling a drive for downhole electric equipment such as an ESP, wherein the drive's electrical components are contained in one or more sealed enclosures to protect them from contaminants in external cooling air. In one embodiment, the drive has two sealed compartments that contain electrical components. Air internal to these compartments is circulated through air-to-air heat exchangers that are positioned in an adjacent duct. Alternating horizontal and vertical passageways through the heat exchangers are formed by flat plates that are offset from each other and connected alternately at their top/bottom and side edges. Air external to the sealed compartments is circulated through the duct to cool the heat exchangers. The amount of air circulated through each heat exchanger may be controlled by valves that regulate airflow through one or more outlets from the duct.

主权项

1. A sealed drive system for downhole electric equipment, the sealed drive system comprising:
two or more electrical components configured to produce an electrical output waveform that drives the downhole electric equipment; an enclosure forming two or more sealed compartments, wherein each of the two or more sealed compartments prevents external air outside of the two or more sealed compartments from entering the two or more sealed compartments, and wherein at least a respective one of the two or more electrical components is contained within each of the two or more sealed compartments; two or more air-to-air heat exchangers, each of the two or more air-to-air heat exchangers adjacent to a respective one of the two or more sealed compartments, wherein the two or more air-to-air heat exchangers cools internal air within each of the two or more sealed compartments without allowing the external air to enter the two or more sealed compartments; and a duct which is adjacent to the two or more sealed compartments, wherein the two or more air-to-air heat exchangers are positioned within the duct, wherein the external air flows through the duct and through each of the two or more air-to-air heat exchangers wherein the duct has at least one wall in common with the two or more sealed compartments, wherein the two or more of the electrical components in the two or more sealed compartments are positioned in thermal contact with the at least one common wall and thereby dissipate heat by conduction through the at least one common wall, wherein the two or more air-to-air heat exchangers each comprise a crossflow portion having a first set of passageways through which the internal air inside of the two or more sealed compartments flows and a second set of passageways through which the external air flows, the two or more air-to-air heat exchanger each further comprising a plurality of plates, wherein each plate has a substantially flat central portion, wherein the central portions of the plates are substantially parallel, and wherein for each of the plates, the central portion forms a wall between one of the passageways in the first set and one of the passageways in the second set.