Browsing by Author "Ahmed, Shehab"
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Item Compact harsh environment energy conversion systems(2009-05-15) Ahmed, ShehabThe quest for energy is leading the industry into drilling deeper wells. Typically, a temperature gradient of 1?C/150 ft can be expected, with bottom hole temperatures reaching beyond 200?C in many areas of the world. Moreover, the increased recovery benefits and cost reductions possible with the use of horizontal and multilateral wells has triggered a need for higher power energy conversion systems in bottom hole assemblies, such as rotary steerable tools and downhole tractors. The concepts developed throughout this work address some of these new needs. This research investigated improvements, novel solutions and considerations that will lead to significant advantages in terms of reliability, extended temperature operation, increased power capability and reduced size and cost of compact harsh environment energy conversion systems. Improvements to both the electromechanical subsystem and the power electronic subsystem are introduced. Air gap viscous losses were shown to a have a significant effect on the optimal design of submersible PM (permanent magnet) machines, and a design procedure to account for this loss component in the design was developed. The application of a dual winding exterior rotor PM machine in a downhole environment enabled a significant increase in the application?s torque capability, provided protection against generator winding over voltage, and reduced parts count. Comprehensive switching device qualification, testing, and simulation lead to a simple failure mitigation technique for the operation of the most suitable devices at elevated temperature. A flying capacitor multilevel inverter was then successfully constructed and temperature tested. A novel motor drive concept suited for elevated temperature oil filled environment applications concluded the research.Item High Gain Transformerless DC-DC Converters for Renewable Energy Sources(2011-08-08) Denniston, Nicholas AaronRenewable energy sources including photovoltaic cells, fuel cells, and wind turbines require converters with high voltage gain in order to interface with power transmission and distribution networks. These conversions are conventionally made using bulky, complex, and costly transformers. Multiple modules of single-switch, single-inductor DC-DC converters can serve these high-gain applications while eliminating the transformer. This work generally classifies multiple modules of single-switch, single-inductor converters as high gain DC-DC converters transformers. The gain and efficiency of both series and cascade configurations are investigated analytically, and a method is introduced to determine the maximum achievable gain at a given efficiency. Simulations are used to verify the modeling approach and predict the performance at different power levels. Experimental prototypes for both low power and high power applications demonstrate the value of multiple module converters in high gain DC-DC converters for renewable energy applications.Item Specific Energy and Energy Density Analysis of Conventional and NonConventional Flywheels(2013-12-09) Reyna, RubenFlywheels are widely used as a means of energy storage throughout different applications such as hybrid electric vehicles, spacecraft, and electrical grids. The research presented here investigates various steel flywheel constructions. The purpose of this research was to increase the energy density of a flywheel by reducing the centrifugal stresses that occur during operation. Various configurations were attempted, with some consisting of metal, composite, or both. This thesis documents the steps taken in determining and analyzing the proposed designs. Increase of the energy storage in metal flywheels is accomplished most efficiently through optimization of the flywheel geometry. Energy storage of the hybrid and composite flywheels shows large room for improvement. Modeling and simulation of the various systems were conducted with the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) software ANSYS Classic v 13.0. A combination of input files and the GUI was used for the analysis. The results are verified with analytical solutions where applicable. Novel flywheel designs are converged to ensure accurate results.Item Vibration Suppression and Flywheel Energy Storage in a Drillstring Bottom-Hole-Assembly(2012-07-16) Saeed, AhmedIn this study, a novel concept for a downhole flywheel energy storage module to be embedded in a bottom-hole-assembly (BHA) is presented and modeled, as an alternative power source to existing lithium-ion battery packs currently deployed in measurement-while-drilling (MWD) or logging-while-drilling (LWD) operations. Lithium-ion batteries disadvantages include deteriorated performance in high temperature, limited lifetime that necessitates frequent replacement which elevates operational costs, and environmental disposal. Extreme and harsh downhole conditions necessitate that the flywheel module withstands temperatures and pressures exceeding 300 ?F and 20 kpsi, respectively, as well as violent vibrations encountered during drilling. Moreover, the flywheel module should adhere to the geometric constraints of the wellbore and its corresponding BHA. Hence, a flywheel sizing procedure was developed that takes into consideration the required energy to be stored, the surrounding environmental conditions, and the geometric constraints. A five-axis magnetic levitation control system was implemented and tuned to maintain continuous suspension of the flywheel under the harsh lateral, axial and torsional drilling vibrations of the BHA. Thus, an integrated finite element model was developed that included the rotordynamic behavior of the flywheel and the BHA, the component dynamics of the magnetic levitation control system, and the cutting dynamics of the drillbit for both PDC and tricone types. The model also included a newly developed coupling between lateral, axial and torsional vibrations. It was demonstrated through simulations conducted by numerical integration that the flywheel maintains levitation due to all different types of external vibration as well as its own lateral vibration due to mass unbalance. Moreover, a passive proof-mass-damper (PPMD) was developed that suppresses axial bit-bounce vibrations as well as torsional vibrations, and was extended to also mitigate lateral vibrations. Optimized values of the mass, stiffness and damping values of the PPMD were obtained by the hybrid analytical-numerical Chebyshev spectral method that was superior in computational efficiency to iterative numerical integration. This also enabled the fine-plotting of an operating stability chart indicating stability regions where bit-bounce and stick-slip are avoided. The proof-mass-damping concept was extended to the flywheel to be an active proof-mass-damper (APMD) where simulations indicated functionality for a light-weight BHA.