Power System Design Considerations for a Seafloor Mining Vehicle

Abstract

The main goal of this paper is to give a framework for designing the power distribution system for seafloor mining vehicles operating in deep and ultra-deep waters. As the starting point prior to the design, the tethered seafloor mining vehicles are compared with their counterparts in the terrestrial mines and the well-developed remotely operated vehicles. Then, various power distribution alternatives are studied and compared taking into account the main design criteria such as efficiency and size of components. Although the major loads of these vehicles are AC motor loads for drilling, pumping and locomotion, it is concluded that the DC distribution, both in topside and subsea sections, is the best option. Typical values for efficiency and volume grades (normalized values) for the major components in the distribution system have been considered in the calculations.

Design of Stand-Alone O&G Water Injection System Fed by Wind Generation with Battery Support

“…The interconnection through DC-link was considered in this paper, noting it requires a reduced number of components compared to an AC electrical connection. Whereas an interconnection considering an AC bus would require a back-to-back converter (AC-DC-AC) from the wind turbine side and an AC-DC converter for the battery side, the topology considered in the paper allows removing the DC-AC converter (inverter) from the grid side of the generation system, replacing the AC-DC converter with a DC-DC converter for the battery bank, and the use of a simple driver (in the number of switches) to drive the pump [8].…”

An Overview of Microgrids Challenges in the Mining Industry

“…This is achieved by using a dc-link between the AFE and the machine-side converter to compensate for fast disturbances by using the energy stored in the dc-link. Some variations of this scheme have been proposed, for instance, stating long dc links to supply undersea loads [67], open-pit dc machinery [37], or even additional dc distribution networks [68].…”