Cross Reference to Related Applications

A heat exchanger system is described that includes an inlet and an outlet for a first fluid and a heat exchanger between the inlet and the outlet wherein the first fluid circulates, wherein the heat exchanger comprises at least one deflector to guide the flow of a second fluid. A method is also described to exchange heat between a first and a second fluid using free convection velocity field to create forced convection in the heat exchanger of a heat exchanger system. A method to exchange heat between a first and a second fluid comprising providing a heat exchanger system between the first and the second fluids, said heat exchanger system comprising a heat exchanger wherein the first fluid circulates and increasing the flow turbulences of a second fluid around the heat exchanger.

It should be understood that the drawings are not to scale and that the disclosed embodiments are sometimes illustrated diagrammatically and in partial views. In certain instances, details that are not necessary for an understanding of the disclosed method and apparatus, or that would render other details difficult to perceive may have been omitted. It should be understood that this disclosure is not limited to the particular embodiments illustrated herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Some embodiments will now be described with reference to the figures. Like elements in the various figures may be referenced with like numbers for consistency. In the following description, numerous details are set forth to provide an understanding of various embodiments and/or features. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that some embodiments may be practiced without many of these details and that numerous variations or modifications from the described embodiments are possible. As used here, the terms “above” and “below”, “up” and “down”, “upper” and “lower”, “upwardly” and “downwardly”, “upstream and downstream”, and other like terms indicating relative positions above or below a given point or element are used in this description to more clearly describe certain embodiments. However, when applied to equipment and methods for use in wells that are deviated or horizontal, such terms may refer to a left to right, right to left, or diagonal relationship, as appropriate.

In the specification and appended claims, the terms/phrases “connect”, “connection”, “connected”, “in connection with”, and “connecting” are used to mean “in direct connection with” or “in connection with via one or more elements”, and the term “set” may mean “one element” or “more than one element”. Further, the terms “couple”, “coupling”, “coupled”, “coupled together”, and “coupled with” are used to mean “directly coupled together” or “coupled together via one or more elements”.

FIG. 1is a schematic representation of a subsea production setting with which some of the cooling systems and methods described herein can be used, according to some embodiments. Two wells,112and114, are being used to extract production fluid from subterranean formation100. The produced fluids from wells112and114move into manifold118from wellheads122and124via sea floor pipelines146and144respectively. Manifold118includes a compressor system152and according to some embodiments a subsea heat exchanger system150. The production fluid flows from manifold118upwards through flowline132to a surface production platform130on the sea surface104of seawater102. As will be described in greater detail infra, the heat exchanger system150has a plurality of parallel pipes through which the production fluid is produced. The external surface of the pipes is exposed to the seawater102which cools the production fluid as will be described in further detail infra.

Note that although many embodiments are described herein as being used in an exemplary application of subsea compression systems, the methods and structures described herein are equally applicable to many other types of heat exchangers. According to some embodiments, the heat exchanger system components described herein are used for nuclear power generation cooling (or heating) applications. According to some other embodiments, the heat exchanger components described herein are used for heating and/or cooling applications in chemical processing applications.

Heat exchanger design. The cooling principle for heat exchangers is to transfer heat from one fluid (the cooled fluid) to another (the coolant fluid). Heat exchangers are commonly designed using a forced convection heat transfer principle for both the cooled and the coolant fluids. This is due to the higher heat transfer rate that can be obtained using forced convection versus free convection. As used herein, the term “free convection” refers to a mechanism or type of heat transport in which the fluid motion is not generated by any external power source (e.g. pump, fan, suction device, etc.), but rather only by density differences in the fluid occurring due to temperature gradients. Note that although several embodiments are described herein with respect to the application of cooling, the methods and structures described herein are equally applicable to heating applications. In such cases the heat is transferred from the ambient fluid (the heating fluid) to the fluid flowing through the pipes (the heated fluid).

The subsea environment is complex and aggressive. For example, routine maintenance, inspection and cleaning possibilities are both limited and challenging. In the case of forced convection, difficulties are further increased by the nature and the multiplicity of the equipment (pumps for example) used to generate forced convection on the ambient side (the coolant fluid). Conventional forced-forced convection (i.e. both the cooled fluid and coolant fluid are pumped) heat exchanger technology is hence not well suited for subsea applications. It has been found that a passive design based on free convection on the ambient side (the coolant fluid) is often more appropriate to face to challenges of the subsea.

According to some embodiments, a heat exchanger system is designed both to give a large turndown on thermal performance for operation flexibility and, for subsea applications, to handle flow assurance issues like sand accumulation, hydrates formation, wax deposition, etc.

FIG. 2is a perspective view of a heat exchanger, according to some embodiments. Heat exchanger150includes a plurality of vertical pipes200and distributing pipes206, inlet manifolds, outlet manifolds and collecting pipes208to distribute/collect uniformly the flow of the cooled fluid. In particular, the vertical pipes200are arranged in eight groups of pipes that are symmetrically arranged about a central axis. The cooled fluid enters through inlet202which leads to distribution pipes206. The distribution pipes206distribute the cooled fluid, as is shown by the solid arrows to each of the eight groups of pipes. Each group of pipes is fed by an inlet manifold. For example, group of pipes210includes an inlet manifold212. The cooled fluid exits the pipes200through outlet manifolds and collecting pipes208, which lead to outlet204. According to one example, each group, such as group210, has 33 pipes arranged symmetrically about a central longitudinal axis of the group. The manifolds, distribution and collecting pipes are designed to uniformly distribute and collect the multiphase flow to and from the cooling pipes while avoiding excessive head loss. The heat exchanger150is arranged such that it is symmetric and modular hence adaptable to different cooling requirements. For further details of such symmetric heat exchangers, see U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/259,789, which is incorporated by reference herein. Each of the groups of pipes200has 5 horizontal baffles mounted perpendicular to the vertically oriented pipes. In group210, the horizontal baffles230,232,234,236and238are mounted around pipes220. As will be described in further detail, infra., the baffles arranged as shown are effective in altering the predominantly vertical flow of the free convecting coolant fluid so as to significantly enhance cooling performance Note that although the coolant fluid is shown inFIG. 2as flowing from top to bottom, the techniques described herein are also applicable to heat exchangers in which the cooled (or heated in the case of heat exchangers operating in a heating mode) fluid flow through the pipes in an upwards direction.

According to some embodiments, the free convection velocity field is used to create a form of non-powered “forced” convection on the ambient side (coolant fluid). According to some embodiments, of described heat exchange systems, the heat exchanger includes one or more external shapes to guide the coolant fluid flow and transfer the vertical momentum of the freely convecting coolant fluid from the gravity field to generate horizontal velocity. Various shapes can be used to both generate either radial velocity and circumferential velocity with respect to the longitudinal axis of the pipes.

FIGS. 3-1and3-2illustrate further aspects of a heat exchanger having horizontal baffles, according to some embodiments.FIG. 3-1is a perspective view showing further detail of a single cooler group210, that may be combined with other cooler groups to form a heat exchange system as shown for example inFIG. 2. Note that although many of the embodiments described herein refer to the heat exchanger as a “cooler” in which a “cooled fluid” within the pipes is being cooled by an ambient “coolant fluid,” all of the methods and structures described herein can be equally applied to heat exchangers operating as a “heater” in which a “heated fluid” within the pipes is being heated by an ambient “heating fluid.”

In this particular example, group210is made up of 33 vertically oriented pipes200that are symmetrically arranged in two concentric rings about a central axis310such that there is a large central open space within group210. As can be seen, each of the five horizontal baffles230,232,234,236and238is a disk-shaped piece mounted horizontally (i.e. perpendicular to the vertically oriented pipes200).FIG. 3-2is a plan view of single baffle. As can be seen each of the baffles (in this case baffle238) has a large central opening300that is dimensioned to match the central opening of the arrangement of pipes200. Referring again toFIG. 3-1, the direction of flow of the cooled fluid is shown by the solid arrow320that in this example is downwards (the negative z-direction). The coolant fluid generally moves in an upward vertical direction (the positive z-direction) due to buoyancy resulting from differences in fluid density. When the vertically moving coolant fluid encounters a horizontal baffle, its direction is altered as shown by the dotted arrows, and as will be described in greater detail infra. Note that in the case of simple horizontal baffles such as shown inFIGS. 3-1and3-2, the induced velocity of the coolant fluid includes a substantial radial component. As will be described in greater detail infra, an unexpected result of the baffles is to: (1) force the ambient water “inside the group” to flow out (out of area300) to the area outside of the group (into area302) as illustrated by dotted arrow304; and (2) force the ambient water “outside the group” (out of area302) to flow inside the group (into area300) as illustrated by dotted arrow306.

FIG. 4is a perspective view illustrating aspects of a heat exchanger having helical-shaped baffles, according to some embodiments. A single cooler group400of vertically oriented pipes220are shown as in theFIG. 3-1, that may be combined with other cooler groups to form a heat exchange system as shown for example inFIG. 2. In this particular example, two helical baffles430and432are attached to the exterior surface of the pipes220as shown. It has been found that by arranging the baffle structures at a non-horizontal angle to the pipes can aid in overall cooling performance in many applications. In the case shown inFIG. 4, the helical-shaped baffles430and432are effective in inducing substantial velocity in the coolant fluid in both the radial and circumferential directions with respect to the group central axis310as illustrated by the dotted arrows.

FIG. 5is a perspective view illustrating aspects of a heat exchanger having a staggered combination of horizontal baffles, according to some embodiments. Many other shapes and arrangements of baffles (such as horizontal, helical, and/or diagonal, etc.) or other structures can be used to transfer momentum in the coolant fluid from vertical directions to non-vertical directions.FIG. 5shows one such example that is a combination of baffle sections530,532,534,536and538, which are provided to impart non-vertical velocity on the coolant fluid. In this example, the baffle sections impart a substantial radial velocity with respect to the central axis310of the cooler group500.

In order to evaluate the proposed heat exchanger system performance and to compare it with empirical results for simple geometries, the heat exchanger part of the heat exchanger system and a single pipe were run in parallel. The single pipe had the same characteristics (diameter, length, thickness, material . . . ) as the cooler pipes. The cooling pipe length was 4.3 meters. In an example test, a slipstream of dry nitrogen was provided from an existing compressor discharge and routed through the test pipes. Flow/pressure through the pipes was controlled by means of the chokes on the compressor outlet and control valves downstream test pipes. The test operating conditions, taken in this example test, are listed in Table 1 for a flow of process fluid to be cooled in a subsea environment:

The process flow was measured by means of Coriolis mass flow meters. Temperature was measured upstream and downstream the test objects. Pressure was measured upstream the test objects. Six individual temperature measurements were made in the seawater along the test objects to determine ambient temperature and to check any temperature layering in the pit. The head loss across the bundle of pipes (or group of pipes) was in addition measured using a differential pressure sensor.

Using pressure and temperature measurements at the test pipes inlet, the gas thermodynamic properties (density and heat capacity) are calculated and hence the amount of heat removed to the process fluid (the cooled fluid) passing through the pipes was obtained.

The thermal performances of the two test objects (the group of cooler pipes and the single cooler pipe) were characterized for different mass flow amounts. The global heat transfer coefficient U can be calculated according to the following equations.

The heat transfer is defined by:

with A the object area and ΔT the temperature difference between the process gas and the ambient water.

The heat transfer Q is directly related to the heat removed to the gas:

Replacing the temperature difference between the process gas and the ambient water by the Log Mean Temperature Difference (LMTD) as the process gas is not constant all along the cooling pipes, the global heat transfer coefficient is calculated using the following formula:

It should be noted the global range from the tests is quite uncommon due to the wide dimensions and cooling capacities of the studied case (see Table 2: global results). The length scale, the temperature difference and the total cooling load are likely to be outside normal test conditions used to define the empirical correlations. Comparison of Nusselt number based on 3 different approaches which are experimental, analytical and numerical, for such as high Rayleigh number range up to 1013makes this study very valuable.

FIG. 6is a graph showing the cooler group of pipes and single pipe cooling performances versus the mass flow according to the experimental results. In this case the group of pipes had two horizontal baffles arranged perpendicular to the cooler pipes. The cooling performance U is shown by curve610for the group of pipes with the baffles and by curve612for the single pipe without any baffles. Using 2ndorder polynomial interpolation the performance ratio is obtained (dotted line614using right scale). The cooling performance of the group having baffles is about 23% higher than the case of the single pipe without baffles. Note that according to some embodiments, greater numbers of baffles, such 5 baffles as shown in FIGS.2and3-1, will result in an even greater increase in heat transfer performance.

The measured performance increase given in theFIG. 5is defined by:

This relation is explained by the pipes interaction for the cooler group with the baffles. The heat transfer from the pipe's external surfaces to the ambient seawater is driven by free convection. An external flow is generated due to the density variation induced by the temperature increase caused by proximity to the pipes. In the case of the group of cooler pipes, the pipes' closeness causes the seawater flows to interact. The obtained momentum is thus higher than the one obtained with a single pipe. This phenomenon, called chimney effect, is described in further detail infra.

Simulations. The heat transfer from the process gas (the cooled fluid) to the ambient (coolant fluid) observed on the test objects can be decomposed into the 3 following features: (1) internal forced convection between the bulk gas and the internal surfaces of the pipes; (2) conduction across the walls of the pipes; and (3) external free convection between the external surfaces of the pipes and the ambient water.

Based on the physical mechanisms as split above, the global heat transfer coefficient can be defined by the following formula:

The thermal performance difference obtained between the SP (single pipe) and the cooler group of pipes is related to the free convection pattern and intensity on the ambient side. In order to characterize and to understand in detail the phenomena occurring and the complex three-dimensional (3D) flow that develops around the pipes, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations are performed on both the cooler group and the single pipe. The case with a mass flow of 0.22 kg/s has been studied using commercial CFD software.

Numerical method. The geometry simulated consists of three domains: (1) the gas flowing inside the pipes; (2) the solid pipe walls; and (3) the ambient side of the pipes.

The two flows (ambient and gas) are described by the Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) system coupled to the internal energy equation for the ambient side by the buoyancy force based on the Boussinesq assumption:

The momentum source is hence for the water domain:

Turbulence is solved using the Shear Stress Transport (SST) model. Both fluids, water and gas, are considered incompressible. In the example simulations, the solid domain material is stainless steel described by its thermal conductivity.

The boundary condition for the top and bottom faces of the ambient domain is set to opening. In the proposed example, the lateral face representing infinite is set to wall with free slip condition and imposed temperature to 12° C. For the gas domain, standard incompressible boundary conditions are used, i.e. mass flow imposed at the inlet (top) and static pressure imposed at the outlet (bottom). The inlet temperature is fixed to 90° C.

Single pipe simulation. As shown in Table 3, the heat transfer for the single pipe is very well simulated. The discrepancy between test data and simulation is only about 5%. The difference between test data and empirical correlation is about 10%, which is also acceptable regarding correlation accuracy. Comparison of the CFD and test results for the single pipe is a step that validates the numerical approach.

TABLE 3Global HTC for the single pipeMethodUnitsValueVariationExperimental dataW/m2/K175CFD1675%Empirical correlation19210%Comparison between numerical and analytical approaches with test results

Cooler group simulation. Due to the compressed gas flowing inside the pipes, the external pipe wall was warm and thus a vertical flow in the ambient is generated due to free convection. The gas flow continuously delivers heat to the ambient side and the averaged gas temperature drops off from about 90° C. down to about 60° C.

FIGS. 78-1and8-2illustrate flow patterns on the ambient (sea water) side of the cooling group of pipes having horizontal and helically-shaped baffles, according to some embodiments. In the case of the cooler group210with horizontal baffles shown inFIG. 7, on the ambient seawater side starting from the bottom, the water free convection flow is routed from the ambient into the vicinity of the pipes. What is remarkable and quite unexpected with the cooler design having horizontal baffles is that the baffles block the vertical flows and force the ambient water “inside the group” (area300) to flow out and in again. This phenomenon which generates radial flows around the baffles was found to have a very positive effect on the heat transfer as: (1) it increases the mean velocity field and hence the heat transport; (2) it increases the turbulence level and the flow mixing around the cooling pipes; and (3) it breaks the thermal layer with transverse flow and unsteady drag effects.

It has been found that the baffles generate secondary flows of the ambient fluid around the baffles. The seawater is ejected from the area in the center of the group of pipes just below each baffle (positive radial velocity with respect to central axis310) and then just above each baffle the water is routed back into the central area (negative radial velocity). This transverse flow generated firstly increases the momentum level and by consequence the heat removal is improved. A second aspect is that it increases the turbulence level creating some turbulent structures.

FIG. 8-1illustrates simulated streamlines for the cooler group400shown inFIG. 4having helical-shaped baffles. As can be seen, a substantial circumferential velocity is imparted to the ambient fluid flow that has been found to further increase the effects described above with respect to the horizontal baffle arrangement. It has thus been found that helical baffles are often even more effective in increasing heat transfer than designs using a horizontal baffle arrangement.FIG. 8-2illustrates simulated streamlines for cooler group400showing the substantial circumferential velocity imparted to the ambient fluid flow using helical baffles, according to some embodiments.

Test results and comparisons of the thermal performance between the single pipe and the cooler group highlighted an increase of the heat transfer for the cooler group. Due to the similarity of the two test objects and the physical mechanisms decomposition of heat transfer, the free convection on the ambient side has been identified as the key phenomena to explain test results deviation.

The CFD analyses performed on the two objects revealed a complex 3D flow development for the cooler. This 3D flow is responsible for the external HTC increase.FIGS. 9-1,9-2and9-3illustrate further aspects of ambient flow patterns and heat transfer for heat exchangers, according to some embodiments.FIG. 9-1shows a pipe220through which the cooled fluid is pumped. The coolant fluid exposed to the exterior surface of the pipe220moves upward due to buoyancy forces as shown by arrow910. The moving ambient fluid has an outer boundary920as shown. It has been found that two effects interact and are coupled enhancing heat transfer, according to some embodiments. First the pipes bundle generates the high intensity vertical momentum due to free convection (as shownFIG. 9-1), and secondly the baffles transfer this vertical flow into radial and azimuthal (or circumferential) flows.FIG. 9-2illustrates a radial flow direction of ambient fluid as described.FIG. 9-3shows the effect of transverse ambient fluid flow (e.g. radial or circumferential) and the Von Karman vortex development on the low-pressure (downstream) side of the cylindrical pipe. The flow patterns created by the baffles increases the momentum in the pipe vicinity, which amplifies the heat removal and likewise generates Von Karman structures with high turbulence level.

Based on the analysis described supra, a new empirical correlation can be described. According to some embodiments, the heat exchanger is a cooler group with a passive design. That is, no additional powered equipment is used to create forced flow on the ambient side. Nevertheless the interaction between the pipes and baffles is such that free convection flow generated by one pipe tends to act similarly to a forced convection flow source for the neighboring pipes. An expression of the following form can be used describe the mixed convection:

It is important to note that analysis and results are dependent of the configuration. Three special cases can be identified: (1) buoyancy induced flow and forced flow parallel with the same direction; (2) buoyancy induced flow and forced flow parallel in opposite directions; and (3) buoyancy induced flow and forced flow perpendicular, such as provided by several embodiments described herein.

When analyzing a new heat exchanger design, challenges can relate to the fact that there can be two different characteristic lengths representative of the combined mechanism. It hence makes it difficult to establish the combination of the characteristic dimensionless numbers for the free and the forced convections. The characteristic length to build the Nusselt number and quantify the free convection intensity is the total vertical pipe length (L) while the one representative of the forced convection in a staggered bank is the pipe diameter (D). For this reason, the formula proposed above is no longer well suited as the Nusselt magnitude based on different length scale strongly deviates.

According to some embodiments, the following formula can be used to correlate mixed convection heat transfer for the cooler external heat transfer:

The Nusselt number for a free convection vertical boundary layer development is:

The value of 0.31 is appropriate for configurations using two horizontal baffles. Other values, an be used for other baffle configurations such as 5 horizontal baffles and/or helical baffles. The Nusselt number for forced convection in staggered bank is:

where the constant has the following values according to the geometry configuration: C1=0.416, C2=0.75 and m=0.568.

Therefore, the external heat transfer for the cooler corresponds to that of the single pipe in addition to a component representing the pseudo forced convection in the vicinity of the baffle. According to the simulation analysis described supra, in the case of a two-horizontal baffle configuration, only one third of this component is included, as only one third of the total pipe area is affected by this horizontal flow pattern. Other amounts of the component should be included for other configurations and numbers of baffles.

The test results presented in theFIG. 6were compared with the estimated global HTC obtained using the proposed empirical correlation for the external HTC.

Based on these analyses, a new formula for combined free convection and crossflow for a vertical pipe is proposed, supra. The overall heat transfer coefficient obtained from these correlations matches very well with the experimental data.

This described method enables optimization of heat exchanger design and thus improves the heat exchange performances and reducing the weight of the system for similar performances. According to some embodiments, the heat exchange system includes an inlet and an outlet for a first fluid, increases the velocity and the turbulence intensity of a second fluid flow in neighborhood of the heat exchanger with the first fluid. The heat exchange system enables an increase of the heat transfer with the ambient second fluid. According to some embodiments, the heat exchange surface area is substantially reduced for equivalent performance and thus resulting in a substantial decrease in cooling system footprint.

Forced convection causes, as mentioned, higher heat transfer rates than free convection. In some cases, currents and waves will make the cooler acting as a forced convection cooler. These heat transfer rate changes may be challenging when operating a system while trying to maintain a constant cooling performance. It has been found that according to some embodiments, the influence of sea currents and waves on the heat transfer performance can be decreased. The cooling performances will tend to be independent of the horizontal velocity field from the sea current. This benefit can be very useful on the system regulation point of view.

Although many embodiments have been described supra in the context of a heat exchanger system in which parallel pipes are arranged in symmetrical such as shown inFIG. 2, the techniques described herein are applicable to many other types and arrangements of heat exchangers.FIGS. 10-1,10-2and10-3illustrate using one or more baffles in different configurations for a non-symmetrical arrangement of cooling system pipes, according to some embodiments. In each case, the heat exchanger1000includes an inlet manifold1002, and outlet manifold1004and a plurality of parallel pipes1020. InFIG. 10-1a single horizontally arranged baffle1030is positioned along the exterior of pipes1020as shown. InFIG. 10-2a series of four horizontally arranged baffles1032,1034,1036and1038are positioned along the exterior of pipes1020as shown. In the case ofFIG. 10-3, two baffles1040and1042are mounted in a slanted arrangement with respect to the pipes1020of heat exchanger1000. In each case the baffles have the effect of disturbing the vertical flow of the ambient coolant fluid (the water) and induce a substantial non-vertical component (i.e. non parallel to the pipe axis) that has been found to substantially increase the cooling performance of the heat exchanger.

Whereas many alterations and modifications of the present invention will no doubt become apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art after having read the foregoing description, it is to be understood that the particular embodiments shown and described by way of illustration are in no way intended to be considered limiting.