Reliable 12 VDC gearmotors keep natural gas moving — even in harsh conditions.
The United States, a major supplier of natural gas, still depends on its own abundant supplies, much of it found in isolated oil and gas fields subject to extreme winter conditions. Under such operating conditions, maintaining a relatively uniform gas flow is important to avoid and/or reduce fluctuations in energy production as well as demand.
Why Glycol Injection is Essential
Glycol is injected into natural gas pipelines, to stop the product from blocking in freezing temperatures and keep it flowing freely. So far, Natural Gas driven Pneumatic Pump was used to accomplish the aforesaid operation. But with the advent of tougher emissions requirements from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), industry began to transition away from gas-driven pneumatic pumps.
To maintain compliance and increase efficiency, pump manufacturers began developing solar electric injection pumps. Solar power is abundant under the skies, scarce when it's cloudy or raining. This had led to the need of finding gearmotors and pumps that could work properly despite the variable or low performance of solar power.
Bodine’s Engineering Solution
Bodine teamed with a leading pump supplier to make the system as efficient as possible. In this report the investigation started with a brushless DC motor which has been designed in order to minimize the loss of power. The 12-V winding was tuned to reach its maximum efficiency at the normal load point of the application, resulting in stable operation and low energy consumption.
To accompany the motor, Bodine included a parallel shaft gearhead with spur and helical gearing. Bypassing the gear stages enhanced overall efficiency due to decreased power consumption of the system.
Performance in Extreme Weather
Among other things, cold-weather performance proved particularly challenging. Batteries in solar-powered systems degraded most rapidly under extremely cold conditions. So to the problem, Bodine engineers created a gearhead with low-viscosity synthetic lubricant wisely selected specially to work in extreme temperature environments.
Reduced friction and power loss diminished the consumption of electric energy of the gearmotor to cover demanded torque. The time-honored result was a solar-powered injection pump system that easily runs many more hours between charges for even the most-demanding winter operations.
Proven Benefits
- Enhanced performance for solar-operated injection pumps
- Reliable on-site performance for off-shore oil & gas sites
- Features: Brushless DC motor for 12 VDC applications
- Gearhead optimised for low temperature with synthetic lubricant
- Longer life time to minimized downtime and maintenance costs
The integration of advanced motor technology and engineered gearheads served to produce a robust, efficient, environmentally friendly solution for natural gas production.
Application Insights
The Design Requirement
A solar powered injection pump used in remote gas pipelines required maximum efficiency for continuous operation in a very harsh environment.
The Solution
- Brushless DC motor
- Optimized 12 Volt winding efficiency point coincided with the typical load point of the application
- Efficient parallel shaft gearhead with spur and helical gearing
- Fewer gear stages for improved gearing efficiency
- Synthetic low-viscosity lubricant, to reduce the resistance on the motor
