Winterized turbocompressor unit and method for winterizing the turbocompressor unit

Abstract

A winterized turbocompressor unit has a turbocompressor and an oil supply installation for supplying the turbocompressor with a lubricating oil, the lubricating oil being a low-temperature oil and the turbocompressor and the oil supply installation being set up to be operated with the low-temperature oil.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefits of European application No. 07012385.6 filed Jun. 25, 2007, both of the applications are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The invention relates to a winterized turbocompressor unit and a method for winterizing the turbocompressor unit.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A turbocompressor is used in a chemical plant of the chemical industry. The chemical plant is established at a special location which may be determined, for example, by the presence of mineral resources. The mineral resources are, for example, natural gas which is extracted in a climatic zone characterized by low temperatures, such as, for example, a tundra. In the tundra, during the summer months, temperatures prevail which are just above freezing point, and in the winter months there are temperatures which are well below freezing point. The turbocompressor must therefore be equipped so as to be adapted in such a way that it can be operated reliably, free of faults, at the low temperatures, particularly during the winter months.

FIG. 2 shows a conventional turbocompressor unit 101. The turbocompressor unit 101 has a turbocompressor 102 which has a rotor 103. The rotor 103 is mounted by means of bearings 104, for example by means of tilting-segment plain bearings. The tilting-segment plain bearings 104 are customarily oil-lubricated. To supply the tilting-segment plain bearings 104 with a lubricating oil 113, the turbocompressor 101 has an oil supply installation 107 with an oil supply line 108 and with an oil return line 109. The oil supply line 108 is connected to one collective oil supply line 105 of the turbocompressor 102, via which line the lubricating oil 113 is supplied to the tilting-segment plain bearings 104. To discharge the lubricating oil 113 from the tilting-segment plain bearings 104, the turbocompressor 102 has a collective oil return line 106 which is connected to the oil return line 109. Furthermore, the oil supply installation 107 has an oil tank 110 which is filled with the lubricating oil 113. To fill the oil tank 110, a filler neck 111 is provided on the oil tank 110. Built into the oil tank 110 is an oil pump 112, by means of which the lubricating oil 113 is conveyed to the tilting-segment plain bearings 104 by the oil supply line 108 and the collective oil supply line 105.

The turbocompressor unit 101 is conventionally accommodated in the open, and therefore the turbocompressor unit 101 is exposed to the outside temperatures at its location. If the turbocompressor unit 101 is established in a tundra, the outside temperatures are at least temporarily so low that the lubricating oil 113 cannot be used for operating the turbocompressor 102, that is to say for lubricating the tilting-segment plain bearings 104. The turbocompressor unit 101 is therefore provided with devices which make it possible that the turbocompressor unit 101 can be operated even at the low outside temperatures. These devices are a thermal insulation 114 (illustrated diagrammatically in FIG. 2), by means of which the oil supply line 108 is thermally insulated. Furthermore, the oil tank 110 has an oil heating 115, by means of which the lubricating oil 113 in the tank 110 is heated to a necessary operating temperature. The oil heating 115 is conventionally operated by means of electrical current.

The provision of the thermal insulation 114 and of the oil heating 115 complicates the production of the turbocompressor unit 101 and is cost-intensive. If the oil heating 115 fails at low outside temperatures, the lubricating oil 113 in the oil tank 110 can no longer be brought to the necessary operating temperature, and therefore the turbocompressor unit 101 has to be shut down. This could be remedied by corresponding safety-relevant devices in order to make the oil heating 115 fail-safe. These devices require an increased outlay in terms of engineering in the planning and construction of the chemical plant, and also increased investment expenditure.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The object of the invention is to provide a winterized turbocompressor unit and a method for winterizing the turbocompressor unit which can be operated reliably at low outside temperatures, the outlay in terms of engineering and the investment costs being low.

The winterized turbocompressor unit according to the invention has a turbocompressor and an oil supply installation for supplying the turbocompressor with a lubricating oil, the lubricating oil being a low-temperature oil and the turbocompressor and the oil supply installation being set up to be operated with the low-temperature oil.

According to the invention, the low-temperature oil in the turbocompressor unit, with the turbocompressor and the oil supply installation for supplying the turbocompressor with the low-temperature oil, is used as the lubricating oil, the turbocompressor and the oil supply installation being set up to be operated with the low-temperature oil.

The method according to the invention for winterizing the turbocompressor unit, with the turbocompressor and the oil supply installation for supplying the turbocompressor with the lubricating oil, has the step: introducing the low-temperature oil into the oil supply installation as the lubricating oil.

The lubricating oil is the type of low-temperature oil, the minimum possible operating temperature of which is lower than that of a conventional lubricating oil. The low-temperature oil can therefore be used at lower temperatures in order to operate the turbocompressor unit than would be possible with the conventional lubricating oil. Such low temperatures are, for example, the outside temperatures in a cold climatic zone, for example a tundra, during the winter months. The turbocompressor unit does not need to be equipped with measures for warming the lubricating oil and/or for keeping it warm, such as, for example, oil heating which could keep the lubricating oil at temperature, and/or a thermal insulation of oil lines. This results in a low outlay in terms of the engineering of the turbocompressor unit and in low investment costs. Furthermore, when the turbocompressor unit is being operated, there is no need to consider too low a temperature of the lubricating oil, and therefore the turbocompressor unit is simple to operate.

Preferably, the low-temperature oil is an oil according to ISO VG 46 and has a low pour point at −54° C. and a capability as lubricating oil up to 20° C.

The turbocompressor unit which is operated with the low-temperature oil can therefore advantageously be operated reliably down to an outside temperature of −20° C., without additional measures, such as, for example, a thermal insulation of oil lines and/or oil heating, needing to be provided.

Furthermore, the low-temperature oil is an oil according to ISO VG 46 and has a low pour point below −54° C. and a capability as lubricating oil down to −30° C.

The turbocompressor unit can thus be operated with the lubricating oil at an outside temperature down to −30° C., without additional measures, such as, for example, a thermal insulation of oil lines and/or oil heating, needing to be provided.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is described below by means of a preferred exemplary embodiment of the turbocompressor unit, with reference to the diagrammatic drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary embodiment of the turbocompressor unit according to the invention, and

FIG. 2 shows a conventional turbocompressor unit.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION

As is clear from FIG. 1, a turbocompressor unit 1 has a turbocompressor 2 which has a rotor 3 for the compression of gas. The rotor 3 is mounted by means of bearings 4. The bearings 4 are tilting-segment plain bearings which are supplied with lubricating oil 13 for their lubrication. The lubricating oil supply is implemented by a supply of the lubricating oil 13 through a collective oil supply line 5 and a discharge of the lubricating oil through a collective oil return line 6.

Furthermore, the turbocompressor unit 1 has, for supplying the bearings 4 with the lubricating oil 13, an oil supply installation 7 with an oil supply line 8 and with an oil return line 9. The oil supply line 8 is connected to the collective oil supply line 5 so as to conduct lubricating oil, and the oil return line 9 is connected to the collective oil return line 6 so as to conduct lubricating oil. The oil supply installation 7 has an oil tank 10 to which both the oil supply line 8 and the oil return line 9 are connected. The oil tank 10 has a filling with the lubricating oil 13 and a filler neck 11 by means of which the lubricating oil 13 has been introduced into the oil tank 10. Furthermore, the oil tank 10 has an oil pump 12 which is built into the oil tank 10 in order to convey the lubricating oil 13 into the oil supply line 8.

By the oil pump 12 being operated, the lubricating oil 13 is sucked out of the oil tank 10 and conveyed into the oil supply line 8. The lubricating oil 13 is conveyed from the oil supply line 8 into the collective oil supply line 6 and is delivered to the bearings 4 for their lubrication. The lubricating oil 13 runs from the bearings 4 into the collective oil return line 6 and into the oil return line 9 in order then to pass back into the oil tank 10. An oil circuit is thus formed by the oil pump 13, the oil supply line 8, the collective oil supply line 5, the collective oil return line 6, the oil return line 9 and the oil tank 10.

The lubricating oil 13 is a low-temperature oil, for example the oil “Shell Corena AS, ISO VG 46”.

In the turbocompressor unit 1, in particular, neither the oil supply line 8 nor the oil return line 9 are provided, thermally insulated. Furthermore, oil heating is not provided in the oil tank 10.

When the lubricating oil 13 is circulated in the oil circuit, it has a certain dwell time in the oil tank 10 on account of its volume. As a rule, the dwell time is of a length such that the lubricating oil 13 in the oil tank 10 assumes the ambient temperature of the latter. When the lubricating oil 13 passes through the bearings 4, the lubricating oil 13 in the bearings 4 is warmed on account of frictional effects in the bearings 4. The lubricating oil 13 thus warmed is then returned by the collective oil return line 6 and the oil return line 9 into the oil tank 10. There, the warmed lubricating oil 13 cools again to the ambient temperature of the oil tank 10.

Since the lubricating oil 13 has a low pour point at −54° C., the turbocompressor 2 can be operated reliably, and free of damage, down to an ambient temperature of the turbocompressor unit 1 of −20° C. The turbocompressor unit 1 can therefore be operated reliably in a climatic zone in which the ambient temperature does not fall below −20° C.

Claims

1.-9. (canceled)

10. A winterized turbocompressor unit, comprising:

a turbocompressor; and

an oil supply installation that supplies the turbocompressor with a lubricating oil wherein the lubricating oil is a low-temperature oil and the turbocompressor and the oil supply installation are configured and arranged to operate with the low-temperature oil.

11. The turbocompressor unit as claimed in claim 10, wherein the low-temperature oil is an oil according to ISO VG 46 and has a low pour point at −54° C. and operates as the lubricating oil down to −20° C.

12. The turbocompressor unit as claimed in claim 10, wherein the low-temperature oil is an oil according to ISO VG 46 and has a low pour point below −54° C. and operates as the lubricating oil down to −30° C.

13. A method of operating a turbocompressor unit with a low-temperature oil, comprising:

providing a turbocompressor;

arranging an oil supply installation for supplying the turbocompressor with the low-temperature oil as a lubricating oil wherein the turbocompressor and the oil supply installation are configured and arranged to operate with the low-temperature oil.

14. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the low-temperature oil is an oil according to ISO VG 46 and having a low pour point at −54° C. and operates as the lubricating oil down to −20° C.

15. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the low-temperature oil is an oil according to ISO VG 46 and having a low pour point below −54° C. and operates as the lubricating oil down to −30° C.

16. A method for winterizing a turbocompressor unit, comprising:

providing a turbocompressor with an oil supply installation that supplies the turbocompressor with a lubricating oil; and

introducing a low-temperature oil into the oil supply installation as the lubricating oil.

17. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein the low-temperature oil is an oil according to ISO VG 46 and has a low pour point at −54° C. and operates as the lubricating oil down to −20° C.

18. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein the low-temperature oil is an oil according to ISO VG 46 and has a low pour point below −54° C. and operates as the lubricating oil (13) down to −30° C.