Abstract
Abstract Electrical power quality is routinely taken for granted by oil and drilling industries worldwide despite the fact that the quality of electrical power is fundamental to the safety and operational integrity of drilling rigs and oil production platforms worldwide, without exception. US$100m's are lost each year, direct and indirectly, due to poor quality of power. Currently some offshore safety authorities are considering the imposition of strict limits on harmonic voltage distortion in their jurisdiction. Harmonic voltage distortion may become a regulatory issue in the future. This paper examines the salient harmonic and power quality issues onboard drilling rigs with full SCR drilling packages, as well the more recent hybrid (mixed SCR and VFD drives) and full VFD (variable frequency drive) drilling packages. With SCR drives the main problems are harmonic voltage distortion, line notching and voltage spikes which destroys capacitors inside equipment. Low generator power factor is also often an operational problem. For VFDs, harmonic voltage distortion is also a problem but increasingly so is excessive common mode voltage caused by VFD operation which disrupts susceptible electronic equipment. The paper will offer advice on proven solutions for common power quality problems and introduce a remote/local power quality monitoring system which can be easily retrofitted to existing rigs and platforms.
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