Magnetic thrust load support for downhole-type system
AssigneeUpwing Energy, LLC
InventorPatrick McMullen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A downhole-type system includes a rotatable shaft; a sensor that can sense an axial position of the shaft and generate a first signal corresponding to the axial position of the shaft; a controller coupled to the sensor, in which the controller can receive the first signal generated by the sensor, determine an amount of axial force to apply to the shaft to maintain a target axial position of the shaft, and transmit a second signal corresponding to the determined amount of axial force; and multiple magnetic thrust bearings coupled to the shaft and the controller, in which each magnetic thrust bearing can receive the second signal from the controller and modify a load, corresponding to the second signal, on the shaft to maintain the target axial position of the shaft.
Claims9
A method comprising:
- during rotation of a shaft of a downhole-type wellbore system, the shaft axially levitated by a plurality of magnetic thrust bearings,
- transmitting, by a sensor, a first signal corresponding to an axial position of the rotating shaft;
- determining, by a controller, an amount of axial force to apply to the rotating shaft to maintain axial levitation of the rotating shaft based on the first signal;
- transmitting, by the controller, a second signal that corresponds to the determined amount of axial force to the plurality of magnetic thrust bearings;
- and
- applying, by the plurality of magnetic thrust bearings, the amount of axial force on the rotating shaft to maintain the axial levitation of the rotating shaft based on the second signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.