Decarbonizing the dredge: Electrified high-pressure pump for horizontal drilling

So, in 2022, B&P Electric Motors collaborated with several partners — including Danfoss Drives — to develop a mobile high-pressure pump unit for horizontal drilling. Today, thanks to the Danfoss VACON® NXP Liquid Cooled drives, the new pump is powered by an electric motor. Capable of navigating harsh operating conditions, it efficiently provides the necessary pressure to transport soil through pipes up to three kilometers long. The high-pressure pump moves up to 3200 liters of water per minute at a pressure of 70 bar.

Discover how the Danfoss VACON® NXP Liquid Cooled drive facilitates an electric-driven pump unit for horizontal drilling.

Horizontal drilling utilizes pipes 3 to 9.5 meters long, incrementally extended to a maximum of three kilometers. A steered drill head attached to the initial rod, along with bentonite, aids in removing drilled sand through the pipe.

In this process, a pump unit ensures that the drilled soil is pumped through the drill pipes and out through the borehole. But moving soil such large distances requires a particularly high-pressure pump — and that was the challenge B&P Electric Motors and their partners set out to solve.

Previously, these pump units were powered by a diesel engine, but to align with environmental goals, they needed to be electrified instead. Moreover, the demanding excavation environments—comprising sand, mud, rain, dust, and extreme temperatures—necessitate resilient and mobile machinery.

To meet the requirements for robustness, sustainability, and mobility, Danfoss Drives' team collaborated with B&P Electric Motors, Van Vulpen, and Duim Techniek to develop a high-pressure pump in a container capable of handling the demands.

In the preliminary phase of the project, the development group benefitted from Danfoss' expertise in drives and electric motors. Starting with VACON® NXP drives, Danfoss, B&P Electric Motors, and the other companies tailored a solution for horizontal-drilling pumps to meet industry demands.

The new mobile pump unit features liquid-cooled 450 kW electric motors and drives, enabling the movement of 3200 liters of water per minute at 70 bar. This system efficiently transports drilled soil back through the pipes to the borehole. Despite the challenging conditions, the VACON® NXP drives ensure stable and high-pressure performance.

With a 450-kW capacity and 3% heat generation, excess kilowatts must be removed to keep the drives’ liquid cooling system running properly. Dupagro and Duim Techniek jointly assembled and built a refrigeration system unit that fits within the container’s limited space and effectively removes heat from motors and drives for optimal performance.

The VACON® NXP Liquid Cooled drives are ideal for applications where space is at a premium or air cooling is difficult. Designed for heavy industries with harsh operating conditions, the controllers provide powerful performance and robust reliability.

• Compact design negates the necessity for air ducts, minimizing floor space demands and infrastructure needs.
• Investment savings, as no large air-conditioning systems are needed due to minimal dissipation of heat loss to the air.
• Fulfills all relevant international standards and global requirements, including marine, safety, EMC, and harmonics approvals.
• Operates almost silently as large cooling fans are not required.
• Achieves a 98% efficiency rate.

Based on the VACON® NXP drives, the innovative solution offers several advantages. Packed with features, the fully standardized drives maximize space utilization while minimizing overall lifecycle costs and offering reduced noise levels. Plus, the compact design allowed for the creation of a containerized pump unit, ideal for easy relocation – especially beneficial for sites lacking grid connections.

Additionally, the powerful pump enables the reuse of excavated soil. After extraction through the drill pipes, the soil undergoes reclamation, separating sand and contaminants from the drilling fluid for potential reuse. Together with the fact that the unit is electric-driven, it is innovations like this that advance the industry's green transition.

Finally, the VACON® NXP drive contains an application software — in this case, required to control the pump. This software, often used to create networks, offers flexibility and potential networking capabilities for future advancements, such as connectivity between multiple containers. Remco Buskens of Danfoss Drives explains: "Imagine in the future, there are several containers with Danfoss controllers, and you can connect them and start feeding them based on that. For example, with large battery packs. It's often the same hardware but different software."