American Oil and Gas Reporter - May 2020 - 65

SpecialReport: Production & Processing

Compressors Gain Smarts, Durability
By Colter Cookson
The level of ingenuity needed to improve gas compression packages used to
boost multiphase and dry gas from the
wellhead to gas gathering points, and on
to processing points and compressor stations in today's challenging market, only
heightens the need for compression reliability as well as flexibility.
Compression packages must contend
with ever-changing operating conditions
and nearly constant dust, heat, moisture
and other elements that have a knack for
disrupting performance. The engines driving these packages must compensate for
these variations while adhering to strict
emission limits.
Increasingly sophisticated automation
is helping compressors adjust to infinitesimal environmental changes, but it is only
one of the innovations deployed to push
compressor performance to new heights.
Others include a powerful lubricant that
extends equipment life and engines that
pack more power into a small footprint.
"There always will be customer demand
for engines to deliver more power and reliability at a lower cost," observes Ryan
Krafcheck, senior product manager at INNIO Waukesha. "We could get more power
by pushing the engine harder, but that may
hurt its reliability. Instead, we are finding
ways to increase power output without
placing more stress on key components."
Krafcheck summarizes that approach
as creating engines that "work smarter,
not harder." He says it explains the success
of the Waukesha VHP Series Five, an engine family that simultaneously boosts
power 13% while slicing 18%-20% off
operating costs. "We were able to turn
up the power output without increasing
temperatures and pressures on the piston
or cylinder head by changing to the Miller
combustion cycle, which shifts work from
the piston to the turbocharger," he says.
"The engines also use an improved
cylinder head design that reduces the
temperature in the key exhaust valve stem
region as much as 40% by bringing the
cooling passage farther down along the
guide," he adds. "This improves the reliability of the head and nearly eliminates
exhaust valve sticking."
The engines only require oil and spark
plug changes every 4,000 hours, Krafcheck
says, noting that the spark plugs are made

from affordable materials. "We could
have achieved 4,000-hour spark plug life
with plugs made from precious metals,
but those would cost the operator significantly more. By optimizing how and
when the plug fires, we were able to
extend the same benefit while actually
reducing cost to the user," he says.
The series includes 1,500, 1,900, and
2,500 horsepower models. All three share
a control system and components such
as spark plugs, oil filters, cylinder heads
and liners, Krafcheck mentions. "This
simplifies customers' parts inventories
and means technicians who know how to
work on one engine can handle the other
two," he explains.
Meeting Fleet Needs
As capital constraints encourage operators to rent compressors rather than
buying their own, rental fleets are showing
more interest in high-horsepower models,
Krafcheck reports. He attributes some
of that to advances in engine and compressor design.
"It usually is less expensive to buy
and operate a single high-horsepower
unit than it is to pair two lower-horsepower
units, but there is a trade-off between
power and mobility," he says. "Because
of its power density and compatibility
with compact compressor frames such
as Ariel's new KBK, the 2,500 horsepower
9394GSI S5 is light and portable enough

to meet fleets' needs."
Krafcheck adds that the engine excels
at running on field gas. "The piston is
slightly larger than the previous version,
which puts it closer to the liner and allows
cooling to transfer from the liner to the
piston more efficiently. The lower piston
temperatures help keep the fuel from
combusting early or knocking, the primary
limit on fuel flexibility."
The engine also benefits from a modern
control system that adjusts ignition timing
to account for variations in field gas, he
describes. "Older control systems assumed
the engine was seeing pure natural gas
rather than high-Btu field gas, so when
they ran on field gas, the timing wasn't
optimized," he recounts. "This generated
excess heat, and heat can cause the engine
to knock.
"By considering fuel quality alongside
the traditional inputs of intake manifold
pressure and engine speed, the new control
system allows the engine to run on lower-quality gas without compromising power," Krafcheck adds.
INNIO Waukesha is seeing more interest in reducing emissions, and Krafcheck
predicts that interest will only grow as
regulations tighten. "In areas where oil
field activity frequently is near homes
and businesses, such as the Marcellus,
end users want to conform. Cleaner engines also may let them put more compression on a site or shorten permitting

Through creative engineering, INNIO Waukesha is introducing engines that deliver more
power than their predecessors without increasing wear on critical components. In fact,
the company says the engines offer much lower operating costs.

MAY 2020 65



American Oil and Gas Reporter - May 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Oil and Gas Reporter - May 2020

Contents
American Oil and Gas Reporter - May 2020 - Intro
American Oil and Gas Reporter - May 2020 - 1
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American Oil and Gas Reporter - May 2020 - Contents
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