Strojniški vestnik - Journal of Mechanical Engineering 59(2013)7-8, 473-482 © 2013 Journal of Mechanical Engineering. All rights reserved. D0l:10.5545/sv-jme.2012.863 Original Scientific Paper Prejeto v recenzijo: 2012-11-13 Prejeto popravljeno: 2012-11-13 Odobreno za objavo: 2013-05-13 Optimal Design Based on Dynamic Characteristics and Experimental Implementation of Submersible Electromagnetic Actuators Baoping Cai1 -Yonghong Liu1* - Aibaibu Abulimiti1 - Renjie Ji1 -Yanzhen Zhang1 - Xin Dong1 - Yuming Zhou2 1 China University of Petroleum, College of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, China 2 China National Petroleum Corporation, Bureau of Geophysical Prospecting, China An optimization procedure based on the dynamic characteristics of a submersible electromagnetic actuator constrained in a specific volume has been developed. In order to achieve the minimum response time and low vibration when the actuator is opened, five radial dimensions are optimized when the main limiting quantity is the maximum allowed temperature. Three models, including a thermal model, an electromagnetic model, and a mechanical model are constructed, and optimization calculation is performed by using Matlab/Simulink software. According to the optimization results, an actuator is manufactured and dynamic experiments are performed. The results show substantial agreement between experimental response times and simulated response times. In order to investigate the vibration when the actuator is opened and closed, vibration experiments of the actuator are also performed. The results show that the measured vertical and horizontal accelerations are near the calculated acceleration of the plunger. Both of the experiments show that the optimization procedure is sufficiently accurate, and the optimal submersible electromagnetic actuator is sufficiently secure to be used in subsea BOP stacks. Keywords: submersible electromagnetic actuator, optimal design, magnetic equivalent circuit, dynamic characteristics 0 INTRODUCTION Hundreds of submersible control valves are used in a subsea blowout preventer (BOP) stack, which is located in 3000 m ultra-deep water region. The control valve is an electro-hydraulic device with two stages. The pilot stage, which is a submersible electromagnetic actuator (SEMA), provides a hydraulic pilot signal to operate a main stage. The main stage is a sub-plate-mounted (SPM) hydraulic valve, which controls the hydraulic pressure to operate the subsea BOP stack functions [1] and [2]. By minimizing response times, especially the opening time of SEMA, the performance of subsea BOP can be improved significantly. High velocity impacts experienced by the moving plunger of the SEMA create frequent vibrations of the SEMA and SPM valve, which could lead to valve seal failure. Therefore, the velocity impacts and vibrations should be sufficiently low [3] and [4]. Empirically, the vibration acceleration of the SEMA should be lower than 1x10-3 m/s2. Additionally, the size and weight savings of the submersible control valves are of considerable significance in reducing the size of the subsea BOP stack. Due to the complexity of design parameters, the actuators require an optimal design. In recent years, various analytical, semi-analytical and numerical methods have been presented in order to improve the performance of electromagnetic devices. Moses et al. [5] studied the linear electromagnetic actuators using finite element analysis (FEA) method in accelerating the design process and improving the final design. Wu et al. [6] studied an electromagnetic fast linear actuator, using the FEA method. Yatchev et al. [7] optimized an axisymmetric linear electromagnetic valve actuator, using the FEA method. The method gives a precise determination of the electromagnetic device performance but requires a large amount of computation and time reduction when the method is used for optimization. The FEA method is also problematic for other applications, such as dynamic simulation; therefore, some solutions including opening and closing times could not be obtained. Encica et al. [8] and [9] optimized the electromagnetic actuators using a space-mapping method, and Markovic et al. [10] and [11] analysed an electromechanical actuator, using the SchwarzChristoffel mapping method. The two methods accelerate the optimization processes by exploiting simplified models; however, they cannot easily solve the dynamic characteristics of electromagnetic devices using Matlab/Simulink. Chung and Gweon [12] developed an electromagnetic linear actuator for a mass flow controller, using magnetic equivalent circuit (MEC) method. Cai et al. [13] optimized the submersible solenoid valves for subsea blowout preventers, using MEC method. Batdorff and Lumkes [14] studied an axisymmetric electromagnetic actuator using high-fidelity MEC methods. The method may have some error when predicting electromagnetic force and magnetic flux; however, it is excellent when they are used to optimize and design electromagnetic devices. The dynamic characteristics could be also *Corr. Author's Address: China University of Petroleum, College of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Qingdao 266580, China, liuyhupc@163.com 473 investigated using the methods with Matlab/Simulink environments [15] to [17]. In this paper, an MEC-based optimization design procedure for SEMA, constrained in a specific small volume, is proposed. The optimal design aims to minimize response time, especially the opening time when the main limiting quantity is the maximum allowed temperature. According to the optimization results, a SEMA is manufactured, and its dynamic characteristics are investigated experimentally in order to verify the proposed optimization procedure. 1 MATHEMATICAL MODEL The SEMA is designed as a solenoid-operated switching spring return actuator, which is essentially composed of a cover, a spring, a spring pocket, a coil, a coil bobbin, a plunger, a plunger sleeve, and a magnetic ring, as shown in Fig. 1. The plunger-type structure is intended to be produced in a small size [18]. When the coil is energized by DC voltage, the plunger of the SEMA retracts upward and extends downwards by releasing the stored energy from the spring [13] and [19]. Fig. 1. Schematic diagrams of the SEMA [13] The cover of the actuator is made of AISI 316L austenitic stainless steel due to its high corrosion resistance to seawater, high strength, and high durability [20] and [21]. However, AISI 316L stainless steel is nonmagnetic. Therefore, four components (plunger, spring pocket, plunger sleeve, and magnetic ring) are used to form a magnetic circuit. The plunger is made of iron, which is a ferromagnetic material. The three other components are made of AISI 440C martensitic stainless steel, which is strongly magnetic but has lower corrosion resistance to seawater than AISI 316L austenitic stainless steel [22]. All of the gaps within the SEMA, e.g. the gap between the coil and the magnetic ring, are filled with conduction oil in order to transfer heat power and prevent high-pressure seawater from crushing the actuator. The coil conducts the current that provides magnetic flux, and it consists of numerous turns and layers of conducting copper wire, insulation and bonding material. The geometry of the SEMA is shown in Fig. 2 [13]. Fig. 2. Geometry of the SEMA [13] 1.1 Thermal Model The electrical circuit of an electromagnetic actuator supplies current to the coils. This current flows through wires and produces heat due to the well-known Joule effect. The magnetic circuit provides the flux and the force, also producing heat due to the magnetic losses in the magnetic circuit [23]. Although some magnetic (demagnetization, saturation and magnetization hysteresis) and mechanical (friction and mechanical stress) effects are significant in electromagnetic actuators, the main limiting quantity considered in this study is the maximum allowed temperature of the SEMA in seawater, which is similar to the precondition of the solenoid actuator designed in [24]. Therefore, to minimize the response time for a specific small volume actuator, a study of the heat transfer phenomenon is to be done. A series of expressions has been developed in order to maintain the temperature of the actuator under the safety threshold. For simplicity of design, this study assumes that the coil bobbin is adiabatic, and the maximum temperature is in the centre of the coil; hence, the heat power, produced in the coil due to the energizing current, transfers from the coil to seawater via the conduction oil, the magnetic ring, and the cover of the actuator. For the sake of safety and simplicity, continuous operation (100% duty cycle) has been assumed [25]. The steady-state heating balance can be expressed as follows: R = - T, - 71 C +C +C (1) where imax is the maximum allowed current in the coil, R is the resistance of the coil, and it is associated with the dimension, resistivity, resistivity temperature coefficient and number of coil turns of the SEMA [13]. Tco and Tsea are the temperature of the coil and seawater, respectively, and Zco, ÇoU, Zmr and Zcv are the thermal resistances of the coil, the conduction oil, the magnetic ring, and the cover, respectively, and they are associated with the dimension, conduction coefficients of the coil, and convection coefficient of the conduction oil [13]. The current factor k is defined as the ratio of the rated current to the maximum current. Therefore, the rated current can be derived from Eq. (3) and written as follows: K = Kl (2) By applying the Ohm law, the assigned coil rated voltage can be written as follows: U = i,R. (3) The relationship of i(t), N, ^(t), ^2(t) and R can be obtained from an analogy of the electric circuit and the magnetic circuit and can be expressed as follows: Ni(t ) ( Rga + RP, + Rgp ) Rps1 P.l(t ) + P2C ) Rga + Rpl + Rgp + Rps1 +Rspl + Rsp 2 + Rm R -ps 2' R "psl M)=_ ç2(t ) Rga + Rp, + Rgp (6) (7) where $1(t) and $2(t) are the magnetic flux flowing inside the plunger and the upper plunger sleeve, respectively. R?a, Rph Rgp, Rpsi, RpS2, Rspi, Rsp2 and Rmr are the magnetic reluctances of the magnetic flux paths of working gap, plunger, gap between the plunger and plunger sleeve, upper plunger sleeve, lower plunger sleeve, lower spring pocket, upper spring pocket and magnetic ring (see Figs. 1 and 2), respectively. For the ferromagnetic parts, consisting of the plunger, the plunger sleeve, the spring pocket, and the magnetic ring, the empirical curve-fit for the B-H curve is used and expressed as follows [26]: pp 1 + CH - + C3 Hpi, 2" pi B. = p.H. = C4 Hi 1 + C5 H, - + CH ., (8) (9) 1.2 Electromagnetic Model The electromagnetic model of the SEMA consists of an electrical circuit and a magnetic circuit. The electrical circuit is the actual coil, and the magnetic circuit consists of the plunger, the plunger sleeve, the spring pocket, and the magnetic ring. By applying Kirchhoff's voltage law, the magnetic and electrical circuits yields: Ue = i(t ) R + N dç(t ) dt ' (4) where Ue is the input coil rated voltage, i(t) is the electrical current, R is the resistance of the coil, N is the number of turns, and $(t) is the total magnetic flux. According to the magnetic equivalent circuit of the SEMA, The electromotive force can be expressed as follows: i(t ) N = ç(t ) Rm, where Rtm is the total magnetic reluctance. (5) where i denotes psl, ps2, spl, sp2, and mr, B is the magnetic flux density, H is the magnetic field intensity, Cl, C2, C3, C4, C5, and C6 are regression parameters, and ^pi, & are the magnetic permeability of iron and AISI 440C stainless steel respectively, which are both variable. Assuming uniform flux density across the cross-sectional area of the plunger, the plunger sleeve, the spring pocket, the magnetic ring, and the two gaps, the magnetic flux density can be expressed as follows: BP = = ps 1 B = nit) Ap ' Ç2(t ) Aps1 v(t ) A ' (10) (11) (12) where i denotesps2, spl, sp2, and mr. Substituting Eq. (10) into Eq. (8), and Eqs. (11) and (12) into Eq. (9), the magnetic permeability of ppl, pps1 and pi can be expressed as functions of $\(t), $2(t) and ^(t) as follows: (C, + C,)Apl -C2%(t) + Vpl = fpl ((P,(t)) =-p-+ 2 A„ {[(C, + C3)Ap, - Cft (t)]2 + 4(Pi (t)C2C3Ap/ j17 2 A (C4 + C6) A 1 - C5y2(t) Vpsi = fpsi (