US-12624621-B2 - Hybrid electric transmission for hydraulic fracturing

US12624621B2US 12624621 B2US12624621 B2US 12624621B2US-12624621-B2

Abstract

A hydraulic fracturing system includes a hybrid electric transmission assembly to transfer power from an internal combustion engine to a hydraulic fracturing pump. The transmission assembly includes a first driveshaft coupled to the engine and a second driveshaft coupled to the pump with a primary drivetrain gear assembly coupling the first driveshaft to the second driveshaft. An electric drive gearset is disposed between the primary drivetrain gear assembly and the pump. An electric motor is couplable to the electric drive gearset, thereby allowing power to be passed from the electric motor to drive the pump and bypass the primary drivetrain gear assembly during the gear change. The system may include a plurality of electric motors each having an electric motor axis and an output gearset coupled to the electric drive gearset, where each of the electric motor axii are spaced radially outward from the first and second driveshafts.

Inventors

Christopher Buckley
Brian Boguski
Joseph McFarland

Assignees

INY LLC

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20241121

Claims (7)

1 . A hybrid hydraulic fracturing system comprising: an internal combustion engine; a hydraulic fracturing pump; a transmission assembly having a first driveshaft, a second driveshaft with at least one of the first or second driveshafts extending along a transmission primary axis, a primary drivetrain gear assembly having at least three gear ratios, the primary drivetrain gear assembly coupling the first driveshaft to the second driveshaft; an electric drive gearset separate from the primary drivetrain gear assembly and mounted on one of the first driveshaft or the second driveshaft apart from the primary drivetrain gear assembly; and a transmission housing having a first end and a second end and enclosing the primary drivetrain gear assembly, with the first driveshaft extending from the first end of the housing and operatively coupled to the internal combustion engine, and the second driveshaft extending from the second end of the housing and operatively coupled to the hydraulic fracturing pump; and a plurality of electric motors disposed externally of the transmission housing, each of the plurality of electric motors having an output gearset disposed along an electric motor axis with each output gearset couplable to the electric drive gearset, wherein the electric motor axis of each of the plurality of electric motors is parallel with but spaced radially outward from the transmission primary axis and the transmission housing, and wherein each output gearset is separate from the primary drivetrain gear assembly.
2 . The hybrid hydraulic fracturing system of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of electric motors are supported on the transmission housing adjacent the first end of the transmission housing.
3 . The hybrid hydraulic fracturing system of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of electric motors are supported on the transmission housing adjacent the second end of the transmission housing.
4 . The hybrid hydraulic fracturing system of claim 3 , wherein the transmission assembly further comprises a supplemental electric drive gearset disposed along the second driveshaft between the primary drivetrain gear assembly and the hydraulic fracturing pump with at least a portion of the plurality of electric motors couplable to the supplemental electric drive gearset.
5 . A hybrid hydraulic fracturing system comprising: an internal combustion engine; a hydraulic fracturing pump; a transmission housing having a first end and a second end with an input driveshaft extending from the first end of the transmission housing and an output driveshaft extending from the second end of the transmission housing with at least one of the driveshafts extending along a transmission primary axis, the input driveshaft coupled to the internal combustion engine and the output driveshaft coupled to the hydraulic fracturing pump; a primary drivetrain gear assembly disposed in the transmission housing and having at least three gear ratios, the primary drivetrain gear assembly coupling the input driveshaft to the output driveshaft; an electric drive gearset separate from the primary drivetrain assembly and coupled to one of the input driveshaft or the output driveshaft so as to be spaced apart from the primary drivetrain assembly; and at least two primary electric motors mounted on the transmission housing, wherein each of the at least two primary electric motors are coupled to the electric drive gearset.
6 . The hybrid hydraulic fracturing system of claim 5 , wherein the at least two primary electric motors mounted on the transmission housing comprises three primary electric motors mounted on the transmission housing and each of the three primary electric motors coupled to the primary electric drive gearset.
7 . The hybrid hydraulic fracturing system of claim 5 , wherein the input driveshaft extends along the transmission primary axis and each electric motor mounted on the transmission housing has an electric motor axis that is parallel with but spaced radially outward from the transmission primary axis.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Pat. App. No. 63/601,666, filed Nov. 21, 2023 and U.S. Provisional Pat. App. No. 63/670,056, filed Jul. 11, 2024 and U.S. Provisional Pat. App. No. 63/670,052, filed Jul. 11, 2024, the disclosures of which are all incorporated by reference herein in their entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD This disclosure relates to a hydraulic fracturing system, and more particularly, to a hybrid electric transmission used to operate a hydraulic fracturing system. BACKGROUND Hydraulic fracturing operations are often used during hydrocarbon production from oil and gas wells to increase volumes that can be recovered from the oil and gas wells. Hydraulic fracturing produces fractures in the rock formation in which the oil and gas wells are drilled by utilizing large pumps to introduce a high-pressure mixture of water, sand, and chemicals into the rock formation, thereby creating pathways in the rock formation through which the oil and gas may flow. As a non-limiting example, such pumps may generally operate at pressures of 7500-14,000 PSI if not more, and at speeds of 95-140 RPMs. Commonly, an internal combustion engine is utilized to drive such a hydraulic fracturing pump given the large amount of power generally required to operate hydraulic fracturing pumps. The power from such internal combustion engine is typically passed to the hydraulic fracturing pump via a transmission assembly have one or more gearsets that can be utilized to alter the torque passing from the internal combustion engine to the hydraulic fracturing pump. For example, a hydraulic fracturing transmission may have six or more gearsets, such as a 1st gear, 2nd gear, 3rd gear, 4th gear, 5th gear and 6th gear, which are gradually utilized to bring hydraulic fracturing pump up to operational speed in order to achieve a desired throughput. One drawback to these traditional systems is the drop-off in power to the pump during a gear change of the primary driving gear. This drawback is especially acute because hydraulic fracturing pumps represent non-inertial loads. Specifically, motion or operation of the load, in this case a hydraulic fracturing pump, immediately terminates when power from the external power source driving the external load is removed. Such abrupt stoppage in operation, called non-inertial pulldown, even briefly, negatively impacts the transmission of power during the gear change. In fact, in extreme cases, non-inertial pulldown can result in stalling of the internal combustion engine which typically have a minimum operating speed (rpm), it being understood that the non-inertial pulldown as experienced by the internal combustion engine could cause the speed (rpm) of drop below minimum operating conditions. Thus, there is a need to minimize non-inertial pulldown during operation of hydraulic fracturing pumping systems. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS For a more complete understanding of the present disclosure and its features and advantages, reference is now made to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG. 1a illustrates a hybrid hydraulic fracturing system having a hybrid electric transmission assembly with an electric motor radially offset from the primary driveline. FIG. 1b is similar to FIG. 1a, but illustrates multiple electric motors radially offset from the primary driveline. FIG. 1c illustrates a hydraulic fracturing transmission assembly having an adjustable torque converter. FIG. 2 illustrates a hybrid hydraulic fracturing system having a hybrid electric transmission assembly with serially arranged electric motors radially offset from the primary driveline. FIG. 3 illustrates a hybrid hydraulic fracturing system having a hybrid electric transmission assembly with an electric motor disposed to bypass the primary drive train gear assembly of the hybrid electric transmission assembly. FIG. 4a illustrates a hybrid hydraulic fracturing system having a hybrid electric transmission assembly with serially arranged electric motors disposed to either power primary drive train gear assembly or bypass primary drive train gear assembly. FIG. 4b illustrates a hybrid hydraulic fracturing system having a hybrid electric transmission assembly with electric motors disposed to either power primary drive train gear assembly or bypass primary drive train gear assembly. FIG. 5 illustrates a hybrid hydraulic fracturing system having a hybrid electric transmission assembly with bypass electric motors disposed to pressure test a hydraulic fracturing system. FIG. 6 illustrates a hybrid hydraulic fracturing system having a hybrid electric transmission assembly with a feedback loop to operate a plurality of electric motors. FIG. 7 illustrates a hybrid hydraulic fracturing system similar to FIG. 1a, but where an electric motor can operate as a generator. FIGS. 8a and 8b illustrate a hybrid hydraulic fracturing system having a