Completed Materials & Manufacturing Engineering

Ceramotor

Funder InnovateUK (part of UKRI)
Recipient organisation Coreteq Systems Limited
Funding £1.4M
Period Jun 2015 — Jan 2018

In plain English

AI plain-English summary

A new motor design for electric submersible pumps aims to cut the 32% of pump stoppages caused by motor failure. Electric submersible pumps are workhorses of the oil and gas industry, used to boost well productivity and remove water. But their motors overheat, suffer insulation breakdown, and run inefficiently at low speeds, leading to frequent breakdowns. The CERAMOTOR project tackles these weaknesses with a hybrid rotor design and composite components that can withstand internal temperatures far higher than existing motors allow. The result is a motor that runs efficiently at all speeds and lasts longer before failing. If successful, the motor could dramatically reduce downtime and replacement costs for oil and gas operators. Because the design is adaptable, it could also serve other sectors that rely on rugged electric motors, including automotive, aerospace, marine, and geothermal energy systems. For geothermal power, where pumps must endure extreme heat and corrosive fluids, a more reliable motor could help unlock a steadier source of renewable energy. The project is funded by Innovate UK under the Energy Catalyst competition.

View original technical description
CERAMOTOR is an exciting project, part-funded by the Technology Strategy Board under the Energy Catalyst competition, to design and develop a new type of motor for an electric submersible pump (ESP). ESPs are widely used in the Oil & Gas sector worldwide, to boost productivity or to de-water wells, but they suffer from inherent drawbacks: poor low-speed efficiency, overheating, contamination and insulation breakdown. These cause premature motor failures (32% of ESP-related stoppages). Our motor will embody game-changing efficiency, reliability and value. It will achieve this with an innovative hybrid rotor design, which will be highly efficient at all speeds. The motor will use composite components and alloys for improved performance at internal temperatures of up to 550°C - much higher than existing motor limits. MTBF of up to 5000hrs, compared to a typical existing motor MTBF of 3500hrs. Our motor will have an 8 year design life, up to 6 years longer than existing motors, making it highly attractive to end-users. The design can be adapted for use in a range of sectors other Oil & Gas: Automotive, Aerospace, Marine and in particular, Geothermal.

View the original record at the funder ↗

Related Research

Grants with similar aims, by meaning.

Permanent Magnet Motors (PMM) for use in fluid pumping or fan applications in ships and submarines
All Electrical Drive Train for Marine Energy Converters (EDRIVE-MEC)
PMD Rim Drive Propulsion Technology Manufacturing in the Marine Market
Magnetically Geared Propulsion Motor (MGPM)
Downhole Gas Compressor Motor Drive for Production Enhancement from Gas Fields

Original classification

Collaborative R&D

Plain English summaries and category classifications on this site are generated by AI and may not perfectly reflect the original research.