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Print Edition StoriesWednesday, July 21, 2010
Patent Watch
Oil-related innovation hits the patent process
By Kirk Teska
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BP hones skills through MIT programs
MHT's Julie Donnelly: FloDesign Wind Turbine grows in Mass.
Because the BP oil leak is in the news, I thought it would be worthwhile to examine a few patents and patent applications that name New England inventors on the topic of oil, oil spills and oil production.
• According to Patent No. 7,728,291 (June 1), a significant portion of oil spilled in water sinks and can be difficult to detect. This invention features the use of laser light to induce fluorescence in heavy oil underwater and the ability to differentiate between fluorescence from the presence of oil and fluorescence from other matter, such as vegetation or organic matter, by fluorescence polarization. Job Bello of Swansea is the sole inventor in this EIC Laboratories Inc. (Norwood) patent.
• Known gas and oil traps for drainage and stormwater catch basins can be difficult to install. Patent No. 7,686,961 (March 30) discloses a new catch-basin drainpipe trap that includes oil-absorbing polymer pellets that swell if oil passes through the drainpipe. The swelling pellets block the flow of wastewater to protect wetlands from oil spills. Michael Glynne of Quincy is the sole inventor.
• Conventional crude oils can be easily extracted because crude oil flows. But we are running out of new oilfields for conventional oil. There is a more prevalent oil called “heavy oils,” but heavy oils do not flow and can be difficult to recoverl. Patent No. 7,665,525 (Feb. 23) discloses a new process for heavy-oil production wherein a combustor is placed in a heavy-oil well to mobilize the heavy oil. William Pfefferle (known as the father of catalytic combustion) of Madison, Conn., is the sole inventor. Precision Combustion Inc. located in North Haven, Conn., is the owner of the patent.
• Schlumberger Technology Corp. of Ridgefield, Conn., has won at least three patents so far this year concerning oil production technology. No. 7,674,624 (March 9) is for a method of keeping track of the amount of oil, water, and gas in an oil well. Kenneth Stephenson of Newtown, Conn., and Lalitha Venkataramanan of Stamford, Conn., are the inventors. Patent No. 7,705,982 (April 27) discloses a down hole fluid analysis, sampling and testing tool with a spectroscopy module used to detect compositional variations in an oil column. The list of inventors include A. Ballard Andrews of Wilton, Conn., and Oliver Mullins of Ridgefield, Conn. Patent No. 7,690,437 (April 6) discusses centralizers and turbolizers, devices that center a well casing in a bore hole so that cement can be poured between the casing and the bore hole. The new centralizers and turbolizers include shape-memory alloy material, swellable polymers such as hydrogels, and the like so that they automatically expand in response to a trigger, such as a change in temperature. The inventors include Dominque Guillot of Somerville.
• Robert Benson of Boston won patent No. 7,703,535 on April 27 for a system that transports oil from a well, through a cold flow generator located on the sea floor, and through miles of piping to a shore facility. The system minimizes the need for heated or insulated pipe, large floating processing structures, the need for sub-sea processing equipment, and/or chemical additions to the production flow.
Kirk Teska is a regular contributor to Mass High Tech.
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