Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090255592 | Reverse Action Flow Activated Shut-Off Valve - A flow activated valve includes an outer body and a piston disposed in an inner cavity of the outer body. The flow activated valve also includes one or more fluid passage exits in the outer body and one or more piston fluid passages in the piston. The one or more fluid passage exits and the one or more piston fluid passages allow fluid flow out of the valve. The flow activated valve also includes a flow restriction member disposed in a piston inner cavity. In addition, the flow activated valve includes a shear member disposed in the outer body, and a bias member disposed in an inner cavity of the outer body. The flow activated valve further includes a position control member disposed in the piston and a sealing member. | 10-15-2009 |
20100052319 | Dual Seal Expandable Tubular Connection - The present invention provides an expandable tubular connection that may be expanded to large degrees of expansion (i.e., 15-25%) in highly constrained conditions, such as Fix-Fix conditions, by hydraulic means and produces a metal-to-metal seal after expansion. The expandable tubular connection incorporates a combination of elastomeric and metal-to-metal sealing components in the sealing system. The elastomeric sealing component provides sealing of the connection during hydraulic expansion and allows control of deformation rates of pin and box members to achieve a high stress interference contact between pin and box members resulting in a metal-to-metal seal after expansion. | 03-04-2010 |
20100132958 | EXPANDABLE TUBULAR INSTALLATION SYSTEMS, METHODS, AND APPARATUS - Systems, apparatus and well intervention methods are described. Tubular member radial expansion apparatus includes a support member having forward and rearward ends; a drive unit and an expansion member disposed on the support member providing force for propelling the expansion member through an expandable tubular and expanding it, the drive unit disposed rearward of the expansion member; front and rear anchors disposed on the support member for engaging the expandable tubular's ID to provide reaction forces to propagate the expansion member through the expandable tubular, the rear anchor positioned behind the drive unit and providing its reaction force after the front anchor has exited the expandable tubular; a casing lock disposed on the support member and positioned between the expansion member and the front anchor, securing the expandable tubular to the support member during running-in-hole (RIH); and a valve attached to the forward end of the expandable tubular. | 06-03-2010 |
20120193088 | Expandable Compliant Anchor/Seal - A tubular is an expandable compliant anchoring and sealing tubular. In one embodiment, the expandable complaint anchoring and sealing tubular is located on a cladding string, a liner hanger, a packer or a bridge plug. The expandable compliant anchoring and sealing tubular has grooves and protrusions both on external and internal surfaces of the tubular with external protrusions positioned against internal grooves and internal protrusions against external grooves in a radial direction. Upon radial expansion of the expandable compliant anchoring and sealing tubular, the external protrusions may be disposed in high interference contact with the surrounding casing or wellbore providing an anchoring and sealing relationship. This tubular configuration may be used when precise internal diameter of the surrounding casing or wellbore is unknown. The expandable compliant anchoring and sealing tubular may provide dimensional adjustability by bending of the groove spans in a radial direction. | 08-02-2012 |
20130133901 | Apparatus for Expanding Tubulars in a Wellbore - An expansion assembly and method expand tubulars. In one embodiment, an expansion assembly for disposition in a wellbore includes an expandable tubular. The expansion assembly also includes an expansion tool. The expansion tool has an expansion swage and a thruster. In addition, the expansion tool has a front anchor assembly. The front anchor assembly has a front anchor having an open position providing an anchoring relationship with the internal wall and a closed position providing the front anchor with a diameter less than an internal diameter of the expandable tubular. The front anchor assembly also has a sensor positioned on an opposing side of the front anchor from the expansion swage providing that while the sensor is positioned inside the internal wall the front anchor may be in an open position or in a closed position while upon exit of the sensor from the end portion the sensor brings the front anchor in a permanently closed position. | 05-30-2013 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080196946 | Robotic Vehicle with Dynamic Range Actuators - A robotic vehicle including a chassis having front and rear ends, an electric power source supported by the chassis, and multiple drive assemblies supporting the chassis. Each drive assembly including a track trained about a corresponding drive wheel and a drive control module. The drive control module including a drive control housing, a drive motor carried by the drive control housing and operable to drive the track, and a drive motor controller in communication with the drive motor. The drive motor controller including a signal processor and an amplifier commutator in communication with the drive motor and the signal processor and is capable of delivering both amplified and reduced power to the drive motor from the power source. In one instance, the drive control module is separately and independently removable from a receptacle of the chassis as a complete unit. | 08-21-2008 |
20080223630 | Robotic Vehicle - A robotic vehicle is disclosed, which is characterized by high mobility, adaptability, and the capability of being remotely controlled in hazardous environments. The robotic vehicle includes a chassis having front and rear ends and supported on right and left driven tracks. Right and left elongated flippers are disposed on corresponding sides of the chassis and operable to pivot. A linkage connects a payload deck, configured to support a removable functional payload, to the chassis. The linkage has a first end rotatably connected to the chassis at a first pivot, and a second end rotatably connected to the deck at a second pivot. Both of the first and second pivots include independently controllable pivot drivers operable to rotatably position their corresponding pivots to control both fore-aft position and pitch orientation of the payload deck with respect to the chassis. | 09-18-2008 |
20090145671 | Robotic Vehicle with Dynamic Range Actuators - A robotic vehicle including a chassis having front and rear ends, an electric power source supported by the chassis, and multiple drive assemblies supporting the chassis. Each drive assembly including a track trained about a corresponding drive wheel and a drive control module. The drive control module including a drive control housing, a drive motor carried by the drive control housing and operable to drive the track, and a drive motor controller in communication with the drive motor. The drive motor controller including a motor controller logic circuit and an amplifier commutator in communication with the drive motor and the motor controller logic circuit and is capable of delivering both amplified and reduced voltage to the drive motor from the power source. In one instance, the drive control module is separately and independently removable from a receptacle of the chassis as a complete unit. | 06-11-2009 |
20090314554 | ROBOTIC VEHICLE - A mobile robot includes a chassis defining at least one chassis volume and first and second sets of right and left driven flippers associated with the chassis. Each flipper has a drive wheel and defines a flipper volume adjacent to the drive wheel. The first set of flippers is disposed between the second set of flippers and the chassis. Motive power elements are distributed among the chassis volume and the flipper volumes. The motive power elements include a battery assembly, a main drive motor assembly, and a load shifting motor assembly. | 12-24-2009 |
20100263948 | ROBOTIC VEHICLE - A robotic vehicle ( | 10-21-2010 |
20120073886 | ROBOTIC VEHICLE - A robotic vehicle is disclosed, which is characterized by high mobility, adaptability, and the capability of being remotely controlled in hazardous environments. The robotic vehicle includes a chassis having front and rear ends and supported on right and left driven tracks. Right and left elongated flippers are disposed on corresponding sides of the chassis and operable to pivot. A linkage connects a payload deck, configured to support a removable functional payload, to the chassis. The linkage has a first end rotatably connected to the chassis at a first pivot, and a second end rotatably connected to the deck at a second pivot. Both of the first and second pivots include independently controllable pivot drivers operable to rotatably position their corresponding pivots to control both fore-aft position and pitch orientation of the payload deck with respect to the chassis. | 03-29-2012 |
20130105233 | ROBOTIC VEHICLE | 05-02-2013 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20110071718 | Systems and Methods for Switching Between Autonomous and Manual Operation of a Vehicle - Systems and methods for switching between autonomous and manual operation of a vehicle are described. A mechanical control system can receive manual inputs from a mechanical operation member to operate the vehicle in manual mode. An actuator can receive autonomous control signals generated by a controller. When the actuator is engaged, it operates the vehicle in an autonomous mode, and when disengaged, the vehicle is operated in manual mode. Operating the vehicle in an autonomous mode can include automatically controlling steering, braking, throttle, and transmission. A system may also allow the vehicle to be operated via remote command. | 03-24-2011 |
20140350768 | VERSATILE ROBOTIC CONTROL MODULE - Certain embodiments of the present invention provide robotic control modules for use in a robotic control system of a vehicle, including structures, systems and methods, that can provide (i) a robotic control module that has multiple functional circuits, such as a processor and accompanying circuits, an actuator controller, an actuator amplifier, a packet network switch, and a power supply integrated into a mountable and/or stackable package/housing; (ii) a robotic control module with the noted complement of circuits that is configured to reduce heat, reduce space, shield sensitive components from electro-magnetic noise; (iii) a robotic control system utilizing robotic control modules that include the sufficiently interchangeable functionality allowing for interchangeability of modules; and (iv) a robotic control system that distributes the functionality and processing among a plurality of robotic control modules in a vehicle. | 11-27-2014 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090198400 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CONTROL OF AN UNMANNED GROUND VEHICLE - Systems and methods for interruptible autonomous control of a vehicle. Autonomous control is achieved by using actuators that interact with input devices in the vehicle. The actuators (e.g., linkages) manipulate the input devices (e.g., articulation controls and drive controls, such as a throttle, brake, tie rods, steering gear, throttle lever, or accelerator) to direct the operation of the vehicle. Although operating autonomously, manual operation of the vehicle is possible following the detection of events that suggest manual control is desired. Subsequent autonomous control may be permitted, permitted after a prescribed delay, or prevented. | 08-06-2009 |
20120109423 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR BEHAVIOR BASED CONTROL OF AN AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE - System and method for behavior based control of an autonomous vehicle. Actuators (e.g., linkages) manipulate input devices (e.g., articulation controls and drive controls, such as a throttle lever, steering gear, tie rods, throttle, brake, accelerator, or transmission shifter) to direct the operation of the vehicle. Behaviors that characterize the operational mode of the vehicle are associated with the actuators. The behaviors include action sets ranked by priority, and the action sets include alternative actions that the vehicle can take to accomplish its task. The alternative actions are ranked by preference, and an arbiter selects the action to be performed and, optionally, modified. | 05-03-2012 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080231353 | Ultra fast circuitry for digital filtering - The invention includes a novel differentiator cell, a novel resample unit cell, and precision synchronization circuitry to ensure proper timing of the circuits and systems at the anticipated ultra-high speed of operation. The novel differentiator cell includes circuitry for combining a carry input signal, a data bit signal and the output signal of a NOT cell and applying the signals as distinct and separate pulses to the input of a toggle flip-flop (TFF) for producing an asynchronous carry output and a clocked data output. The novel differentiator cells can be interconnected to form a multi-bit differentiator circuit using appropriate delay and synchronization circuitry to compensate for delays in producing the carry output of each cell which is applied to a succeeding cell. The novel resample cell includes a non-destructive reset-set flip-flop (RSN) designed to receive a data bit, at its set input, at a slow clock rate, which data is repeatedly read out of the RSN at a fast clock rate, until the RSN is reset. The novel differentiator and resampler cells can be interconnected, for example, to form the differentiator and up-sampling sections of a digital interpolation filter (DIF). Also, the relative clocking of bit slices (columns) in such a DIF may be achieved by using the fast clock signal to synchronize the slow clock which controls data entry. The circuits of the invention can be advantageously implemented with Josephson Junctions in rapid-single-flux-quantum (RSFQ) logic. | 09-25-2008 |
20090086533 | SUPERCONDUCTING CIRCUIT FOR HIGH-SPEED LOOKUP TABLE - A high-speed lookup table is designed using Rapid Single Flux Quantum (RSFQ) logic elements and fabricated using superconducting integrated circuits. The lookup table is composed of an address decoder and a programmable read-only memory array (PROM). The memory array has rapid parallel pipelined readout and slower serial reprogramming of memory contents. The memory cells are constructed using standard non-destructive reset-set flip-flops (RSN cells) and data flip-flops (DFF cells). An n-bit address decoder is implemented in the same technology and closely integrated with the memory array to achieve high-speed operation as a lookup table. The circuit architecture is scalable to large two-dimensional data arrays. | 04-02-2009 |
20110167241 | SUPERCONDUCTING CIRCUIT FOR HIGH-SPEED LOOKUP TABLE - A high-speed lookup table is designed using Rapid Single Flux Quantum (RSFQ) logic elements and fabricated using superconducting integrated circuits. The lookup table is composed of an address decoder and a programmable read-only memory array (PROM). The memory array has rapid parallel pipelined readout and slower serial reprogramming of memory contents. The memory cells are constructed using standard non-destructive reset-set flip-flops (RSN cells) and data flip-flops (DFF cells). An n-bit address decoder is implemented in the same technology and closely integrated with the memory array to achieve high-speed operation as a lookup table. The circuit architecture is scalable to large two-dimensional data arrays. | 07-07-2011 |