Caterpillar Inc.

Casey Alan Otten

Perry Dwain Converse

Todd R Kabrich

Andy Publes

Jason T Herlehy

Zhijun Cai

Brandon J Mabe

Joseph C Bufkin

Yanchai Zhang

Yuesheng He

Baoyang Deng

Michael Andrew Snopko

Erik L Olsen

Theodore E Wiersema

Shiferaw Damtie Beyene

Syed Ameenuddin Hussain

Christopher G Y Haddad

Nausheen Ahmad

An example system includes a fluid end having a block, a fluid inlet formed in the block, and a fluid outlet formed in the block. The system also includes an intake manifold fluidly coupled to the fluid inlet, and a fluid conduit fluidly coupled to the fluid outlet and the intake manifold. The system further includes a valve fluidly coupled to the fluid conduit, the valve configured to control fluid flow through the fluid conduit, an actuator coupled to the valve and configured to position the valve in an open position or a closed position, and a controller communicatively coupled to the actuator and configured to send one or more signals to the actuator, causing the actuator to position the valve in the open position or the closed position.

System for managing pump load

A method may include monitoring an operation or a state of one or more subsystems of a hydraulic fracturing system. The hydraulic fracturing system may include one or more fracturing rigs, one or more blending equipment, and one or more power sources electrically connected to a first subset of the one or more fracturing rigs, or one or more fuel sources fluidly connected to a second subset of the one or more fracturing rigs. The hydraulic fracturing system may further include one or more missile valves, one or more zipper piping and zipper valve sets, one or more well head valves, and one or more well heads. The method may further include controlling, based on monitoring the operation or the state, the one or more subsystems within operating limits or based on operating expectations to cause or prevent an occurrence of one or more well integrity-related events.

Controlling operations of a hydraulic fracturing system to cause or prevent an occurrence of one or more events

A system may determine configuration information associated with a power system for a work site that includes one or more power sources. The system may determine respective operation parameters of the one or more power sources and one or more performance criteria associated with the power system. The system may determine a baseline operation plan for the power system. The system may identify an optimization analysis technique and may process, using the optimization analysis technique, the configuration information associated with the power system, the respective operation parameters of the one or more power sources, and the one or more performance criteria associated with the power system to generate the optimized operation plan for the power system. The system may cause, based on the baseline operation plan for the power system and the optimized operation plan for the power system, one or more actions to be performed.

Optimized operation plan for a power system

A method may include monitoring, for two or more well heads of a hydraulic fracturing system, an operation or a state of one or more subsystems of the hydraulic fracturing system. The hydraulic fracturing system may include one or more fracturing rigs, one or more blending equipment, one or more power sources electrically connected to a first subset of the one or more fracturing rigs, or one or more fuel sources fluidly connected to a second subset of the one or more fracturing rigs, and one or more missile valves. The hydraulic fracturing system may further include one or more zipper valves, one or more well head valves, and multiple well heads. The method may further include controlling, based on an operation schedule for the hydraulic fracturing system and based on monitoring the operation or the state, fluid pressures at the two or more well heads for continuous pumping.

Controlling fluid pressures at multiple well heads for continuous pumping

A method may include monitoring, by a controller, operation of a pump of at least one hydraulic fracturing rig during ramp-up of the pump. Each of the at least one hydraulic fracturing rig may further include an engine and a transmission. The method may further include detecting, by the controller, an issue in the operation of the pump based on the monitoring of the operation and performing an action based on the detecting of the issue.

Monitoring ramp-up pressure of a pump

A method may include receiving information related to operation or a configuration of a hydraulic fracturing system. The hydraulic fracturing system may include a plurality of electric power source outputs and a plurality of hydraulic fracturing rigs. The method may further include performing, based on the information, asymmetric power management of the plurality of electric power source outputs. The method may further include performing, based on the information, asymmetric load management of the plurality of hydraulic fracturing rigs.

Asymmetric power management and load management

A method may include monitoring, for a well head of a hydraulic fracturing system, an operation or a state of one or more subsystems of the hydraulic fracturing system. The hydraulic fracturing system may include one or more fracturing rigs, one or more blending equipment, and one or more power sources electrically connected to a first subset of the one or more fracturing rigs, or one or more fuel sources fluidly connected to a second subset of the one or more fracturing rigs. The hydraulic fracturing system may further include one or more missile valves, one or more zipper valves, one or more well head valves, and one or more well heads. The method may further include controlling, based on an operation schedule for the hydraulic fracturing system and based on monitoring the operation or the state, the state or equipment changes.

Controlling fluid pressure at a well head based on an operation schedule

A method may include receiving power supply-related information, cost-related information, power demand-related information, and operational priority or site configuration-related information associated with hydraulic fracturing rigs. The hydraulic fracturing rigs may be each associated with a fuel consumption component or an emissions component. The method may further include receiving operational data and determining operational parameters based on the operational data and emissions output predictions for the hydraulic fracturing rigs. The method may further include outputting the operational parameters to a computing device or a controller. The method may further include, based on outputting the operational parameters, receiving operational feedback data and determining whether to modify the operational parameters. In addition, based on the outputting, the method may include determining whether to modify the operational data based on determining to not modify the set of operational parameters and modifying the operational data based on determining to modify the operational data.

Optimizing fuel consumption and emissions of a multi-rig hydraulic fracturing system

A method may include receiving information related to operation or a configuration of a hydraulic fracturing system, The hydraulic fracturing system may include one or more fracturing rigs, one or more blending equipment, and one or more power sources electrically connected to a first subset of the one or more fracturing rigs, or one or more fuel sources fluidly connected to a second subset of the one or more fracturing rigs. The hydraulic fracturing system may further include one or more missile valves, one or more zipper valves, one or more well head valves, and one or more well heads. The method may further include optimizing the operation of one or more subsystems of the hydraulic fracturing system using a particle swarm algorithm. The method may further include outputting one or more control signals to the one or more subsystems based on optimizing the operation.

Optimizing operations of a hydraulic fracturing system

An automated hydraulic fracturing system and method for controlling various aspects of a fracking operation is disclosed. A master controller receives various operating parameters, such as desired operating conditions, information about a fracking site, information about trailers and/or other equipment at the fracking site, and/or sensor signals. The master controller may access one or more trailer model(s) that model various parameters of equipment (e.g., engines, transmissions, pumps, trailers, etc.) at the fracking site as a function of controlled operating conditions. The master controller uses the trailer models in conjunction with operating parameters to generate control signals that automatically control the various equipment at the fracking site to optimize various desired outcomes, such as reduced operating costs, reduced emissions, reduced idle time, increased efficiency, etc. The control signals are sent to controllers of the individual equipment to control the operations of those equipment and achieve an overall optimized fracking operation.

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Spring, TX, United States of America

Casey Alan Otten