General Electric Company

Carbotek, Inc.

Charles R Stahl

Michael A Gibson

Christian W Knudsen

Archie H Perugi

An evacuated double wall tubing is shown together with a method for the manufacture of such tubing which includes providing a first pipe of predetermined larger diameter and a second pipe having an O.D. substantially smaller than the I.D. of the first pipe. An evacuation opening is then in the first pipe. The second pipe is inserted inside the first pipe with an annular space therebetween. The pipes are welded together at one end. A stretching tool is secured to the other end of the second pipe after welding. The second pipe is then prestressed mechanically with the stretching tool an amount sufficient to prevent substantial buckling of the second pipe under normal operating conditions of the double wall pipe. The other ends of the first pipe and the prestressed second pipe are welded together, preferably by explosion welding, without the introduction of mechanical spacers between the pipes. The annulus between the pipes is evacuated through the evacuation opening, and the evacuation opening is finally sealed. The first pipe is preferably of steel and the second pipe is preferably of titanium. The pipes may be of a size and wall thickness sufficient for the double wall pipe to be structurally load bearing or may be of a size and wall thickness insufficient for the double wall pipe to be structurally load bearing, and the double wall pipe positioned with a sliding fit inside a third pipe of a load-bearing size.

Double wall vacuum tubing and method of manufacture

A thermally-enhanced oil recovery method and apparatus for exploiting deep well reservoirs utilizes electric downhole steam generators to provide supplemental heat to generate high quality steam from hot pressurized water which is heated at the surface. A downhole electric heater placed within a well bore for local heating of the pressurized liquid water into steam is powered by electricity from the above-ground gas turbine-driven electric generators fueled by any clean fuel such as natural gas, distillate or some crude oils, or may come from the field being stimulated. Heat recovered from the turbine exhaust is used to provide the hot pressurized water. Electrical power may be cogenerated and sold to an electric utility to provide immediate cash flow and improved economics. During the cogeneration period (no electrical power to some or all of the downhole units), the oil field can continue to be stimulated by injecting hot pressurized water, which will flash into lower quality steam at reservoir conditions. The heater includes electrical heating elements supplied with three-phase alternating current or direct current. The injection fluid flows through the heater elements to generate high quality steam to exit at the bottom of the heater assembly into the reservoir. The injection tube is closed at the bottom and has radial orifices for expanding the injection fluid to reservoir pressure.

Thermally-enhanced oil recovery method and apparatus

A closed-cycle gas turbine chemical processor separates the functions of combustion air and dilution fluid in a gas turbine combustor. The output of the turbine stage of the gas turbine is cooled and recirculated to its compressor from where a proportion is fed to a dilution portion of its combustor and the remainder is fed to a chemical recovery system wherein at least carbon dioxide is recovered therefrom. Fuel and combustion air are fed to a combustion portion of the gas turbine combustor. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the gas turbine is employed to drive an electric generator. A heat recovery steam generator and a steam turbine may be provided to recover additional energy from the gas turbine exhaust. The steam turbine may be employed to also drive the electric generator. Additional heat may be added to the heat recovery steam generator for enhancing the electricity generated using heat recovery combustors in which the functions of combustion and dilution are separated. The chemical recovery system may employ process steam tapped from an intermediate stage of the steam turbine for stripping carbon dioxide from an absorbent liquid medium which is used to separate it from the gas stream fed to it. As the amount of carbon dioxide in the fuel fed to the chemical processor increases, the amount of process steam required to separate it from the absorbent fluid medium increases and the contribution to generated electricity by the steam turbine correspondingly decreases.

Closed-cycle gas turbine chemical processor

The present invention relates to a gas turbine power plant wherein the gas turbine is driven by gases and steam heated indirectly through a heat exchanger by the burning of corrosive fuels. One of the main improvements in the present invention is to utilize a state-of-the-art gas turbine in the power plant.

Gas turbine power plant

A gas turbine is employed in a combined cycle system to produce one or more chemically useful products. Selected exhaust gases are fed back into the gas turbine compressor so as to establish a stable mixture of working fluid constituents for the gas turbine. The gas turbine is preferably configured in a combined cycle arrangement and both mechanical and thermal energy is extracted from the flow of gases through the load turbine, this energy being used in the production of useful process fluids. The methods and apparatus of the present invention are particularly unique in that here the principal output of the combined cycle plant is not electrical energy but rather valuable chemical products. In short, the gas turbine is being employed as a high-temperature reactor from which both mechanical and thermal energy may be extracted as a result of the energy in the gaseous reaction products.

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Scotia, NY, United States of America

Charles R Stahl