Caterpillar Inc.

Perry Dwain Converse

Yanchai Zhang

Casey Alan Otten

Todd R Kabrich

Michael Andrew Snopko

Andy Publes

Vijay Janardhan

Jason T Herlehy

Keith R Folken

Zhijun Cai

Brandon J Mabe

Joseph C Bufkin

Fu P Yuet

Joshua Smith

Meghna Prasad

Baoyang Deng

Insu Chang

Sreeram Anikode Mahadevan

Theodore E Wiersema

James Chase

David M Miller

Mike Snopko

Alexander Barton Smith

Xuefei Hu

Andrew J Vitale

David Ochoa

Maurice J Dust

Erik L Olsen

Isaac Ethan Fox

Yong Sun

Michael Alan Brewer

Josenia Gerdes

Shiferaw Damtie Beyene

William E Barnickel

Chris W Menge

Christopher G Y Haddad

Nausheen Ahmad

Jeffrey A Slabaugh

Christian Andrés Herrera Hernandez

Syed Ameenuddin Hussain

Michael Coppinger

Jeffery Othman

Robin Ernest De Ruiter

Theodore Ernest Wiersema, Iii

Per Ole Sorensen

A system and method for charging a plug-in electric vehicle are disclosed. The system includes a plug-in electric vehicle having a frame, a rechargeable battery pack, a vehicle inlet, a positioning module, and a first communication module; and a battery charging station having a plurality of connectors, an actuation mechanism, and a second communication module. The battery charging station is in operative communication with the PEV, can anticipate an arrival of the PEV, and can ready a connector corresponding to the PEV's vehicle inlet type. The method includes monitoring one or more characterising parameters of a PEV, determining that the PEV needs charging, routing the PEV to a battery charging station, transmitting forecasting information and an identity of the PEV to the battery charging station, and charging the PEV at the battery charging station.

System and method for charging an electric vehicle

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

Display screen or portion thereof with graphical user interface

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 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.

Automated hydraulic fracturing operation

Electronic device with graphical user interface

A system and method for variable frequency voltage regulation is presented. The system includes a variable frequency bus and a variable frequency load directly connected to the variable frequency bus. A plurality of variable frequency gensets are directly connected to the variable frequency bus. Each variable frequency genset includes a genset controller configured to select set points based on a selected frequency response curve of the variable frequency bus. A variable frequency voltage regulator is configured to regulate an electrical output of the variable frequency generator based on the selected set points. The system includes a voltage regulation controller configured to determine a desired bus frequency based on the variable frequency load, and determine an optimal frequency response curve based on the desired bus frequency and a frequency response model of each VFG. The selected frequency response curve is updated based on the determined optimal frequency response curve.

System and method for dynamic voltage regulation of an engine on a variable frequency bus

A system and method for synchronizing a frequency of plurality of variable frequency generators with a variable frequency load over a variable frequency bus independent of a frequency conversion stage. A synchronization controller is configured to determine an optimal bus frequency of the variable frequency bus based on at least one power demand requirement of the variable frequency load operatively connected to the variable frequency bus. With the optimal frequency, an available power range supplied by the plurality of variable frequency gensets at the optimal bus frequency can be determined. The synchronization controller then asymmetrically loads the variable frequency load to the plurality variable frequency gensets at the optimal bus frequency based on the operating range of each variable frequency genset and recursively updates the optimal bus frequency based on operational statistics of the asymmetrically loaded variable frequency gensets.

System and method for optimization of engines on a common variable frequency bus

An engine controller to control a plurality of engines is disclosed. The engine controller may determine that power to a load is to be increased, wherein the load is configured to be powered by one or more of the plurality of engines; determine that an engine, of the plurality of engines, is configured to provide supplemental power to the load after a temperature of the engine satisfies a threshold, wherein the threshold corresponds to a warm-up operation of the engine being completed; determine that the temperature of the engine does not satisfy the threshold; obtain, via an operator interface, an authorization to bypass the warm-up operation of the engine; and bypass, based on obtaining the authorization, the warm-up operation for the engine to permit the engine to provide instantaneous power to the load.

Engine warm-up bypass control

Growing community of inventors

Lafayette, IN, United States of America

Perry Dwain Converse