Weatherford/lamb, Inc.

Weatherford Technology Holdings, LLC

Cidra Corporation

Rebecca S Bryant

Daniel L Gysling

Martin A Putnam

Mark R Fernald

Trevor Wayne MacDougall

Charles Winston

Christopher J Wright

Christopher T Chipman

Michael Arcand

Allen R Davis

John M Faustino

Techniques and systems suitable for performing low-loss fusion splicing of optical waveguide sections are provided. According to some embodiments, multiple laser beams (from one or more laser) may be utilized to uniformly heat a splice region including portions of the optical waveguide sections to be spliced, which may have different cross-sectional dimensions. According to some embodiments, the relative distance of the optical waveguide sections and/or the power of the multiple laser beams may be varied during splicing operations.

Large diameter optical waveguide splice

A fiber optic pressure sensor for measuring unsteady pressures within a pipe include at least one optical fiber disposed circumferentially around a portion of a circumference of the pipe, which provides an optical signal indicative of the length of the optical fiber. An optical instrument measures the change in length of the optical fiber to determine the unsteady pressure within the pipe. The pressure sensor may include a plurality of optical fiber sections disposed circumferentially around a portion of the circumference of the pipe that are optically connected together by optical fiber sections disposed axially along the pipe. The optical fiber sections may include fiber Bragg gratings having substantially the same or different reflection wavelengths to permit for example the sensors to be axially distributed along the fiber using wavelength division multiplexing and/or time division multiplexing.

Apparatus and method having an optical fiber disposed circumferentially around the pipe for measuring unsteady pressure within a pipe

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the apparatus comprises a first filter for measuring a pressure field at a first axial location along the pipe and providing a first pressure signal indicative of the vortical pressure field. The apparatus further comprises a second filter for measuring the vortical pressure field at a second axial location along the pipe and providing a second pressure signal indicative of the vortical pressure field. The apparatus further comprises a signal processor, responsive to the first and the second pressure signals, which provides a velocity signal indicative of a velocity of the vortical pressure field moving in the pipe.

Flow rate measurement using unsteady pressures

Growing community of inventors

Glastonbury, CT, United States of America

Rebecca S Bryant