International Business Machines Corporation

Baker Hughes, a Ge Compnay, LLC

Baker Hughes Corporation

Baker Hughes Oilfield Operations LLC

Wade Miller

John Burris

Michael Hair

Biao Hao

Raymond L Yee

Denzil S Menezes

Thomas S Myerley

Robert James Dyer

Leonard Medill

Matthew P Presley

Shiju Mathai

Manuel Aparicio, Iv

Jason Edwards

Ronald Garr

Brett Cullen Jones

Grant Thompson

Rodney L Fleming

John K Rayborn

Patrice R Miller

Patrice C Miller

Michael L Hair

An insert safety valve, including a housing, a flow tube in the housing, a flapper responsive to positions of the flow tube, an atmospheric chamber in the housing, an element upon the housing, a selectively openable arrangement to prevent or allow pressure communication between the chamber and an environment outside the housing, the arrangement including an opener responsive to movement of the element to selectively open the openable arrangement. A borehole system, including a preexisting downhole structure having a control line, an insert safety valve, in the preexisting downhole structure, the insert safety valve operable with the control line. A method for controlling a wellbore, including running an insert safety valve while preventing fluid communication with an atmospheric chamber of the safety valve, moving the opener, and enabling fluid communication with the atmospheric chamber.

Safety valve, method, and system

A seal arrangement includes a seal assembly and a seal subassembly in operable contact with the seal assembly. The seal subassembly is configured to impart energy to the seal assembly to promote sealing of the seal assembly with a mating surface. A non-sealing feature of the seal subassembly depends from the seal subassembly and is interactive with a load shoulder of a structure adjacent the seal subassembly. The seal arrangement redirects a mechanical load path through the seal subassembly to the non-sealing feature, during use. A method of protecting a seal subassembly from reverse loading is by redirecting a load path through a seal subassembly to a non-sealing feature, while also permitting pressure energizing of the seal assembly by the seal subassembly in a sealing direction. A downhole system includes a borehole in a formation, a string in the borehole, and a seal.

Seal arrangement and system

A tubing pressure insensitive failsafe wireline retrievable safety valve, borehole system having the valve and method of operation of the valve. The valve includes a tool housing, a flow tube disposed within the tool housing, an actuation piston disposed in the tool housing and operably connected to the flow tube, the actuation piston having an actuation side and a pressure side, and a fluid pathway between a potential leak site for the valve and the pressure side of the piston. A temporary sealing member is in the fluid pathway between the potential leak site and the pressure side of the piston. The method includes disposing the valve at a selected location and removing at least a portion of the temporary sealing member from the fluid pathway after landing the wireline retrievable safety valve at the selected location.

Tubing pressure insensitive failsafe wireline retrievable safety valve

Programmable device processors are configured by aspects of the present invention to automatically generate item offers in response to behavior attributes determined for a person receiving the offer. Said configured processor determines current personality traits for the person from analysis of activity data, identifies geographically proximate transactional channels available for presentment of an offer to the person, and generates an item offer to include attribute values that match a determined personality trait and satisfy a need indicated by demographic data applicable to the person. The configured processor select one of the available transactional channels for presentment of the item offer to the person, in response to determining an indication in the transactional behavior of a higher likelihood of acceptance by the person of the presented offer when presented via the selected transactional channel, relative to presentment via another, unselected one of the currently available transactional channels.

Automated offer generation responsive to behavior attribute

A safety valve features a flow tube operated flapper for the normal open and closed positions that can be obtained with one or two control lines to a principal operating piston. Pressure applied to the piston moves the flow tube to rotate the flapper open behind the flow tube. Release of pressure to the principal piston allows a closure spring to return the flow tube up to let the flapper close. A secondary piston can drive the flow tube with applied pressure through a control line. Cycling the applied pressure in combination with an indexing mechanism allows the flapper to be locked open and then released to normal operation. The pistons act as backup for each other as they both drive the flow tube. The flow tube has a clearance fit to the body in the locked open position to exclude debris from the flapper.

Tubular isolation valve resettable lock open mechanism

Arrangements relate to processing financial transactions on an automated teller machine (ATM). An ATM identifier can be presented on a display of the ATM. An ATM identifier confirmation can be received from a mobile computing device. Responsive to determining that the ATM identifier confirmation matches the identifier presented on the display of the ATM, a customer authentication or a transaction request can be received from the mobile computing device. Responsive to verifying the customer authentication or the transaction request, the transaction request can be processed.

Automated financial transactions

A local position indicating device for a subsea isolation valve that has no other visual signals of its position integrates to the hydraulic actuation system for the isolation valve. Three way valves, connected to an operating control line and a force closed balance line leading to opposed ends of an operating piston, are located by the isolation valve and redirected by a diver or ROV, to locally operate the valve. The balance line has a piston that is displaced with fluid pushed by the operating piston when the isolation valve is opened with hydraulic pressure in the operating control line local connection. The piston connected to the balance line moves an indicator out of its housing for the local indication that the isolation valve is open. Displaced fluid from movement of the piston in the position indicator moves a floating piston to keep seawater away from the indicating piston.

Local position indicator for subsea isolation valve having no external position indication

The annular space surrounding a flow tube in a subsurface safety valve is sealingly isolated at opposed ends of the flow tube and pressure compensated to the tubing pressure. The subsurface safety valve is inserted and aligned in an outer housing so that hydraulic operating connections are sealingly aligned with opposite hand split ring seals that are properly compressed when the safety valve is secured in its surrounding housing. The assembly is then able to meet high pressure, heavy debris, and marine environment service requirements for subsea conditions with minimal reconfiguration for what would otherwise serve as a borehole subsurface safety valve.

Pressure compensated flow tube for deep set tubular isolation valve

A control system for a Subsurface Safety Valve (SSSV), includes an actuating piston mounted in a housing with at least one seal and connected to the SSSV. The actuating piston having a first end and a second end, the first end in fluid communication with a control line; a primary pressure reservoir in fluid communication with the second end of the actuating piston, the reservoir configured to contain a fluid under an amount of pressure selected to act against a prospective hydrostatic pressure expected in the control line based upon the selected position of the control system in a downhole environment. An equalizing piston in fluid communication with both the control line and with the second end of the actuating piston, the equalizing piston remaining in a closed position during shifting of the actuating piston with pressure applied or removed from the control line, the equalizing piston movable to an open position upon a control system failure that reduces pressure in the primary reservoir to below a threshold value; and a condition sensing and chemical injection assembly in fluid communication with the primary reservoir. A method for operating a control system for a Subsurface Safety Valve (SSSV).

Failsafe control system for a safety valve having a condition sensing and chemical injection feature

A recess is provided at the periphery of the flapper so that a corner that defines this recess engages an o-ring seal in a seat for the flapper. A reduced contact area of the flapper on the o-ring seal results in increased pressure over the actual contact area. The pressure applied over the contact area also forces a distortion in the o-ring that has a part of the o-ring not restrained due to the presence of the recess moving out of the surrounding o-ring groove so that the corner on the flapper pinches the o-ring that now is partly in and partly extending from its surrounding groove. Sealing is obtained at lower differential pressures and the o-ring is better fixated as a result of the pinch effect of the corner on the flapper.

Curved flapper seal with stepped intermediate surface

A valve assembly, including a seat and a flapper complementarily formed with respect to the seat for creating a seal at an interface therebetween. At least one shim is operatively disposed in the valve assembly for altering a position of the flapper relative to the seat in at least one direction for aligning the flapper and the seat at the interface. A method of aligning the flapper and seat of a valve assembly is also included.

Alignment system for flapper valve

An interface for a neural network includes a generalized data translator and a certainty filter in the data path including the neural network for rendering a decision on raw data, possibly from a data processing application. The data translator is controlled with user-definable parameters and procedures contained in a property list in order to manipulate translation, truncation, mapping (including weighting) and other transformations of the raw data. The neuron to which the output of the data translator is applied is controlled by a code index contained in an action list. An external certainty threshold is also provided, preferably by the action list to filter the output of the neural network. The core program used with the ConExNS neurons for system maintenance also includes further core operations and size maintenance operations responsive to commands from the user of an application to cause operations to be performed with in the neural network as well as to create and update the property and action lists.

Growing community of inventors

Broken Arrow, OK, United States of America

Wade Miller