Caterpillar Inc.

Black Horse, LLC

Zhaoxu Dong

Yanchai Zhang

Xuefei Hu

Zhijun Cai

Nathan Stephen Pauli

Daryl Belshan

Yong Sun

Yifeng Lu

James David Siegle

Maurice J Dust

Vijay Janardhan

Venkata Dandibhotla

Chunhui Pan

Purna Chander Nalla

Wenming Zhao

Jacob Brown

Arun Rajendran

Rodney D Harms

Mark J Carls

Brian W Young

Mingang Wang

Lidi Chen

A hydraulic fracturing machine includes a pump failure detection system. The hydraulic fracturing machine includes a hydraulic fracturing pump with a power end and a fluid end. The power end includes a plurality of roller bearings, and the fluid end includes a flow of fluid. A particle sensor coupled to the power end is configured to transmit particle information regarding a quantity of particles in the fluid. A temperature sensor, also coupled to the power end, is configured to transmit temperature information regarding a temperature of the fluid. A vibration sensor coupled to the power end is configured to transmit vibration information regarding a vibration of each of the plurality of roller bearings. An electronic control module analyzes the particle information, the temperature information and the vibration information, and calculates a failure warning level based on the analysis.

Hydraulic fracturing pump health monitor

A method for adjusting a valve lash in an internal combustion engine includes receiving a first signal generated by a sensor secured to the internal combustion engine, the first signal being indicative of a closing of a valve, receiving a second signal indicative of at least one of an engine speed of the internal combustion engine or a position of a camshaft of the internal combustion engine, and automatically determining an adjusted amount of lash associated with the valve based on the received first signal and the received second signal. The method also includes comparing the adjusted amount of lash to at least one predetermined threshold, and providing, in response to determining that the adjusted amount of lash is greater than the at least one predetermined threshold, a valve lash re-adjustment notification.

System and method for engine valve lash calibration

A rig management system is disclosed. The rig management system may gather, from a set of sensors, data that includes: vibration data related to vibration of a valve associated with a pump of a hydraulic fracturing rig during operation of the pump, and pump speed data related to a speed of the pump during operation of the pump. The rig management system may process the data to identify a trend related to the vibration data, wherein the vibration data has been normalized based on the pump speed data. The rig management system may determine a remaining useful life of the valve based on the trend and threshold data that identifies a set of thresholds related to the vibration of the valve. The rig management system may determine that the remaining useful life satisfies a threshold. The rig management system may schedule an operation to be performed on the valve.

Rig management system for analyzing a pump valve of a hydraulic fracturing system

A frame includes a rib. The frame also includes a crosshead tube that is integral with the rib. The frame also includes a lube rail that is integral with the rib, the crosshead tube, or both. The frame also includes a nose plate that is integral with the rib, the crosshead tube, the lube rail, or a combination thereof.

Power end of a pump

A pump monitoring and notification system for a hydraulic pump includes an accelerometer and a controller. The accelerometer is associated with the hydraulic pump and is disposed relative to the hydraulic pump to generate acceleration data indicative of acceleration of the hydraulic pump. The controller is configured to access a fault threshold, access a time threshold, and determine an acceleration of the accelerometer based upon the acceleration data from the accelerometer. The controller is further configured to determine an RMS average of the acceleration of the accelerometer based upon the acceleration of the hydraulic pump, compare the RMS average of the acceleration of the accelerometer to the fault threshold, and generate an alert signal when the RMS average of the acceleration of the accelerometer exceeds the fault threshold for a time period exceeding the time threshold.

Pump failure differentiation system

A rig management system is disclosed. The rig management system may be configured to receive vibration data from a set of sensors installed on one or more elements of a hydraulic fracturing rig. The rig management system may be configured to perform a first processing of the vibration data utilizing a moving window technique to identify a possible failure of a set of bearings. The rig management system may be configured to perform a second processing utilizing a set of processing techniques after identifying the possible failure of the set of bearings. The rig management system may be configured to determine that the possible failure is an actual failure based on a result of performing the second processing. The rig management system may be configured to perform an action after determining that the possible failure is the actual failure.

Bearing failure detection in a hydraulic fracturing rig

Some examples described herein may involve determining an advance timing window between the valve opening or closing and a designated time that the valve is scheduled to open or close; determining a closing velocity of the valve; monitoring an engine speed of the engine; determining valve lash information based on the advance timing window, the closing velocity, and the engine speed, wherein the valve lash information identifies a magnitude of the valve lash or whether the magnitude of the valve lash associated with the valve satisfies a threshold; and performing an action based on the valve lash information.

Valve lash detection and analysis

A method for detecting a leak in a pump comprises: monitoring discharge pressure time domain signals of the pump; monitoring piston position time domain signals for each piston of a plurality of pistons; filtering the monitored discharge pressure time domain signals and the monitored piston position time domain signals of each piston of the plurality of pistons via a band pass filter; determining, at each pump revolution for each piston, a sum of product of the filtered discharge pressure time domain signals and the filtered piston position time domain signals; determine, at each pump revolution for each piston, an absolute value of each sum; determining, at each pump revolution, a largest absolute value of the determined absolute values; determining a corresponding piston of the plurality of pistons associated with the largest absolute value; and determining a cylinder of the pump associated with the determined corresponding piston as leaking.

System for detecting failure location in a pump

A pumping system for use in a well stimulation application includes a pump controlled by a controller, the controller operating to monitor operation of the pump and determine when cavitation is present or imminent in the pump. When cavitation is present, the controller automatically adjusts an operating condition of the pump reduce pump speed or increase a fluid pressure at the pump inlet.

Well stimulation pump control and method

Operating a pumping system includes moving a pumping element to transition liquid through the pump, and determining a value based at least in part upon inlet pressure and pumping speed that is indicative of a pressure of the liquid within a bore susceptible to cavitation. Pumping speed and/or inlet pressure can be varied responsive to the determined value to limit cavitation.

Cavitation limiting strategies for pumping system

A method, system, and apparatus to monitor health of a compressor are provided. The method, system, and apparatus include detecting whether the compressor has a fault associated using one or more of performance-based modeling and structure-based modeling of physical aspects associated with operation of the compressor; diagnosing any detected fault to determine the cause or causes of the fault; and evaluating each diagnosed fault to assess the significance of the fault. Data pertaining to the cause or causes of the fault and the significance of the fault is used to output health information corresponding to a health state or status of the compressor. The method, system, and apparatus also predict future health-related conditions of the compressor, and data pertaining to the predicted future health-related conditions is used to output health information corresponding to a future health state or status of the compressor.

System, method, and apparatus to monitor compressor health

A monitoring system for a fluid pump having a fluid end and a power end is provided. The monitoring system includes an inlet pressure sensor attached to an inlet manifold of the fluid end. The inlet pressure sensor generates a signal indicative of an inlet pressure of a fluid being supplied to the fluid end. The monitoring system includes a discharge pressure sensor attached to the fluid end. The discharge pressure sensor generates a signal indicative of a discharge pressure of the fluid exiting the fluid end. The monitoring system includes at least one accelerometer attached to the fluid end. The accelerometer generates a signal indicative of vibrational data of the fluid pump. The monitoring system includes a controller which receives signals from the inlet pressure sensor, the discharge pressure sensor and the accelerometer and determines a possible failure mode of the fluid pump.

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Dunlap, IL, United States of America

Zhaoxu Dong