The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 24, 2002
Filed:
Jul. 23, 2001
Roy R. Vann, Flint, TX (US);
Other;
Abstract
Improvements in method and apparatus for producing hydrocarbons from marginal oil wells, especially wells that previously used standard pump jacks. Substitution of the present invention for prior art production equipment solves many common problems found in the prior art, such as a well pump that experiences gas lock and pounding, which is a hindrance to efficient production in other known pump systems but is advantageous when using the Smart Pump of this disclosure. Disclosed herein is a pump assembly which senses when fluid is pumped uphole at a rate different than the rate that fluid is produced from the formation, by continually adjusting the time interval of one cycle of operation to coincide with the production history of the well. Stored data related to the production history of the well enables determination of the quantity of fluid that should be contained within the pump barrel each cycle of operation and changes the time interval for successive cycles of operation so as to continually adjust the next time interval to coincide with the rate of production of the formation whereby the optimum rate of production is always attained by this method of operation of the apparatus disclosed herein. These and many other unforseen advantages are realized by this disclosure that can change an unprofitable well into a profitable well, often at no additional cost.