Oklahoma Patent of the Month – August 2021
When mining for oil and gas, large grills are often used to access the deposits within the ground. ONe common method uses hydraulic fracking which produces fractures in the geologic formations, stimulating the flow of gas or oil to a series of wellbores. Fracking requires a great deal of complex equipment to effectively gather as much gas or oil as possible. One portion of this equipment is the fuel pump that moves fuel to the gas or diesel engines that power other equipment. Conventional fuel systems have many potential failure points and rarely have any backup devices.
Chemoil Corporation has designed an improved fuel flow control device to prevent failure. The device uses inlet and outlet flow valves which move between open and closed positions. A valve actuator controls the transition between open and closed, and an electric fuel sensor is positioned within the tank. The actuator follows logic to move the valve between the open and closed position based on signals provided by the electric fuel sensors. The electric system also offers indications of steps being taken. For instance, when the sensor detects fuel and provides a signal, the electric fuel flow control device flashes a status light, moves the motorized ball valve to the control position and ceases fuel flow. It also uses self-diagnostics to sound an alarm when errors are detected. This simple system solves the failure points of manual fuel systems and can serve as a main or backup fuel flow control device.
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