Patent US4498535A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
US4498535A
Expired / Lapsed
US
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Apparatus and method for in situ controlled heat processing of hydrocarbonaceous formations with a controlled parameter line
Assignee: IIT Research Institute
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Filing: 1982-11-30
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Granted: 1985-02-12
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Expires: 2002-11-30
Abstract
Abstract A system and method provide for preferential in situ heating of earth formations. A plurality of elongated conductive electrodes are emplaced in earth formations in respective spaced rows bounding a particular volume of the earth formations and forming a transmission line, preferably a triplate line, extending in the direction of the electrodes with the particular volume of the earth formations providing a dielectric medium between respective rows of electrodes. Electromagnetic energy is supplied to the transmission line at a frequency at which the spacing between respective rows is less than about twice the skin depth at the frequency of the applied energy. Reactance means are disposed along respective electrodes to provide predetermined effective transmission line characteristics to develop a predetermined heating pattern in the earth formations. The reactance means may be reactances disposed discretely between sections of respective electrodes. The reactance means may also be disposed between respective electrodes and the earth formation, as by a dielectric coating. A heating pattern may be developed to heat hydrocarbon rich deposits preferentially.
Inventors
- 👤 Jack E. Bridges
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-08 07:13
CPC Classifications
E; E21; E21B; E21B43/00; E21B43/30; E21B36/00; E21B36/04; E21B43/16; E21B43/24; E21B43/2401
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 31
Claim 1
Independent Claim
133 words
A system for preferential in situ heating of earth formations comprising: a plurality of elongated conductive electrodes emplaced in boreholes in earth formations in respective spaced rows bounding a particular volume of said earth formations and forming a transmission line extending in the direction of said electrodes with said particular volume of said earth formations providing a dielectric medium between respective said rows of electrodes, each electrode being in a different respective borehole, means for supplying electromagnetic energy to said transmission line at a frequency at which the spacing between respective said rows is less than about twice the skin depth at the frequency of said applied energy, and reactance means disposed along respective said electrodes to provide predetermined effective transmission line characteristics for developing a predetermined heating pattern in said earth formations.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
133 words
A system for preferential in situ heating of earth formations comprising: a plurality of elongated conductive electrodes emplaced in boreholes in earth formations in respective spaced rows bounding a particular volume of said earth formations and forming a transmission line extending in the direction of said electrodes with said particular volume of said earth formations providing a dielectric medium between respective said rows of electrodes, each electrode being in a different respective borehole, means for supplying electromagnetic energy to said transmission line at a frequency at which the spacing between respective said rows is less than about twice the skin depth at the frequency of said applied energy, and reactance means disposed along respective said electrodes to provide predetermined effective transmission line characteristics for developing a predetermined heating pattern in said earth formations.
Claim 3
Independent Claim
148 words
A system for preferential in situ heating of earth formations comprising: a plurality of elongated conductive electrodes emplaced in earth formations in respective spaced rows bounding a particular volume of said earth formations and forming a transmission line extending in the direction of said electrodes with said particular volume of said earth formations providing a dielectric medium between respective said rows of electrodes, means for supplying electromagnetic energy to said transmission line at a frequency at which the spacing between respective said rows is less than about twice the skin depth at the frequency of said applied energy, and reactance means disposed along respective said electrodes to provide predetermined effective transmission line characteristics for developing a predetermined heating pattern in said earth formations, said reactance means providing reactances between said earth formations and respective sections of said electrodes that are stratigraphically varied to develop said predetermined heating pattern.
Claim 4
Independent Claim
148 words
A system for preferential in situ heating of earth formations comprising: a plurality of elongated conductive electrodes emplaced in earth formations in respective spaced rows bounding a particular volume of said earth formations and forming a transmission line extending in the direction of said electrodes with said particular volume of said earth formations providing a dielectric medium between respective said rows of electrodes, means for supplying electromagnetic energy to said transmission line at a frequency at which the spacing between respective said rows is less than about twice the skin depth at the frequency of said applied energy, and reactance means disposed along respective said electrodes to provide predetermined effective transmission line characteristics for developing a predetermined heating pattern in said earth formations, said reactance means providing reactances between said earth formations and respective sections of said electrodes that are stratigraphically varied to develop said predetermined heating pattern.
Claim 5
Independent Claim
153 words
A system for preferential in situ heating of earth formations comprising: a plurality of elongated conductive electrodes emplaced in earth formations in respective spaced rows bounding a particular volume of said earth formations and forming a transmission line extending in the direction of said electrodes with said particular volume of said earth formations providing a dielectric medium between respective said rows of electrodes, means for supplying electromagnetic energy to said transmission line at a frequency at which the spacing between respective said rows is less than about twice the skin depth at the frequency of said applied energy, and reactance means disposed along respective said electrodes to provide predetermined effective transmission line characteristics for developing a predetermined heating pattern in said earth formations, said reactance means comprising dielectric coating about respective said electrodes, the ratio of the thickness of said dielectric coating to relative dielectric constant being varied along the respective said electrodes.
Claim 6
Independent Claim
153 words
A system for preferential in situ heating of earth formations comprising: a plurality of elongated conductive electrodes emplaced in earth formations in respective spaced rows bounding a particular volume of said earth formations and forming a transmission line extending in the direction of said electrodes with said particular volume of said earth formations providing a dielectric medium between respective said rows of electrodes, means for supplying electromagnetic energy to said transmission line at a frequency at which the spacing between respective said rows is less than about twice the skin depth at the frequency of said applied energy, and reactance means disposed along respective said electrodes to provide predetermined effective transmission line characteristics for developing a predetermined heating pattern in said earth formations, said reactance means comprising dielectric coating about respective said electrodes, the ratio of the thickness of said dielectric coating to relative dielectric constant being varied along the respective said electrodes.
Claim 7
Independent Claim
142 words
A system for preferential in situ heating of earth formations comprising: a plurality of elongated conductive electrodes emplaced in earth formations in respective spaced rows bounding a particular volume of said earth formations and forming a transmission line extending in the direction of said electrodes with said particular volume of said earth formations providing a dielectric medium between respective said rows of electrodes, means for supplying electromagnetic energy to said transmission line at a frequency at which the spacing between respective said rows is less than about twice the skin depth at the frequency of said applied energy, and reactance means disposed along respective said electrodes to provide predetermined effective transmission line characteristics for developing a predetermined heating pattern in said earth formations, said reactance means comprising dielectric coating about respective said electrodes, said dielectric coating being applied at conductive earth formations.
Claim 8
Independent Claim
142 words
A system for preferential in situ heating of earth formations comprising: a plurality of elongated conductive electrodes emplaced in earth formations in respective spaced rows bounding a particular volume of said earth formations and forming a transmission line extending in the direction of said electrodes with said particular volume of said earth formations providing a dielectric medium between respective said rows of electrodes, means for supplying electromagnetic energy to said transmission line at a frequency at which the spacing between respective said rows is less than about twice the skin depth at the frequency of said applied energy, and reactance means disposed along respective said electrodes to provide predetermined effective transmission line characteristics for developing a predetermined heating pattern in said earth formations, said reactance means comprising dielectric coating about respective said electrodes, said dielectric coating being applied at conductive earth formations.
Claim 9
Independent Claim
140 words
A system for preferential in situ heating of earth formations comprising: a plurality of elongated conductive electrodes emplaced in earth formations in respective spaced rows bounding a particular volume of said earth formations and forming a transmission line extending in the direction of said electrodes with said particular volume of said earth formations providing a dielectric medium between respective said rows of electrodes, means for supplying electromagnetic energy to said transmission line at a frequency at which the spacing between respective said rows is less than about twice the skin depth at the frequency of said applied energy, and reactance means disposed along respective said electrodes to provide different effective transmission line characteristics in different respective zones of said earth formations and heat at least one particular respective said zone preferentially upon application of electromagnetic energy to said transmission line.
Claim 10
Independent Claim
140 words
A system for preferential in situ heating of earth formations comprising: a plurality of elongated conductive electrodes emplaced in earth formations in respective spaced rows bounding a particular volume of said earth formations and forming a transmission line extending in the direction of said electrodes with said particular volume of said earth formations providing a dielectric medium between respective said rows of electrodes, means for supplying electromagnetic energy to said transmission line at a frequency at which the spacing between respective said rows is less than about twice the skin depth at the frequency of said applied energy, and reactance means disposed along respective said electrodes to provide different effective transmission line characteristics in different respective zones of said earth formations and heat at least one particular respective said zone preferentially upon application of electromagnetic energy to said transmission line.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
21 words
A system in accordance with claim 5 wherein said reactance means are disposed discretely between respective sections of respective said electrodes.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
29 words
A system in accordance with claim 6 further including further reactance means disposed between respective said sections of respective said electrodes and portions of said earth formations adjacent thereto.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
37 words
A system in accordance with claim 6 wherein capacitance means are disposed between respective said sections in given earth formations, and inductance means are disposed between respective said sections adjacent an interface between substantially different earth formations.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
29 words
A system in accordance with claim 6 further including inductance means disposed between respective said sections of respective said electrodes and portions of said earth formations adjacent said interface.
Claim 15
Independent Claim
33 words
A system in accordance with any one of claims 1 to 9 wherein said conductive electrodes are disposed in three parallel rows with the electrodes of the outer rows at substantially ground potential.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
26 words
A system in accordance with claim 10 wherein respective said reactance means are disposed along said electrodes of the center row of said three parallel rows.
Claim 17
Independent Claim
122 words
A method for preferentially heating earth formations in situ comprising: emplacing a plurality of elongated conductive electrodes in earth formations in respective spaced rows bounding a particular volume of said earth formations and forming a transmission line extending in the direction of said electrodes with said particular volume of said earth formations providing a dielectric medium between respective said rows of electrodes, supplying electromagnetic energy to said transmission line at a frequency at which the spacing between respective said rows is less than about twice the skin depth at the frequency of said applied energy, and providing predetermined effective transmission line characteristics by adding reactance to said line along respective said electrodes to develop a predetermined heating pattern in said earth formations.
Claim 18
Independent Claim
122 words
A method for preferentially heating earth formations in situ comprising: emplacing a plurality of elongated conductive electrodes in earth formations in respective spaced rows bounding a particular volume of said earth formations and forming a transmission line extending in the direction of said electrodes with said particular volume of said earth formations providing a dielectric medium between respective said rows of electrodes, supplying electromagnetic energy to said transmission line at a frequency at which the spacing between respective said rows is less than about twice the skin depth at the frequency of said applied energy, and providing predetermined effective transmission line characteristics by adding reactance to said line along respective said electrodes to develop a predetermined heating pattern in said earth formations.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
16 words
A method in accordance with claim 12 wherein said electrodes are coated with a dielectric coating.
Claim 20
Independent Claim
152 words
A method for preferentially heating earth formations in situ comprising: emplacing a plurality of elongated conductive electrodes in earth formations in respective spaced rows bounding a particular volume of said earth formations and forming a transmission line extending in the direction of said electrodes with said particular volume of said earth formations providing a dielectric medium between respective said rows of electrodes, supplying electromagnetic energy to said transmission line at a frequency at which the spacing between respective said rows is less than about twice the skin depth at the frequency of said applied energy, and providing predetermined effective transmission line characteristics by adding reactance to said line along respective said electrodes to develop a predetermined heating pattern in said earth formations, wherein said electrodes are coated with a dielectric coating, and the ratio of the thickness of said dielectric coating to its relative dielectric constant is varied along the respective electrodes.
Claim 21
Independent Claim
152 words
A method for preferentially heating earth formations in situ comprising: emplacing a plurality of elongated conductive electrodes in earth formations in respective spaced rows bounding a particular volume of said earth formations and forming a transmission line extending in the direction of said electrodes with said particular volume of said earth formations providing a dielectric medium between respective said rows of electrodes, supplying electromagnetic energy to said transmission line at a frequency at which the spacing between respective said rows is less than about twice the skin depth at the frequency of said applied energy, and providing predetermined effective transmission line characteristics by adding reactance to said line along respective said electrodes to develop a predetermined heating pattern in said earth formations, wherein said electrodes are coated with a dielectric coating, and the ratio of the thickness of said dielectric coating to its relative dielectric constant is varied along the respective electrodes.
Claim 22
Independent Claim
141 words
A method for preferentially heating earth formations in situ comprising: emplacing a plurality of elongated conductive electrodes in earth formations in respective spaced rows bounding a particular volume of said earth formations and forming a transmission line extending in the direction of said electrodes with said particular volume of said earth formations providing a dielectric medium between respective said rows of electrodes, supplying electromagnetic energy to said transmission line at a frequency at which the spacing between respective said rows is less than about twice the skin depth at the frequency of said applied energy, and providing predetermined effective transmission line characteristics by adding reactance to said line along respective said electrodes to develop a predetermined heating pattern in said earth formations, wherein said electrodes are coated with a dielectric coating, and said dielectric coating is applied at conductive earth formations.
Claim 23
Independent Claim
141 words
A method for preferentially heating earth formations in situ comprising: emplacing a plurality of elongated conductive electrodes in earth formations in respective spaced rows bounding a particular volume of said earth formations and forming a transmission line extending in the direction of said electrodes with said particular volume of said earth formations providing a dielectric medium between respective said rows of electrodes, supplying electromagnetic energy to said transmission line at a frequency at which the spacing between respective said rows is less than about twice the skin depth at the frequency of said applied energy, and providing predetermined effective transmission line characteristics by adding reactance to said line along respective said electrodes to develop a predetermined heating pattern in said earth formations, wherein said electrodes are coated with a dielectric coating, and said dielectric coating is applied at conductive earth formations.
Claim 24
Independent Claim
139 words
A method for preferentially heating earth formations in situ comprising: emplacing a plurality of elongated conductive electrodes in earth formations in respective spaced rows bounding a particular volume of said earth formations and forming a transmission line extending in the direction of said electrodes with said particular volume of said earth formations providing a dielectric medium between respective said rows of electrodes, supplying electromagnetic energy to said transmission line at a frequency at which the spacing between respective said rows is less than about twice the skin depth at the frequency of said applied energy, and providing different effective transmission line characteristics in different respective zones of said earth formations by adding reactance to said line along respective said electrodes to heat at least one particular respective said zone preferentially upon application of electromagnetic energy to said transmission line.
Claim 25
Independent Claim
139 words
A method for preferentially heating earth formations in situ comprising: emplacing a plurality of elongated conductive electrodes in earth formations in respective spaced rows bounding a particular volume of said earth formations and forming a transmission line extending in the direction of said electrodes with said particular volume of said earth formations providing a dielectric medium between respective said rows of electrodes, supplying electromagnetic energy to said transmission line at a frequency at which the spacing between respective said rows is less than about twice the skin depth at the frequency of said applied energy, and providing different effective transmission line characteristics in different respective zones of said earth formations by adding reactance to said line along respective said electrodes to heat at least one particular respective said zone preferentially upon application of electromagnetic energy to said transmission line.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
20 words
A method in accordance with claim 16 wherein said reactance is added discretely between respective sections of respective said electrodes.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
28 words
A method in accordance with claim 17 wherein further reactance is added between respective said sections of respective said electrodes and portions of said earth formations adjacent thereto.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
35 words
A method in accordance with claim 17 wherein capacitance is added between respective said sections in given earth formations, and inductance is added between respective said sections adjacent an interface between substantially different earth formations.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
29 words
A method in accordance with claim 19 wherein inductance is added between respective said sections of respective said electrodes and adjacent portions of said earth formations adjacent said interface.
Claim 30
Independent Claim
32 words
A method in accordance with any one of claims 12 to 20 wherein said conductive electrodes are disposed in three parallel rows, and the electrodes of the outer rows are substantially grounded.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
24 words
A method in accordance with claim 21 wherein said reactance is added along said electrodes of the center row of said three parallel rows.
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| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
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| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1988-02-12 | 1988-08-13 | 1989-02-12 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1992-02-12 | 1992-08-13 | 1993-02-12 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 1996-02-12 | 1996-08-13 | 1997-02-12 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |