Patents Assigned to Institute Francais du Petrole
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Patent number: 6013196Abstract: The invention concerns a process for deodorizing malodorous gaseous effluents from cooking equipment, particularly in restaurants and in the food industry, by washing with an aqueous solution comprising an alkaline or alkaline-earth salt of a dicarboxylic acid or a polycarboxylic acid, optionally associated with a surfactant and a diholoside.Type: GrantFiled: November 18, 1997Date of Patent: January 11, 2000Assignee: Institute Francais du PetroleInventors: Jean Morlec, Andre Deschamps
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Patent number: 6007306Abstract: The invention relates to a pumping system for applying a sufficient pressure increase to multiphase effluents for them to be conveyed from a source such as an petroleum producing well to a remote destination point. To improve pump function and render management of effluent transfers more flexible, the system has a loop (7) for recycling a fraction of the multiphase effluents leaving pump (1) to the inlet thereof, comprising preferably a tap (5) such as a T formed to decrease the volumetric ratio GLR of the recycled effluents. A regulator such as a control valve (8) and a buffer tank and an element (9) such as an ejector-mixer are interposed in the loop to use part of the energy of the effluents tapped off. The invention has application for offshore pumping facilities.Type: GrantFiled: July 14, 1997Date of Patent: December 28, 1999Assignee: Institute Francais du PetroleInventor: Regis Vilagines
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Patent number: 5894726Abstract: The present invention is a process for controlling the intake of a direct fuel injection four-stroke engine in at least two combustion chambers. A diferent intake for at least two cylinders or groups of cylinders is used in order to reduce exhaust emissions. A first cylinder or group of cylinders is operated with an air/fuel ratio greater than or equal to one, and a second cylinder or group of cylinders (21, 24) is operated in under-stoichiometric conditions.Type: GrantFiled: October 27, 1997Date of Patent: April 20, 1999Assignee: Institute Francais du PetroleInventor: Gaetan Monnier
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Patent number: 5885058Abstract: The invention is a device for providing one of compressing and pumping of a multiphase fluid including at least one liquid phase and at least one gaseous phase. The device includes at least one hollow casing having at least one inlet port and at least one outlet port for the fluid. At least one rotor is rotated and mounted inside the casing having an axis OX in a hub. The at least one rotor comprises at least one impeller or at least one diffuser having at least two vanes G.sub.j having a first blade A.sub.1j and a second blade A.sub.2j wherein geometric characteristics and position of at least one of the first blade A.sub.1j and at least one second blade A.sub.2j in relation to each other is determined according to at least one parameter.Type: GrantFiled: December 30, 1996Date of Patent: March 23, 1999Assignee: Institute Francais du PetroleInventors: Regis Vilagines, Christian Bratu, Florent Spettel
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Patent number: 5877361Abstract: A process for transporting a fluid in a pipe under conditions where hydrates may form. In the process, the pipe fluid contains at least one of a gaseous hydrocarbon or liquid hydrocarbon and water and the water content is less than the liquid hydrocarbon content. The process includes the steps of 1) adding a dispersive additive in a hydrocarbon solution to the fluid to be transported, so as to form an emulsion, 2) transporting the liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons in the presence of water and the hydrates, 3) separating the gas phase, the hydrocarbon liquid in excess and a liquid hydrocarbon phase comprising the hydrates and the dispersing additive, and 4) separating the liquid hydrocarbon phase comprising the hydrates and the dispersing additives.Type: GrantFiled: June 6, 1996Date of Patent: March 2, 1999Assignee: Institute Francais du PetroleInventors: Alexandre Rojey, Michel Thomas, Anne-Sophie Delion, Jean-Pierre Durand
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Patent number: 5858791Abstract: Saturation variations are obtained by displacing a first fluid (for example water) that initially saturates a sample (1) coated with resin (2) by injecting therein, through a first end plate or cap (3) and by means of a pump (7), a second fluid (for example oil). The mixture flowing out through an opposite end plate (4) is collected in an initially filled two-phase separator (9) placed on an electronic balance (10). The first excess fluid flows towards a vessel (13), and the progressive accumulation of the second fluid in separator (9) leads to a variation in the total weight. A programmed processor (14) computes permanently the saturation values of the sample with respect to the first and to the second fluid, from the measured weight variations of separator (9). The method and device can be used for laboratory measurements of rock samples for example.Type: GrantFiled: September 17, 1997Date of Patent: January 12, 1999Assignee: Institute Francais du PetroleInventor: Christian Lemaire
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Patent number: 5854681Abstract: According to an embodiment of the invention, the device comprises a unique optical path and a movable means providing for the selective passage of a light beam respectively through a transparent cell (4) containing a substance to be studied, at least one reference filter (6). The light reflected successively by one and the other of said two components is selectively applied to three filters (F 1-F3) which filter three wavelenghts selected as a function of the substance to be analyzed. Three detectors (D1-D3) are used to measure the successive light intensities which have gone through each of the filters, and from the measures obtained, it is possible to determine a correction coefficient before calculating a characteristic of the substance contained in the transparent cell.Type: GrantFiled: June 30, 1997Date of Patent: December 29, 1998Assignee: Institute Francais du PetroleInventors: Robert Delignieres, Christian Durand
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Patent number: 5850621Abstract: The method according to the invention permits adapting for any fluid, a known model representative of the circulation of a fluid in an annular space around a motionless pipe, centered or eccentric uniformly over the total length thereof, to more complex cases which are encountered in practice and notably in drilling. The invention comprises the application, to the pressure loss values obtained with the known model, of a first correction factor accounting for the eccentricity variations which the pipe may undergo notably because of the variations in the axial load applied or of straightness defects of the conduit, and of a second correction factor representative of the effects due to the rotation of the pipe. The method identifies the prominent pressure loss variations which are observed in narrow annular spaces. The method can be applied to narrow hole petroleum drilling (of the slim hole type).Type: GrantFiled: April 10, 1995Date of Patent: December 15, 1998Assignee: Institute Francais du PetroleInventors: Ulysse Cartalos, Mustafa Haciislamoglu
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Patent number: 5846277Abstract: The method relates to an optimizing method for determining the optimum shape of plates such as sheets of sheet metal, panes of glass, or other thin objects designed in particular to retract completely in order to leave a clear opening. To simplify the use of shaped plates that have already been predesigned, they are modified such that their shapes coincide substantially with a "screwable" surface chosen from the wide variety of existing surfaces that meet screwability criteria and can hence move in the space without changing position, except for their edges. Implementation of the method allows the various constraints that may exist in the design of such plates to be met.Type: GrantFiled: February 14, 1996Date of Patent: December 8, 1998Assignee: Institute Francais du PetroleInventor: Michel Leger
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Patent number: 5846411Abstract: Disclosed is a single-phase fluid distributor-mixer-extractor for separating beds of granular solids used in chromatography. The distributor includes a device for adding or removing a secondary fluid. The distributor further includes at least one calibrated orifice having a geometry designed to create a sufficient pressure drop to confine fluid turbulence inside a mixing chamber.Type: GrantFiled: April 24, 1997Date of Patent: December 8, 1998Assignee: Institute Francais du PetroleInventors: Isabelle Harter, Denis Darmancier, Pierre Renard
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Patent number: 5844132Abstract: The present invention relates to a system and to a method designed to estimate the effective behaviour of a drill bit fastened to the end of a drill string and driven into rotation in a well by surface driving means, wherein a non-linear physical model of the drilling process based on general mechanics equations is used. The following stages are performed in the method:the parameters of said model are identified and computed by taking account of the parameters of said well and of said string,said model is linearized about a working point,said linearized model is reduced while keeping only some of the specific modes of the state matrix of said model,the displacement of the drill bit or the stress applied to the bit is computed in real time by means of the reduced model and of at least one parameter measured at the surface.FIG. 4 to be published.Type: GrantFiled: June 23, 1997Date of Patent: December 1, 1998Assignee: Institute Francais du PetroleInventors: Isabelle Fabret, Claude Mabile, Jean-Pierre Desplans
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Patent number: 5844463Abstract: The present invention relates to a process for regulating the temperature of a fluid circuit comprising a thermostatic valve, which consists in maintaining a leak rate through the valve once the valve has been opened a first time in order to eliminate the temperature fluctuations of the fluid around a regulation temperature. Two thermodilatable elements with different expansion temperature thresholds are used. The invention further relates to a thermostatic valve intended to regulate the temperature of a fluid around at least one value and comprising at least a first thermodilatable element. The valve further includes a second thermodilatable element for maintaining a controlled leak rate as soon as the valve has been opened (a first time).Type: GrantFiled: September 27, 1996Date of Patent: December 1, 1998Assignee: Institute Francais du PetroleInventor: Jean Trapy
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Patent number: 5844564Abstract: The invention is a method applicable to a geologic structure, such as an oil bearing reservoir, defined from available data acquired either through measurements or through analyses and interpretations of seismic data or loggings performed in wells. The invention comprises previous modeling of the boundaries (zone edges, discontinuities or faults for example) by of triangulated surfaces enveloping as far as possible these boundaries and splitting up of the zone studied into blocks having at most six faces, whose faces correspond to discontinuities or main faults of the zone previously triangulated.Type: GrantFiled: April 11, 1997Date of Patent: December 1, 1998Assignee: Institute Francais du PetroleInventors: Chakib Bennis, William Sassi
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Patent number: 5820836Abstract: A process of cleaning a gas and a rotating catalytic gas cleaning device including a crown of vertical axis driven into rotation in a cage. The crown has an annular catalyst bed covering its inner wall and an annular thermal load, outside the catalytic bed, made of a material exhibiting a large heat exchange surface. A polluted gas is radially passed from a peripheral inlet to a central zone of the crown with crossing of an annular thermal load and a catalytic layer. The gas is radially passed gas from the central zone to a peripheral outlet, while again crossing the catalytic bed and thermal load with thermal exchange.Type: GrantFiled: January 3, 1997Date of Patent: October 13, 1998Assignees: Institute Francais du Petrole, Jacques BourcierInventors: Jean Morlec, Jacques Bourcier
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Patent number: 5797737Abstract: The present invention relates to a catalytic combustion system comprising a casing (1) having an inlet (2) for an oxidizer such as air, several fuel injection means (3, 5; 7) intended for a multistage fuel injection, and at least a first monolithic element (4) that may be covered with a combustion catalyst and situated downstream from a first fuel injection means (3) in relation to the direction of progress of an air-fuel mixture in the system, said first injection means performing a partial fuel injection, and comprising at least a second monolithic element (6) situated downstream from a second injection means (5), said second monolithic element (6) being intended to stabilize the combustion. The second monolithic element (6) can be covered with a combustion catalyst.Type: GrantFiled: January 14, 1997Date of Patent: August 25, 1998Assignee: Institute Francais du PetroleInventors: Jean-Herve Le Gal, Gerard Martin, Patrick Euzen
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Patent number: 5764515Abstract: A model for simulating the behaviour of an underground reservoir is defined from initial geologic knowledge and available data. It allows production forecasts to be achieved from parameters representative of the initial data. The method notably consists in defining one or several possible production evolution scenarios by creating, for each of these scenarios, new production data corresponding to hypotheses on the future states of the reservoir. For each scenario considered, it is checked whether it is possible to adjust the available parameters of the simulation model, considering the constraints of the initial geologic model, so that the simulation model reproduces both the production data measured and the data added. The method can be used to quantify uncertainties on the production forecasts by seeking the min/max extremes of the future production values. Application : production of hydrocarbons for example.Type: GrantFiled: May 13, 1996Date of Patent: June 9, 1998Assignee: Institute Francais du PetroleInventors: Dominique Guerillot, Frederic Roggero
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Patent number: 5755561Abstract: A pumping system in accordance with the invention comprises n (n.gtoreq.1) piston or diaphragm primary pumping modules (P1 to Pn) including each at least one pumping unit, connected by means of unidirectional valves (V11-V1n) respectively to n tanks (R1-Rn) containing fluids, a collecting head (CH) receiving the fluids delivered by the various primary modules, and a secondary piston pumping unit (S) for discharging the mixture of fluids collected in this head with a substantially constant flow rate. The pistons are shifted alternately for example by the translation motion of endless screws (9) driven by motors (12). A control set (17-20) associated with position detectors (AC1-ACn) and pressure detectors (C1 to Cn, Cs) proportion the fluids injected and adjust the phases, the piston strokes and their velocities in order to obtain a substantially constant discharge rate. Each primary module can also comprise a second pumping module also allowing a constant rate to be obtained during the suction phase.Type: GrantFiled: October 26, 1995Date of Patent: May 26, 1998Assignees: Francois Couillard, Institute Francais du PetroleInventors: Fran.cedilla.ois Couillard, Dominique Garnier
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Patent number: 5749333Abstract: The present invention relates to a two-stroke internal-combustion engine depollution process including a separate and deferred delivery of fuel in relation to the air used to scavenge the burned gases, and having an advanced ignition delay with respect to optimal advanced ignition. According to the invention, the delay is such that it allows the exhaust gas temperature to increase and to create a post-oxidation of the unburned hydrocarbons contained in the exhaust gases, the post-oxidation sparing the use of a specific catalyst at the exhaust. Preferably, the delay is achieved in a stabilized-speed operating range of the engine.Type: GrantFiled: September 5, 1996Date of Patent: May 12, 1998Assignee: Institute Francais du PetroleInventor: Pierre Duret
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Patent number: 5536424Abstract: New sulfonated bismuth compounds and the preparation thereof are described. These new compounds can be represented by the following general formulae: ##STR1## where R.sub.1 represents a monovalent linear or branched aliphatic hydrocarbonaceous radical containing 8 to 36 atoms of carbon, and R.sub.2 represents an atom of hydrogen or a monovalent linear or branched aliphatic hydrocarbonaceous radical containing 8 to 36 atoms of carbon. These compounds, which possess surface-active and wear-fighting properties, are used as fuel additives. They can also serve as starting materials in the manufacture of overbased colloidal products usable as lubricant additives by carbonation of at least one calcium, barium, or magnesium oxide or hydroxide, the carbonate formed being kept as a colloidal dispersion in an organic medium by using at least one of the sulfonated bismuth compounds (I) and (II).Type: GrantFiled: January 25, 1995Date of Patent: July 16, 1996Assignee: Institute Francais Du PetroleInventors: Bruno Delfort, Maurice Born, Bertrand Daoudal, Jacques Lallement
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Patent number: 5384040Abstract: A process for the elimination of mercury and possibly of arsenic from hydrocarbons wherein compounds containing mercury are transformed into elemental mercury, the charge is fractioned, and then the fractions rich in mercury are purified through contact with a mercury collecting mass.Type: GrantFiled: January 22, 1993Date of Patent: January 24, 1995Assignee: Institute Francais Du PetroleInventors: Larry Mank, Yves Barthel, Charles Cameron, Patrick Sarrazin