Abstract: A hydrocarbon heating system comprises a surface control panel and a subsurface heating system, connected by an external power cable which also serves as the data communication link between the two parts. The subsurface heating system includes a heating element and two separate, thermally isolated temperature sensors. One thermal sensor, mounted near the heating element, monitors the temperature of the heating element. Another thermal sensor monitors the ambient temperature of fluid in the borehole. The temperature of the heating element may be varied to maintain an optimal well temperature for the production of hydrocarbons. Downhole electronics convert the thermal sensor outputs to digital data, and modulate the digital data onto a power cable that carries power from the surface to the heating element. A control system at the surface controls the heating element via nested control loops monitoring the temperatures of the borehole fluid and the heating element.

Abstract: The present invention discloses and claims a test device and method for testing a rail car brake system. The test device includes a pneumatic circuit and electronic circuit connecting a supply of test air to the rail car brake system being tested. The pneumatic and electronic circuits operate to selectively supply and vent the test air to or from the rail car brake system according to programmed instructions. The test device further includes a web server interface for communicating with a predetermined web page or other source external to the rail car brake system test device to retrieve and download additional programming instructions.

Abstract: A distributed digital telephone system is provided wherein a plurality of telephone consoles have instant access to a plurality of telephone lines wherein in all of the connections within such a system are non-blocking. The system architecture is that of a reverse ratio PBX in which the number of lines exceed the number of consoles and each handset has a reserved time slot on time division multiplex (TDM) highways for internal node or group connections. Accordingly, each handset is guaranteed access to idle lines within any given switching node. The distributed architecture is distinguished from central processing where all call processing is directed through a centralized point. In this decentralized system, all signal conditioning, protection, sensing and control are provided by the resource interface with the TDM highways. Resource data reporting is continually provided to all the resources connected to the system that require it.