Abstract: The present invention is directed to methods for improving the efficiency of processes for the recovery of natural gas liquids from a gas feed, e.g., raw natural gas or a refinery or petrochemical plant gas stream. These methods may be employed with most, if not all, conventional separation methods using distillation towers, e.g., a demethanizer and/or deethanizer column. The methods of the present invention involve installing an internal refrigeration system consisting of an open cycle refrigerant withdrawn from a distillation column and a closed cycle refrigerant derived from the open cycle refrigeration system. A separator is installed downstream of the recycle compressor discharge cooler in the open cycle refrigeration scheme. At least a portion of liquid withdrawn from this separator is used as a closed cycle refrigerant by indirect heat exchange with the inlet gas or other process streams. Thus a closed refrigeration cycle enhances the performance of the open refrigeration cycle.

Abstract: A system and method is provided for analyzing and imaging three-dimensional volume data sets. In one embodiment of the invention, a ribbon section is produced which may include a plurality of planes projected from a polyline. The polyline may include one or more line segments preferably formed within a plane. The projected planes intersect the three-dimensional volume data set and the data located at the intersection may be selectively viewed. The polyline may be edited or varied by editing or varying the control points which define the polyline. In another embodiment of the present invention, a method is provided for quickly tracking a physical phenomena represented within the three-dimensional volume data set. A plurality of planes may be successively displayed in the three-dimensional volume data set from which points are digitized related to the structure of interest to create a spline curve on each plane.

Abstract: This invention is a modular pole assembly comprised of corner pieces and panel members. Panel members are slidably engaged to the corner pieces and are retained in a direction normal to the engagement direction by a track in each slot that nests within a groove in each panel member. Comer pieces may include multiple slots along each side, allowing for multiple layers of panel members along each side, thereby increasing strength and allowing an insulative and structural fill material to be added between panel member layers. The height of the modular pole may be increased by inserting splicing posts between consecutive, adjacent corner members and inserting splicing pieces between co-planar adjacent panel members. The modular nature of the pole assembly provides for simple packaging and shipment of the various components and easy assembly at or near the installation location.

Abstract: Systems and methods for displaying volume data on an arbitrary three-dimensional polygonal surface are disclosed. For each polygon in the polygonal surface, a two-dimensional texture tile is created and these texture tiles are combined to form texture atlases. Each texture atlas is allocated a specific amount of memory in a texture cache. Each polygon in the polygonal surface may be scan-converted and the resulting texels may be placed in the texture cache. Voxels that do not intersect any polygon in the polygonal surface may not be scan-converted. This method may result in reduced use of texture cache.

Abstract: A system and method is provided for analyzing and imaging three-dimensional volume data sets. In one embodiment of the invention, a ribbon section is produced which may include a plurality of planes projected from a polyline. The polyline may include one or more line segments preferably formed within a plane. The projected planes intersect the three-dimensional volume data set and the data located at the intersection may be selectively viewed. The polyline may be edited or varied by editing or varying the control points which define the polyline. In another embodiment of the present invention, a method is provided for quickly tracking a physical phenomena represented within the three-dimensional volume data set. A plurality of planes may be successively displayed in the three-dimensional volume data set from which points are digitized related to the structure of interest to create a spline curve on each plane.

Abstract: This invention is a method and device for use with multi-dimensional chromatography that utilizes partial modulation. An analyte-bearing sample is subjected to a first dimension of chromatography. Thereafter the separated analyte-bearing sample is diluted with a modulated second carrier such at the analyte-bearing sample is not stopped or its temperature altered. The partially modulated analyte-bearing sample then feeds into a secondary column where the analyte-bearing sample is further separated.

Abstract: A device for extracting an analyte from a sample matrix comprises a sorption vial with a conically shaped interior surface, which is coated with a sorbent material. A method for extracting an analyte from a sample matrix includes retaining the sorption vial within a sample vessel with the sorbent coating exposed to the sample matrix contained in the sample vessel. After the analyte is collected in the sorbent material, the sorption vial may be removed from the sample vessel and sealed, or a small amount of elution solvent may be added to the sorption vial before sealing. The sorption vial containing the analyte may then be stored or transported to a lab for further analysis.

Abstract: Systems and methods for network transmission of three-dimensional graphical data are disclosed. A single graphical application instance can virtually and efficiently exist on multiple local or remote display systems by directly sharing its raw rendered framebuffer memory information among all local or remote graphics accelerators, thus avoiding the need to re-render any application information again on each node. An internal graphics card is used to scale the rendered data prior to transmission. This graphics scaling eliminates the need for data compression or image compression and achieves an adaptive, hardware-accelerated reduction in network bandwidth. Furthermore, since all memory and remote processing support tasks are performed within the graphics card, the CPU, system bus, and memory bandwidth remain available to the system and other applications.

Abstract: A system and method is provided for quickly tracking a physical phenomena represented within the three-dimensional volume data set. A plurality of planes may be successively displayed in the three-dimensional volume data set from which points are digitized related to the structure of interest to create a spline curve on each plane. The area between the spline curves (1914, 1916, 1918, 1920) is interpolated to produce a surface (1912) representative of the structure of interest, which may for example be a fault plane described by the three-dimensional volume data set. In this manner, the user can more easily and effectively visualize and interpret the features and physical parameters that are inherent in the three-dimensional volume data set.

Abstract: A system and method are disclosed for analyzing a three-dimensional (3-D) region of interest relative to a predetermined event. The system and method are particularly useful as analytical, diagnostic and interpretive tools for any type of scientific data.

Abstract: A method and system are disclosed for creating a combination attribute volume or combo volume by combining one or more attribute volumes into a single volume. For instance, seismic data volumes may be used for creating a combination seismic attribute volume from multiple seismic attribute volumes. This is accomplished by replacing certain of the standard 8-bit data values in a seismic data volume with marker values that denote certain values of other, spatially coincident, seismic attribute data. The resulting combo volume may then be displayed and a seed pick positioned on an event of interest such as a geological body. An auto-picker function or program will then find all the connecting points which will quickly further define the event. The event may then be displayed and interpreted.