Patents by Inventor Donald Dreesen

Donald Dreesen has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Methods and apparatus for thermal drilling
    Patent number: 8235140
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for spalling a material, for example to thermally drill a wellhole, are provided. Such methods may include directing a fluid having a temperature greater than about 500° C. above the ambient temperature of the material and less than about the temperature of the brittle-ductile transition temperature of the material to a target location on the surface of the material, wherein the fluid produces a heat flux of about 0.1 to about 50 MW/m2 at an interface between the fluid and the target location, and thereby creating spalls of the material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2012
    Assignee: Potter Drilling, Inc.
    Inventors: Thomas W. Wideman, Jared M. Potter, Donald Dreesen, Robert M. Potter